25.2.10

Is your life just one big RPG?




Triumph of the Cyborg Composer - Säveltäjä Emily Howell on tietokoneohjelma. Kun koneet tekevät musiikin, ihmiset voivat keskittyä oleelliseen eli näyttämään hyvältä lavalla.
At one Santa Cruz concert, the program notes neglected to mention that Emily Howell wasn’t a human being, and a chemistry professor and music aficionado in the audience described the performance of a Howell composition as one of the most moving experiences of his musical life. Six months later, when the same professor attended a lecture of Cope’s on Emily Howell and heard the same concert played from a recording, Cope remembers him saying, “You know, that’s pretty music, but I could tell absolutely, immediately that it was computer-composed. There’s no heart or soul or depth to the piece.”

That sentiment — present in many recent articles, blog posts and comments about Emily Howell — frustrates Cope. “Most of what I’ve heard [and read] is the same old crap,” he complains. “It’s all about machines versus humans, and ‘aren’t you taking away the last little thing we have left that we can call unique to human beings — creativity?’ I just find this so laborious and uncreative.”
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Already, at least one prominent pop group — he’s signed a confidentiality agreement, so he can’t say which one — asked him to use software to help them write new songs. He also points to services like Pandora, which uses algorithms to suggest new music to listeners.

23.2.10

Muistilinkkejä

Singularity FAQ - Vastauksia kysymyksiin.

Piraattikirjallisuuden luvut 1-7 - Piraattikirjan luonnosversio.

Artificial Flight and Other Myths (a reasoned examination of A.F. by top birds) - Dresden Codak.

The Future of Money - Rahaa kuin roskapostia.

The night I met Einstein - Jos et pidä musiikista, opettele kuuntelemaan.

Aivodoping - Anders Sandberg City-lehdessä.

14.2.10

Lisää vain todellisuus




A survey of anti-cryonics writing - Yhtään kunnollista teknistä artikkelia kryoniikkaa vastaan ei näytä löytyvän. Saman huomasi Ralph Merkle jo 16 vuotta sitten. Kenties kyse on siitä, että ne jotka viitsivät tutkia kryoniikkaa syvällisemmin päätyvät lopulta kryoniikan kannattajiksi.
I mailed Michael Shermer, Steve Jones, Quackwatch, and Professor David Pegg. I told them (quite truthfully) that I had recently started talking to some people who were cryonics advocates, that they seemed persuasive but I wasn't an expert and didn't want to fall for a scam, and asked if there was anything they'd recommend I'd read on the subject to see the other side.

The only one of these to reply was Michael Shermer. He recommended I read David Brin, Steve Harris and Gregory Benford. This is a pretty surprising reply. The latter two are cryonics advocates, and while Brin talks about a lot of possible problems, he agrees with cryonics advocates that it is technically feasable.

Ben Goldacre: The placebo effect - Plaseboefekti hyötykäyttöön ilman valehtelua potilaille.

DNA 2.0: A new operating system for life is created