amarbledesk.com
a menu of placations
| posts tagged ‘awesomeness’ |
The Jennings Test
16 Feb 2011 23:16 EDT
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Big Blue
Random observations upon the Defeat of the Humans on Jeopardy! by Watson, the wondrous electrical thinking-machine:
1. What Watson got wrong, and how it did so, is at least as interesting as what it got right.
2. At first I thought it was remarkable that Watson would be so closely competitive to the humans. Yes, it won, but it was no worse a defeat than many traditional human-on-human contests. Watson’s timing was eerily close to humans’, as well: sometimes it buzzed in first, sometimes it didn’t. How uncanny to be so closely matched. On reflection I realized that’s just a function of its development: in the past, Watson Beta must have been too slow to compete. It got better and better, but hasn’t yet gotten so good that it just skunks human players. So now’s a good time for it to be on TV – but that means all the general public sees is this snapshot.
3. In less than a decade, there’ll be thousands if not millions or billions of Watsons embedded in the world around us.
4. Watson seems to display knowledge without understanding. Some of its wrong answers, and its visible thought processes, showed it wanted to answer questions about people with a book, or questions about US cities with an obviously non-US city. If a human did this we’d say they lacked very basic understanding of the subject matter. There’s fascinating questions that follow: is this a side effect of Watson’s programming (it was built to win, not to understand)? Is understanding so fundamentally different from knowledge that we need new algorithms or devices to capture it? Or is the difference just one of degree – give it enough knowledge and understanding will emerge? Or maybe do biological creatures come about understanding in a way that silicon-based ones cannot (by what mechanism)? I imagine that places like Douglas Hofstadter’s center are pondering such things. Watson did poorly with wordplay, one of the subjects that Hofstadter has focused on throughout his career. Can a computer make a pun? Can a computer “get” a joke?
4. Speaking of Hofstadters and Gebstadters, when I was 15 and first read their seminal collaboration Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, computers were lumbering, flickering beasts that dwelt within rough metal carcasses, blind and deaf and barely tethered to the rest of us by exceeding narrow pathways of copper admitting only ponderous telegrams as communications.* Now my kid has a Droid.
Times change, and Moore’s law holds, and Watson seems more related to the science fiction of my childhood than its science. To many, it may be indistinguishable from magic.
5. Watson > Ken Jennings > the rest of us poor saps
Anyway, that’s what I thought of when I watched Jeopardy tonight. Oh, wait, no, there were a couple more:
6. If Watson has a rematch will they give it Sean Connery’s voice?
7. My version of the show is called Leopardy! Naturally, wrong questions are punished at the claws of a spotted big cat.
That’s really enough now. Unlike Watson, I need sleep.
*Could Watson parse that sentence?
The truth about the de-evolution band
12 Aug 2010 23:18 EDT
I saw a man on a stage scream “Put me back in my cage!” / I saw him hang by his tie / I saw enough to make me cry…
-”Planet Earth”, Devo
Last Wednesday I finally performed my duty and attended my first ever concert performance by DEV-O, the De-evolution Band of Akron, Ohio (What’s round on the end and high in the middle?). Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald V Casale, Bob1, Bob2, and the new boy Josh played for a large troupe of primates at the Ohio State Fair, where people also sell deep fried Snickers bars, sculpt unironic cows of butter, and fatten themselves on fattened pigs.
The condensed review: It’s a Good Thing.
The whole big mess: I have waited all my futile, repetitive ‘life’ to attend a performance by these spuds. Now that I have done so, I am happy to report that I have nothing further to live for but the dictates of my genetics. The grotesque, yet fully satisfying, spectacle of videos, lights, and calisthenics was accompanied by a throbbing beat, clamorous guitars, and victorious analog synthesizers. The analog tones produced by the vintage synths spoke with a raw-edged perfection that straddled the uncanny line between natural sounds and the noise of machinery. Modern digital synthesis is pathetic, weak, and bloodless in comparison.
Bob1 on the psycho-surf guitar tore shreds in the amps throughout the night; in the second half of the show his bandmates gave up their own synths for guitars themselves as they switched from new songs to old favorites. In lieu of a drum machine, the boys from Ohio recruited Mr Freese, the very man who is used as the calibration to ensure drum machines keep proper time. He closed his eyes and beat the skins like a man barely aware of anything but the insistent rhythm. Mark Mothersbaugh gave a consistently hyperactive performance, although for the last song he deserted us and left poor Booji Boy to sing the lead on “Beautiful World” – while images of the Deepwater Horizon flowed jarringly before us. And the brothers Casale on the bass and the rhythm laid down a texture not heard since our ancestors were hooting in caves.
A thing to remember: Devo are essentially two pairs of brothers, two of whom are suspiciously named Bob. These are men who have never grown up and make their livings still playing around with their brothers. This gives these sexagenarians a fount of youthful energy. They did not stop moving. Truth be told, the opening band were twenty-something hipsters who lolled lackadaisically about in their chairs making adequate music. In stark contrast, Devo understood that performance requires action. They simultaneously played instruments, sang, and ran frenetically to and fro, all while showing videos on a high-technology transparent LED screen behind them and three enormous displays around them.
The video entertainment was highly ironic. No, Gen Y, I do not mean ironic like a goatee or a Where the Wild Things Are t-shirt. Devo are dead serious about their irony. The videos taught us that our pheromones and hormones rule our minds, and yet our primitive culture subsumes french fries and donuts for sex.
In no reasonable order, I will now list for you the tunes they barraged us with: Whip It / What We Do / Uncontrollable Urge (featuring the original choreography!) / That’s Good (of Square Pegs infamy)/ Smart Patrol/Mr DNA (for die-hard devotees) / Secret Agent Man (a tour de force by Bob1) / Satisfaction (the original and best)/ Planet Earth / Peek-a-Boo! (scary) / Mongoloid (thoughtful, actually) / Jocko Homo / Going Under (a personal favorite) / Girl U Want / Gates of Steel / Fresh / Freedom of Choice / Don’t Shoot (I’m A Man) / Devo Corporate Anthem / Beautiful World. I should note that What We Do (the finest performance of the night), Uncontrollable Urge, Mongoloid, and Don’t Shoot were particular favorites of the feverish crowd.
I must admit that I draw the attention of my children (who, with my mate, accompanied me to the concert) to the lyrical teachings of Devo. Devo’s music can be beautiful, but their lyrics are, strictly speaking, not. Instead of focusing on Beauty, they focus on Truth. The Truth is only sometimes beautiful. It is often harsh, unwanted, and painful. Yet it is true, and we ignore Truth at our peril. It comforts us not to confront our descent from the apes; our slavery to our uncontrollable biological urges; our existence which repeats itself mundanely, day after day, generation after generation. These are Devo’s topics, set atop catchy jingles with danceable beats: “the fittest shall survive, yet the unfit may live“; “freedom of choice is what you’ve got, freedom from choice is what you want“. But Devo are never subjugated by the Truth. They don’t mope. Instead they also tell us how we must embrace our destinies and strive for success within the time and space we are given: Whip It! Step Up!
The evening was itself a success. Devo have been travelling minstrels for 37 years, but show few signs of flagging and little evidence of rot. They are still loud, brash, deliberate, annoying, fun, bright, stupid, and brilliant. Having felt their presence I can now spread the word as it has been ordained. If they invade your town, do not fail to heed the call. They have something for everybody.
Tags: awesomeness, Life, local, music, stupidity
Posted by mark beadles in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Posted by mark beadles in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Ashes to ashes, roots to branches
12 Mar 2010 19:53 EDT
Fire burns; fire kills. Fire reduces wood and bone to ashes. From the ashes grow new forests which in turn are consumed in fire and fall to ash. The forests have learned to subsume this cycle; the ashes feed the next generation’s seeds. There’s even a sort of tree termed a fire-climax pine: the Obsipo pine not only survives fire, but depends on the heat to open its cones and release its seeds.
The phoenix is a fantasy, a dreamed-up bird that burns only to rise again. We humans aren’t so lucky, are we? The firebird sees his perennial reinvention simply as part of his nature. It’s simple for the phoenix to rise up from the embers. We humans, though: we really have to work at it. Reinvention and rebuilding are born of necessity but they ain’t necessarily easy.
I’m pushing the metaphor too much here, of course: fire is our enemy, but ever since Prometheus earned his life sentence fire has also been our tool. The trick’s in putting that fire to its best use. But rest unassured: you’re not going to avoid getting burned.
Car crash, cancer, bankruptcy, prison; bereaved spouses, torched houses — only a few among us will escape disaster, and honestly I’m not sure they’re truly the ‘lucky’ few. Resiliency’s such a useful capability and if you don’t learn it sooner you may regret it later. What gives some people the knack to rebuild themselves from scratch? Or, what makes some people unable to rise after a fall?
Part of it is that luck, or that unluck: crush a man to pieces and maybe he’s reduced to rubble. I won’t venture to guess why that fate befalls some; I’ll just note that in the end none of us escape it. But there’s a whole lotta bad luck that’s not mortally bad. When this submortal luck chooses you, how do you see it? As defeat and despair? As a challenge to rise above? Or even as an opportunity and a second (or third, fourth…) chance?
Reduce the tree’s trunk to ashes and perhaps its rootstock will survive. It may remain a ruined stump, technically but not practically alive. It may shoot out a few sucker branches stabbing forth green but really not a tree now, we must admit. Or it might, just might, grow to full height again. But look: the tree that grows from the ruined stump will not be the same tree that stood before. Not a leaf, not a branch, will remain in place or grow as it once grew. It’s the same tree, but not the same tree.
I don’t quite understand it and I’m living inside of it; but then I’m not a phoenix, just a man.
|
|
|
|
Prometheus: From thoughts of death I freed the minds of men.
Chorus: What medicine finding for this malady ?
Prom: Blind hopes I gave them, in their breasts to dwell.
Chor: A priceless boon they have received from thee.
|
|
|
|
|
Apps I love: yWriter 5
23 Dec 2009 00:19 EDT
I started writing fiction in earnest early this spring. All authors have their own medium of choice for the creative act of writing — some longhand with fountain pen, some on legal pads, some dictating into a machine, some use a good old typewriter, and of course, many on computer. The choice seems usually to be personal and quirky, not unlike a musician’s choice of axe. I use the computer myself since that’s what I’m most comfortable with and find it the quickest method to flow words from my brain to “paper”.
For umpteen years, or actually more like twenty-ump years, I’ve been writing with Microsoft Word as a tool for technical documents, reports, whitepapers, standards docs, etc. I started writing fiction using Word as well; it’s fine for research, character creation, backstory, etc., but I found that it’s not really the best tool for the actual act of writing novels. It’s rather too generic and doesn’t have any awareness of the building blocks of novels: chapters, characters, scenes, and so forth.
Then in the run-up to National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo, where I’m Derek Balsam), I learned about yWriter. In particular, I discovered yWriter 5 (older versions are still available, but I wanted the latest) from SpaceJock Software. It’s FREE (as in beer) software written by a single developer who is also a published novelist. He wrote the tool that he wanted for writing novels.
It has a great philosophy behind it: it’s free (though I did make a donation to its author), it’s quick, it’s light. Its interface is minimalist and uncluttered, and you can customize fonts and colors to suit your preferences. What it does is provide tools to organize scenes, chapters, characters, points of view, locations, and key items; for outlining, drafting, scheduling/tracking/repoting. and storyboarding.. It also has global and local search/replace and (very important!) word counting and usage statistics. A great set of features for writing stories.
What’s almost more impressive are the features it doesn’t have. It doesn’t have an interface full of icons; it doesn’t provide complex formatting, page layout, or publishing features. It doesn’t check you grammar or try to reformat things as you type. In short, it doesn’t try to be a word processor. If you want, you can import and export stories or chunks to and from your favorite such program, but yWriter itself concentrates on the craft of writing, not of printing and display.
Two other awesome features are its text-to-speech capability (it will read you story to you) and context-sensitive highlighting of characters, locations, and items — this latter feature includes the ability to click any of these building blocks, which will bring up your own notes on each of them. Last, I’ll just mention that the program has real auto-save — it automatically saves your work so you can’t accidentally quit without saving.
Thanks to yWriter, I was able to write the first 35,000 words of my first novel in just 30 days. It’s a useful tool that does only what it needs to do and no more.
Apps I love: Notepad++
20 Dec 2009 17:12 EDT
Notepad++ is a freeware text editing program available from Sourceforge. The name implies that it’s a Windows Notepad replacement or enhancement, but that’s true only in the sense that bacon is a replacement or enhancement for pork. Notepad and pork are fine, but Notepad++ and bacon are awesome. Even better, Notepad++ is free, and you still have to pay for bacon.
I use the program mostly for web stuff — HTML, CSS, XML — but also for regular English .TXT files. The features I enjoy the most are syntax highlighting in the formats of my choice: option of light-colored text on a dark background for good visibility; support for a wide variety of file types; multiple-document multiple-view interface; great editing and search/replace capabilities; syntax folding to collapse and expand logical units; drag-and-drop; awareness of file modifications made outside of Notepad++; indentation guides and automated bracket finding.
It’s very quick and very lightweight — it uses a wonderfully small amount of memory. After years of the industry creating bloatware and believing that delivering more features is equivalent to using more resources, I’m always pleased to find programs that aim for simplicity in the right places. Notepad++ is very rich on features, but its interface is uncluttered and it remains fast and easy to use.
Kudos to the entire Notepad++ development team for their useful and usable project.
about mark beadles
I write the things you read here. Polymath renaissance redneck. I build software, stories, and young men. More...on the desk
around the web
in the vault
-
