Forgot your password?

Close
typodupeerror
Robotics

Do not have a crush on your robot

Submitted by http://blog.santoshmaharshi.com
http://blog.santoshmaharshi.com writes "In a skeptical turn, the MIT ethnographer Sherry Turkle warns of the dangers of social technology. She has spent some 15 years since that day studying this emerging breed of "sociable robots"—including toys like Furbies and new robotic pets for the elderly—and what she considers their seductive and potentially dangerous powers. She argues that robotics' growing trend toward creating machines that act as if they were alive could lead people to place machines in roles she thinks only humans should occupy."

Phone etiquette and the end of the individual

Submitted by
Santosh Maharshi
Santosh Maharshi writes "Jason Kottke points to this arguement by Peggy Nelson that everyone being on their mobile phones all the time — even while at a dinner for two — isn't rude, it signals a shift from our society's emphasis on the individual to the networked "flow". From the article " We've moved from the etiquette of the individual to the etiquette of the flow.This is not mob rule, nor is it the fearsome hive mind, the sound of six billion vuvuzelas buzzing. This is not individuals giving up their autonomy or their rational agency. This is individuals choosing to be in touch with each other constantly, exchanging stories and striving for greater connection. The network does not replace the individual, but augments it. We have become individuals-plus-networks, and our ideas immediately have somewhere to go. As a result we're always having all of our conversations now, flexible geometries of nodes and strands, with links and laughing and gossip and facts flying back and forth. But the real message is movement.""

The compromised science of global warming

Submitted by
mobkarma
mobkarma writes "To what extent is climate change actually occuring? Late last year, climate researchers were accused of exaggerating study results. Spiegel Online has since analyzed the hacked "Climategate" e-mails and provided insights into one of the most unprecedented spats in recent scientific history. The article reveals how the war between climate researchers and climate skeptics broke out, the tricks the two sides used to outmaneuver each other and how the conflict could be resolved."

Metrics Mania & the countless counting problem->

Submitted by
mobkarma
mobkarma writes "Einstein said once “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” This NYTimes article titled 'Metric Mania' suggests that unless we know how things are counted, we don't know if it's wise to count on the numbers. The problem isn(TM)t with statistical tests themselves but with what we do before and after we run them. If a person starts drinking day in and day out after a cancer diagnosis and dies from acute cirrhosis, did he kill himself? The answers to such questions significantly affect the count."
Link to Original Source
Open Source

SPAM: Open | Mobile and it's impact on mobile industry

Submitted by
MobKarma
MobKarma writes "Mark A.M. Kramer on SmartMobs reccomends to download (free e-book) and read — Open Mobile: Understanding the Impact of Open Mobile — Implications for Telecoms/Devices, Web, Social Networks, Media and Personal Privacy. This book explores the interplay between the world of the Internet and the world of mobility. The Internet world is regarded as being 'Open'; however, as we shall see, 'Open' can be interpreted differently depending on constituency. The mobile world is supposed to be 'Closed'. Thus, the interaction between the Internet and mobile worlds extends beyond technology — and into the realm of philosophy (Open vs. Closed). Driven by customers and under the influence of the Internet, it is inevitable that the closed mobile ecosystem is now 'Opening up'. We call this phenomenon 'Open Mobile'."
Social Networks

On Social Networks You Are 'Who You know'

Submitted by
santosh maharshi
santosh maharshi writes "On social networks like Facebook even if you have kept your profile very very private, people can just look at your friends list and get lots of vital information about you. Most of the social networks like Facebook & LinkedIn allow people to see your pic and friends list as part of the open access for visitors. In a study "You Are Who You Know:Inferring User Profiles in Online Social Networks" [PDF], conducted by Alan Mislove of Northeastern University and his colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems an algorithm was tested that could accurately infer the personal attributes of Facebook users by simply looking at their friend lists. The results show that certain user attributes can be inferred with high accuracy when given information on as little as 20% of the users."
The Internet

The Future of the Internet

Submitted by
santosh maharshi
santosh maharshi writes "Doc searls informs about The Future of the Internet IV, the study conducted by Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and Elon University. Survey respondents shared thousands of issues-exposing predictive statements tied to five "tension pairs" projecting their attitudes about the likely state of things in 2020. Experts were asked about the Internet and the evolution of: intelligence; reading and the rendering of knowledge; identity and authentication; gadgets and applications; and the core values of the Internet. The 45-page briefing as a PDF is available for downloaded here. In this report, you will find experts' thoughts on the following issues:

1. Will Google make us stupid?
2. Will we live in the cloud or the desktop?
3. Will social relations get better?
4. Will the state of reading and writing be improved?
5. Will those in GenY share as much information about themselves as they age?
6. Will our relationship to key institutions change?
7. Will online anonymity still be prevalent?
8. Will the Semantic Web have an impact?
9. Are the next takeoff technologies evident now?
10. Will the Internet still be dominated by the end-to-end principle?

"
Censorship

Thanks readers for not expressing yourself-> 1

Submitted by
santosh maharshi
santosh maharshi writes "Richard Dawkins has recently learned that he should thank his readers for not expressing themselves.

He ran a website for people of like mind, but noticed that many of the comments that appeared on it were beside the point, either mere gossip or insult. So he announced that he was going to exercise a little control over what appeared on it — as was his right since it was, after all, his site. Censorship is not failing to publish something, it is forbidding something to be published, which is not at all the same thing, though the difference is sometimes ill-appreciated.

The torrent of vile abuse that he received after his announcement took him aback. Its vehemence was shocking; someone called him ‘a suppurating rat’s rectum.’ He replied to this abuse with admirable restraint:

"Surely there has to be something wrong with people who can resort to such over-the-top language, overreacting so spectacularly to something so trivial".

"
Link to Original Source
The Internet

It's time take internet seriously, says David G->

Submitted by
santosh maharshi
santosh maharshi writes "David Gelernter recommends on Edge.org that it's "Time to start taking the Internet Seriously". It's an introduction to the concept of algorithmic culture. To get it, you need to be part of it, you need to come out of it. Otherwise, you spend the rest of your life dancing to the tune of other people's code. Just look at Europe where the idea of competition in the Internet space appears to focus on litigation, legislation, regulation, and criminalization. You might want to take David seriously as David had previously predicted the Web, and who first presented the idea of "the cloud". He is also the professor of computer science at Yale and chief scientist at Mirror Worlds Technologies (New Haven)"
Link to Original Source

Wanna buy a duck?