Clipmarks | Silkweaver's clips

Identity and Individuality in Quantum Theory

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:54:56 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Interesting read in the foundation of quantum physics.

What are the metaphysical implications of quantum physics?

One way of approaching this question is to consider the impact of the theory on our understanding of objects as individuals with well defined identity conditions.

One view is that quantum theory implies that the fundamental particles of physics cannot be regarded as individual objects in this sense.

Such a view has motivated the development of non-standard formal systems which are appropriate for representing such non-individual objects.

However, it has also been argued that quantum physics is in fact compatible with a metaphysics of individual objects.

1. Introduction

2. Quantum Non-Individuality

3. Quantum Individuality

4. Quantum Physics and the Identity of Indiscernibles

5. Non-individuality and self-identity

6. Metaphysical Underdetermination

Bibliography

Other Internet Resources

Tags: quantum physics, metaphysics

On Law and Neuroscience

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:06:32 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: An interesting read describing the influence of evolution theory and neuroscience on basic legal and moral concepts such as responsibility and free will.

Clip Source: darwinianconservatism.blogspot.com

Farahany is a law professor at Vanderbilt University who brings together law, philosophy, and biology in studying the fundamental assumptions about human nature in criminal law.

paper on "Law and Behavioral Morality

In this paper, she considers how research in evolutionary science and neuroscience might influence our view of criminal responsibility and culpability.

She claims that as evolutionary biology and cognitive neuroscience provide biological explanations of human morality, this will strengthen the power of "behavioral morality--the idea that any behavior with a physical cause is either not blameworthy, or is less so.

She seems to assume that "blameworthiness" presupposes "free will" understood as an uncaused cause.

I disagree with her. As I have said in some previous posts, I see no reason to believe that legal responsibility and culpability must rest on the idea of "free will" understood as uncaused cause.

Tags: law, morality, neuroscience

Pioneering Research in Neuromorphic Electronics that Function Like the Biological Brain

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:36:58 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: The HRL team's ultimate goal is to build a low-power, compact electronic chip combining a novel analog circuit design and a neuroscience-inspired architecture that can address a wide range of cognitive abilities--perception, planning, decision making, and motor control. In the initial two phases of the SyNAPSE program, the team will translate the neuronal and synaptic functions of the biological cortex into similar microelectronic functions.

Clip Source: www.alzheimer.ca

Clip Source: www.prweb.com

HRL Laboratories, LLC, will begin pioneering research to develop electronics that will simulate the cognitive capabilities and efficiencies of the biological brain.

The daunting undertaking is part of the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency's (DARPA) SyNAPSE, or Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics, program. HRL will lead a group of industry and university research laboratories with expertise in core areas of neuro and cognitive science in the groundbreaking research.

Despite exponential advances in computing technology over the last decade, the limitations of hardware and architecture prohibit computers from functioning independently in real-world scenarios. The goal of the SyNAPSE program is to bridge biology and electronics and establish a new paradigm for creating more intelligent machines that can interact with, react to, and actually learn from their environments.

Tags: technology, neuromorphic electronics, electronics

Future for clean energy lies in 'big bang' of evolution

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:45:01 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: For humans now there is the tantalising possibility of tweaking the photosynthetic reactions of cyanobacteria to produce fuels we want such as hydrogen, alcohols or even hydrocarbons, rather than carbohydrates.
Progress at the research level has been rapid, boosting prospects of harnessing photosynthesis not just for energy but also for manufacturing valuable compounds for the chemical and biotechnology industries. Such research is running on two tracks, one aimed at genetically engineering real plants and cyanobacteria to yield the products we want, and the other to mimic their processes in artificial photosynthetic systems built with human-made components. Both approaches hold great promise and will be pursued in parallel, as was discussed at a recent workshop focusing on the photosynthetic reaction centres of cyanobacteria, organised by the European Science Foundation (ESF).

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

Amid mounting agreement that future clean, "carbon-neutral", energy will rely on efficient conversion of the sun's light energy into fuels and electric power, attention is focusing on one of the most ancient groups of organism, the cyanobacteria.

Dramatic progress has been made over the last decade understanding the fundamental reaction of photosynthesis that evolved in cyanobacteria 3.7 billion years ago, which for the first time used water molecules as a source of electrons to transport energy derived from sunlight, while converting carbon dioxide into oxygen.

The light harvesting systems gave the bacteria their blue ("cyano") colour, and paved the way for plants to evolve by "kidnapping" bacteria to provide their photosynthetic engines, and for animals by liberating oxygen for them to breathe, by splitting water molecules.

Tags: clean energy, molecular biology

Seeing in four dimensions

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 01:20:23 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: The videos are all available free at www.dimensions-math.org. The videos go on to show how we can visualize imaginary numbers geometrically, how fractal patterns emerge in the Mandelbrot set and Julia sets, and how beautiful and complex shapes can be built up from circles.

Clip Source: www.sciencenews.org

Mathematicians create videos that help in visualizing four-dimensional objects

Three dimensions can be so limiting.

There is the minor difficulty that our nervous systems are only equipped to conjure images in three dimensions. But that doesn’t stop Étienne Ghys of the École Normale Supérieure in Lyon, France, from visualizing the four-dimensional dynamical systems he studies: “I live in dimension four,” he says.

And you can too. Ghys has now created a series of videos teaching others to visualize four dimensions the way he does.

in four dimensions, there are six regular solids, including one with 600 faces! Each of those 600 faces is itself a three-dimensional tetrahedron, and 20 of them meet at each vertex.

How on earth can we visualize such a thing?

Still, they could try. We depict three-dimensional objects on a page all the time, essentially by drawing their outlines.

a third method called “stereographic projection,” which is less intuitive but much more helpful.

Tags: mathematics, visualization

Why you should go with your gut feeling

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 01:39:17 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: To uncover this ability, Pessiglione and colleague Chris Frith, of University College London, tested 20 volunteers with a simple game based on winning and losing small amounts of money.

On a computer screen, the volunteers watched an animated abstract pattern which for a couple of tenths of a second included one of three symbols part way through. Unbeknownst to the subjects, the symbols indicated whether they would lose or gain £1 or break even if they accepted the gamble.

Surprisingly, subjects got better at predicting whether they would win or not, eventually plateauing at slightly above chance, strong evidence that volunteers do not consciously notice the symbols but are affected by them nonetheless.

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

Next time you’re at a blackjack table trying to decide whether to hold or hit, just trust your gut. New research shows that our brains pick up on subliminal signals – a dealer’s tell, for instance – when making risky decisions.

“When you think that you are referring to your intuition, actually you just learn an association between subliminal signals in your context and the outcome of your actions,” says Mathias Pessiglione, a neuroscientist at the Centre for Neuroimaging Research in Paris, France, who led the study.

Doctors and gamblers may be used to trusting their instincts in make-or-break situations, but scientists have had a tough time proving that the brain can learn subconsciously.

Under a functional-MRI brain scanner, the researchers found that the subjects appeared to be basing their subconscious choices on activity in an area of their brains involved in conscious risk-taking – the striatum.

Tags: brain, intuition, sub conscious learning

Researchers turn one form of adult mouse cell directly into another

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:18:44 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Joan Brugge, Chair of the Department of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School, said the new study "provides exciting new insights into yet another aspect of cell plasticity that was not appreciated previously and that offers great potential therapeutically. Direct reprogramming represents a more straight-forward strategy to treat diseases involving loss of function of specific cell populations than approaches requiring an intermediate embryonic stem cell," she said.

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

In a feat of biological prestidigitation likely to turn the field of regenerative medicine on its head, Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) co-director Doug Melton and post doctoral fellow Qiao "Joe" Zhou report having achieved what has long been a dream and ultimate goal of developmental biologists – directly turning one type of fully formed adult cell into another type of adult cell.

The Melton team reports in today's online edition of the journal Nature that, using a technique it is calling "direct reprogramming," the team is able to turn mouse exocrine cells, which make up about 95 percent of the pancreas, into precious and rare insulin-producing beta cells. These beta cells, which comrpise about one percent of the pancreas, are the cells that die off in Type I diabetes.

In addition to its value for the field of regenerative medicine, the work also is a major step forward toward eventually developing a treatment for Type II – and eventually Type I – diabetes

Tags: molecular biology, cell plasticity, regenerative medicine

5 extremely cool research facilities

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:30:48 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Some more interesting stuff at site. Especially a short video on measuring gravitational waves.

Clip Source: deputy-dog.com

1. large helical device, gifu, japan

the phenomenal photo above shows superconducting coils within the large helical device in japan, a machine which holds the title of ‘largest superconducting stellarator in the world’.

2. odeillo solar furnace, odeillo, france

this brilliantly shiny oddity is the 8-storey high odeillo solar furnace in france: at present the largest on the planet.

using this method, temperatures can reach an unbelievably hot 3400°C.

3. atf fire research laboratory, maryland, usa

measuring a whopping 60ft x 60ft, this is the largest calorimetry hood on earth and is an essential part of the atf fire research laboratory.

4. ligo observatories, louisiana & washington, usa

ligo’s hanford observatory, one of 2 main facilities used by ligo to detect ‘ripples’ or gravitational waves in space-time.

5. arecibo observatory, arecibo, puerto rico

arecibo observatory in puerto rico contains the largest curved focusing dish on earth and is used for 3 main research purposes: radio astronomy

Tags: science, technology, research

US citizens weigh in on nanotechnology for human enhancement

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:13:34 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Highly important and interesting read.

Clip Source: www.foresight.org

In March 2008, eighty-six people across six nationwide panels participated in the National Citizens’ Technology Forum on “Human Enhancement Through Nanotechnology.” These citizens ranged from teens to seniors and had no previous expertise or experience in nanotechnology. They studied background material, met face-to-face, and participated in nine, two-hour Internet discussion forums with scientist experts. During their final meeting, each panel wrote a Citizen’s Report that outlines their optimism, concerns and recommendations regarding human enhancement technologies.

The reports address socio-economic, safety, environmental, health and governance issues, as well as regulatory challenges and human identity concerns. This project gives average citizens a voice in the early stages of nano-scale science and engineering research and development.

Clip Source: www4.ncsu.edu

Arizona Final Report

California Final Report

Colorado Final Report

Georgia Final Report

New Hampshire Final Report

Wisconsin Final Report

Tags: human enhancement, public debate

Lifelike Animation Breakthrough

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:02:28 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: AMD last week released a new chip with a billion transistors that will be able to show off creations such as Emily by allowing a much greater number of computations per second. "If you're trying to process the graphics in a photo-realistic animation, in real-time, there's a lot of computation involved," said Mr Koduri.

He said that AMD's new chip - the Radeon HD 4870 X2 - was able to process 2.4 teraflops of information per second, meaning it had a capability similar to a computer that - only 12 years ago - would have filled a room. AMD's chip fits inside a standard PC.

But he said that the line between what was real and what was rendered would not be blurred completely until 2020.

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Clip Source: technology.timesonline.co.uk

Extraordinarily lifelike characters are to begin appearing in films and computer games thanks to a new type of animation technology.

Emily - the woman in the above animation - was produced using a new modelling technology that enables the most minute details of a facial expression to be captured and recreated.

She is considered to be one of the first animations to have overleapt a long-standing barrier known as 'uncanny valley' - which refers to the perception that animation looks less realistic as it approaches human likeness.

"Ninety per cent of the work is convincing people that the eyes are real," Mike Starkenburg, chief operating officer of Image Metrics, said.

"The subtlety of the timing of eye movements is a big one. People also have a natural asymmetry - for instance, in the muscles in the side of their face.

they are what makes people look real."

Emily' will set a new precedent for photo-realistic characters in video games and films

Tags: animation, computer graphics, virtual characters, gaming

From Snapshots, a 3-D View - Amazing New Technology

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:50:16 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: In a Photosynth demonstration at the annual TED conference last year, the presenter blew the crowd’s mind with a photosynth of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, made up of photos mined from Flickr.com. In other words, Microsoft had created a seamless, successful photosynth using hundreds of existing photos, taken by different people at different times using all kinds of cameras.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

How do you describe a place? How do you express its essence to people who aren’t there?

You use the best technology you have available.

In the beginning, there was the printed word (“Dear Queen Isabella: You gotta see this place!”). Then there was audio (“My God, it’s full of stars!”). Eventually, photos (“That’s us in Hawaii. Or is it Cape Cod?”).

Wednesday, Microsoft introduced yet another way to represent a place: Photosynth. This sophisticated technology does a simple thing. It turns a bunch of overlapping photos into a 3-D panorama.

The result, called a photosynth, is a little bit like a virtual world.

You can turn around to look behind you. And at any time, you can zoom forward incredibly far into a photo, since it retains all of its original, multi-megapixel resolution.

Creating a photosynth is free and automatic. You visit www.photosynth.com, click to install the necessary Web browser plug-in, and start uploading your photos.

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Tags: web, 3d worlds, photosynth, microsoft

The Secret Of Fast Complex Brain Restructuring

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:29:42 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Up to now, it had been assumed that nerve cells can only exchange information via the synapses which are special contact points. However, synapses require up to two days to become fully functional - a waste of time and energy if the contact is to be broken down again. The brain could take almost 1000 years to develop if a synapse had to mature at each cell contact.

It appears that nerve cells can also obtain information about their neighbours even without a synapse. Neurobiologists Christian Lohmann and Tobias Bonhoeffer from the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology have now explained how they do that.

The secret to how the information is exchanged: local calcium signals very quickly transmit all the necessary information to the cell. A synapse only actually develops when the cell and the contact point prove to be suitable candidates for long-term contact.

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

Nerve cells constantly create new contact points to their neighbouring cells.

This is how the basic structure of our brain develops. In adults, new contact makes learning and memory possible. However, not all contact between cells is useful - most of it is dismantled again very quickly.

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology in Martinsried near Munich have now described a completely new technique with which nerve cells can evaluate the quality of the cells they contact in a very time- and energy-saving way.

During brain development, young nerve cells must come into contact with the correct partner cells so that the brain can carry out its complex functions. However, contact between nerve cells is also constantly being set up and dismantled in adults. It is this continuous restructuring of the brain that allows us to learn and to forget.

Tags: neuroscience, molecular biology

OLDS: Preparing for a neuroscience revolution

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:35:34 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Our challenge is that we don't pay enough attention to such game-changing discoveries as they are happening. And when we don't pay attention, then the societal conversations that need to happen to reach consensus on policy also don't happen - at least in a proactive fashion. We end up reacting instead.

In the case of the uncovering the secrets of the human mind, such proactive consideration would be better off earlier than later.

The writer is James Olds is the director of the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at George Mason University.

This is an important read.

Clip Source: www.washingtontimes.com

Neuroscience is on the verge of transforming society. The field has matured over the past 15 years from creating vast "stamp collections" of data without a unifying theory to the potential in the next several years to provide us with an understanding of how the human mind emerges from the collective activity of 100 billion nerve cells.

The neuroscientists who uncover this mystery will transform our society much in the way Albert Einstein did when he discovered the general theory of relativity.

This breakthrough would, in combination with the revolution in neurotechnologies ongoing now, present us with a host of remarkable opportunities but at the same time create a slew of ethical and legal sticky wickets.

What ethical questions will we need to confront as we move closer to uncovering the mysteries of our minds?

Current work on the so-called "brain-machine interface" are allowing advances that may unlock the keys to the human brain's own neural code.

Tags: brain, neuroscience, society, politics

Is Extinction Or Diversity On The Rise? Study Of Islands Reveals Surprising Results

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:10:27 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

It's no secret that humans are having a huge impact on the life cycles of plants and animals.

UC Santa Barbara's Steven D. Gaines and fellow researcher Dov Sax decided to test that theory by studying the world's far-flung islands.

Their research, published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, sheds surprising light on the subject of extinction rates of species on islands.

Gaines and Sax started the project with a question: What effect are humans really having on biological diversity?

The presumption at the time was that we are driving biodiversity to lower levels

However, when studied on the smaller scale of islands, the findings showed something completely different. Diversity is on the rise – markedly so in some instances

Diversity has gone up so dramatically that it might cause some to wonder if the health of the ecosystems might not be better because the number of species is twice as high as it used to be

Tags: environment, bio diversity

Cloned Puppies: Sure, They're Cute, But at What Cost?

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:36:13 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Yet defenders of the industry say that it's wrong to apply analogies taken from other species' clones: Despite the difficulties, they insist, cloned dogs tend to be healthy, not least because scientists have spent the last decade figuring out how to do it.

"Clone enough dogs, and occasionally you have offspring that aren't perfect," said Lou Hawthorne, CEO of both BioArts and the late Genetic Savings and Clone. "But it's comparable to what you have through conventional breeding."

Clip Source: www.wired.com

When skin cells from a dead pit bull named Booger gave rise to five healthy-looking puppies with a $50,000 price tag, it marked the formal beginning of a commercial dog-cloning industry.

But for all the attention given to these and other clones, little was paid to the behind-the-scenes science. For every successfully cloned animal thrust into the spotlight, how many failures were quietly ushered out of sight?

"What we're seeing with the clones they present are the ones that look good," said Jaydee Hanson, an animal-cloning analyst at the Center for Food Safety, a Washington, D.C.-based liberal nonprofit.

In March, the U.S. Humane Society and American Anti-Vivisection Society released a report castigating pet cloning for "serious animal suffering and disreputable activities." Critics point to the general tendency of animal embryos to fail before they're born, and for survivors to develop debilitating diseases. And dogs, it's widely agreed, are among the hardest of all animals to clone.

Tags: gnetics, cloning, animals