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Submission + - Roboticists Discover Alternative Physics (phys.org)

An anonymous reader writes: Energy, mass, velocity. These three variables make up Einstein's iconic equation E=MC2. But how did Einstein know about these concepts in the first place? A precursor step to understanding physics is identifying relevant variables. Without the concept of energy, mass, and velocity, not even Einstein could discover relativity. But can such variables be discovered automatically? Doing so could greatly accelerate scientific discovery. This is the question that researchers at Columbia Engineering posed to a new AI program. The program was designed to observe physical phenomena through a video camera, then try to search for the minimal set of fundamental variables that fully describe the observed dynamics. The study was published on July 25 in Nature Computational Science.

The researchers began by feeding the system raw video footage of phenomena for which they already knew the answer. For example, they fed a video of a swinging double pendulum known to have exactly four "state variables"—the angle and angular velocity of each of the two arms. After a few hours of analysis, the AI produced the answer: 4.7. The researchers then proceeded to visualize the actual variables that the program identified. Extracting the variables themselves was not easy, since the program cannot describe them in any intuitive way that would be understandable to humans. After some probing, it appeared that two of the variables the program chose loosely corresponded to the angles of the arms, but the other two remain a mystery. "We tried correlating the other variables with anything and everything we could think of: angular and linear velocities, kinetic and potential energy, and various combinations of known quantities," explained Boyuan Chen Ph.D., now an assistant professor at Duke University, who led the work. "But nothing seemed to match perfectly." The team was confident that the AI had found a valid set of four variables, since it was making good predictions, "but we don't yet understand the mathematical language it is speaking," he explained.

After validating a number of other physical systems with known solutions, the researchers fed videos of systems for which they did not know the explicit answer. The first videos featured an "air dancer" undulating in front of a local used car lot. After a few hours of analysis, the program returned eight variables. A video of a lava lamp also produced eight variables. They then fed a video clip of flames from a holiday fireplace loop, and the program returned 24 variables. A particularly interesting question was whether the set of variable was unique for every system, or whether a different set was produced each time the program was restarted.

Submission + - Bitcoin Dumpster Guy Has a Wild Plan to Rescue Millions in Crypto From a Landfil (gizmodo.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Former IT worker James Howells—who once stood on the very forefront of the crypto boom and could have been a multimillionaire—is desperate to scour a UK landfill located in Newport, Wales where he might find a missing drive that contains the passcode for a crypto wallet containing 8,000 bitcoin, worth close to $176 million as of writing. Howells said he accidentally dumped the wrong hard drive back in 2013. Though the price of crypto remains in the proverbial dumpster, this data cache represents millions of dollars simply stuck on the blockchain, with nobody able to access the wallet without the required passcode. It’s been a long road, and he hasn’t given up on his quest to rescue his missing millions. Only problem is finding that hard drive would require digging through a literal mountain of garbage.

In an interview with Business Insider released Sunday, Howell said he has a foolproof scheme to rescue his bitcoin from an actual trash pile. He’s put together an $11 million business plan which he’ll use to get investors and the Newport City Council on board to help excavate the landfill. His proposal would require them to dig through 110,000 tons of trash over three years. A $6 million version of the plan would go over 18 months. A video hosted by Top Gear alum Richard Hammond said the bitcoin “proponent” has already reportedly secured funding from two Euro-based venture capitalists Hanspeter Jaberg and Karl Wendeborn, if Howells can get approval from the local government.

The garbage would be sorted at a separate pop-up facility near the landfill using human pickers and an AI system used to spot that hard drive amidst all that other refuse. He’s even brought on eight experts in artificial intelligence, excavation, waste management, and data extraction, all to find a lone hard drive in a trash pile. The plan also involves making use of the Boston Dynamics robotic dogs. The former IT worker told reporters the machines could be used as security and CCTV cameras to scan the ground, looking for the hard drive. When they were released, each “Spot” robot model cost $74,500. Even with that price tag, Howells said he already has names for the two. Insider reported he would name one Satoshi, named after Satoshi Nakamoto, the person or group behind the white paper that first proposed bitcoin back in 2008. The other one would be named “Hal”—no, not that HAL—but Hal Finney, the first person to receive a bitcoin transaction.

Comment Re:uh... 800 miles (Score 1) 276

as with most things in life those are debatable statements that bear no similarity with the truth. If she is so smart why is she still married to Bill? As with the smart man I don't think he was in the election and your intelligence is highly flawed if you speak of Biden. Both have a very high percentage of their earned waves from the public arena. Both have no clue on what's it like to work for a living. Everybody in politics are shills lying to your face for your vote. It started with Kennedy and has gotten worse every year. With Trump we know he is a dumbass. He says what he will do and does what he will say. I don't give a shit about elegance or grace, I want the truth. Please take off the partisan blinders and you too can see what is going on.

Comment Power Budget (Score 1) 180

power budget is not enough to support those activities. Go to a ethernet camera in the 100-500 range and FTP will be a standard option. If you do not have a POE switch, look at the connector on the camera and see if there is a wall wart plug on it. If so you are golden. If you really want a battery powered camera with wifi then you need a solar panel, couple car batteries and a ubiquiti (what I use) or other Bridge/AP device. I've got most of the kinks out of mine that is located 1000ft from my house. Another option is bury a ethernet cable and when you get to 300ft put a ethernet extender in. You can add 4 or 5 before you start having problems. I had the panels so I used them.

Comment Re:Mixed feelings (Score 1) 114

You fail to consider that there are thousands of electronic devices (security cameras for one) that require IE and are not accessible without it and Active X. When IE goes away so does the way to administer these devices. I don't care which browser I use but it has to be one that works with these devices and for a lot of them there is only one. Shortsighted on the end of their developer but it still leaves us in a place that we still need it. Old cars pollute a lot but that doesn't mean they don't work.

Comment Re: I am not a denier at all (Score 1) 253

Isnâ(TM)t it disappointing that we are no better informed today than we were in February?

Yes, it's disappointing. However it's not disappointing with the scientists - they know much more. It's disappointing with humanity but especially Slashdot mods. The article linked to clearly states:

Genomic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 showed genetically significant differences between each variant associated with each instance of infection.

That means that there were two separate infections, basically with 100% certainty. You can even use genomic differences to trace the different tracks that the infections arrived by which New Zealand and China do regularly.

So why am I disappointed? We have a person who didn't read the article, is speculating from ignorance without even stating their lack of reading into this and enough Slashdot mods have moderated it without bothering to know their subject (note - +5 "insightful", not +5 "interesting" - this is an actual mod failure, not just a case of someone adding to the debate) that it's discrediting us. Please make an effort to study and understand what's going on. The knowledge is out there and is reasonably clear from reputable sources like the BMJ and the Lancet. Even the United States Center for Disease Control despite restrictions from Trump has been putting out plenty of good information. There is no excuse for being "no better informed today than we were in February".

You should also be disappointed that even after you point this out that there are by now dozens of comments after yours discussing this false premise?

Comment Re:Trump didn't do the de-funding (Score 1) 231

He modified the banking/lending rules to create the financial crisis of 2008. Like Chess, sometimes a bad move gets you long after you have forgotten why it was made. Both sides are as guilty as hell and those of you stupid enough to support one side or the other will be the ultimate cause of our demise. I do find it interesting that the reason we have Trump is because Hillary was our only viable option.

Comment Re: Pot Meet Kettle (Score 1) 133

An irrational persecution mania, a deep rooted victim complex and constant whining about the injustice of it all is their default state that has gotten louder since they lost the last election. You may be unhappy with the political landscape in 2020 but elections have consequences and the continual whining of the left about anything Trump is falling on deaf ears. Your facts however skewed are always favoring your argument with no objective observations, just a blind hate for the man who came in and caught the ball and won the game. His flaws in personality and politics are far less than the previous administration. I have been reading slashdot through several administrations and know that this too will pass and the next villian is now assembling his presidential campaign. The only question will they hate him or her more than the last guy?

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