Category Archives: Science
20 Jun Allusion of Clarity
Speaking to an associate at work I told him that a certain tool allows us to perform a complex technical change “with impunity”. My intent was to point out that without the tool, the change would create major ripple effects, breaking large amounts of code that would need to be fixed. He said that he would restate […]
19 Jun Did You Change Your Mind?
Change is a Constant There is a beautiful song from the by the Rascals that asks: “In a world that’s constantly changing, how can I be sure?” When confronted with the dirty little uncertainties that swirl around everyday life and interpersonal relations, anyone’s mind may experience turmoil. How do we resolve it? What mental processes keep us from […]
15 Jun Natural Intelligence
The Gross Anatomy of Smart The biology of understanding is not fully understood. But there are some things we can infer from what we know about how the brain works that may help us in modeling smarter systems. I love looking inside the brain for clues on what it does so I can help design […]
13 Jun The Mind and its Brain
Mind-Brain Dualism While brains can be weighed, minds are weightless. Despite some differences of opinion about what all to put on the scale, we can get usable numbers about brain weight and changes in brain weight due to certain phenomena such as changes in age. Of course, the mind and brain may be one and the same – there […]
12 Jun To Choose or not to Choose
Leg-room, anyone? The CEO of a major Airline recently stated that a-la-carte pricing of flight upgrades (such as extra baggage, preferred seating and food) is better because Americans demand “choice“. I remember my knee-jerk reaction: “Yeah – and they are choosing discount airlines that don’t charge for what was once part of the bargain.” It […]
11 Jun Dawn of The Age of Knowledge
Sunset in The Information Age We stand in the waning days of the Information Age. Certainly the information already available to the searching mind through printed, recorded, and encoded electronic media spans the universe of fact and imagination. I have been told that we are now entering the Age of Context. This is exciting to […]
09 Jun What’s the Point (of this blog)?
Knowledge Glut? Too many of us are stuck on the on-ramp of the information superhighway, waiting to get on. The highway seems to be moving from my vantage point, but there is this guy stopped at the top of the ramp. Sometimes you just have to get out and walk. By the way, this photo shows […]
