73 karma · joined January 19, 2016
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eBmyttcfU4 [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cMXWcME_vQ
[1] https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/34217/why-do-peo...
[2] https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/critical-opalescence/do...
Let's say we ban development of self-driving cars since the algos can't be explained. Then we will never know the benefit we might reap from adopting them. We know humans make mistake. But with self-driving cars, the error rates in future might be very low as compared to human. We as a human society will never experience this future because we had this silly idealism that all algos must explain themselves in human terms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_w6AGe_fIo
Quantum mechanics is a foundation of physics, chemistry and materials science. Still, there is an ongoing debate about the emergence of the classical, macroscopic world from the well-understood microscopic world of quantum mechanics. We contribute to this discourse by demonstrating quantum superposition of massive particles at the distance (0.5 m) and time scales (2 s) of everyday life, thereby advancing the state-of-the-art of atom de Broglie wave interferometry by nearly two orders of magnitude [1]. In addition to testing a central tenet of quantum mechanics, we pave the way for new precision tests of gravity, including the possible observation of gravitational waves and tests of the equivalence principle. In related experimental work, we demonstrate that entangled clusters of approximately 1000 atoms can be used to achieve 10-fold improvement in the sensitivity of quantum sensors based on atomic transitions; the levels of performance achieved could not have been realized with any competing (non-entangled) method [2].
This is true for majority of us. But for some people, unconscious doesn't even use images. E.g. Aphantasia.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/blake-ross/aphantasia-how-it-...
What would Cormac say about this? Say if human evolution would have picked up the "Aphantasia" gene to spread then Cormac's main question the "Kekule problem" would dissolve or won't arise.
In “General Semantics,” David Lewis wrote
I distinguish two topics: first, the description of possible languages or grammars as abstract semantic systems whereby symbols are associated with aspects of the world; and, second, the description of the psychological and sociological facts whereby a particular one of these abstract semantic systems is the one used by a person or population. Only confusion comes of mixing these two topics.
http://www.recode.net/2017/2/20/14666282/ben-thompson-strate...
Basically, ant-algorithm. To stay relevant, you have constantly gather new votes. But it has one problem. Comments with higher votes already have momentum, hence they will be shown to new users most of the time, which gives it more chance to gather new votes, thus continuing the momentum.