This follows on from last month’s post, in which we discussed the possibility of a future Shazam for People service and extends it to the concept of a ‘universal tracking system’ or real-world Marauder’s Map …
So, just how feasible is it?
Category Archives: Science
A Real “Marauder’s Map”?
How Singular is the Singularity?
If recent headlines are anything to go by, opinion on the likelihood – and impact – of the ‘Technological Singularity’ is diverging rapidly. Is this largely because we don’t even agree on what it is?
‘Artificial Intelligence’ (AI) is certainly in the news at lot at the moment. But so are robots; and Kurzweil’s Singularity; and machine evolution; and transhumanism. Are these the same thing? Are they even related? If so, how? What exactly should we be arguing about? Are we worried precisely because we don’t know this stuff?
Well, perhaps to make a start, we should point out that intelligence isn’t the same thing as evolution (in any sense). That’s obvious and accepted for ‘conventional’ life-on-earth but we seem to be getting a bit confused between the two when it comes to machines. Developments in both may proceed in parallel and one may eventually lead to the other (although which way round is debatable) but they’re not the same thing.
How Many Computer Scientists Does it Take to Change a Light Bulb?
… and other wild and carefree – probably offensive – stereotypes. A collection of ‘light-hearted’ (see what we did there?) thoughts and anecdotes trying to get to the bottom of what makes a Computer Scientist tick. There may or may not ultimately be a serious point …
It’s an old one but a good one:
There are 10 types of people in the world; those that understand binary and those that don’t
(At least, it’s as old and as good as CS jokes tend to be, which may not be a long vector in either direction.) But how much truth lies behind it? We hear a lot about this ‘computational thinking’, for example, these days but what does it take to be good at it? To what extent is CS ability a natural thing compared to what can be realistically taught? How much ‘computational thinking’ does everyone need today and how much can be left to the ‘experts’? In which case, what do we expect from the ‘experts’? Are programmers born that way or can the skill be developed? (Compare with artists: can you teach someone with no sense of perspective to be a landscape painter?) How much have Computer Scientists ‘evolved’ from experts in other disciplines? Whatever the underlying statistics might say, it does often seem that Computer Scientists are a breed apart from the rest of the world so what makes them so ‘special’?
Whatever Happened to Computing in Wales?
Two years ago, Wales was leading the way in the Computing revolution in schools. Now it’s falling behind the rest of the UK. What happened?
2012 was an exciting year to be involved in schools education in the UK, with Wales being no exception. By 2013, the Welsh ICT Steering Group had reported to the Welsh Government with an ambitious set of proposals, at the heart of which was the bold assertion that:
“Computing should be integrated into the curriculum as the fourth science, served by a mandatory Programme of Study, and receive the same status as the other three sciences”
Now, in 2014, the situation appears to be one of chaotic stagnation. And, if that combination appears oxymoronic, just take a look …
Under the lamp
Turing's Radiator 