[ Home | Articles | Account | People | Projects | FAQ ] If we discovered life on another planet, the first thing we would do is conduct a systematic inventory of that planet's life. This is something we have never done on our home planet. The aim of the All Species Inventory is simple: within the span of our own generation, record and genetically sample every living species of life on Earth. This audacious goal will be accomplished by using one billion or more dollars of philanthropic wealth to fund and train a network of local collectors and naturalists throughout the world, and to employ the latest in information technology to manage this surge of bio-information.Truly a Grand Scheme, superceded only perhaps by the 10,000 year clock.
My favourite byte to chew on:
... Turing's mistake was that he assumed that the only explanation for a successful computer entrant would be that the computer had become elevated in some way; by becoming smarter, more human. There is another, equally valid explanation of a winning computer, however, which is that the human had become less intelligent, less human-like.(emphasis mine)An official Turing Test is held every year, and while the substantial cash prize has not been claimed by a program as yet, it will certainly be won sometime in the coming years. My view is that this event is distracting everyone from the real Turing Tests that are already being won. Real, though miniature, Turing Tests are happening all the time, every day, whenever a person puts up with stupid computer software.
Oh, and don't head over there until you have a good block of time so you can think about the ideas, and also read the extensive Reality Club response (274k) which is arguable more interesting than the article itself.
Enjoy, I know I am.
I'm told the Panasonic VS-9670 is such a beast. I think there are others as well. And then there's TiVo.
...answering here because I didn't feel it was appropriate to fragment the discussion on the front page.
cheers.
McAffee is moving to a completely online version of security. The way it's supposed to work is: an ActiveX/Java-enabled web browser connects to their site, grabs the latest virus definition files & (java) scanning engine, disinfects local computer. A wonderful idea for ensuring you *always* have the latest version.
But what happens when X Million users all get hit at once? You're dead in the water, that's what. I been trying for over an hour to get through on McAffee's site to find a love-fix that will integrate nicely with our setup. I've now managed to navigate through 3 whole pages. What progress eh?
Anyway, F-Prot came through as usual though their site is pretty bogged too, so here is a mirror for those of you who happen to be stuck in the same situation I am.
I'm still explaining the name with every new encounter, but I've stopped trying to generate the "right name". One of these days I'll spring wake up at 3am and it'll be there. Or so I've been telling myself for the last 3 years anyway. :)
meat space
Like jwz, I thought my teeth and I had a mutual non-aggression pact. Like all alliances though,
things are subject to change and treachery. The sappers have been busy undermining the castle walls.
Four of the perfidious bastards got yanked last friday and I'm very happy to report that my experience was much
less horrific than Jamie's. A word of advice though, even if it doesn't hurt (much), don't yap too much on your first
day back at work; my jaw hurt worse this morning than it did the day after.
postscript
weird thing happening with the preview code: <a
href="http://advogato.org/person/somebody"> turned
into <a href="http://advogato.org/advogato.org/person/somebody">
To my mind, a Guru is more accomplished than than a Master. Most anybody can master their craft given a suitable number of years and hours of practice or devotion. Very few have the wherewithal to become a Guru no matter how much they try. Think Allah, Christ, Buddha, Gloosecap, Confucius, etc. You are not likely to meet or work with a Guru, but your great great grandparent/child may.
A [some term I've not identified yet, use Wizard for now] floats somewhere between Master and Guru, and maybe even above and below both levels of accomplishment. Shakespeare, Leonardo, Miyamoto Musashi, Darwin, Newton. There are more Wizards than Gurus and it's conceivable that you could know and work with one.
They are a very great number of Masters and in all likelihood you will become one if you stay in the same place for enough years (a decade or two). You are pretty much guaranteed the opportunity to work with and befriend masters.
Adept is the most suitable alternative term to the emotionally charged Journeyman and the different meaning Journeyer. In most trades, it takes four to seven years of five days a week, both school and practical work experience, to become an Adept. Adepts are probably a better souce of practical day to day learning than masters because they are easy to find and the gap between their understanding and yours is not so great.
Initiate may be a more suitable term than Apprentice and Novice which are even more emotionally laden with subtext than Journeyman but for entirely different reasons.* An Initiate intends to become an Adept or a Master eventually.
Observer should be Dilettante. Or perhaps Dilettante should be it's own category, yes, that's the way I see it. A Dilettante is somebody who plays around with the craft but has no (serious) intentions of ever becoming truly adept or masterful. An Observer is curious and hangs about just to take in the atmosphere and get a feel for the goings on.
* Nobody wants to be inexperienced or ignorant or uninformed. That is unfortunate. It is -precisely- in the areas where we are foolish and ignorant that we have the most potential for growth and power. An electrician friend (a journeyman btw, 3 yrs school, 10 years experience) put it nicely:
"I look for the places where I feel the most stupid and that's where I hang out. It's there that I really learn things."This friend is becoming quite accomplished in a variety of areas and is a true physical hacker. If it's made out of metal, wires or wood he can adapt (note the similarity to adept) and form it to fit his needs. If he can't find it, he builds it. Trucks, cars, houses, tools. They are all putty in a constant state of transformation in his hands.
Anyway, the point is, the whole reason for this diary entry is, being a babe in the woods is not something to be ashamed of or a state to get rid of as quickly as possible. It is a place to play in and fully explore. 'Be ye as a child' and all that. The secondary point is, it takes time and hard work to become really skillful at a craft. There is no shame in not having that skill yet.
so.....
Look for where you are stupid and hang around in it.
-matt
for the record, a Dilettante.
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~damian/TPC/1999/Coy/
Too bad I hardly ever use perl. ;-)
FOAF updates: Trust rankings are now exported, making the data available to other users and websites. An external FOAF URI has been added, allowing users to link to an additional FOAF file.
Keep up with the latest Advogato features by reading the Advogato status blog.
If you're a C programmer with some spare time, take a look at the mod_virgule project page and help us with one of the tasks on the ToDo list!