Clipmarks | Djiezes's 'science' clips

Creator of the Web concerned on Spreading Disinformation on the Web

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 09:03:28 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Warning sounded on web's future

The internet needs a way to help people separate rumour from real science, says the creator of the World Wide Web.

he was increasingly worried about the way the web has been used to spread disinformation.

Sir Tim told BBC News that there needed to be new systems that would give websites a label for trustworthiness once they had been proved reliable sources.

I'd be interested in different organisations labelling websites in different ways".

Sir Tim spoke to the BBC to publicise the launch of his World Wide Web Foundation which aims to improve the web's accessibility.

Alongside this role it will aim to make it easier for people to get online.

The Web Foundation will also explore ways to make the web more mobile-phone friendly.

will also look at how the benefits of the web can be taken to those who cannot read or write.

will also look at concerns that the web has become less democratic, and its use influenced too much by large corporations and vested interests.

Tags: tim berners-lee, web, internet, www, science, knowledge, future

The Science of Magic: Turning Tricks into Research

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 13:59:42 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

The Science of Magic

There is a fascinating review in Nature Reviews Neuroscience this month about the cognitive science of magic tricks

The article attempts to list and describe in neuroscientific terms the techniques that magicians use to trick their audiences. The authors break down these into "visual illusions (after-images), optical illusions ('smoke and mirrors'), cognitive illusions (inattentional blindness), special effects (explosions, fake gunshots, et cetera), and secret devices and mechanical artifacts (gimmicks)." The use of visual illusions to study perception is certainly nothing new, but the emphasis on cognitive illusions -- illusions that trick higher order perceptions like attention and judgment -- is novel.

Clip Source: www.nature.com

Nature Reviews Neuroscience

Attention and awareness in stage magic: turning tricks into research

Box 1 | Pickpockets pick your brain

Table 1 | Types of conjuring effects^*

Box 3 | Magic techniques in the choice-blindness paradigm

Tags: science, magic, cognition, illusion, article, visual, neuroscience

An Open Universe (by Kevin Kelly, 1994)

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:00:57 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: Full Text @ Source

This is the 17th chapter of Kelly's Book "Out of Control", which is also freely & fully available online. See the included links.

Clip Source: www.kk.org

Out of Control

Chapter 17: AN OPEN UNIVERSE

Clip Source: www.kk.org

Out of Control
Table of Contents

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Kelly's most notable book-length publication, Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World (1994), presents a view on the mechanisms of complex organization. The central theme of the book is that several fields of contemporary science and philosophy point in the same direction: intelligence is not organized in a centralized structure but much more like a bee-hive of small simple components. Kelly applies this view to bureaucratic organisations, intelligent computers, and to the human brain.

Lectures

Speculations On The Future Of Science by Kevin Kelly.

The Next Fifty Years of Science by Kevin Kelly.

What Does Technology Want? by Kevin Kelly

The next 5000 days of the Web by Kevin Kelly

Tags: kelly, cyberspace, history, future, literature, toread, ai, artificial intelligence, technology, media

Top 100 Liberal Arts Professors' Blogs

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 08:36:44 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.universityreviewsonline.com

Academics are flocking to the Internet like never before, particularly to start a blog. Faculty members in colleges across the world are connecting with people on a whole new level. Let's face it – academia can actually be very lonely at times. Not only can a blog be cathartic for professors, it can allow for valuable feedback from students and/or colleagues.

Liberal arts subjects are wildly varied. From art to science, the major disciplines have long been considered part of the liberal arts. Below are 100 of the most interesting and popular blogs written by liberal arts professors.

Art

Economics

Education

English

History

Math

Media / Technology

Music

Philosophy

Psycholog

Political science

Science

Sociology

Theology

Tags: humanities

The Limits of fMRI and Science Journalism

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:51:07 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Must Read Paper on fMRI -and- The Worst fMRI Science Journalism Ever

There is a must-read paper in Nature about the limits of functional MRI as an experimental tool by one of its pioneers, Nikos Logothetis. (Also discussed by Jonah and Vaughan.)

the difficulty in interpreting fMRI data lies in the fact that you have to make assumptions about network architecture that may or may not be true. Other experiments are required to confirm the validity of these assumptions.

In fact, fMRI is not and will never be a mind reader, as some of the proponents of decoding-based methods suggest, nor is it a worthless and non-informative 'neophrenology' that is condemned to fail, as has been occasionally argued.

As a brief digression, I can give you a great example of an OMGFMRI. This article by Jeffrey Goldberg in the Atlantic is some of the worst science journalism I have ever read.

Tags: neuroscience, science, fmri, mri, brain, journalism, popularism

Special Issue: The Science Fiction of Philip K. Dick (from Science Fiction Studies, 1975)

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 16:04:13 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: www.depauw.edu

Science Fiction Studies

# 5 = Volume 2, Part 1 = March 1975

SPECIAL ISSUE: THE SCIENCE FICTION OF PHILIP K. DICK

Darko Suvin. Introductory Note

Darko Suvin. P.K. Dick's Opus: Artifice as Refuge and World View (Introductory Reflections)

Philip K. Dick. Foreword to The Preserving Machine

Carlo Pagetti. Dick and Meta-SF

Fredric Jameson. After Armageddon: Character Systems in Dr. Bloodmoney

Brian W. Aldiss. Dick's Maledictory Web: About and Around Martian Time-Slip

Peter Fitting. Ubik: The Deconstruction of Bourgeois SF

Stanislaw Lem. Philip K. Dick: A Visionary Among the Charlatans

Ian Watson. Le Guin's Lathe of Heaven and the Role of Dick: The False Reality as Mediator

Tags: scifi, journal, history, dick, philip k dick, essay, literature

A Visionary Among the Charlatans (Stanislaw Lem on Philip K. Dick)

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 16:01:59 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: Lem about the state of American science fiction circa 1975 with an extended appreciation of Dick

Clip Source: www.depauw.edu

Philip K. Dick: A Visionary Among the Charlatans

Stanislaw Lem

Science Fiction Studies

# 5 = Volume 2, Part 1 = March 1975

ABSTRACT

Dick has as a rule taken over a rubble of building materials from the run-of-the-mill American professionals of SF, frequently adding a true gleam of originality to worn-out concepts, and erecting with such materials constructions truly his own.

If Dick’s writings are neither of uniform quality nor fully realized, still it is only by brute force that they can be jammed into that pulp of materials, destitute of intellectual value and original structure, which makes up SF.

Yet his bizarre blending of hallucinogenic and palingenetic techniques have not won him many admirers outside the ghetto walls, since outsiders are repelled by the shoddiness of the props he has adopted from the inventory of SF.

Tags: scifi, dick, lem, philip k dick, stanislaw lem, literature, sf, history, usa, journal

Best Older Science Fiction Movies

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 15:02:54 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: A personal selection. I also added some that I haven't seen yet, but of which I heard good things.
Feel free to add yours in the comments.

Clip Source: www.google.be

best Old

Science Fiction

Clip Source: www.imdb.com

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Clip Source: www.imdb.com

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Clip Source: www.imdb.com

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

Clip Source: www.imdb.com

Solyaris (1972)

Clip Source: www.imdb.com

Stalker (1979)

Clip Source: www.imdb.com

Fahrenheit 451 (1966)

Clip Source: www.imdb.com

Soylent Green (1973)

Clip Source: www.imdb.com

Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)

Clip Source: www.imdb.com

THX 1138 (1971)

Clip Source: www.imdb.com

Videodrome (1983)

Clip Source: www.imdb.com

Westworld (1973)

Clip Source: www.imdb.com

Brazil (1985)

Clip Source: www.imdb.com

Barbarella (1968)

Clip Source: www.imdb.com

Forbidden Planet (1956)

Clip Source: www.imdb.com

Logan's Run (1976)

Clip Source: www.imdb.com

Slaughterhouse-Five (1972)

Clip Source: www.imdb.com

Sleeper (1973)

Clip Source: www.imdb.com

TRON (1982)

Clip Source: www.imdb.com

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

Clip Source: www.imdb.com

When Worlds Collide (1951)

Clip Source: www.imdb.com

The War of the Worlds (1953)

Clip Source: www.imdb.com

Star Wars

Clip Source: www.imdb.com

Blade Runner (1982)

Tags: movie, film, list, scifi, science fiction

The Inexact Science Behind DMCA Takedown Notices

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:18:39 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: bits.blogs.nytimes.com

The Inexact Science Behind DMCA Takedown Notices

A new study from the University of Washington suggests that media industry trade groups are using flawed tactics in their investigations of users who violate copyrights on peer-to-peer file sharing networks.

The paper finds that there is a serious flaw in how these trade groups finger alleged file-sharers. It also suggests that some people might be getting improperly accused of sharing copyrighted content, and could even be purposely framed by other users.

The researchers introduced software agents into these networks to monitor their traffic. Even though those software agents did not download any files, the researchers say they received over 400 take-down requests accusing them of participating in the downloads.

enforcement agencies are looking only at I.P. addresses of participants on these peer-to-peer networks, and not what files are actually downloaded or uploaded

An inanimate object could also get the blame.

Tags: dmca, riaa, mpaa, esa, legal, illegal, p2p, torrent, copyright

Post Mortal syndrome

Wed, 28 May 2008 22:04:05 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Interesting. Read slowly, by the time you finish it might become a reality

Clip Source: www.cosmosmagazine.com

Can science find a way to defeat death? Will it offer humans the gift of potentially endless, healthy life - and if so, at what cost? Will people spared the curse of ageing, and even of mortality itself, become inhuman - or more human than ever? And who or what will control this perilous boon? Government or corporations? 'Faith-based' caregivers? Organised crime? Or individual choice?

Post Mortal Syndrome is an exciting blend of thriller and science fiction, with a poignant love story at its heart.

Post Mortal Syndrome began publication on 16 April 2007, and was published every weekday, five days a week, in tasty, bite-sized chunks that could be enjoyed in a few minutes. The serialisation ended on 2 July 2007, but you can still enjoy Australia's first online serialisation of a novel by reading each stimulating chapter at your own pace here.

Tags: immortality, science fiction

David Deutsch interviews Aubrey De Grey on SENS (on Curing Aging)

Sat, 24 May 2008 11:16:04 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: www.acceleratingfuture.com

David Deutsch Speaks with Aubrey De Grey About SENS

[Video]

Renowned Quantum Physicist, and father of the Quantum Computer, David Deutsch (www.qubit.org) speaks with Aubrey de Grey about the scientific details and feasibility of life extension approach SENS (www.methuselahfoundation.org).

Clip Source: www.methuselahfoundation.org

Tags: science, biology, deutsch, de grey, aging, immortality, quantum physics, video, interview, life extension

Phun: How Physics Should Be Taught

Sun, 18 May 2008 19:50:24 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: lifehacker.com

[Video]

Phun, a free open-source, cross-platform 2D physics simulator, makes you want to pick up blocks, or maybe crayons, and learn more about the way things fall and move under pressure. Written by a Swedish graduate student, the program teaches concepts of restitution and friction, so it's great to load up with the kids, but you'll probably find yourself sneaking a few turns by yourself at creating, and knocking over, shapes and lines.

Tags: physics, science, software, free, fun, phun, simulation

Why men think with their ...

Sat, 03 May 2008 12:21:49 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Evidence that Men Think With Their Junk

Us dudes are always accused of thinking with our dicks. Perhaps it's because the genes expressed in our brains are similar to those expressed in our 'nads:

Among the 17 tissues, the highest similarity in gene expression patterns was between human brain and testis, based on DDD and clustering analysis. Genes contributing to the similarity include ribosomal protein (RP) genes as well as genes involved in transcription, translation and cell division.

Tags: science, paper, brains, genes, evolution

The Paranoid Style in American Science

Sat, 03 May 2008 11:37:47 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: www.slate.com

The Paranoid Style in American Science

This is the first installment of a three-part series on radical skepticism and the rise of conspiratorial thinking about science.

Science
entries

1 2 3

Like the recent crop of global-warming skeptics, AIDS denialists, and biotech activists, Berlinski uses doubt as a weapon against the academy—he's more concerned with what we don't know than what we do. He uses uncertainty to challenge the scientific consensus; he points to the evidence that isn't there and seeks out the things that can't be proved. In its extreme and ideological form, this contrarian approach to science can turn into a form of paranoia—a state of permanent suspicion and outrage.

Tags: science, denialism, us, usa, skepticism, uncertainty, ideology

Science Policy and the Candidates

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 20:47:56 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: See also http://www.sciencedebate2008.com/

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Science Policy and the Candidates: How Do We Know What We Know (And Why Doesn't Anybody Else Know It)?

Recently, my inbox has been filling up with emails about new online resources that bring you up to speed on the science policy positions of the candidates. The AAAS has a website, as does Popular Mechanics, Physics Today, and Scientists and Engineers for America (the SHARP Network, which also looks at congressional candidate science policies).

In my latest Science Progress column, though, I canvass these sites and find, understandably, that most are based on information from campaign websites, candidate speeches, press releases, or in some cases secondary sources. And while I really appreciate the labor that has gone into these resources, at the same time, I'm convinced that they're not enough:

Tags: science, politics, debate, resource, campaign, media, press

Clipmarks | Djiezes's 'science' clips

Creator of the Web concerned on Spreading Disinformation on the Web

Warning sounded on web's future

The Science of Magic: Turning Tricks into Research

The Science of Magic

Box 1 | Pickpockets pick your brain

Table 1 | Types of conjuring effects*

Box 3 | Magic techniques in the choice-blindness paradigm

An Open Universe (by Kevin Kelly, 1994)

Top 100 Liberal Arts Professors' Blogs

The Limits of fMRI and Science Journalism

Must Read Paper on fMRI -and- The Worst fMRI Science Journalism Ever

Special Issue: The Science Fiction of Philip K. Dick (from Science Fiction Studies, 1975)

Science Fiction Studies

# 5 = Volume 2, Part 1 = March 1975

A Visionary Among the Charlatans (Stanislaw Lem on Philip K. Dick)

Stanislaw Lem

Science Fiction Studies

# 5 = Volume 2, Part 1 = March 1975

Best Older Science Fiction Movies

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

Solyaris (1972)

Stalker (1979)

Fahrenheit 451 (1966)

Soylent Green (1973)

Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)

THX 1138 (1971)

Videodrome (1983)

Westworld (1973)

Brazil (1985)

Barbarella (1968)

Forbidden Planet (1956)

Logan's Run (1976)

Slaughterhouse-Five (1972)

Sleeper (1973)

TRON (1982)

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

When Worlds Collide (1951)

The War of the Worlds (1953)

Blade Runner (1982)

The Inexact Science Behind DMCA Takedown Notices

The Inexact Science Behind DMCA Takedown Notices

Post Mortal syndrome

David Deutsch interviews Aubrey De Grey on SENS (on Curing Aging)

Phun: How Physics Should Be Taught

Why men think with their ...

Evidence that Men Think With Their Junk

The Paranoid Style in American Science

The Paranoid Style in American Science

Science Policy and the Candidates

Science Policy and the Candidates: How Do We Know What We Know (And Why Doesn't Anybody Else Know It)?

Table 1 | Types of conjuring effects^*