Put together all the transistors in all the computers in the world and you have roughly 1,000 times as many connections as the human brain has synapses. Could they achieve something like the consciousness that the human brain has? A number of observers, including neuroscientist Christof Koch, argue that there’s no reason why not, “in principle.” Philosopher Massimo Pigliucci points out a great big flaw in that argument..
Tag: 11.08.12
Ray Bradbury’s Final Works
“Two pieces released this fall were written late in life by the science fiction/fantasy master, who died in June at age 91.”
The World’s Most Massive Public Art Fair (It’s A Religious Festival In Calcutta)
“Over the course of two hot, humid months at the tail end of the monsoon season, 20,000 new structures come up around the city for [Durga Puja], celebrated over five days in September or October. These temporary temples, called pandals, “have become giant art installations, ‘pandal-hopping’ a kind of gallery crawl.”
The Old Regime Is Dying, But How Do We Adjust To The New?
“What we’re doing now isn’t sustainable. So why should new things have to prove they can do something our current system cannot provide? … I’m not in favor of abandoning ideas because we can’t figure out how to put them to a test that the status quo has already failed. Miserably.”
As Movie Ticket Sales Drop In US, Average Ticket Prices Fall
“The average ticket price for the three-month period ended Sept. 30 was $7.78, down from a record high of $8.12 in the second quarter and $7.94 a year earlier, according to the National Assn. of Theatre Owners.”
LA’s Museum Of Latin American Art Lays Off Chief Curator, Cuts Staff
The museum director said “the cuts were necessary following the death in 2009 of the museum’s founder, Dr. Robert Gumbiner, who donated significantly to the museum. “He would write a check at the end of the year to cover whatever shortfall there was. He’s no longer here. But the culture of the museum was operating like he was.”
Coming Soon: You’ll Be Able To Remix Plots Of TV Shows
“The software then assembles a group of scenes that its video and audio algorithms have decided are semantically similar, and therefore hopefully represents the same plot line. In the same way, if you are interested in a certain actor, you can choose their face and only their scenes will be compiled into a summary.”
How The Brain Works – We May Have To Think About It Differently In Order To Figure It Out
“Traditional neuroscientific research, which seeks to explain increasingly specialised aspects of brain function in isolation, may have limited scope. The reductionist approach has to be supplemented by a constructivist one – putting the pieces back together again to explain the whole. Modern tools, including supercomputers and the mathematics of complexity, make that possible.”
How Focusing On The Money Debases Our Sense Of Art
“This talk of prices taints our relationship with great art. It becomes … sleazy. Picasso’s Coq failed to sell: does that mean Picasso is less cool than he was when he set a world record in the same auction house in May 2010? Has he somehow become less good?”
Will Paper Survive As Our Culture Goes Digital?
“Despite the obvious encroachments of the digital, we all still use so much paper to note, to register, to measure, to account for, to classify, authorise, endorse and generally to tot up, gee up and make good our lives that it would be a Joycean undertaking to provide a full history of all the paper in just one life on one day, never mind in one city on one day, or in the life of one nation.”