Aristotle got it wrong again!
His 'Great Chain of Being,' in which animals are arranged in scales according to their degrees of 'perfection' beneath humans, collides with a recalcitrant fact: Chimps belong to the human genus. They may even have culture, social behavior, language, and other things we consider "human."
Further info from: Jane Goodall Institute | Discovery Channel
Tuesday, May 20, 2003
Care for tea?
--the very words of my partner Helen every morning. Turns out that tea, especially green tea, is good for dental health (in addition to its vitamin-like substances).
--the very words of my partner Helen every morning. Turns out that tea, especially green tea, is good for dental health (in addition to its vitamin-like substances).
Sunday, May 18, 2003
Grade Inflation
Professors of Harvard and other leading universities have reportedly been inflating the grades of their students for various reasons. But who really cares? Perhaps Bush does not. But Mansfield does.
Professors of Harvard and other leading universities have reportedly been inflating the grades of their students for various reasons. But who really cares? Perhaps Bush does not. But Mansfield does.
Human Free Will as "computational irreducibility"
What if the human free will is just a consequence of a "computational irreducibility" (its maximum complexity), and, just like other systems, the only way to know what it will do is to just let it be? Our minds, if not our souls, claims Wolfram, are computational consequences of simple rules and are the "computational equivalence" constitutive of the actual states of affairs. Allegedly the most complicated behavior imaginable arises from such very simple rules.
The principle of computational equivalence necessarily puts limits on science itself. Many questions simply could not be answered a priori, since the only way to discover the consequences of many complex processes, like the human free will itself, is to let things proceed naturally. There's no shortcut, maintains Wofram, "since our own computational tools are at best only as powerful as the complicated systems we hope to study."
[ Sources: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ]
What if the human free will is just a consequence of a "computational irreducibility" (its maximum complexity), and, just like other systems, the only way to know what it will do is to just let it be? Our minds, if not our souls, claims Wolfram, are computational consequences of simple rules and are the "computational equivalence" constitutive of the actual states of affairs. Allegedly the most complicated behavior imaginable arises from such very simple rules.
The principle of computational equivalence necessarily puts limits on science itself. Many questions simply could not be answered a priori, since the only way to discover the consequences of many complex processes, like the human free will itself, is to let things proceed naturally. There's no shortcut, maintains Wofram, "since our own computational tools are at best only as powerful as the complicated systems we hope to study."
Wednesday, May 14, 2003
Philosophy of Language
Or, is it 'taste' of language? This article accounts for the eccentricities of programming languages and hazards that, in the final analysis, they're all the same. Meantime, I'll practice my Klingon!
Or, is it 'taste' of language? This article accounts for the eccentricities of programming languages and hazards that, in the final analysis, they're all the same. Meantime, I'll practice my Klingon!
Tuesday, May 13, 2003
Neo Metaphysics
How about film as metaphysics? Or 'Neo' as the One? Hmm... I'm really tempted to list in the census with 'Jedi' as my religion. :) [ more Matrix-religion stuff ]
How about film as metaphysics? Or 'Neo' as the One? Hmm... I'm really tempted to list in the census with 'Jedi' as my religion. :) [ more Matrix-religion stuff ]
Thursday, May 08, 2003
Friday, May 02, 2003
SARS and AIDS
What do they have in common? Obviously both kill! But they came at different times: the latter at a time of less openness and less sharing of information; the former at a lot more open time. It took years to discover the causative agent of AIDS while it only took months to uncover the "bug" for SARS. Hail the Internet!
Meanwhile, there's anecdotal evidence that garlic helps prevent SARS.
[ Science Mag's SARS page ]
What do they have in common? Obviously both kill! But they came at different times: the latter at a time of less openness and less sharing of information; the former at a lot more open time. It took years to discover the causative agent of AIDS while it only took months to uncover the "bug" for SARS. Hail the Internet!
Meanwhile, there's anecdotal evidence that garlic helps prevent SARS.
Sonya's Garden
N 14° 05' 16.7" E 120° 50' 55.9" -- This unpretensious place serves veges and stuff straight from the garden. No menu, no fancy food. Just great dressing that comes with fresh, organic green edible stuff. It's supposed to be "slow food" (as opposed to "fast food," I suppose). We went there yesterday (which happened to be a holiday and people where wondering in the garden while waiting for their turns to dine.) When we were finally sitted, first there came the salad. Then pasta, mint tea, dessert. And that's it! Sonya's Garden really made my day.
What people have to say about the place: 1 | 2 | 3
N 14° 05' 16.7" E 120° 50' 55.9" -- This unpretensious place serves veges and stuff straight from the garden. No menu, no fancy food. Just great dressing that comes with fresh, organic green edible stuff. It's supposed to be "slow food" (as opposed to "fast food," I suppose). We went there yesterday (which happened to be a holiday and people where wondering in the garden while waiting for their turns to dine.) When we were finally sitted, first there came the salad. Then pasta, mint tea, dessert. And that's it! Sonya's Garden really made my day.
What people have to say about the place: 1 | 2 | 3
Winsock Problem
Darn Micro$oft! I was doing some network stuff using my HP laptop to try out new Wi-Fi connections when I got this stupid winsock problem:
An operation was attempted on something that is not a socket
Well, this wasn't even apparent as I had to do some digging before I could uncover this error message. And that's 2 days! 2 days wasted, Bill! Your Knowledge Base was not even of any help. What helped me was some guy's patch somewhere in Canada. Tsk, tsk, tsk... I'm really not suprised why some people are having so much MS rage these days.
Darn Micro$oft! I was doing some network stuff using my HP laptop to try out new Wi-Fi connections when I got this stupid winsock problem:
An operation was attempted on something that is not a socket
Well, this wasn't even apparent as I had to do some digging before I could uncover this error message. And that's 2 days! 2 days wasted, Bill! Your Knowledge Base was not even of any help. What helped me was some guy's patch somewhere in Canada. Tsk, tsk, tsk... I'm really not suprised why some people are having so much MS rage these days.
Tuesday, April 29, 2003
Wi-Fi
A few weeks ago, my LA-based friend Anna emailed to ask me if Wi-Fi is already available in the Philippines. My answer of course was "pretty much." For quite some time, I hesitated to install any wireless network because of its inherent insecurity. But, yesterday, I finally did it, with the help of my colleague and OpenBSD guru, Barry. What the heck?! I don't have much to hide anyway. Anyone can "war drive" near our office where I installed an 802.11b network. We've done minimal security, though. So it's not anything like a walk in the park for newbie war drivers. The install went relatively well, except that the software that came with PCMCIA hardware was antiquated that it kept freezing a laptop PC.
At any rate, for those who believe that unguarded wireless networks should be as free as the air we breath, here's good news for you! Or, you may go to Paris where wi-fi connectivity is ubiquitous.
For those who are only starting, here's a Slate article for dummies. :)
A few weeks ago, my LA-based friend Anna emailed to ask me if Wi-Fi is already available in the Philippines. My answer of course was "pretty much." For quite some time, I hesitated to install any wireless network because of its inherent insecurity. But, yesterday, I finally did it, with the help of my colleague and OpenBSD guru, Barry. What the heck?! I don't have much to hide anyway. Anyone can "war drive" near our office where I installed an 802.11b network. We've done minimal security, though. So it's not anything like a walk in the park for newbie war drivers. The install went relatively well, except that the software that came with PCMCIA hardware was antiquated that it kept freezing a laptop PC.
At any rate, for those who believe that unguarded wireless networks should be as free as the air we breath, here's good news for you! Or, you may go to Paris where wi-fi connectivity is ubiquitous.
For those who are only starting, here's a Slate article for dummies. :)
Friday, April 25, 2003
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
Koch Postulates
These postulates must be satisfied before one could say that a suspect virus or bacteria causes a certain disease. However, such postulates have limitations.
These postulates must be satisfied before one could say that a suspect virus or bacteria causes a certain disease. However, such postulates have limitations.
Tuesday, April 08, 2003
Human v. Machine, Round 1
Click here to read the possible outcome. (In chess, machine keeps winning... but not without cheating.)
There are proposals for science to exercise self-restraint. Here's one coming from a respected physicist. In the genetic engineering front, the question is raised: Will it kill us?
Click here to read the possible outcome. (In chess, machine keeps winning... but not without cheating.)
There are proposals for science to exercise self-restraint. Here's one coming from a respected physicist. In the genetic engineering front, the question is raised: Will it kill us?
Friday, April 04, 2003
'The Second World Power'
Interesting how a blog using this phrase could spread so quickly. Greenpeace, Kofi Annan, everybody uses it. But the phrase was originally mentioned in a New York Times (17 Feb) news analysis bylined by Patrick Tyler describing the global anti-war protests as the emergence of "the second superpower." Here's El Reg's take on the phenomenon.
The term, however, has been neutered by a blog like this.
Interesting how a blog using this phrase could spread so quickly. Greenpeace, Kofi Annan, everybody uses it. But the phrase was originally mentioned in a New York Times (17 Feb) news analysis bylined by Patrick Tyler describing the global anti-war protests as the emergence of "the second superpower." Here's El Reg's take on the phenomenon.
The term, however, has been neutered by a blog like this.
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