The Impossible Turing Test
Will we ever admit that AI has become smarter than us? Or is it a goal that will always be just out of reach…
Finding Meaning in the Modern World
What is the meaning of life? Meaning is often discussed in a philosophical context, but in reality meaning is a feeling. Just like any other feeling, we can find reliable ways to create a sense of meaning in ourselves.
The Pavlovian mind: why and when to tame our bias
Bias: can’t live with it, couldn’t survive without it. Bias is a word that has different connotations depending on who you are. In the common world, when we hear the word “bias”, it might conjure up negative images of stereotyping and discrimination. It might be used to describe teachers favouring students on a course, or…
Authentic Matters
Recently, while perusing LinkedIn, I came across a post by a researcher celebrating their recent achievement. They claimed to have had a number of papers accepted into a conference. They had simply posted that fact, with no context about what the papers were on, or what their interest was in them. Without making any assumptions…
Why the population is aging
A recent article in the Times [1], shows that many countries are trying to decrease the average age in their country since demographic trends show that the average age is going up. This, of course, puts a strain on the workforce as what is called the old-age dependency ratio [2] is increasing as the ratio…
All the World’s a Stage: Dominic Cummings and the Hypocrisy of Politics
Barnard Castle: A sight for sore eyes? Credit: George Hodan If you’ve been following the UK news recently, you’ll be hard put to have missed the dominating headline: the fall from grace of Dominic Cummings — Chief Adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson — seemingly breaking the rules his own party set on social distancing…
The Undemocratic Rebellion
\”Mr Stop Brexit\” Steve Bray and a Leave campaigner. Credit: Reuters/Toby Melville. Reading about Brexit recently I encountered one leave supporter describing the current group of remainers and politicians who are campaigning for remain or a blockade for a no deal Brexit as an ‘undemocratic rebellion’. At first, it might seem obvious – the results…
What is opportunity cost? A matter of life and death.
Opportunity cost is simply the cost of producing a good with reference to what you could have instead produced in the meantime. You can understand it in terms of the number of hours you have in a day (time is incidentally usually a factor which has to be taken into consideration, along with resources when…
The Sad Truth About Students
Only programmers will understand. If you would like to learn how to program in C++, thenewboston has a YouTube channel with lots of beginners tutorials. You’ll be hooked once you start.
Charges of Geresy 