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Artificial Intelligence 101 - part 2
2009-03-28 06:22:00
Why AI?Now that we have established what Artificial Intelligence is, let's look at why we would want to create such a thing. There isn't much point in creating something if we don't know why we would need it at all. We already have natural intelligence - human beings. What sort of advantages do we gain by developing artificial intelligence?intelligence in natureTo help us answer this question, we first need to know what intelligence is used for in nature. The physical implementation of intelligence in nature is performed by neurons, so it is safe to say that any creature without a nervous system is incapable of intelligence. The simplest animal with a nervous system is Caenorhabditis elegans, which has exactly 959 cells in its body. 302 of those cells are neurons. All the other bodily functions - digestion, respiration, excretion, reproduction, circulation, and locomotion - are handled by the remaining 657 cells. This is an enormous portion of the animal's body being use...
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Artificial Intelligence 101
2009-03-04 21:50:00
part 1: what is intelligence?When building an artificial something, it helps to know what the natural version of that something is. For example, when building a prosthetic leg, having an idea of what a natural leg is, what it is used for, how it interfaces with the rest of the body and so on is critical; without that information, the artificial version of a leg might have wheels or a knee that bends in all directions or so much mass that walking becomes impossible. There are details which are important to our purposes (such as the placement of the big toe, which is essential for balance), and details that are unimportant (like the exact number and placement of hairs on the leg) - and we need to figure out which of those details are important, to incorporate them into our artificial device.However, "intelligence" is an abstract concept, not a concrete object like a leg. It cannot be weighed or measured with a ruler or touched. Instead we need to describe what we know about intell...
More About: Intelligence , Artificial Intelligence

just giving it all away
2009-02-26 21:06:00
From about 1990 to about 2003 I spent most of my spare time working on artificial intelligence research. The last few years I have gotten away from that to work on some other interests, but lately I have been looking through and re-reading some of the thousands of pages of notes and tens of thousands of lines of code I wrote back then. And, I've been thinking, it would be a real shame if all of this work were to simply be lost, if I were to not work on it anymore and nobody else knew about it.So, I've been giving serious consideration to simply publishing all that work right here on this blog, and letting others have a look, critique, and take whatever they find useful for their own work.This raises some serious questions for me. Is it dangerous to let just anyone have access to something with the potential to be used as a terrible weapon? Is it even ethical to do so? Would I have spent over ten thousand hours working on what amounts to my masterpiece, only to have nothing to...
More About: Giving

When is a recession not a recession?
2009-02-18 20:33:00
For several months now, I have heard plenty of wailing and gnashing of teeth over the supposed recession. But is it really happing?First of all, let's start with the definition of a recession: two consecutive quarters of negative growth in the economy. When Prime Minister Stephen Harper conceeded that Canada could be "technically" in a recession, he was absolutely right - that could indeed be the case. He could have said the same thing two years ago and still been right, even though the economy was booming at the time. When you are in the middle of a recession, there is no way to know for certain if you are or not - it is only by looking back at the previous two quarters that one can say with certainty that a recession has occurred.So without that data, how come the press has been screaming "recession!" for several years? Yes, the housing market took a beating over the last six months or so, but the housing market is not the entire economy. Anyone paying any attention to the ...
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I'm back
2009-02-11 20:41:00
I've kept pretty silent over the course of the US and Canadian federal elections. Often I've thought of something that would make a great blog post, but just didn't sit down to do it for one reason or another. Time has been a factor, of course, but so has my frustration - I didn't want to sit down and write anything about the American election in particular, for it was obvious what was going to happen, and no amount of reason or logic would change the result.At any rate, I'm back now and will be posting regularly again.
More About: Back

the Retroencabulator
2008-06-17 07:32:00
Engineers have a sense of humour, too.Related: the MSDS datasheet for dihydrogen monoxide.

barrelling down the slippery slope and gaining steam
2008-06-10 23:51:00
The Human Rights Commissions in Canada are under the microscope right now due to the Mark Steyn and Ezra Levant trials (to call them trials, even though they take place in buildings with the word "court" written on the door, is preposterous) proceedings. And while public attention is focused on those two, there are still other proceedings going on all the time. The latest ruling, in the Rev. Stephen Boissoin case, states in part thatMr. Boissoin and [his organization] The Concerned Christian Coalition Inc. shall cease publishing in newspapers, by email, on the radio, in public speeches, or on the Internet, in future, disparaging remarks about gays and homosexuals. Further they shall not and are prohibited from making disparaging remarks in the future about Dr. Lund [the complainant] or Dr. Lund's witnesses relating to their involvement in this complaint. Further all disparaging remarks versus homosexuals are directed to be removed from current websites and publications of Mr. B...
More About: Gaining , Steam

Taking the long view for conservatism in America
2008-05-28 10:24:00
In discussing the upcoming US elections, Rachel Lucas exhibits some short-term thinking:I do not believe you?re going to teach anyone a ?lesson? by sitting this one out or writing in Fred Thompson or Sunny Lucas. I believe that way too many people are ignoring the forest for the trees and that in doing so, they?re going to have a hand in electing Obama. Some say that?s fine because if the country?s going to be ?ruined?, better that it?s ruined by a Democrat, and somehow magically we?ll come up with a fantastic, ?real? conservative in 4 years even though there is no one like that on the horizon and everyone knows it. Like I said, I think that?s a super-crappy plan.This is perfectly reasonable, but only if one is operating from a certain set of axioms:1) there are now and will only ever be two viable political parties in the USA, the Republicans and the Democrats2) given the choice between a greater evil and a lesser evil, it is better to choose the lesser evil (or at least to try to ...
More About: America , Conservatism , View , Long , Taking

Liveblogging Mars Phoenix landing
2008-05-26 01:33:00
4:35 pm PST: The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has started the software that will allow it to track the Phoenix during Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL)4:37 PST: expecting the MRO to start receiving data in 2 minutes 30 seconds4:38 PST: why the hell is Mike Griffin at the JPL mission control, wearing a blue t-shirt and looking like he's doing something?4:39 PST: cruise stage separation, a UHF signal has been received by MRO Mars Odyssey.4:43 PST: MRO now has signal as well. Atmospheric entry in 1 minute 35 seconds4:45 PST: by the way, all these times and signals received are about 20 minutes late due to light speed delay. If the Phoenix landed safely, then it already happened and we just won't know until 20 minutes after the fact. all those folks in JPL aren't actually doing anything right now, they're just watching4:48 PST: peak heating, and yet we are still seeing a signal from Phoenix via Odyssey, even through the plasma generated by the ablation of the heat shield4:50 PST: ...
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selling space, part 1
2008-04-24 06:03:00
It's funny how conversations can migrate from blog to blog. Over at Space Politics five days ago, Jeff Foust got the ball rolling by noting "that space ranks pretty low on the list of priorities of the general public (and, thus, fairly high on the list of government programs they would be willing to cut)". In the comments for that post, commentor James summarized why this is so:Those who support the current lunar program often forget the opportunity costs. There are better ways to spend the same money on developing space. I?m 24 - with the current Constellation program plan, I?ll be in my mid 30s by the time we get back to the moon. If we operate the system for a decade or two after that, as is likely, all I can expect in my career is to see 4 people land on the moon twice a year. That is not exciting - nor is it worth the money. Maybe by the time I retire we?ll be looking at another "next generation system".What?s the point of any of this for someone my age?Then Jon Goff of Sele...
More About: Selling , Part

credibility shredding
2008-04-23 02:53:00
There was an uproar in the blogosphere last last week over the senior art project of one Aliza Shvarts at Yale university. She claimed that the art project was the result of nine months of repeated artificial insemination followed by self-induced miscarriage. Apparently her thesis advisor saw nothing wrong with this as an art project, nor did the School of Art director of undergraduate studies.Now Yale won't allow her to display this "art" at an exhibition unless she admits it is a work of fiction; she continues to insist that it's the real deal.Let us set aside for a moment the grotesque idea that a university insists that a student lie about her project. Let us also set aside the obvious health and biohazard issues, and the standard requirement for a Human Subjects Committee review of any study involving the use of human subjects (even oneself) which was obviously not followed. Further, let us also for a moment set aside the abhorrent nature of this supposed "art".Instead, I...

carnival time
2008-04-04 22:33:00
The 48th edition of the Carnival of Space is up at Next Big Future.
More About: Time

i'm still here
2008-03-31 05:32:00
Yeah, I'm still kicking about. I've just been super busy this last month; it's been all I can do to post a space video of the day every day at Space Feeds. Hopefully I'll start blogging regularly again soon.

D and D
2008-03-06 08:27:00
Gary Gygax recently passed away, at the age of 69. He was a true innovator in the world of games, and his Dungeons and Dragons is still played the world over. I haven't played the game in many years, but I still have my dice (3d6, 2d10, d4, d8, d20) around somewhere.One of the most enjoyable parts of the game was making up a character. If you have about 20 minutes, you can answer this survey and figure out what D&D character you would be if you were transported into the D&D universe. Here are my results:You Are A:True Neutral Human Wizard (6th Level)Ability Scores:Strength- 16Dexterity- 17Constitution- 16Intelligence- 20Wisdom- 15Charisma- 13Alignment:True Neutral- A true neutral character does what seems to be a good idea. He doesn't feel strongly one way or the other when it comes to good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. Most true neutral characters exhibit a lack of conviction or bias rather than a commitment to neutrality. Such a character thinks of good as better than evil afte...

Life, the universe, everything space-y
2008-02-22 03:08:00
Carnival of space number 42 is up over at Chris Lintott's place.
More About: Life , Space , Universe , The Universe

Wishing Their Problems Away
2008-02-19 10:29:00
This New York Times article inadvertently suggests that some of the top level people in NASA are using hope rather than sound engineering practice when it comes to designing the Ares-1 rocket, which will be the US government's replacement for the Space Shuttle.Still, Mr. Lyles said there would be no need for a full-scale redesign. Additional analysis has indicated the problem is not as severe as first thought, and the two vibrational frequencies may turn out to be far enough apart, more than 10 percent, that nothing needs to be changed at all.If fixes are necessary, rocket scientists know what to do. A shock absorber could be added between the first and second stages, or the structure could be modified to change the resonance frequency.Why is this a problem, you ask? Observe this video of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Since 1940 this bridge has been an object lesson to engineers of all stripes. It is inconceivable that the engineers at NASA are not aware of this bridge and the issu...
More About: Problems , Wishing

blood on their hands
2008-02-12 04:20:00
Click on these two images for background information. Is there any substantive difference between these two cases?
More About: Hands , Blood

Scrolling Blogroll, redux
2008-02-07 04:16:00
A while back I posted the code necessary for the scrolling blogrolls in my sidebar. Recently Rob Singleton had some questions about how to implement these scrolling blogrolls himself. The problem is that he is using different blogging software than I am, and my previous instructions didn't make sense with his type of template. So, I have come up with a simplified version of the scrolling blogroll code, which can be implemented in pretty much any web page at all. To add a scrolling blogroll to your own blog or website, just copy the code in the text area below and paste it into your website or blog template code. In the case of a blog, that would likely be somewhere in your sidebar code, anywhere you like. Then, make changes to the code to customize it for your own site; the comments within the code should help guide you with the necessary changes. --> OPTIONAL BLOGROLL TITLE GOES HERE YOUR JAVASCRIPT OR HTML CODE FOR BLOGROLL LINKS GOES HERE
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Moving the Goalposts
2008-02-05 04:38:00
A few days ago, I wrote a blog post directed at Mark Whittington that said:There is no double standard at work here. SpaceX used its own money for the Falcon-1 tests. NASA is using taxpayers' money for the obviously flawed-from-before-starting Ares. The difference is not subtle.Mark Whittington replied thatTechnically, he is correct that SpaceX used private money for Falcon 1 tests. But it also is using public money to develop the Falcon 9/Dragon launch system. So, using Robot Guy's logic, one ought to gove SpaceX the same benefit of a doubt--or lack there of--as NASA.Perhaps I ought to have included more of Mark Whittington's original statement, as based on his reply one might think I was making an apples-to-oranges comparison. Here's the full paragraph from Whittington's original post:Even in the commercial area, technical problems crop up. SpaceX's Falcon 1 have had two launch failures, for example. SpaceX's engineers have ascertained the causes of these failures and are ...
More About: Moving

what's in it for me?
2008-02-02 03:01:00
A few weeks ago Leonard David pointed out a National Science Board report which among other things stated that Scientific research ranks about on a par with mass transit (38%) and well ahead of space exploration (14%) and assistance to foreign countries (10%) in the proportion of the U.S. population favoring increased spending.Leonard David called this a "kick in the head for space fans".Well, it might be a kick in the head for NASA, but the U.S. space agency is not synonymous with "space", and the lack of enthusiasm for increased funding for NASA is not synonymous with a lack of enthusiasm for space projects.At one time, Americans could be convinced that NASA == space, but that time is long past. When the Collier's articles by Wernher von Braun, Willy Ley, Fred Whipple, and others were published in 1952-54, people paid attention. When the Russians launched Sputnik, people sat up and took notice. And then came Kennedy's speech:Well, that got people excited. And that race to th...

Whittington swings and misses
2008-02-02 01:47:00
It was so predictable. Rand writes something that points out some of the shortcomings of NASA's implentation of the Vision for Space Exploration U.S. Space Exploration Policy and Mark Whittington, in his usual rebuttal, gets something completely wrong:It is noted that no one who is having Internet vapors over the Ares is having the same over the Falcon. There seems to be, perhaps because of a double standard, more of an understanding that problems will occur in rocket development in the private sector than at NASA.There is no double standard at work here. SpaceX used its own money for the Falcon-1 tests. NASA is using taxpayers' money for the obviously flawed-from-before-starting Ares. The difference is not subtle.

Edith Harsch
2008-01-26 02:29:00
I just received an email from my mom informing me that Edith Harsch died on January 21st. She was 92 years old.I probably first met Mrs. Harsch in 1974, when I began elementary school. She was my second grade teacher in 1975-76, and attended the same church that my family did. I'm a little hazy on this part, but I think she was my Sunday School teacher for a year or two as well.She was my favorite teacher, and I want to tell you a little bit about her. From what I recall based on many-years-old conversations with various people, she began teaching at the age of 15. That would have made her a 45 year veteran of teaching by the time I was in her class. I'm pretty sure she continued to teach long past the normal retirement age, too, so I would estimate that she taught between fifteen hundred and eighteen hundred students over the course of her career.Her name was pronounced "harsh", however she was anything but. She was one of the sweetest ladies I've ever known. And, she to...

new carnival of space, private eye
2008-01-24 16:42:00
Sorting Out Science has the new issue of the Carnival of Space up, and it's awesome.
More About: Private , Private Eye

The HRC must go
2008-01-15 05:36:00
OK, now this has me really pissed off. A couple of years ago, there were a dozen cartoons featuring Mohammed published in a Danish newspaper. A few months later, some imam decided to incite riots over these cartoons, so he added a few more of his own and then told people how offensive they were. Well, the members of the "religion of peace" used that as an excuse to riot and kill a bunch of people who had nothing whatsoever to do with the cartoons. This is absolutely psychotic behaviour.The Western Standard magazine chose to publish those cartoons, too, just to show people in Canada what all the fuss was about. The cartoons were newsworthy - after all, people were dying because of the riots supposedly incited by the cartoons - and yet of all the newspapers and magazines in Canada, only three other publications published any of the cartoons, other than the Western Standard (and one of those subsequently recalled every copy that they had printed). I myself published one of the c...

Yulia Tymoshenko topless photos
2008-01-06 21:52:00
A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog post expressing my admiration for the very pretty Yulia Tymoshenko , the current prime minister of the Ukraine. Since then, that post has become by far the most popular post on this blog. I would estimate that more than half the traffic to Robot Guy is to that one blog post. So, I decided to do a little experiment: at great expense and personal risk, I have obtained these topless photos of Yulia Tymoshenko. That's right, topless photos of Yulia Tymoshenko. I am betting that this post is going to receive thousands of hits, just a prediction. So, if you want to see topless photos of Yulia Tymoshenko, just scroll down. If you're at work, your company probably has some sort of prohibition against viewing topless photos of gorgeous women, so keep that in mind before scrolling down the page.And now, without further ado, I present for your edification four topless photos of Yulia Tymoshenko. Enjoy.See? Yulia Tymoshenko, topless. What did I te...
More About: Photos

A two-part Carnival of Space
2008-01-03 21:57:00
Music of the Spheres posted the Carnival of Space this week, check it out here and here.
More About: Part

Top Ten Space Stories of 2007
2008-01-01 00:15:00
2007 has been a busy year in the space industry. Since this is the time of year for top-ten lists, I decided to put together this list of the top ten space stories for 2007. Your mileage may vary.10. Charles SimonyiOn April 7, Charles Simonyi became the fifth space tourist. After training at Star City, the Microsoft executive launched aboard the Soyuz TMA-10, arrived at the ISS on April 9, and returned to earth on the Soyuz TMA-9 on April 21.9. Scotty goes to spaceThe beloved actor James Doohan died in 2005. On April 28, 2007, a vial of his ashes, along with those of astronaut Gordon Cooper and about 200 others, was lofted into space on a suborbital flight aboard the UP Aerospace Space Loft XL. Mr. Scott's engines finally did have enough power, cap'n - and he didna do it on any United Federation of Planets spacecraft either, he went on a private spacecraft. With the expansion of the private space industry of late, pretty soon we're all going to be able to go, and not just o...
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a thought experiment
2007-12-30 23:56:00
What would the world be like today if, rather than merely shutting down Apollo in the 1970s, Richard Nixon had shut down all of NASA instead? Discuss in the comments.
More About: Experiment , Thought

Wonderful
2007-12-24 07:02:00
I may have stopped posting space videos on this blog, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop posting videos - particularly when I find a classic movie in the public domain, like this one. This is particularly appropriate for the Christmas season, so enjoy It's A Wonderful Life.

another space carnival
2007-12-20 22:06:00
Rainer Gerhards has posted the 34th edition of the Carnival of Space ; go check it out.