I've been reading Anathem by Neal Stephenson. I've read about a third and I can't stop. Stephenson's work never ceases to captivate me: such a brilliant mix of plot development and philosophical ideas. I urge anyone who enjoys speculative fiction to pick up one of his books.
The linking together of principles from different disciplines especially when forming a comprehensive theory.
TempleOS (formerly J Operating System, LoseThos, and SparrowOS) is a biblical-themed lightweight operating system (OS) designed to be the Third Temple prophesied in the Bible. It was created by American programmer Terry A. Davis, who developed it alone over the course of a decade after a series of manic episodes that he later described as a revelation from God.
Moravec's paradox is the observation in artificial intelligence and robotics that, contrary to traditional assumptions, reasoning requires very little computation, but sensorimotor and perception skills require enormous computational resources. The principle was articulated by Hans Moravec, Rodney Brooks, Marvin Minsky and others in the 1980s. Moravec wrote in 1988, "it is comparatively easy to make computers exhibit adult level performance on intelligence tests or playing checkers, and difficult or impossible to give them the skills of a one-year-old when it comes to perception and mobility".
Apple might be starting to loose their tyrannic grip on their users through some better-late-than-never regulations. Spotify is not a nice company in my opinion, but I'm happy for them in this one. Hoping Epic Games can triumph in their crusade.
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ACI aims to understand the interaction between animals and computing technology within the contexts in which the animals habitually live, are active and socialise with members of the same or other species, including humans. Contexts, activities and relationships will differ considerably between species, and between wild, domestic, working, farm or laboratory animals. In each particular case, the interplay between animal, technology, and contextual elements is of interest to the ACI researcher
Given a path, computes the 3D shape ("trajectoid") that would follow this path when rolling down a slope.
Just a beautiful shot.
The world's first living coffin
'Today, the White House Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) released a report calling on the technical community to proactively reduce the attack surface in cyberspace'. New ways of thinking about sovereignty and security in the digital realm.
Spoiler alert: it has little to do with inflation reduction
Boids is an artificial life program, developed by Craig Reynolds in 1986, which simulates the flocking behaviour of birds, and related group motion. As with most artificial life simulations, Boids is an example of emergent behavior; that is, the complexity of Boids arises from the interaction of individual agents (the boids, in this case) adhering to a set of simple rules.
Due to twitter being twitter, I ended up watching Starship Troopers this week, a 1997 Paul Verhoeven film. Such a brilliant satire about the difficulty of conceiving cohabitation with non-human species and the fascist response that so naturally creeps up in these situations. It is the second time in the last couple of months where a science fiction film from the 90s (a decade I always considered quite superfluous when it comes to mainstream culture) surprises me with a profound message that is still quite relevant. The other film was Jurassic Park. I'm still trying to figure out if the polemic this week was a publicity stunt by Helldivers 2.
Deepfake is not very novel at this point, but what I find interesting is how AI technology will enable a whole new array of remixing tropes and referencing styles. I've seen deepfakes and generative AI used for nefarious political purposes and commercial stunts. What I'd like to see more is conceptual work using AI techniques. Not AI art, just concepts that you couldn't carry out without AI. This example is not it, but it is a step in that direction.
Great twitter thread with some striking art. I've been listening to a lot of Spinetta lately, he remains my favourite spanish speaking artist.
CES always brings a myriad of futuristic products and I almost always find them either unimaginative, impractical or plainly undesirable. But I like this one.
Really interesting take on the current economic dynamics. Varoufakis is someone I have many differences with but I always find his ideas interesting.
Excellent short story.
Sony released a Trailer for a free downloadable experience called 'Interaction isn't explicit'. It's an interactive essay/study with a lovely art direction. Interesting move by Sony, would love to see more like this.
Manfred Mohr is considered a pioneer of digital art based on algorithms. After discovering Prof. Max Bense's information aesthetics in the early 1960's, Mohr's artistic thinking was radically changed. Within a few years, his art transformed from abstract expressionism to computer generated algorithmic geometry.
If you've ever tried to learn coding, one of the first rules you learn is 'Don't Repeat Yourself': if you find yourself writing the same code over and over, you should find a way to automate it. Well, Tailwind is a framework used to give styles to websites, and does the exact opposite. It forces you to memorize a bunch of keywords and write them over and over. It's a very counter intuitive way to write code, but once you get the hang of it, its great. I've struggled with CSS for a long time, and Tailwind has made it so much easier. I think there's a deep beauty in the fact that we keep finding new ways to solve old problems.
"A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits" is the title of a master's thesis written by computer science pioneer Claude E. Shannon while attending MIT in 1937. In his thesis Shannon proved that Boolean algebra could be used to simplify the arrangement of the relays that were the building blocks of the electromechanical automatic telephone exchanges of the day. Shannon went on to prove that it should also be possible to use arrangements of relays to solve Boolean algebra problems. The utilization of the binary properties of electrical switches to perform logic functions is the basic concept that underlies all electronic digital computer designs. Shannon's thesis became the foundation of practical digital circuit design.
Great article by Patricio Gonzalez Vivo, who's always ahead of the curve.
I've just learned that there is a whole set of computer vision models trained by people to perform all kinds of tasks. A testament to the importance of Open Source
The way in which Unreal Engine 5 has empowered creators to make this kind of content is amazing. Although I'm not surprised the game that inspired this was Factorio.
Very interesting group at the MIT Media Lab. For a long time I've explored the idea of making computing spatial, and I find it interesting how they have a similar goal but with a different approach.
A partnership between the University of Edinburgh, Alan Turing Institute, and Edinburgh’s Festivals to explore AI in the arts.
The Journal of Design and Science (JoDS) was a joint venture of the MIT Media Lab and the MIT Press that forged new connections between science and design, breaking down the barriers between traditional academic disciplines in the process. Although its no longer in operations, the six issues are available on their website.
Very interesting approach to designing products and a great overview of an ecological design practice
