Hulver's site || Northerners can admin scoop, too

Diaries
Everything
Who's Online?
FAQ / Help

Stories from the old hotel

By R Mutt (Thu Mar 16, 2006 at 12:25:19 AM EST) MLP (all tags)

Muttback. Quantum computers can't run switched off [MeFi :(]. Slumworld not so bad [# Salon site pass]

Amphibious snake robot, video; Carp robot, video. [:o )]

Freedom of expression rally in Trafalgar Square, 25th March. Press release, posters [:( (UK)]

Japanese launch rubber doll brothel [NSFW :o MeFi]

Amazon web services storage service [:(]

Key:
[MeFi] = Stolen from Metafilter
[/.] = Stolen from Slashdot
[M] = Stolen from Memepool
[BX] = Stolen from Blogdex
[X.] = Stolen from Christdot
[)] = Stolen from Monkeyfilter
[B] = Stolen from B3ta
[GG] = Stolen from Green Gabbro
[BFB] = Stolen from Big Fat Blog
[DD] = Stolen from Daily Depravity
[S2MM] = Stolen from Stuffisendtomymates
[[:)] = Needs sound
[:(] = Serious
[:)] = Amusing
[;)] = Ironic
[:o] = Strange
[*] = Flash
[#] = Free registration required
[$] = Possible corporate shill
[NSFW] = Not Safe For Work
[NSFWFUP] = Not Safe For Work For Ultra-Prudish
[(UK)] = UK-centric
[LL] = Late or repeated link

< My Aunt Mabel was a wombat | BBC White season: 'Rivers of Blood' >

Login

Poll

Votes: 5
Results	\|	Other Polls

Related Links

- Slashdot
- Quantum computers can't run switched off
- Slumworld not so bad
- Amphibious snake robot
- video
- Carp robot
- video [2]
- Freedom of expression rally
- Press release
- posters
- Japanese launch
- rubber doll brothel
- Metafilter
- Memepool
- Blogdex
- Christdot
- Monkeyfilter
- B3ta
- Green Gabbro
- Big Fat Blog
- Daily Depravity
- Stuffisendtomymates
- R Mutt's Diary

Comment Controls

Stories from the old hotel | 23 comments (23 topical, 0 hidden)

Planet of Slums by nebbish (2.00 / 0) #1 Thu Mar 16, 2006 at 12:48:42 AM EST

I'm a big fan of Mike Davis, I'll definitely be buying that. Seems like he's looking at the flipside of one of his previous obsessions, gated communities.

--------
It's political correctness gone mad!

: Mike Davis is awesome by MillMan (2.00 / 0) #20 Thu Mar 16, 2006 at 03:56:15 PM EST

he fuels my fatalist streak better than anyone (other than the folks at theoildrum.com). Ecology of Fear is one of my favorite non-fiction books.
Everybody still hates me in this city and I hate everybody.
[ Parent ]

rubber doll brothel by TPD (2.00 / 0) #2 Thu Mar 16, 2006 at 01:33:45 AM EST

More disturbing than the actual idea is all the dolls seem to be either designed to look like 11 year olds or have manga-ish features.

Still I guess it's better that the clientele get their rocks off on a lump of latex than by kiddy fiddling.

why sit, when you can sit and swivel with The Ab-Swiveller^TM

Both of these 'robots' are remotely controlled by DesiredUsername (2.00 / 0) #3 Thu Mar 16, 2006 at 02:12:40 AM EST

nt

---
Now accepting suggestions for a new sigline

Yep by R Mutt (2.00 / 0) #4 Thu Mar 16, 2006 at 02:16:24 AM EST

Robot (2): A machine or device that operates automatically or by remote control.

[ Parent ]

Oh, I know they fit the technical definition by DesiredUsername (2.00 / 0) #5 Thu Mar 16, 2006 at 02:18:49 AM EST

Pretty laem, though.

---
Now accepting suggestions for a new sigline

[ Parent ]

we don't let our bots be autonomous for long. by garlic (2.00 / 0) #6 Thu Mar 16, 2006 at 03:22:34 AM EST

The mars explorers have guys sending commands to them from earth. The globalhawk UAV is capable of having entire missions programmed from takoff to landing, but it's more useful to have a man running it from the ground.

[ Parent ]

Mechanical structures are cool by DesiredUsername (2.00 / 0) #7 Thu Mar 16, 2006 at 03:31:41 AM EST

but AI is infinitely cooler.

---
Now accepting suggestions for a new sigline

[ Parent ]

But basically doesn't work [nt] by R Mutt (2.00 / 0) #8 Thu Mar 16, 2006 at 03:34:53 AM EST

[ Parent ]

That's what makes it cool (nt) by DesiredUsername (2.00 / 0) #9 Thu Mar 16, 2006 at 03:40:44 AM EST

---
Now accepting suggestions for a new sigline

[ Parent ]

Depends on what you mean by `work' by lm (2.00 / 0) #10 Thu Mar 16, 2006 at 03:57:25 AM EST

AI can certainly beat me at chess.

Kindness is an act of rebellion.

[ Parent ]

computational intelligence. by garlic (2.00 / 0) #11 Thu Mar 16, 2006 at 04:23:18 AM EST

through use of heuristics designed by humans and brute force, yes.

[ Parent ]

that's not AI by ucblockhead (2.00 / 0) #13 Thu Mar 16, 2006 at 06:16:30 AM EST

The algorithm that can beat you in chess isn't AI. It's one of the very many things that was called AI before it was done because of certain bad assumptions about what "intelligence" was.

Which has been the trouble with AI from the start. It purports to be there to build "intelligence" but "intelligence" has never been defined.

The "AI" that can beat you at chess is defined by a few hundred lines of source code, and is an algorithm that a smart junior-high student can understand. It's no more complicated than most of the algorithms you'll find in your average data-structures book. (Even the versions that can beat Kasparov aren't as complex as what Google runs every day.)

Sorry for the rant, but it's a bit of a sore subject. The only thing "intelligent" about chess programs is the name given them by overeaching researchers. It's like putting a card in the spokes of your bike and calling it an "engine".
---
[ucblockhead is] useless and subhuman

[ Parent ]

yada yada yada by lm (2.00 / 0) #15 Thu Mar 16, 2006 at 07:33:06 AM EST

Assumption: no one has yet defined ``intelligence'' in a rigorous and scientific fashion

Implication: A game that plays chess that is smart enough to beat me is AI.

Kindness is an act of rebellion.

[ Parent ]

So... by ucblockhead (2.00 / 0) #16 Thu Mar 16, 2006 at 07:48:01 AM EST

Is a quicksort an example of artificial intelligence?

I know it sure can sort faster than me!
---
[ucblockhead is] useless and subhuman

[ Parent ]

: By itself even! by lm (2.00 / 0) #17 Thu Mar 16, 2006 at 08:17:48 AM EST

Which is what makes it an automaton.
Kindness is an act of rebellion.
[ Parent ]

The thing about those other algorithms by Gully Foyle (2.00 / 0) #18 Thu Mar 16, 2006 at 11:29:46 AM EST

Many of them were developed by AI researchers. For example A* is now part of computer science, but it was developed as a pathfinding algorithm for robotics. The field may never produce something you'd call an intelligence, but that doesn't mean that attempting to is a useless endeavour.

[ Parent ]

Oh, I agree by ucblockhead (4.00 / 1) #19 Thu Mar 16, 2006 at 02:50:25 PM EST

I just think the field ought to be renamed "ReallyNiftyAlgorithmology".
---
[ucblockhead is] useless and subhuman

[ Parent ]

Algorithmics already exists as a field by Gully Foyle (2.00 / 0) #21 Thu Mar 16, 2006 at 10:46:25 PM EST

The end goal of producing intelligence (or simulating some aspect of it) is what drove the researchers. Even if you don't see any progress being made towards the goal, you can't just drop the idea and expect the field to go on producing interesting results.

Disclaimer: I have an AI degree, and the above may just be the way I rationalised studying what turned out to be a grab-bag of cool algorithms and narrowly applied CS.

[ Parent ]

It's "Cognitive Science" by ucblockhead (4.00 / 1) #22 Fri Mar 17, 2006 at 05:26:47 AM EST

I have a "Cognitive Science" degree, partly because it was the closest to "AI" my school offered. But now I think it's a better title anyway. Using computer simulations to help better understand the human brain is a worthy endeavor. It's drawing a box around something and slapping "Intelligence Unit" or somesuch on the side that I object to.

Though it's pretty much moot as the term is dying. It's funny that we've finally started making real strides in some of the central areas of what "Artificial Intelligence" was supposed to be when I went to school (Machine translation, Machine vision, semi-autonomous robotics) but people rarely call it "AI" anymore.
---
[ucblockhead is] useless and subhuman

[ Parent ]

: Nix the word human and I'd almost agree with you. by Gully Foyle (2.00 / 0) #23 Fri Mar 17, 2006 at 06:05:13 AM EST

Although, if the research had stopped with merely trying to simulate the brain, then e.g. machine vision wouldn't have got much beyond David Marr. Really successful modern vision algorithms like SIFT move things away from simulating the human vision system, but give you something robust that works for machines.
I don't think your last point is new. AI as a field has always disowned its children. From A* onwards, successes have become part of computer science. I guess AI as a term is dying, but that's mostly because people realised that intelligence wasn't what they thought it was, and that reasoning wasn't the difficult part. I think it was a useful term in its day.

[ Parent ]

Fucking Japan. by MohammedNiyalSayeed (4.00 / 1) #12 Thu Mar 16, 2006 at 04:30:19 AM EST

ATTENTION ENGINEER INFIDELS: WE WANT ROBOTS THAT KILL THINGS, AND BRING US ALCOHOL. QUIT WASTING VALUABLE RESEARCH TIME BUILDING ROBOT SNAKES AND ROBOT FISH. THAT'S GREAT, THEY BOTH TRAVEL THROUGH WATER. PEOPLE DON'T KEEP BEER IN THE OCEAN, THEY KEEP IT IN THE REFRIGERATOR.

ATTENTION RUBBER DOLL BROTHEL OWNERS: WHY ARE ALL OF THEIR MOUTHS CLOSED? I MEAN, WTF!

-
You can build the most elegant fountain in the world, but eventually a winged rat will be using it as a drinking bowl.

: The question you should be asking by ucblockhead (4.00 / 2) #14 Thu Mar 16, 2006 at 06:18:32 AM EST

Why aren't these two groups working together?
---
[ucblockhead is] useless and subhuman
[ Parent ]

Stories from the old hotel | 23 comments (23 topical, 0 hidden)