MachineMachine /stream http://machinemachine.net/stream/feed en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Sweetcron text@machinemachine.net Stephen Hawking says there's no theory of everything http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2010/09/stephen-hawking-says-theres-no-theory-of-everything.html Three decades ago, Stephen Hawking famously declared that a "theory of everything" was on the horizon, with a 50 per cent chance of its completion by 2000. Now it is 2010, and Hawking has given up. But it is not his fault, he says: there may not be a final theory to discover after all. No matter; he can explain the riddles of existence without it.

The Grand Design, written with Leonard Mlodinow, is Hawking's first popular book in almost a decade. It duly covers the growth of modern physics (quantum mechanics, general relativity, modern cosmology) sprinkled… ]]> Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:41:00 -0700 http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2010/09/stephen-hawking-says-theres-no-theory-of-everything.html The Alchemists of Sound (Part 1) http://machinemachine.net/stream/items/view/1652/The-Alchemists-of-Sound-Part-1 ]]> Thu, 02 Sep 2010 05:42:00 -0700 http://machinemachine.net/stream/items/view/1652/The-Alchemists-of-Sound-Part-1 Will the Book Survive Generation Text? http://chronicle.com/article/Will-the-Book-Survive/124115/ Over the next 10 years, scientific experts will be dealing with "extreme weather." No one knows how weird and dangerous it will get.

Moscow already faces Bahrain-like temperatures. Downpours swamp a fifth of Pakistan. President Mohamed Nasheed, of the Maldives, worries enough about future sea levels to hold a cabinet meeting underwater in scuba gear. (Don't miss this on YouTube!)

Parallel thinking should apply to a phenomenon of greater concern to readers here: "extreme academe." Think of it as the hysterical upgrading of ugly visions of the future already found in polite critiques of… ]]> Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:17:00 -0700 http://chronicle.com/article/Will-the-Book-Survive/124115/ Cover story http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/08/29/cover_story/?page=full In the beginning, before there was such a thing as a Gutenberg Bible, Johannes Gutenberg laid out his rows of metal type and brushed them with ink and, using the mechanism that would change the world, produced an ordinary little schoolbook. It was probably an edition of a fourth-century grammar text by Aelius Donatus, some 28 pages long. Only a few fragments of the printed sheets survive, because no one thought the book was worth keeping.

"Now had he kept to that, doing grammars...it probably would all have been well,” said Andrew Pettegree, a professor of modern… ]]> Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:16:00 -0700 http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/08/29/cover_story/?page=full Adam Curtis on 'Mad Men' http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2010/08/madison_avenue.html The widespread fascination with the Mad Men series is far more than just simple nostalgia. It is about how we feel about ourselves and our society today. In Mad Men we watch a group of people who live in a prosperous society that offers happiness and order like never before in history and yet are full of anxiety and unease. They feel there is something more, something beyond. And they feel stuck. I think we are fascinated because we have a lurking feeling that we are living in a very similar time. A time that, despite all the great forces… ]]> Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:55:00 -0700 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2010/08/madison_avenue.html I'm into the evolving universe idea myself, but as a true Darwinist I am completely against the idea of any 'intention… disq.us/lpltp http://twitter.com/therourke/statuses/22615290598 @therourke ]]> Tue, 31 Aug 2010 06:20:00 -0700 http://twitter.com/therourke/statuses/22615290598 An Amoral Manifesto (Part I) http://www.philosophynow.org/issue80/80marks.htm Hard Atheism or What Shall I Name This Column?

Hold onto your hats, folks. Although it is perhaps fitting that the actual day on which I sit here at my computer writing this column is April 1st, let me assure you that I do not intend this as a joke. For the last couple of years I have been reflecting on and experimenting with a new ethics, and as a result I have thrown over my previous commitment to Kantianism. In fact, I have given up morality altogether! This has certainly come as a shock to me… ]]> Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:12:00 -0700 http://www.philosophynow.org/issue80/80marks.htm First Cannibals Ate Each Other for Extra Nutrition http://news.discovery.com/human/first-cannibals-nutrition.html The world's first known human cannibals ate each other to satisfy their nutritional needs, concludes a new study of the remains of cannibal feasts consumed about one million years ago.

The humans-as-food determination negates other possibilities, such as cannibalism for ritual's sake, or cannibalism due to starvation. In this oldest known case of humans eating humans, other food was available to the diners, but human flesh was just part of their meat mix.

"These practices were conducted by Homo antecessor, who inhabited Europe one million years ago," according to the research team, led by… ]]> Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:11:00 -0700 http://news.discovery.com/human/first-cannibals-nutrition.html Westerners vs. the World: We are the WEIRD ones http://www.nationalpost.com/Westerners+World+weird+ones/3427126/story.html It turns out the Machiguenga — whose number system goes: one, two, three, many — are not alone in their thinking. Most people from non-Western cultures introduced to the Ultimatum Game play differently than Westerners. And that is one clue that the Western mind differs in fundamental ways from the rest of humanity, according to Dr. Henrich. He and two other UBC researchers authored a paper shaking up the fields of psychology, cognitive science and behavioural economics by questioning whether we can know anything about humanity in general if we only study a "truly unusual group of people" — the… ]]> Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:10:00 -0700 http://www.nationalpost.com/Westerners+World+weird+ones/3427126/story.html The most isolated man on the planet http://www.slate.com/id/2264478/pagenum/all/ He's an Indian, and Brazilian officials have concluded that he's the last survivor of an uncontacted tribe. They first became aware of his existence nearly 15 years ago and for a decade launched numerous expeditions to track him, to ensure his safety, and to try to establish peaceful contact with him. In 2007, with ranching and logging closing in quickly on all sides, government officials declared a 31-square-mile area around him off-limits to trespassing and development.
Advertisement

It's meant to be a safe zone. He's still in there. Alone.

History offers few examples… ]]> Mon, 30 Aug 2010 08:05:00 -0700 http://www.slate.com/id/2264478/pagenum/all/ RT @jason_silva: RT @brainpicker: The Most Isolated Man on the Planet – the fascinating story of the last survivor of an uncontacted tri ... http://twitter.com/therourke/statuses/22531446884 @therourke ]]> Mon, 30 Aug 2010 08:03:00 -0700 http://twitter.com/therourke/statuses/22531446884 Criswell Predicts : Plan 9 From Outer Space Outro http://machinemachine.net/stream/items/view/1629/Criswell-Predicts-Plan-9-From-Outer-Space-Outro ]]> Mon, 30 Aug 2010 04:40:00 -0700 http://machinemachine.net/stream/items/view/1629/Criswell-Predicts-Plan-9-From-Outer-Space-Outro Ha-Joon Chang: The net isn't as important as we think http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/aug/29/my-bright-idea-ha-joon-chang Is it really true that the washing machine has changed the world more than the internet?

When we assess the impact of technological changes, we tend to downplay things that happened a while ago. Of course, the internet is great – I can now google and find the exact location of this restaurant on the edge of Liverpool or whatever. But when you look at the impact of this on the economy, it's mainly in the area of leisure.

The internet may have significantly changed the working patterns of people like you and me,… ]]> Mon, 30 Aug 2010 04:30:00 -0700 http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/aug/29/my-bright-idea-ha-joon-chang Push pop http://machinemachine.net/stream/items/view/1623/Push-pop ]]> Sun, 29 Aug 2010 12:14:00 -0700 http://machinemachine.net/stream/items/view/1623/Push-pop Shakespeare http://foursquare.com/venue/305882 @ Shakespeare - "I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it" ]]> Sat, 28 Aug 2010 12:21:00 -0700 http://foursquare.com/venue/305882 RT @L_A_B_O_R: Puma Puma Puma Puma Puma Puma Puma Puma Puma Puma Puma Puma Puma Puma Puma Puma Puma Puma Puma Puma Puma Puma Puma Puma P ... http://twitter.com/therourke/statuses/22371729418 @therourke ]]> Sat, 28 Aug 2010 10:49:00 -0700 http://twitter.com/therourke/statuses/22371729418 The First Church of Robotics http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/09/opinion/09lanier.html THE news of the day often includes an item about some development in artificial intelligence: a machine that smiles, a program that can predict human tastes in mates or music, a robot that teaches foreign languages to children. This constant stream of stories suggests that machines are becoming smart and autonomous, a new form of life, and that we should think of them as fellow creatures instead of as tools. But such conclusions aren’t just changing how we think about computers — they are reshaping the basic assumptions of our lives in misguided and ultimately damaging ways.

… ]]> Sat, 28 Aug 2010 06:43:00 -0700 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/09/opinion/09lanier.html The Incredible 2 Headed Transplant http://machinemachine.tumblr.com/post/1024755643

grandeurbydelusions:

via MONSTER BRAINS

]]> Sat, 28 Aug 2010 03:56:00 -0700 http://machinemachine.tumblr.com/post/1024755643 CERN Podcast | Chris Morris http://www.cernpodcast.com/?p=43 Chris Morris is considered to be one of the greatest satirists ever and has been responsible for some of the most controversial, and let’s face it funny, programmes on television. In the UK, comedy writers and performers ranked him number 11 out of the 50 greatest comedy acts ever, above people including Bill Hicks, Peter Sellars and Eddie Izzard.

Apart from being a comedy great, he’s an incredibly interesting guy. He’s performed with Peter Cook, Stereolab used his sketches as lyrics on one of their albums, he won a BAFTA for his first short film and, for… ]]> Sat, 28 Aug 2010 02:53:00 -0700 http://www.cernpodcast.com/?p=43 Salvador Dali on "What's My Line?" http://machinemachine.net/stream/items/view/1611/Salvador-Dali-on-Whats-My-Line ]]> Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:32:00 -0700 http://machinemachine.net/stream/items/view/1611/Salvador-Dali-on-Whats-My-Line