Includes stuff about anything where feedback causes the system to adapt, including the systems of nature, those that are man-made or cultural, and those of the human mind.
I’ve been baffled by this for the last couple days. I’m not sure I follow their numbers, but I’ll accept them on faith for the moment. The thing that baffles me is the source: a very conservative think-tank. Political conservatives have railed against anyone who was different practically since the ink was dry on the …
Continue reading ‘“The cure for US job woes: More immigrants”’ »
A nice idea, but I suspect the execution would be pretty difficult. Hollywood special effects are a lot better now than in 1938, but there are many more science-educated people who would be a lot harder to fool too. All it would take is one slip-up, caught and pointed out by some bright teenager, and …
Continue reading ‘“Paul Krugman: save the economy by staging an alien invasion hoax”’ »
A short quote to sum up the main idea behind the article: […] according to researchers at the University of Warwick and the University of Basel, we’ve pretty much hit the limits, and we’re never going to develop a science fiction-style ‘supermind’. Thomas Hills and Ralph Hertwig looked at a range of studies, including research …
Continue reading ‘“Human beings unlikely to get cleverer”’ »
More evidence — should any still be needed — that intelligence isn’t limited to humans, or even to primates.
As much as this sounds like pure fantasy right now, I suspect it’s all but inevitable. Too many people are looking too hard at the problem — somebody is going to crack it sooner or later, and likely sooner. I also suspect that the consequences listed in the article are only the tip of the …
Continue reading ‘“Superhero oil-burping algae will save the world”’ »
So keep it clean, boys and girls. (It’ll be interesting to find out the whys and wherefores of the brain mechanism responsible. I hope someone manages it in my lifetime.)
As reported here. Why? Simple enough: fear shuts off the brain. It’s easier to control people who are afraid, something that dictators, politicians, and televangelists know very well.
It wasn’t just Tumblr users, either. Demand Progress delivered over seven hundred thousand e-mails as well, including mine. Sorry, music and movie industries. The people won’t stand for such draconian and heavy-handed attempts at censorship to protect your outdated business models. You’re going to have to do what every industry eventually does: adapt or die. …
Continue reading ‘“Tumblr users fight SOPA with 87,834 calls to Congress”’ »
This is a little worrisome. As Schneier says at the bottom, “I worry about people being judged by these criteria. Psychopaths make up about 1% of the population, so even a small false-positive rate can be a significant problem.” On a complete tangent, the statistic that 1% of the population counts as psychopathic is disturbing. …
Continue reading ‘“Detecting Psychopaths by their Speech Patterns”’ »
This had better become required by law, and soon, if the government wants people to trust electronic voting machines. Every security expert who’s even glanced at them has been appalled at how easily they can be manipulated. Related and possibly-interesting note: a significant part of one of the Stainless Steel Rat books — written long …
Continue reading ‘“Researchers propose simple fix to thwart e-voting attack”’ »