Conversation, Deception and Intelligence

Turing documentaries on Youtube

2011-11-15T16:17:00.003Z

Turing documentary on YouTube in Italian features photographs of a young Turing, and his childhood friend, Christopher Morcom:

Another documentary explains the Turing Machine neatly:

Celebrating 50 years of manned space flight: IET lecture on Yuri Gagarin

2011-04-12T21:49:00.003+01:00

Fantastic evening at the IET with three inspiring talks on the first incredible manned space flight with Yuri Gagarin.

Scientist and broadcaster, Dr. Christopher Riley's haunting movie 'First Orbit' on that historic and amazing moment in human history here:

45th Anniversary of Weizenbaum's Eliza and IBM Watson success

2011-03-14T20:13:00.005Z

Happy 45th birthday ELIZA!

I've been meaning to post a message here since IBM Watson's remarkable question-answer success last month in the US TV general knowledge quiz show Jeopardy! This is IBM's second man vs machine success, previously by Deep Blue in chess against Gary Kasparov in 1997.

45 years ago in January 1966, Joseph Weizenbaum unveiled the first computer programme, ELIZA, permitting communication between a human and a machine. The interaction used the text-based medium, which Alan Turing had proposed in 1950 as a means to examine whether a machine could think.

What is thinking? If you want to know, watch Watson's February 2011 performance against two humans in Jeopardy!

TED talk on 'birth of language'

2011-03-10T20:40:00.004Z

Astonishing study on evolution of word pronunciation, by MIT researcher involving his child:

More on "how we learn language, in context, through the words we hear" here.

Christie's auction of Turing offprints fails to achieve reserve price while Apple 1 sells for £110k

2010-11-23T20:27:00.019Z

Steve Wozniak attended Christie's auction house at their magnificent King Street SW1 venue today and, as I did, witnessed the sale of an Apple 1 computer for £110,000.

Alas, Newman's collection of Turing paper offprints failed to achieve the reserve price of £300,000. This is so surprising, less than a fortnight ago (12 November 2010) a Chinese vase exceeded expectations, sold for £43million.

It was an exciting 1 1/2 hours this afternoon witnessing auction history in Christie's. Definitely, as Professor Max Newman's collection, Lot 60, neared for sale the heart began to pound. Thanks to the 20th century's brilliant mathematician, Alan Turing, I'm getting to enjoy science in many ways. Roll on Turing centenary year, 2012 .....

[pictures from Christie's web site]

Skyline: A Confusion of War of the Worlds, Aliens, Predator and Cloverfield

2010-11-14T22:20:00.005Z

.......... ends as Beauty and the Beast!

Firstly, I thought

David Gandy appeared as the central male character Jarrod, wish he had!

In Arnie Schwarzie/Predator1 mode David Zayas' Oliver character utters something in Spanish (?) at the mother*** uglies, against which mankind's F16s and stealth bombers are simply pathetic! Twist is interesting, not sure sequel will be unique.

Trailer:

Robert Plant, rock god: in his own words

2010-11-07T19:03:00.009Z

The 'Rock God' tag conjures up images of the long curly blonde locks adorning a bare chested Adonis, Robert Plant:

Fitting that BBC2 presented an evening of Robert Plant last night, Saturday 7 November 2010, read about it here.

Who can forget Plant's vocals on Led Zeppelin's Kashmir:

Rock Gods include Deep Purple's pantheresque Ian Gillan:

.......... and The Door's legendary Jim Morrison

( Photos from the web, 'spirit of Jim Morrison' from here: http://art-canyon.com/2010/09/theme-rooms-spirit-of-jim-morrison-poster/)

Giannis Kotsiras 'Pass the flame unite the world'

2010-11-06T18:07:00.004Z

Giannis Kotsiras' song 'pass the flame, unite the world' is a beautiful melody and uplifting tune needed at the end of what's been a year of devastating natural disasters: earthquakes, summer fires, floods, volcanic eruptions, and hurricanes.

and in English:

Wishing the flame of 2010 passes into a peaceful and less chaotic 2011.

Bryan Ferry's new album Olympia

2010-11-01T18:50:00.004Z

The seductive Bryan Ferry returns with his latest album Olympia, which includes the sexy You can dance 'padded cell remix' You can dance track:

Wilcox's Suzette ties with Carpenter's Cleverbot but fools one judge in 20th Loebner Prize

2010-11-01T18:00:00.006Z

From Slashdot:

"....Suzette had easily qualified [for the 20th Loebner Prize for Artificial Intelligence]over the 3 other competitors (her score 11 pts, the nearest competitor's 7.5). Her design and data naturally gave her an edge over her competitors on the human knowledge test questions of the qualifiers. But human judge chat was an entirely different matter than the qualification test. Still, I felt she could carry on a detailed conversation better than the others and should win.

Initial installation of the programs occurred on Friday. From prechat conversations with the other contestants I learned that A.L.I.C.E. came with 3 redundant disks. Yet all three turned out to be blank! What a scare that must have been. Dr. Wallace managed to install by retrieving the program over the Internet. Cleverbot is now at 45 million lines of memorized user chat (at a rate of doubling every year). And UltraHal is now listening to tweets, so has 300K of user chat it learned and 400K of tweets it has accepted for learning (code decides if the user has had enough responses and doesn't trigger any red flags).

Then we get to the competition. While the CalState organizers had initially planned to have various interdepartmental professors act as judges (like English dept, etc.), they backed out at the last minute, so all the judges were from the Engineering/Computer Science dept. Talk about guys who might know what to expect from chatbots! And all the humans were students from the same departments. What a weird mixture to compete in. And then, each round was 25 minutes. That's bad if you want confuse a judge about who is human. But really, the programs have no chance for that. So it's good because it gives the human time to compare each program against the other. Though it's not clear to me that the judges tried to use their time to do that.

And the students didn't really understand their role. It was merely to BE HUMAN and convince the judges of that. Before startup there was informal chatting between humans and judges, which was obviously inappropriate and it was then pointed out to the humans that since the judges already knew their names, they had best use false ones in the competition.

Round 1. After a few exchanges, somehow Suzettte got stuck into repeating exactly what the judge said for the rest of the round. I have no idea how. The round is a total disaster. I've never seen such a bug before. Maybe it's in my only-lightly-tested protocol for the competition. I have no idea. But it completely derails my hopes for Suzette. She could still win on points only if she outdoes her opponents for every other judge and the other contestants vary all over the place.

Round 2, a great demonstration of Suzette. She should win on this round alone.

Round 3 gets off to a horrible start. Somehow, Suzette can hear the judge but the judge can't hear Suzette. Makes no sense. A couple of restarts of Suzette doesn't fix this. Eventually they restart the judge program, and that clears it (not that that makes any sense either). Then, after a few rounds, it's clear Suzette has the judge from hell. He wants to know who she's going to vote for in the upcoming election (the unspecified California governor's race). And when she has no useful answer he wants her to name a candidate in the race. And when she has no answer to that, he simple keeps repeating the question ad nauseum, insisting she answer it. Suzette gets irritated. Then she gets angry. Suzette then gets bored. Suzette threatens to hang up on him. The judge doesn't back down until the last seconds of the round. I figure that's the end of life as we know it.

Round 4 is a mixed bag. Suzette is ok but not great. It's all over.

When the scores are tallied, Suzette ties with Rollo Carpenter's Cleverbot for 2nd-3rd. Yet, it turns out, the 3rd round judge got the human subject from hell. Poetic justice! The human was all over the place -- confusing, vague. The judge voted irritated/angry/bored Suzette as human. Instant win since no other program swayed the judges."

Loebner's interpretation of the imitation game is not what Turing had in mind, as Jason Hutchens (2008) points out: tournament is now resistible to engineering students no longer serving as an “incentive for post-graduates ... promise of $x000 prize for the creator of the ‘most human-like’ computer program, ... bronze medallion featuring portraits of both Alan Turing and Hugh Loebner” [p. 325].

Nick Clegg's desert island choice: Cesaria Evora and Petit Pays

2010-10-29T09:29:00.003+01:00

Multilingual Nick Clegg, UK Deputy Prime Minister, choice of desert island discs presented on BBC Radio 4 included the beautiful and haunting track Petit Pays by Cesaria Evora.

Enjoy it on Youtube:

DR WHO & THE DALEKS LIVE AT WEMBLEY 2010

2010-10-10T15:06:00.005+01:00

Childhood 'fun' nightmares were awakened with the Daleks destruction by 'the doctor' during BBC's DR WHO LIVE TOUR 2010 at Wembley last Friday.

Nigel Planer (of cult comedy The Young Ones) played the dastardly villain, what fun, but come on Steven Moffatt, do a DR WHO - Alan Turing special :-)

Watch the cyborg stomp, Churchill address and more on YouTube:

Santana - Guitar God

2010-10-03T18:09:00.004+01:00

Carlos Santana Guitar God and Sage extraordinaire was powerful last Friday night at the O2, 1st October. Went out and bought his Guitar heaven album next day, it's beautiful, 'While my guitar gently weeps' is haunting.

Thanks to fellow fans, tracks played that night have been uploaded to Youtube, here are some of the best of them, JINGO:

and CORAZON ESPINADA:

Whole lotta love:

Inception: Heist of Mind

2010-07-19T00:54:00.005+01:00

Nolan's Inception has the tragedy of Scorsese & DiCaprio's Shutter Island with the feel-good ending of Cameron's Avatar.

A heist of mind and the 'Matrix' for the twenty-tween decade, IMAX it to unravel the many subconscious levels of dreams.

Alan Turing's 98th birthday

2010-06-23T05:56:00.006+01:00

Alan Turing , 'father' of the idea of thinking & talking machines was born this day 98 years ago in Paddington, London, 1912.

Andrew Hodges short biography of the Turing test creator can be found here.

Picture by Andrew Hodges from here.

Turing's Test and Soul of a Muslim Woman

2010-06-12T05:44:00.003+01:00

Turing's Test and the Muslim Woman

What Motivates People

2010-05-30T19:38:00.002+01:00

Excellent animation relating what motivates people: autonomy, mastery and purpose:

Ada Lovelace Day 2010: Dr Rana el-Kaliouby

2010-03-24T00:54:00.002Z

For this year's Finding Ada, March 24, 2010, I'm nominating MIT's Dr Rana el-Kaliouby , an inspirational young female scientist for Ada Lovelace Day 2010.

Rana el-Kaliouby holds a BS and MS in Computer Science from the American University in Cairo, and a PhD from the Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge. She co-founded Affectiva, Inc., a spin-out from MIT's Media Laboratory with Rosalind W. Picard to measure and communicate emotions.

Among Rana el-Kaliouby's achievements is "wearable technology she helped develop that may aid people with autism spectrum disorders" (from MIT news.

Organiser of the 2009 Royal Society event on Computation of emotions in man and machines, Rana el-Kalouby's research interests include:

"inventing new affective technologies that enable the real-time and offline measurement of people's affective and cognitive experiences to enhance understanding of oneself and communication with others. She is a founding member of the Autism Communication Technology Initiative at MIT. Her current research developing the first in the world suite of wearable prostheses designed to enrich the social interactions of individuals on the autism spectrum ... rated among the top 100 innovations of the year 2006 by New York Times. Her work has been featured in the NewScientist, New York Times, Reuters, CNET, Wired, the Boston Globe and Slashdot. El Kaliouby is the 2006 recipient of the Global Women and Inventors Network, Higher Education & Learning Institutes (Gold Award). ." (from here).

Attempting to build an emotionally intelligent machine, one that can

".. detect your mood and can make decisions based on that. For example, it can alert you if you are falling asleep while driving, detect if you are frustrated when you can’t find what you are googling for, or can switch to a music genre that will cheer you up [when] you are sad. MindReader API enables the real time analysis, tagging and inference of cognitive affective mental states from facial video. The API builds on Rana el Kaliouby's doctoral research, which presents a computational model of mind reading as a framework for machine perception and mental state recognition. (From here).

Rana el-Kalioubt "exhibits her work regularly to engage the public in research, and to encourage more under-represented individuals to pursue a career in technology innovation. She has been invited to present her work at Google".

A mother of a five yea-old daughter, Rana el-Kaliouby is a most fitting and inspiring young female scientist to be associated with Lord Byron's daughter, Lady Ada Lovelace, another extraordinary woman, 19th century mathematician and first computer programmer.

Flash Forward Returns

2010-03-20T12:44:00.002Z

Flash Forward returns on Five; will we learn the cause of the global blackout? Can't wait!

James Cameron's Avatar Interview

2010-03-12T22:07:00.003Z

James Cameron interview for Discovery News:

Making of Bellamy's People

2010-03-09T20:17:00.002Z

Mock 'behind the scenes' view of BBC2's comic series on what makes British people British: Bellamy's People.

Episode 6

Hilarious: 'What is the question?'

The Modern British Army:

More clips here.

James Cameron Speaking on TED

2010-03-04T19:55:00.003Z

Good timing TED (ideas worth spreading), posting last year's James Cameron talk now, just before OSCARS 2010!

This is the way to impress, not the way Nicholas Chartier, producer of HURT LOCKER, chose - censured for explicit and aggressive campaigning, resulting in a ban from attending the Oscars.

2010 Chatterbox Challenge

2010-03-03T13:43:00.002Z

Chatterbox Challenge (CBC) is an annual contest held over the Internet that compares artificial conversational entities - ACE, across categories including 'best system'. The contest is loosely based on Alan Turing's notion to gauge whether a machine can think, conveyed through its answers to questions from a judge. The judge is not allowed to hear, see or touch the ACE, and must use their own interrogation technique via text-based questioning to assess.

The 2010 Chatterbox Challenge is looking for a small number of judges for this year's contest beginning March 15th. Judging requires access to an Internet-enabled computer. Judging is fun and also allows an insight into a broad area including the fields of natural language study, psychology, philosophy, software engineering and computer science.

Having participated in the 2005 CBC contest, I can say it was very interesting, and allowed for a paper write up for the Natural Language Understanding and Cognitive Science workshop, part of ICEIS 2006 (http://www.iceis.org/iceis2006/)

If anyone is interested to act as a judge in the 2010 Chatterbox Challenge, please contact the Sponsor on support[at]chatterboxchallenge[dot]com

For more information on the contest, please see CBC's site here:

http://www.chatterboxchallenge.com/index.php

You can follow CBC:

on Twitter - http://twitter.com/CBCSite

on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chatterbox-Challenge/266598751339

2010 IET/BCS Turing Lecture

2010-02-26T18:51:00.003Z

"Exponential growth in data is driving the new machine intelligence."

Microsoft's Professor Christopher Bishop presented the Prestige IET/BCS 2010 Turing lecture at Savoy Place last night.

The talk can now be viewed here:

IET/BCS Turing Lecture 2010 - Embracing Uncertainty: The new machine intelligence

Professor Christopher Bishop, Chief Research Scientist, Microsoft Research Cambridge Computers

From: The IET/BCS Turing Lecture

2010-02-25 00:00:00.0 IT Channel

>> go to webcast >> recommend to friend

The 7 Stages of James Cameron's Avatar-viewing Heaven!

2010-02-17T23:31:00.012Z

Having tonight seen AVATAR for the third time, exactly two months since first being overwhelmed by it at the BFI IMAX, surprised to learn there remain people in the Northern Hemisphere of Planet Earth who have not yet seen James Cameron's cine-spectacular, thus, not enjoyed his Pandora epic. Perhaps they're waiting for Cameron's Avatar novel:

Cameron confirmed reports that he’s turning his Oscar-nominated movie “Avatar” into a novel. “There are things you can do in books that you can’t do with films,” said Cameron... the book version of “Avatar” will follow the film version “quite closely” in terms of the plot. But the novel will also include “interior monologues” and provide details about the characters and Pandora...Cameron said he first considered writing the book when he was filming the movie. “I told myself, if it made money, I’d write a book”. (From here).

Below I've listed the seven stages of AVATAR movie-viewing heaven:

1. 3D BFI IMAX London - massive screen, awesome AVATAR/Pandora experience
2. 3D any other IMAX cinema
3. 3D cinema - not the same engagement as the IMAX experience, still enjoyable
4. 2D cinema - pleased it looks good in this format too

and come November 2010, the date for release of AVATAR on DVD (see below*), the next best ways to enjoy AVATAR for ever are:

5. 3D TVs can't wait!
6. Massive home Plasma screen TV with blu-ray player
7. PC or any other TV/screen

Avatar's Michell Rodriguez speaks of her pride:

Speaking at Hollywood's ACE Awards, the actress said she was impressed by how many people the movie seemed to have touched.

"Yeah, I am proud," she explained. "I'm proud that love could strike people like that - that's all it is."

"It's like unconditional love translated into special effects, 3-D and a great storyline," the actress said of the Oscar-nominated movie.

"I just love how receptive people around the world have been to that message, because it makes me think that there is still hope out there." (From here)

Let's hope James Cameron is appreciated this weekend with an armful of BAFTAS.

*Feb 17 2010 6:09 PM EST:
'Avatar' Director James Cameron Says 3-D DVD In Stores This November: 'We'll follow up with some kind of special edition later down the line,' Cameron says. By Eric Ditzian, with reporting by Josh Horowitz

"Avatar" arrived in December, and it looks like the DVD will start shipping 11 months later. That's what James Cameron told MTV News when the writer/director stopped by the newsroom to chat on Wednesday (February 17).

"We're going to put 'Avatar' out probably in November on 3-D — bare bones, just the movie — and then we'll follow up with some kind of special edition later down the line," he said.

By the time the DVD arrives, major electronics manufacturers like Samsung, Panasonic and Sony should have home 3-D television systems available for purchase, albeit at a premium price. Pair one of those sets with a 3-D-enabled Blu-ray player, and while you won't exactly be re-creating an IMAX viewing environment, you will get three dimensions of Pandoran glory and still be close enough to your fridge to hit pause and grab a cold soda.

Cameron ... expanded and clarified ... the DVD ... is likely to contain five or six minutes of fully finished, theatrical-release-quality deleted scenes and 15 minutes of footage that was excised early on and thus contains rough CG effects.

"The unfinished scenes look like a cheesy video game," Cameron said. "They're the performances — you can really see what the scenes would have been — but it doesn't have that magical realism of the finished film."

Among the deleted scenes will be footage focusing on the main group of Na'vi humanoids of Pandora, the introduction of other Na'vi clans, and the ritual hunt for a colorful creature called a Sturmbeest in which Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) takes part.

"It's all wonderful stuff, but it was sort of bogging down the middle section of the movie," Cameron told us back in December. "So there's plenty for a value-added DVD experience on this film. Of course, we'll have to go punch it all up and get it all mixed and stuff like that."

(From MTV.com)

Bellamy's People: 'What Exactly is Britishness?' Spoof!

2010-02-05T16:06:00.008Z

3rd episode of hilarious new comedy Bellamy's People aired last night on BBC2.

The show is predicated on the idea of an award winning radio phone-in host, who has decided to leave his studio to find out what Britishness actually means. As intrepid as the other Bellamy (biologist, David), Gary goes forth meeting with people of today's Great Britain. Sometimes bemused by them, at other times playfully attacked, Bellamy connects with every caricature of multi-cultural Britons. Read the Gary Bellamy blog here.

Favourite character, is played by the brilliant Felix Dexter. As an African student, Julius Olufemwe, in London for the past twenty years reading Hotel Management Studies, he is just too funny!

We learn Julius adores British history, culture and traditions. He admires British buildings, shows Bellamy wonderful examples such as Big Ben, Houses of Parliament. Yes, Dexter's African student loves all that is British, but especially its fabric, that which makes Britain lovely, its nobility! - Julius would love to say to his mother and father that he has become the Marquis of Shropshire, the Earl of Broadstairs, the Viscount of Guildford or the Duke of Reading :)

Bellamy talks to the outspoken radio talk-show host (think Jon Gaunt!), the Yorkshire poet, the un-racist English builder, the Aussie who thinks Great Britain is down the pan, the Pakistani who acquaints Bellamy of the benefit of his home nation: it's hotter :) And there's a Professor, Michael Dadd, who has all the important dates in British History at his fingertips, including the year of the Battle of Agincourt, which, much to the Historian's chagrin, Bellamy does not, and neither do I, without looking it up!

Many more characters to enjoy while spoofing up Britishness - watch on BBC iPlayer.

OSCARS 2010: AVATAR & HURT LOCKER Nominated 9 Times Each

2010-02-02T15:21:00.007Z

My favourite movie 2009-end and New Decade-Tweens, Avatar received 9 Oscar nominations:

Best picture
Director
Best film editing
Art direction
Cinematography
Music (original score)
Sound editing
Sound mixing
Visual effects

Good luck to Kathryn Bigelow, her Strange Days (story written by James Cameron), is one of my favourite movies of the 90s:

Back to AVATAR, I love James Cameron's Pandora:

AVATAR: Biggest Box Office Movie Ever!

2010-01-26T22:29:00.005Z

While Avatar has broken Titanic's record, Toby Young blogs an alternative view of James Cameron's 3D cine-spectacular. Don't be fooled by the author's comments, Avatar is a timeless, classic tale of the meek inheriting and keeping their wondrous planet

Roll on BAFTA and OSCAR awards!

Cameron's AVATAR replacing Slumdog Feel-good? - BAFTA nominations

2010-01-22T14:38:00.017Z

JAI HO !!!!

Scene is set for James Cameron's AVATAR to replace last year's multi-BAFTA winning Slumdog-endearing-Mumbai Dharavi-kids feel-good movie with the botanist, the paraplegic and Neytiri the Na'vi.

Image: Official Avatar Movie flickr photostream

Avatar has already become the "biggest Hollywood grosser at the Indian box office" with over 1bn Rupees (IDMB).

AVATAR is nominated in the following BAFTA categories:

BEST FILM: James Cameron, Jon Landau
DIRECTOR: James Cameron
MUSIC: James Horner
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Mauro Fiore
EDITING: Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua, James Cameron
PRODUCTION DESIGN: Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg, Kim Sinclair
SOUND: Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson, Tony Johnson, Addison Teague
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS: Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, Andrew R. Jones

Watch James Cameron: A Life in Pictures at an Alfred Dunhill BAFTA event here.

Let's hope Cameron's 3D epic wins those awards and is OSCAR nominated similarly. AVATAR is the New Year / Twenty-ten's and New Decade / Tween's feel-good movie - Jai Ho!!

Avatar trailers and movie clips here.

James Cameron receives 2010 Golden Globes: Best Director & Best Movie- Avatar

2010-01-18T03:17:00.008Z

Innovative film maker James Cameron receives 2010 Golden Globes for 'Best Director Motion Picture' and 'Best Motion Picture - Drama' for Avatar.

Well done!!!

Beyond Darwin, Turing's Biology of Creation, Chemistry of Nature: The Secret Life of Chaos

2010-01-17T18:48:00.026Z

The perspicacious physicist, Baghdad-born Professor Jim Al-Khalili, presenter of the excellent three-part BBC series Language of Science returns with a stunning tale of chaos:

A system completely described by mathematical equations that is more than capable of being unpredictable without any outside interference, whatsoever. (Al-Khalili, 2010: BBC4)

Launching The Secret Life of Chaos, Al-Khalili acquaints us with another seminal paper by 20th century mathematician, Alan Turing: The chemical basis of morphogenesis. In 1952, Turing was the first man to take on the momentous task of unravelling nature's mysterious mathematics, Al-Khalili reveals. Turing, grasping the idea, that the wonders of creation derive from the simplest of rules, wondered about 'mind', what is it?, explained Turing's biographer, Dr. Andrew Hodges featured in Al-Khalili's programme.

Familiarising viewers with the butterfly effect (flapping of wings in one place can effect massive change, such as in weather, somewhere else), and the link between nature's power to self-organise, Al-Khalili demonstrated that chaos is everywhere, unpredictability is hard-wired into every aspect of the world we live in, and that global climate can dramatically change in the course of a few short years. Order is linked to chaos, Al-Khalili showed. Moving through Belousov's patterns to Mandelbrot's set, Al-Khalili's journey to the centre of chaos shows us that feedback gives rise to both order and chaos and involves pattern formation, which is deeply woven into fabric of the universe. Patters are everywhere, just waiting to happen, Al-Khalili added.

Complexity is based on simple rules, which themselves give rise to complexity through a feedback loop. Spontaneity emerges from the feedback of simple rules, organisms replicate with a few random mutations now and again. Feedback comes from the environment which favours mutations best-suited to it. Nature's ability to turn simplicity into complexity explains why life exists, Al-Khalili maintains, and that it is evolution, a powerful system of creative power, which has caused the universe, full of simple dust to create human beings, causing inanimate matter to spawn intelligence from simple rules. It is evolution, an unconscious process, which hones patterns and experiments by mutating, finding what works and then builds upon this.

Design, Al-Khalili concluded beautifully, does not need an active, interfering designer; self-organising complex systems develop from simple rules, without conscious thought. Professor Jim Al-Khalili's The Secret Life of Chaos can be viewed here.

Mandelbrot set image: Scientific American

Haiti Earthquake Disaster - Ways to Donate

2010-01-14T19:56:00.004Z

Photo from NYnews.com

Follow links to donate:

DEC

OXFAM

Red Cross

Save the Children

UNICEF

Russell Group's Wendy Piatt Discusses UK University Cuts

2010-01-12T14:40:00.013Z

From Twitter:

Dr Wendy Piatt due to appear on the Jeff Randall show on @skynews later today to talk about university cuts

Are the British Government leading UK science down the garden path to third world STEM nation-ship? Or do universities need to consider their role in cheapifying themselves through reduced calibre student intake, increasing lower-cost business studies courses, at the expense of engineering, mathematics and physics?

[Comment left by capot on CiF: I know a woman who was sent four emails with three different answers on her eligibility to progress to the next year. One of the emails very explicitly said her results were well below the standard required. Out of the blue, she was allowed to continue. That was a Russell group university. The course was said to be the most sought after in Britain in that subject area.]

Or is 'the market' at fault for attracting bright STEM graduates away from producing good science into calamitous banking complexity? Could universities have worked closer with schools to foster interest in science beyond teenage, celebritifying their bestest alumni? One notable item has emerged from the Alan Turing Year 2012 project, there's no money in Government to celebrate a true British genius. Perhaps if Ministers had put their hands in their own pocket regularly, rather than in the taxman's, as Obnoxio so indelicately puts it, "It's the insane unreasonableness of arrogant MPs", there might be a little bit left over for fantastically engaging science projects. Turing digress over!

The Guardian delivers Dr Wendy Piatt's bleak outlook for UK universities (audio report).

Other reports here:

"While academics are terrified by the threat of redundancies and pay cuts, commentators are rightly worried that cuts and fee-rises will threaten the project of opening up university education to a wider section of the public" (Guardian CiF)

"The Russell Group, which represents the top 20 universities, warns that the cuts will damage research and teaching, as well as British competitiveness. They point out that, by contrast, other leading European economies and the US are pumping more into universities as an investment for the future. The impact of the cuts would be felt quickly in terms of student places." (London Evening Standard)

"Spending cuts targeting universities are threatening to bring Britain's higher education sector "to its knees"." (Politics.co.uk)

Michael Arthur and Wendy Piatt warn: "It has taken more than 800 years to create one of the world's greatest education systems and it looks like it will take just six months to bring it to its knees" (in the Guardian)

Responded with fair points:

"You can't be immune from cuts given the size of the public sector deficit. Leaving your funds intact means some pensioner freezes, OK?

So you have three choices left -

1. Swallow the cuts and make do with less. Don't pretend our gold standard universities don't have some old duffers on the staff drawing salaries for doing bugger-all, nobody will believe you. {guffaw, guffaw!!}

2. Increase tuition fees to plug the gap.

3. Admit that Blair's dream of 50% of people going to university was ineptly planned and implemented: allowing a bunch of former tech colleges to call themselves universities and hand out confetti degrees for "music technology" or "media studies" to any fool who turns up, with no prospect of ever being sent down and jeopardising future funding, was the real betrayal of the gold standard.

Newspapers and recording studios are not hiring these days, and the end of the recession is not going to change much. Most of the cannon fodder drafted in to make up Blair's wish-list numbers should be doing apprenticeships or some other vocational training. Which might actually lead to decent, well-paid jobs.

And they would not be starting those jobs with a £20,000 student loan to repay". [stevehill, from here].

And finally: "... some Russell Group universities (especially Oxbridge, LSE, Imperial and UCL) are secretly loving the prospect of these cuts. They know they'll survive them, but they also know it gives them just the right amount of political leverage to force the government's hand on eliminating tuition fee thresholds, which is ultimately the modus operandi of the Russell Group. Wendy & Michael, be upfront about who and what you're representing here. The fall of London Met, Manchester Met, Liverpool John Moores, or many more of the substandard creations of the 1992 Education Act will not keep you awake at night." [snappymuffins from here].

New Turing Test papers for 2010

2010-01-11T17:37:00.011Z

(Image: © Mark Allen)

In the 60th anniversary of Turing's Mind article, papers discussing Alan Turing's imitation game, textual comparison of machine against a human, in 2010 include:

From the Buzzing in Turing's Head to Machine Intelligence Contests (submitted, Shah & Warwick)

Hidden Interlocutor Misidentification in Practical Turing Tests (submitted, Shah & Warwick)

Testing Turing's Five Minutes Parallel-paired Imitation Game (Kybernetes Turing Test Special Issue, 3/4, March-April 2010, Shah & Warwick)

What does the Turing test really mean? (2009, Tyler Cowen and Michelle Dawson, link)

Turing100in2012 Goes Live!

2010-01-11T12:57:00.006Z

Professor Kevin Warwick's Turing100in2012 page has gone live and can now be found here.

Gradually, more information will be added about this exciting event, celebrating the brilliant 20th century mathematician in his centenary year, at a very special venue connected to Alan Turing.

Chatterbox Challenge 2010

2010-01-11T10:20:00.010Z

In its 10th year, in the 60th anniversary of Turing's Computing Machinery and Intelligence, 'can a machine think?' game Chatterbox Challenge launches its 2010 contest.

Alternative to the Loebner Prize, the Chatterbox Challenge galvanises:

Botmasters

- Improves your skills in building your bot.

- Benchmarks your bot intelligence for free.

- Makes your bot win prizes based on his intelligence and personality.

- Gets your bot more popular and reviewed by visitors.

Visitors

- Gives you the opportunity to judge and review chatbots.

- Helps you to vote for the best chatbot.

- Shows the latest and the most innovative techniques in Artificial Intelligence.

- Is a good reason to start building your own bot.

Sponsors

- Shows you new innovative techniques to run your business.

- Helps you to get in touch with the world wide talents.

- Makes you more popular with a higher page rank.

- Gets you associated with innovative industry for present and future.

Developers can enter their artificial conversational entities - ACE here. Chatterbox Challenge history can be viewed here.

Judges wishing to assess systems (between March and May) can contact the Organiser here.

Baroness Susan Greenfield, female science role model, dismissed unfairly from the Royal Insititution?

2010-01-10T20:17:00.012Z

This statement put out by the Royal Institution of Great Britain January 8, 2010:

"The Trustees of the Royal Institution of Great Britain have completed the first stage of a governance review and as a consequence have concluded, that the requirement for the functions of the role of Director as currently defined has ceased to exist. We are therefore sad to announce that Baroness Susan Greenfield left the Ri on 08/01/2010."

Adding:

"Baroness Greenfield has played a leading role, not only in the development of the Ri, but also in the wider scientific community through her work in popularising science. In her twelve years as Director of the Ri, she was the driving force behind numerous initiatives, notably, the recent visionary refurbishment project and the renowned Science Media Centre."

Why release her then? Why not allow the successful Baroness to ..

"focus on strengthening its finances, fundraising, and addressing the organisational governance to ensure the Ri continues to deliver its many, diverse and renowned activities in scientific research, education and public engagement."

?????

Would the Royal Institution have acted in this manner if the Director position had been held by a male? Why ignore Susan's significant contribution and treat her thus:

Britain's most prominent female scientist, Susan Greenfield, was locked out of her grace-and-favour flat in central London within hours of being made redundant on Friday by the Royal Institution.

The 59-year-old neuroscientist, who had been director of the institution since 1998, has now consulted a QC over the decision to serve her with redundancy papers. Sources say Baroness Greenfield was offered a "generous" redundancy package and glowing tributes if she agreed to leave her post, but refused. She is now planning to make a sex discrimination claim following the institution trustees' move to axe her position.

Friends claim an "old boys' club" culture in the institution has led to the move. "I am the only female appointed to this iconic post throughout the 211-year history of the Royal Institution and cannot see how this decision can be in the best interests of the organisation or its members," Greenfield said.

This decision was denounced by Professor Lisa Jardine, a former member of its governing council. "The institution has always had a charismatic scientist as its director. To get rid of the post suggests it has decided to commit suicide. Susan has done her job superbly and did not deserve to be escorted off the premises on Friday. We are allowing one of our most important scientific institutions (where Sir Humphry Davy and Michael Faraday once worked) to go to the wall."

... news on Friday stunned the institution. Staff were given 30 minutes' notice to attend a meeting at which the chief executive, Chris Rofe, announced her redundancy. "There was absolute silence when we were told," said one worker.(Guardian)

Shocking, absolutely shocking.

Accusations cast upon the Baroness, and other notable scientists, include self-promotion; communicating science to the masses is often followed with such charges from quarters who really ought to weigh the 'crime' against how much others are inspired, and influenced in a positive way. For goodness sake the world and the UK suffers from a desperate shortage of high-profile scientists, especially female science role-models.

Not overlooking that the Baroness divides scientists, with followers (Times report), and decriers including Dr. Ben Goldacre, who writes in his blog:

"In my view her argument [about computers damaging childrens brains] is pretty thin, and the goalposts and extremities of the claims seem to me to shift depending on the audience. All I have said is: write it up in an academic journal, making your hypothesis clear, set out the evidence, and set out what evidence you think should be gathered. ... Baroness Greenfield launched her own personally endorsed range of very expensive computer games to train your brain in the House of Lords, to much media fanfare in the Times, Telegraph, BBC and more."

The world demands practicality from science, but when science does produce, occasionally its producers are attacked for profiteering! While there is a strong argument for academic papers, Ben Goldacre's comments infer that the peer-review process is perfect, that reviewers are truly experts in the field they are assessing and that they don't allow garbage, assumption-based hocus pocus through for publication. However, watching family youngsters at play with their various computing devices, I disagree with the Baroness and believe children are more social; they're able to be more interactive with other humans via machines - whether it's a mobile 'phone, playstations, Wii, etc., than children were thirty years ago.

Nonetheless, it is a brave person that takes on the establishment: the Ri will have to answer for their actions in an Employment Tribunal, the Baroness is suing for 'sex discrimination':

"Redundancy is supposed to be about the post, not the person. So my personal performance should not be relevant." (Guardian). "She said she could not comment on other specifics of her claim, but said they would include allegations of sexual discrimination." (Telegraph).

Ri's action unwittingly sends out a signal, that it is better for rung-climbing fecund scientists to curb their personality, inhibit it so as not to clash with fellow climbers and those looking down above the glass ceiling. Apt quote for the Baroness's predicament: "Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds" (Albert Einstein)

Not a propitious moment for the Ri celebrating "200 years as a member organisation". Wish Susan Greenfield, the charismatic neurologist all the best with her case and her future.

Update January 11, 2010: (Ironically) The Royal Institution to host 'Women of Substance: Inspiring Women in STEM' event!!!! Link

75th Anniversary - Elvis Presley

2010-01-08T13:11:00.009Z

That great, 20th century rock 'n roll protagonist, Elvis Presley would be celebrating his 75th birthday today, had he not died prematurely aged 42.

With an unrivalled voice, smooth looks, athletic physique and gyrating hips Elvis's musical legacy will live on forever with terrific tunes, including my favourite Elvis number that begins with a crooning drawl ending with pacy tempo: Devil in Disguise:

Official Elvis Presley, king of rock 'n roll site here.

Guardian piece on Elvis's costumes:

"most famous design, and probably my personal favourite, is the suit Elvis wore for his Aloha in Hawaii in 1973. He had requested a patriotic design because the show was going to be broadcast around the world. I grabbed a piece of paper and sketched out an eagle in blue and yellow marker and told Bill, "I want to do this." He said: "Go for it." I think that jumpsuit became synonymous with his image for many people."

Read more here.

Update: Found this beautiful Elvis ballad - Just Tell Her Jim Said Hello

Where Should Tiger Woods Go to Redeem Himself?: Planet Pandora!

2010-01-06T19:42:00.007Z

Must-see brilliantly funny segment on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: The Best F**king News Team Ever - Tiger Woods' Faith

Shown on More4 yesterday, a day later than viewed in the US, the clip can be viewed here (unfortunately, not if you're based in the UK).

The Daily Show's advice for Tiger Wood's redemption? Become a Navi Avatar and enjoy Planet Pandora!!!!

For lovers of the movie, you can 'avatarise yourself' here. This is mine:

James Cameron's Avatar is a Phenomenon: Fastest to Earn $1bn Worldwide!

2010-01-04T16:51:00.014Z

Amazing news, but hardly surprising considering its global appeal (see the official fan page on Facebook), James Cameron's latest cinematic spectacular, Avatar, has earned $1bn so far, the fastest movie to achieve this, phenomenal! Everything James Cameron 'touches' turns to gold.

Pandora world, image: Flickr

From BBC:

"Distributors 20th Century Fox say it has earned more than $350m (£217m) in the US and more than $670m (£415m) in the rest of the world in only 17 days. The 3D science fiction blockbuster was directed by James Cameron, who also made Titanic, the best selling movie of all time.

The latest figures make Avatar already the fourth-biggest film ever made. Ahead of it are Titanic ($1.8bn; £1.1bn), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($1.12bn; £695m) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ($1.07bn; £664m).

Avatar - ... reportedly the most expensive film ever made, with a budget of at least $300m (£186m).

"This is like a freight train out of control," said 20th Century Fox distribution executive Bert Livingston. "It just keeps on going.

"I think everybody has to see Avatar once, even people who don't normally go to the movies, they've heard about it and are saying, 'I have to see it'," he said. "Then there are those people seeing it multiple times."

Avatar has now reached most parts of the globe. It opened in China on Saturday and is due to reach Italy - its final market - on 15 January.

The huge box office takings are partly down to the higher cost of tickets for 3D performances, says the BBC's Peter Bowes in Los Angeles. But as Hollywood enters its traditional slow season, with few big films due for release, Avatar is likely to dominate the box office for several more weeks, he adds."

It has to be seen in 3D, especially in an IMAX, to appreciate Cameron's brilliance and the wonder of his Pandora world.

Happy New Year Twenty-ten - 60th Anniversary of Alan Turing's MIND paper

2010-01-02T11:59:00.014Z

Image of fireworks around the London Eye, New Year's Eve (from Sky News)

Let's hope the new year, Twenty-ten, brings forth a fresh decade of compassion and opportunity that is far removed from, as described by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the "terrible and gruelling" Noughties.

2010 marks the 60th anniversary of Alan Turing's MIND paper Computing Machinery and Intelligence - his Imitation Game, and the question of whether a machine can think remains much 'beloved' for philosophers of mind!

"I propose to consider the question, "Can machines think?" This should begin with definitions of the meaning of the terms "machine" and "think." The definitions might be framed so as to reflect so far as possible the normal use of the words, but this attitude is dangerous, If the meaning of the words "machine" and "think" are to be found by examining how they are commonly used it is difficult to escape the conclusion that the meaning and the answer to the question, "Can machines think?" is to be sought in a statistical survey such as a Gallup poll. But this is absurd. Instead of attempting such a definition I shall replace the question by another, which is closely related to it and is expressed in relatively unambiguous words.

The new form of the problem can be described in terms of a game which we call the 'imitation game'."

Read the full paper on Hugh Loebner's Artificial Intelligence Prize site.

2010 is also the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society, world’s oldest science academy of which Alan Turing was a Fellow.

Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton Terrace SW1 (picture: copyright KaihsuTai)

Royal Society's 350th anniversary events will include celebrating "local heroes .. pioneers, mavericks and geniuses, who for centuries have changed the way we live and see the world", and a summer Festival of Science at the Southbank (more information here and here).

Update: 4 January, 2010: BBC Radio 4 In Our Time

In a four-part series which began this morning (repeated tonight at 21.30), Melvyn Bragg introduces the history of the Royal Society, with a visit to Wadham College, Oxford. Listen here (45 mins).

Neal Stephenson's (author of Snowcrash and Cryptonomicon), Baroque Cycle, beginning with Quicksilver is a must read adventure of the period encapsulating the enigmatic and eminent characters in the early days of the Royal Society, including Sir Isaac Newton.

I love James Cameron's Planet Pandora - Avatar is 3D Awesome!

2009-12-20T14:18:00.010Z

What a movie! I want to IMAX-enjoy James Cameron's giant blue cat-Navi Avatars and experience the beauty of planet Pandora again and again and again!

"On Friday, Avatar wrangled a stellar estimated $27 million on approximately 7,000 screens at 3,452 sites (including $3.5 million from its midnight start). The picture's 3D presentations at 2,038 sites accounted for 58 percent of the gross. Avatar's first day stands as the third highest-grossing ever for a December release." (From IMDb)

Update January 2, 2010: "during the week between Christmas and New Year, the box office seemed on track to chalk up $500 million for the week, a record, analysts observed. (The previous record was set last year following the opening of The Dark Knight, when combined ticket sales reached $396.2 million.) Leading the field was Fox's Avatar, which added another $18.5 million to its domestic gross on Wednesday, bringing it to $268.9 million after 13 days. (Far more impressive, however, is the foreign gross, which stood at $525.3 million on Tuesday.) " From IMDb

Haunting score and theme song awaken memories of Titanic; scenes reminiscent of Cameron's Aliens, Spielberg's Jurassic Park, Gibson's Apocalypto and Rob Cohen's Dragonheart, Avatar's allegory may not be new, but the 3D epic, in ginormous IMAX presentation, is what cinematic spectacular experience is all about, thrilling, breath-taking wonder. Cheers, whistles, applause from IMAX's audience, energy that transported to a technical, special effects planet of daunting monsters, exquisite creatures, and a proud Navi people entwined within a soft love tale, battling an oppressive invading force, you just didn't want to leave, you wanted to experience it again, and again. Avatar has received four Golden Globe nominations, it deserves them all (for 'Best Motion Picture - Drama', 'Best Director - Motion Picture', 'Best Original Score - Motion Picture', and 'Best Original Song - Motion Picture'). Let's hope it receives those awards, and some Oscar nominations too. Cameron's interview:

Thank you to James Cameron, the cast and all who were involved in bringing Pandora to life through such a fantastic movie!

BCS_SGAI 2009 Machine Intelligence Winner: Fly by Ear Helicopter

2009-12-17T08:37:00.005Z

As reported by Richard Wallace, developer of Alicebot, Fly by Ear won the 2009 BCS_SGAI 2009 Machine Intelligence Competition for Progress Towards Machine Intelligence.

Well done to De Montfort University's Benjamin N. Passow and Mario A. Gongora. About Fly By Ear:

"Hearing is an invaluable sense for humans and has been greatly under-explored in the fields of AI and robotics. We show how communication and the sense of hearing can vastly improve the intelligent behaviour of an autonomous indoor helicopter. The audience will see the autonomous helicopter fly and manoeuvre on-stage while a supervising machine reads its intrinsic sound, extracts a variety of valuable information and feeds it back to the helicopter to enhance its stability and flight path. This novel use of artificial hearing presents an important advance in control, robotics, and machine intelligence."

From here.

AVATAR - IMAX: 1-Day To Go

2009-12-16T12:55:00.007Z

Most anticipated movie this year - James Cameron's AVATAR! One day to go before I get to see the 3D cinematic spectacular at the BFI IMAX tomorrow, can't wait!

Signourney Weaver, botanist Dr Grace Augustine in AVATAR, appeared on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show, Monday 14 December, 2009. Catch her on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour here.

Leona Lewis's
"I see You" theme for AVATAR:

YouTube of James Cameron's Avatar Premiere in London

2009-12-11T15:11:00.006Z

YouTube of last night's London Leicester Square premiere of AVATAR here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhTyGcKBh

From The Guardian newspaper:

Special praise is reserved for Sigourney Weaver, as "a scientist so unimpeachable that she can get away with smoking on board an intergalactic spaceship".

MIT vs UCL debate "Is global warming largely man made?"

2009-12-11T13:38:00.007Z

"Is global warming largely man made?" web-chat debate currently live at Times Online between Mark Maslin, Director of the Environment Institute at University College London, with special interest in global and regional climates, and Richard Lindzen, Professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

So far:

Times Online:
We're ready to start the debate. To kick off, I’d like to establish whether you both accept that the Earth has got significantly hotter over the last century – whatever the underlying cause.
Friday December 11, 2009 1:34 Times Online
1:34

Dick Lindzen:
What do you mean by significant?
Friday December 11, 2009 1:34 Dick Lindzen
1:34

Mark Maslin:
Hi. More simple answer. Temperature rise over the last 100 years is real and global. This week the Met Office and WMO published data showing the last decade is the warmest on record and 2009 will be the 5th warmest on record.
Friday December 11, 2009 1:34 Mark Maslin
1:35

Times Online:

Whether you'd agree that the WMO data published is an accurate reflection of global temperatures.
Friday December 11, 2009 1:35 Times Online
1:36

Mark Maslin:
well I do
Friday December 11, 2009 1:36 Mark Maslin
1:36

Dick Lindzen:
That hardly answers the question. This still amounts to less a degree. Moreover, having reached a relative maximum in 1998, mere fluctuations guaranty that there will be years with temperatures among the highest.
Friday December 11, 2009 1:36 Dick Lindzen
1:36

Dick Lindzen:
And this has nothing to do with whether there is any trend.
Friday December 11, 2009 1:36 Dick Lindzen
1:37

Mark Maslin:
are you saying you disagree with the WMO and Met Office?
Friday December 11, 2009 1:37 Mark Maslin
1:38

Dick Lindzen:
And accuracy is associated with error bars. These leave any temperature uncertain to the order of 0.2C. This has nothing to do with whether one accepts the published figures.
Friday December 11, 2009 1:38 Dick Lindzen
1:38

Times Online:

Mark, why would you argue that a temperature rise of less than a degree is important? Temperatures in the past have been hotter than they are today.
Friday December 11, 2009 1:38 Times Online
1:39

Mark Maslin:
so a trend over the 100 years of 0.8 degrees (with your suggested error of 0.2) is significant then Dick
Friday December 11, 2009 1:39 Mark Maslin
1:39

[Comment From John Graham-Cumming John Graham-Cumming: ]
How important is the 'hockey stick' data to the overall story of global warming? For example, suppose it was much hotter on Earth 2,000 years ago, would that matter?
Friday December 11, 2009 1:39 John Graham-Cumming
1:39

Mark Maslin:
A degree in global terms is alot. Think about it during the last ice age when ice 3 km thick sat over USA global temperature dropped by only 5 dgrees
Friday December 11, 2009 1:39 Mark Maslin
1:40

Dick Lindzen:
Given that the temperature record oscillates, and thus deviates from CO2 means that there are other things going on that are at least as important. Mark's point about the ice age is misleading. The mean temperature change was a residue not a cause.
Friday December 11, 2009 1:40 Dick Lindzen
1:41

Mark Maslin:
I think the past data is extremely important for putting current warming trends into context. If we take all the different data sets for the last 2000 years or even the last 8000 years there has a been a long term small cool trend. The so called hockey stick shows us that what has happened in the last 100 years has not happened in the last 8000 years.

[Comment From Pierre Gosselin Pierre Gosselin: ]
If global warming is real, then why has the Antarctic ice mass been trending upwards the last 30 years?
Friday December 11, 2009 1:43 Pierre Gosselin
1:43

Dick Lindzen:
John,

Of course it is relevant. The whole point of the hockey stick was to conclude that the current warmth unprecedented even if it seems small. If the earth was warmer then it becomes impossible to claim significance. Even the hockey stick team doesn't argue for 8000 years, and no reviewer accepts the results beyond 400 years.
Friday December 11, 2009 1:43 Dick Lindzen
1:43

Mark Maslin:
so if Dick accepts temperatures are rising does he also accept that carbon dioixde levels are rising
Friday December 11, 2009 1:43 Mark Maslin
1:43

Dick Lindzen:
Of course
Friday December 11, 2009 1:43 Dick Lindzen
1:44

Dick Lindzen:
Are rising? Not temperatures currently
Friday December 11, 2009 1:44 Dick Lindzen
1:44

Dick Lindzen:
The temperature anomaly for 2008 was not statistically significantly different from 1987.
Friday December 11, 2009 1:44 Dick Lindzen
1:45

Mark Maslin:
Antarctica is an excellent example of the skeptics taing excellent science done at UCL and twisting it. Scientist report the facts. The fact reported in scinetific papers are that Greenland is shrinking and so is the Western Antarctic ice sheet. But because of warmer conditions and more snow the Eastern Anatrctic ice sheet is in fact thickening. So you have to read all the facts not just the ones put out by the skeptcis!
Friday December 11, 2009 1:45 Mark Maslin

Follow live debate here.

Web-chat is now over, but the remainder of the discussion is copied below:

Friday December 11, 2009 1:45 Mark Maslin
1:46

[Comment From Nick J Nick J: ]
I don't think anyone questions that man is indeed contributing to the global temperature, we should reduce waste and cut emissions where possible, however, figures show that the earth is in fact cooling (when you rule out the hockey stick 'trick'), so how can man be the sole blame for this? The planet runs through its course of cycles, we're tired of being blamed when we are not the single cause.
Friday December 11, 2009 1:46 Nick J
1:46

Dick Lindzen:
And still the conclusion is that no one knows because the changes argued about would take thousands of years to raise sea levels discernibly.
Friday December 11, 2009 1:46 Dick Lindzen
1:47

Dick Lindzen:
To Nick: Exactly
Friday December 11, 2009 1:47 Dick Lindzen
1:47

Mark Maslin:
The problem is under no climate scenario does the East Antarctic ice sheet melt, it contains over 60 m of global sea level. But the small greenland and Western Antarctic ice sheets are much more vulnerable and could contribute up to 13 m. But most scientists believe that it could be next century before these really start to melt and most of us hope we can reduce co2 before we trigger this melting
Friday December 11, 2009 1:47 Mark Maslin
1:48

Dick Lindzen:
Could, might, etc. Who are these 'most scientists?' Glaciology is a really small field. [Well said!]
Friday December 11, 2009 1:48 Dick Lindzen
1:48

Friday December 11, 2009 1:48
1:50

Mark Maslin:
Dick, you were an author of the IPCC 3rd report. You know who these scientist are. You know the peer review process and you know the length that NASA and other groups go to get the best and most infomred data.
Friday December 11, 2009 1:50 Mark Maslin
1:50

[Comment From darren darren: ]
When Greenland was last ice free in the lowlands what was the level of CO2 and when was this?
Friday December 11, 2009 1:50 darren
1:51

[Comment From Paul Paul: ]
Does Mark accep that the temparature anomaly is not statistically different from 1987?
Friday December 11, 2009 1:51 Paul
1:51

Dick Lindzen:
Mark: In many cases yes. The question as always is what does it mean. Also, the IPCC review process is a bit farcical. And, there was pressure to avoid criticizing models.
Friday December 11, 2009 1:51 Dick Lindzen
1:51

Times Online:

Leading on from Paul's comment - is it meaningful to compare anomalys from individual years?
Friday December 11, 2009 1:51 Times Online
1:53

Mark Maslin:
I think the Met Office apporach of looking at decades is the best way to looking at the data, Because we all know that there can be large varaiation between years. So picking 1987 as year to compare this decade would not work. So you must look at the data over the last 100 years to see the clear trend which Dick has mentioned.
Friday December 11, 2009 1:53 Mark Maslin
1:53

Dick Lindzen:
Paul: This was the case over most of the earth's history. CO 2 however is believed to have varied. Sure, as long as it is carefully stated, the comparison is meaningful. Trend analysis is as most statisticians will confirm a dicey business.
Friday December 11, 2009 1:53 Dick Lindzen
1:54

Dick Lindzen:
Mark,

Then you agree that the stock market is currently at an all time high.
Friday December 11, 2009 1:54 Dick Lindzen
1:55

[Comment From Mike Mike: ]
you cite peer-review process. Is that the same scientists reviewing each other work?
Friday December 11, 2009 1:55 Mike
1:55

Mark Maslin:
Dick if you count in terms of dollars flowing through the system and you use this decade as a comparison to all the others for the last 100 years. Then yes I would be right.
Friday December 11, 2009 1:55 Mark Maslin
1:56

[Comment From Junkk Male Junkk Male: ]
Why are the choices we are presented with always so clear cut, either/or? Do I think man is largely the cause of GW? Don't know. Yet. Do I think it's natural only? No.
Friday December 11, 2009 1:56 Junkk Male
1:56

Dick Lindzen:
Mike,

That's right. But usually an editor determines whether comments have been answere. In the case of the IPCC, it is the authors who do this.
Friday December 11, 2009 1:56 Dick Lindzen
1:57

Mark Maslin:
Science is a self correcting process. This is why it is a solide mechanism which has allowed us to build the technological society we have at the moment. Peer review is the process by which competing scientists review peoples work before it is published. Also once a paper is published scientist rush out to prove or disprove people newest data or idea. It is very solid system
Friday December 11, 2009 1:57 Mark Maslin
1:57

Dick Lindzen:
Junkk,

Yes and no answers are a sure way to indicate that politics are at play.
Friday December 11, 2009 1:57 Dick Lindzen
1:58

Times Online:

In her Washington Post op-ed this week Sarah Palin described the climate community as a “highly politicised scientific circle”. Would you agree with this characterisation? [Oh for heaven's sake, is it necessary to draw Palin into this serious debate!!!!]
Friday December 11, 2009 1:58 Times Online
1:59

Dick Lindzen:
There is quite a lot of evidence towards this conclusion. However, it isn't always the case.
Friday December 11, 2009 1:59 Dick Lindzen
2:00

Mark Maslin:
I would. When you are trying to present science in a balanced way and you have lobby groups funded by oil and gas companies ... you have to try and counter that. For example the smoking indutry used to employ scientists to tell you it is safe to smoke. If the scientists and doctors had understood the weight of indutrial money being thrown against them we may have known about this sooner. In this case scientist found out from day one what they were up against to get the truth out. This is why we are still having these discussion with people funded by the energy companies.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:00 Mark Maslin
2:00

Friday December 11, 2009 2:00
2:01

Dick Lindzen:
Mark,
I think you will find that energy companies are far outspent by environmental NGOs.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:01 Dick Lindzen
2:01

[Comment From David Sutherland David Sutherland: ]
Do the 'climate change deniers' including some countries with a vested interest in selling fossil based energy have any chance of derailing the progress to getting this issue to the top of everyone's agenda.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:01 David Sutherland
2:02

Dick Lindzen:
Not if the banks that have an even bigger interest in cap and trade have their way.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:02 Dick Lindzen
2:03

[Comment From DAVINA PEACE DAVINA PEACE: ]
Absolutely - and it's time we take responsibility for our actions
Friday December 11, 2009 2:03 DAVINA PEACE
2:03

Mark Maslin:
why would you not trust climate scientists. That is lik saying I do not trust doctors who told me about AIDS. Just because you do not like the message does not mean the messenger is lying to you. I also do not understand what the motivation for climate scientists to ly to you .... I get paid by a University and can do any work I like. Why would i just follow the courd?
Friday December 11, 2009 2:03 Mark Maslin
2:03

[Comment From Amy N Amy N: ]
Go Mark! [Oh, please!]
Friday December 11, 2009 2:03 Amy N
2:04

Dick Lindzen:
Actually there are licensing requirements for MDs. Virtually anyone can be listed as a climate scientist.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:04 Dick Lindzen
2:04

Mark Maslin:
sorry that should have been crowd in the last message ..!
Friday December 11, 2009 2:04 Mark Maslin
2:04

[Comment From Mike Mike: ]
Why use the term denier i thnk that is deeply offensive.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:04 Mike
2:04

Times Online:
Dick, would you describe yourself as a "denier"?
Friday December 11, 2009 2:04 Times Online
2:04

Mark Maslin:
Dick does that include you them?
Friday December 11, 2009 2:04 Mark Maslin
2:05

Dick Lindzen:
In a sense. Skeptic presumes that there is a good case to begin with. I don't. [Well put!]
Friday December 11, 2009 2:05 Dick Lindzen
2:05

[Comment From James Kirkpatrick James Kirkpatrick: ]
How do Mike and Dick explain the fact that even though the majority of climate scientists believe global warming is mostly man mad, the opinion of the readers of this blog are divided almost 50/50?
Friday December 11, 2009 2:05 James Kirkpatrick
2:06

Dick Lindzen:
The readers can read behind the propaganda? Remember, it was claimed that all scientists agreed about this in 1988, and yet 100 billion euros have been spent since then trying to establish this.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:06 Dick Lindzen
2:07

Mark Maslin:
Because climate change ... means we have to re-assess what we do and how we do it. And many people dislike change. There is also a growing anti-intellecual movement in America and UK over the last few decades and so the trust in experts is dropping. It is also because the public through the media is never given the balance picture. Look here on skeptic verses me. Whereas behind me are over 5000 scientists involved in the IPCC. While Dick has Exonn (is this correct Dick?). So relly in a fair fight this is 5000 to 1.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:07 Mark Maslin
2:08

[Comment From patter patter: ]
mark how much are you being paid for your views such as attending this web chat
Friday December 11, 2009 2:08 patter
2:08

Dick Lindzen:
What are the rules on slander in the UK? [hehehehe!!]
Friday December 11, 2009 2:08 Dick Lindzen
2:09

Dick Lindzen:
There are currently several hundred physicists (including at least one Nobel laureate) who are protesting their societies endorsement of the iconic claim of attribution.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:09 Dick Lindzen
2:10

[Comment From Tom Wakeford Tom Wakeford: ]
What about the significant funding by those same Oil companies into climate research or are Shell BP and Exxon out of the oil business now then?
Friday December 11, 2009 2:10 Tom Wakeford
2:10

Mark Maslin:
Dick I asked a question of who was funding you. Patter I am funded as a University professor at UCL, same as all the other. I am not being paid for this web chat and none of my other media work. I am paid by the University which like all UK Universities is a charity funded by the Government.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:10 Mark Maslin
2:10

Dick Lindzen:
Moreover, the claim concerns only attribution of globally averaged temperature anomaly. The relation to catastrophes is impossible to establish.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:10 Dick Lindzen
2:11

Dick Lindzen:
I am funded exclusively under the Dept of Energy's climate program. I have also been supported by NASA and NSF. I have never been supported by any private body.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:11 Dick Lindzen
2:12

[Comment From Paul Binns Paul Binns: ]
It's disingenuous to refer to "5000 scientists". The IPCC's reports may be based from the work of 5000, but they are selected and interpreted by a few.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:12 Paul Binns
2:12

[Comment From Max Tronske Max Tronske: ]
If atmospheric CO2 levels are critical then what would be more effective in countering this - reducing energy usage (most agreements simply look to moderate the growth) or looking at alternative ways to capture CO2?
Friday December 11, 2009 2:12 Max Tronske
2:13

Mark Maslin:
I personally believe that oil, gas and oter energy companies have a huge and very positive role to play in the future. 70% of the global energy demand predicted for 2030 has yet to be built. But we need it as low carbon or carbon neutral as possible.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:13 Mark Maslin
2:13

Dick Lindzen:
Paul,

The numbers are much smaller than 5000. Moreover the several hundred who write the reports do not all agree with the iconic statement. Many of the reviewers don't as well.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:13 Dick Lindzen
2:14

Dick Lindzen:
Mark,

That is why the emails showed active interaction with BP and Shell?
Friday December 11, 2009 2:14 Dick Lindzen
2:15

[Comment From David Sutherland David Sutherland: ]
What tecnical research outcome can resolve this question one way or another to the satisfaction of the general public? Or has it become like 'evolution' almost religious in magnitude?
Friday December 11, 2009 2:15 David Sutherland
2:16

Mark Maslin:
Max I believe we have lots of great ways of reducing our co2 pollution. 1. Stop deforestation and land use changes which cause about 20% of our emissions. We can go beyond this and start reforesting .... which not only helps climate change but also return vital ecological services. 2. Energy efficence ... why we can alreayd make a 100 mpg car why not give it to people, 3. Alternative energy ... even if you are not sure of Climate change what about energy security why when we can generate all our own do we want timport russian gas etc etc
Friday December 11, 2009 2:16 Mark Maslin
2:17

Dick Lindzen:
David,

I actually think that careful analysis of satellite radiation data can resolve the issue of climate sensitivity sufficiently to eliminate 'dangerous' possibilities. However, there are few incentives to end this issue.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:17 Dick Lindzen
2:18

[Comment From Martin Martin: ]
Gordon Brown has just given away £750m of this country's money to other nations to "combat climate change".
Friday December 11, 2009 2:18 Martin
2:18

Dick Lindzen:
Actually energy efficiency is likely to effectively reduce the cost of energy and increase its usage.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:18 Dick Lindzen
2:18

[Comment From Martin Martin: ]
By my calculations we could buy 2.5 million solar panels with that and start here, at home, ruducing our carbon footprint.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:18 Martin
2:18

Dick Lindzen:
Brown's generosity is impressive. Perhaps it isn't his own money. [Maybe it's the super-tax from the bankers' bonus?]
Friday December 11, 2009 2:18 Dick Lindzen
2:19

Mark Maslin:
Dear David, for the majority of scientist, leaving Dick on one side, we feel that we have sufficient science to clear show man made global warming. How we explain this to the pubic is another matter one that all of us have struggled with. Because the issue is not one that directly effect individuals the way that other threats do. So I think we need much better eduction on how science works, how "Weight" of evidence is so important. How verifying results and data is central to the whole process.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:19 Mark Maslin
2:19

Friday December 11, 2009 2:19
2:19

Dick Lindzen:
Verification is certainly important but it must be rigorous rather than anecdotal. [Solid point]
Friday December 11, 2009 2:19 Dick Lindzen
2:20

Mark Maslin:
I agree with Dick
Friday December 11, 2009 2:20 Mark Maslin
2:20

[Comment From John Graham-Cumming John Graham-Cumming: ]
Speaking of verifying results and data... why has it taken a major scandal for the UK Met Office to release something as simple as temperature measurements from around the world?
Friday December 11, 2009 2:20 John Graham-Cumming
2:21

Dick Lindzen:
Mark,

So you agree that we should stop talking about polar bears, specific hurricanes, etc.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:21 Dick Lindzen
2:21

Mark Maslin:
The UK Met Office and WMO release these data every year. It was not release in reponse to climate gate ... which in itself is a media storm in a tea cup.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:21 Mark Maslin
2:22

Hannah Devlin:
Thanks for all your questions. We're posting as many as possible.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:22 Hannah Devlin
2:22

Dick Lindzen:
John,

Good question. Also why was raw data destroyed? [Yes, why? Please explain climate-doom mongers?]
Friday December 11, 2009 2:22 Dick Lindzen
2:22

Dick Lindzen:
Mark,

Cheating in science is not a tempest in a teapot. [Nailed it!!!]
Friday December 11, 2009 2:22 Dick Lindzen
2:23

[Comment From Mike Post Mike Post: ]
"How we explain this to the pubic is another matter one that all of us have struggled with." One for Private Eye, I think!
Friday December 11, 2009 2:23 Mike Post
2:23

[Comment From filosofee filosofee: ]
At last, agreement reached, on important issue of verifying data!
Friday December 11, 2009 2:23 filosofee
2:24

Mark Maslin:
But I would argue that this has already happened as part of normal science and will continue long after this debate. Because this is how science works.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:24 Mark Maslin
2:24

[Comment From Plato Says Plato Says: ]
Mark is over 30m hits on Google a 'teacup' ?
Friday December 11, 2009 2:24 Plato Says
2:24

Mark Maslin:
is that good or bad?
Friday December 11, 2009 2:24 Mark Maslin
2:25

Hannah Devlin:
Do you think there needs to be more transparency about the codes used in computer simulations?
Friday December 11, 2009 2:25 Hannah Devlin
2:25

Dick Lindzen:
Mark,

The released files show clearly that there are some scientists who are not happy with debate.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:25 Dick Lindzen
2:25

Dick Lindzen:
Hannah,

Absolutely.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:25 Dick Lindzen
2:25

[Comment From apache apache: ]
climate gate, far from being a scandal is evidence of one of the biggest scams in mordern history, read the emails yourself
Friday December 11, 2009 2:25 apache
2:25

[Comment From Tom Birkert Tom Birkert: ]
If CO2 is so bad, why did 20,000 people fly to Copenhagen? What message does that send to the public? How about a video conference instead?
Friday December 11, 2009 2:25 Tom Birkert
2:26

[Comment From Alan. Alan.: ]
How many hits do you think Jordan gets on her webiste - is that significant in the global scheme of things too?
Friday December 11, 2009 2:26 Alan.
2:26

[Comment From John John: ]
It's dissapointing to see so many people don't trusts climate scientists. If we treated every profession like this we'd scrub politicians, doctors would be seen as voodoo shaymen (no scientist is yet to murder their patients!!!) and don't start on the priesthood and some nationalities
Friday December 11, 2009 2:26 John
2:26

Dick Lindzen:
Tom,

I would recommend this for almost all meetings regardless of CO2.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:26 Dick Lindzen
2:27

Mark Maslin:
Dear Tom, that is a silly comment that is thrown around when ever this debate comes up. You can not negotiate a major treaty without doing it face to face.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:27 Mark Maslin
2:27

Dick Lindzen:
John,

Americans tend to have a different attitude toward authority. Suspicion is regarded as healthy.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:27 Dick Lindzen
2:27

[Comment From Graham Cresswell Graham Cresswell: ]
Surely the computer model algorithms used to underpin AGW should be in the public domain so that they can be tested agains everyone's data.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:27 Graham Cresswell
2:28

Dick Lindzen:
Graham,

Some actually are, and they do badly.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:28 Dick Lindzen
2:29

Hannah Devlin:
We're about to run out of time. But before you both go, what do you expect the outcomes to be from the Copenhagen Summit?
Friday December 11, 2009 2:29 Hannah Devlin
2:29

Mark Maslin:
I believe science and scientific data should be as open and transparent as possible. But there should be clear protection and guidelines about the miss use of data.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:29 Mark Maslin
2:29

Dick Lindzen:
Hannah,

I would suppose that they will agree to meet again.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:29 Dick Lindzen
2:30

Mark Maslin:
I expect there to be key agreements on deforestation and clear limits which will be discussed at the next meeting and hopefully agreed in Mexico
Friday December 11, 2009 2:30 Mark Maslin
2:31

Mark Maslin:
last word and old fable

A long time ago a lazy man decided he could not be bothered to walk out of the village to empty is chamber pot. So he started to empty it in his back yard. A few weeks later his neighbours started to complain of a bad smell. The lazy man denied that it was anything to do with him. Their complaints continued so he paid an old charlatan to explain to the village that it was nothing to worry about as smells came and went with natural and it would soon all go away. The next day the lazy man slipped in his back yard and drowned in his own …….! [How inappropriate and irrelevant!]

Friday December 11, 2009 2:31 Mark Maslin
2:32

Hannah Devlin:
Thank you very much to everyone who posted comments and to our panellists Mark Maslin and Dick Lindzen for a very lively debate.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:32 Hannah Devlin
2:32

Mark Maslin:
pleasure Mark
Friday December 11, 2009 2:32 Mark Maslin
2:32

Dick Lindzen:
So much for science v. anecdotes. [Exactly!]
Friday December 11, 2009 2:32 Dick Lindzen
2:32

Mark Maslin:
like your paper in the Times!
Friday December 11, 2009 2:32 Mark Maslin
2:32

Dick Lindzen:
Have a good weekend.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:32 Dick Lindzen
2:33

Mark Maslin:
you too, see you soon
Mark
Friday December 11, 2009 2:33 Mark Maslin
2:34

Hannah Devlin:
Any further thoughts on the debate? Please post below in the comments section.
Friday December 11, 2009 2:34 Hannah Devlin
2:35

Mark Maslin:
thanks for hosting this Hannah
all the best
Mark
Friday December 11, 2009 2:35 Mark Maslin
2:35

Now how civilised was that debate, please note UEA Professor Andrew Watson!!!! Polls conducted during the web-chat showed MIT as clear winner over UCL! Professor Lindzen possessed the upper-hand, more than 50% don't feel the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit will amount to much, not trusting climate change scientists, and not believing man-made causes are to blame for climate change.

Good debate, comment on it by following the link below:

Times Online:

"We hope you enjoyed this live event - we're always trying to make them better, so if you've got a few seconds to tell us what you think we'd be very grateful"

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dGE1al9BMUlRQ1ZUTy1Dd0M1Qm55bWc6MA

Lastly, shouldn't the question be, Is global warming largely Western-civilised, first-world nations made?

Update, from Martin Cohen's piece in the Times Higher Education, "go along with the crowd" syndrome:

Whether rational or not, global warming theory has become a political orthodoxy. So entrenched is it that those showing any resistance to it are described as "heretics" or even likened to "Holocaust deniers"........... How this situation came about says much about how science is co-opted to sway public opinion. The case is built, deliberately or not, on misleading images and interpretations that have been perpetuated by parties with a vested interest.... Indeed, much of what is presented as hard scientific evidence for the theory of global warming is false. ..... But call it what you will, as long as you don't think that by calling it "science" it becomes irrefutable. Because that it ain't...........Much of the argument for global warming is based on modelling. The mathematics is sophisticated and certainly intimidating to everyone but experts............Modellers have an inbuilt bias towards forced climate change because the causes and effect are clear." .....Richard Lindzen and Yong-Sang Choi's ........graph .. contradicted all the others ... based not on a model but on satellite measurements. It showed the Earth's oceans dampening the heating effect.

Rest of the article and comments here.

Truth and Honesty, Rather than Deception, About Climate Warming, Please!

2009-12-06T13:33:00.011Z

This week will see the 2009 Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen, attended by Government leaders from around the World, including US President Obama.

Under the backdrop of that gathering, are the stunning emails hacked from the University of East Anglia, which suggest data manipulation, bullying tactics over journal peer-review process - an excerpt from Wall Street Journal:

" .... opponents of such caps said the foundations of the case for man-made global warming are in question because of the disclosures from thousands of emails from the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit. The emails suggest that prominent climate researchers sought to disguise important discrepancies in their data showing a trend of rising global temperatures and attack those who disagreed with their views.

"However this controversy comes out, the result will not call into question the bulk of our understanding of how climate works or how humans affect it," said Mr. Holdren, director of the Office of Science, Technology and Policy. He agreed it is important to "get to the bottom of" the emails' meaning, but emphasized that the vast majority of scientists who have studied climate change agree that failure to act promptly to curb emissions of heat-trapping gases is "overwhelmingly likely" to lead to extreme and damaging impacts on the planet.

His comments were challenged by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican who said the emails "at worst" suggest "a massive scientific international fraud."

From here.

The arrogance of academics at the University of East Anglia, who ought to be showing some contrition and humility, was on display, on BBC 2's Newsnight programme last Friday, 4 December 2009. Professor Andrew Watson, at UEast Anglia, called another Newsnight guest, Marc Marano, US Senate Environment Committee Communication Director, 2006-2009, an "asshole". What a great science role-model the Professor is. See 11.42/11.43 mins into the programme here BBC2 Newsnight, Friday 4 December 2009 edition.

Nor did Ed Milliband, UK MP and Climate Change Secretary, fair any better with his disingenuous dismissing of those leaked emails, completely ignoring their inflammatory content - interactions between climate change scientists anxious that the scale of global warming was less than it needed to be to suit, not to mention their hi-jacking of the peer-review journal process in that field. See here, here, and here.

And again today, Ed Miliband accuses ex-UK Chancellor, Nigel Lawson, of misleading, on BBC1's Politics Show, (Sunday 6 December 2009), when it is Milliband who is glossing over the fact that there is no scientific consensus of the human impact on climate change, while Lawson quite rightly points out that the poorest people on this planet require support and development, using cheapest fuel, to get out of their poverty-stricken no-opportunity despairing lives:

This Daily Telegraph poll shows that half of those questioned are yet to be convinced of human-effect climate change.

The ICM survey for The Sunday Telegraph will dismay proponents of "man-made" climate change – including leading scientists and the majority of world governments – as they gather in Copenhagen for the landmark climate summit.

Asked if they backed the main conclusion of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), that humans are largely responsible for modern day rises in temperatures, ..[48 per cent of voters disagreed]...

39 per cent said climate change had not yet been proven to be man made, while seven per cent simply denied the phenomenon was happening at all. Furthermore, fewer than one in four voters (23 per cent) believed that climate change was "the most serious problem faced by man" – a view endorsed by governments across the world.
A clear majority (58 per cent) said it was merely "one of a number of serious problems" while 17 per cent believed it has been exaggerated and is "not a very serious problem."

Read more here.

"The work of science has nothing whatever to do with consensus. Consensus is the business of politics. Science, on the contrary, requires only one investigator who happens to be right. In science, consensus is irrelevant. What is relevant is reproducible results. The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with the consensus." Michael Crichton

Let's have some truth and honesty injected into this debate, but where politicians are involved with scientists, I rather doubt this will happen.

On a much lighter note, this is genius, especially the last line "Or I could write it up for Scientific American".

Thanks to Obnoxio's blog for that YouTube video :-)

IET Turing Lecture 2010

2009-12-04T19:44:00.006Z

"Embracing Uncertainty: The new machine intelligence"
talk by
Professor Christopher Bishop
Chief Research Scientist, Microsoft Research Cambridge
at
The IET , Savoy Place, London
on
Thursday 25 February 2010

Image from IETsite.

Bernard Richards describes his work with Alan Turing

2009-12-04T14:33:00.006Z

Fascinating article from The Rutherford Journal, in which Bernard Richards describes his work on morphogenesis with Alan Turing:

"I first met Dr Alan Turing in early 1953 after I had just graduated with a degree in Mathematics. ...... when I met with Turing later that day I recognised that here was a genius, since having heard about his programming talents in that morning and his Morphogenesis work in that afternoon, he seemed to me to transcend both. I left that introductory meeting knowing that, whilst I had taken upon myself an intellectual challenge, I was embarking on a stimulating experience."

Read more of Bernard Richard's account here.

Thanks to Leeds University Professor S. Barry Cooper for this information

AVATAR 3D Movie Live Event, Thursday 3 December 2009

2009-12-03T19:53:00.005Z

Few minutes to go until Avatar Live on Facebook! Director, James Cameron, with actors Zoe Saldana, and Sam Worthington answer questions LIVE!

Link to Avatar Live on Facebook.

MTV Shows

Is Sky Blue for UK Science? More Views on Debate

2009-12-02T17:54:00.008Z

Update, 2 December 2009: on 'Sky is Blue' Science Debate, 30 November 2009 .

From Twitter's #sciblue posts, a dark sky image emerges for the prospects of UK science. Comments include:

Paul_Crowther: study on exodus from UK of physics graduates

stephenemoss: RBS. One bank. £1.5bn in bonuses. Roughly double the annual MRC budget. Isn't it great to feel valued as a scientist.

dlfresources: Britain losing top scientists to 'brain drain', economists warn - Telegraph

Luna_the_cat: @LordDrayson - fundamentally different goals and models. Don't cripple academia by penalising it for not being business.

AlexConnor: UK public spending is ~£650bn. In a few weeks we will sack astronomers and physicists for the want of £40m.

Yet another comment

alomshaha: We have a shortage of excellent science teachers. We have some excellent sci-commers with a shortage of work. So...

suggests that out-of-work/short-of-work science communicators not only possess PGCEs, they're also capable of teaching science inspiringly.

What UK science needs is, Government putting its money where its expectations of science is, and science celebrities on TV more, those who make science inclusive and attractive, such as Cyberneticist Kevin Warwick, organiser of science contests (Turing tests), and cited as the inspiration of 2009 National Young Scientist of the Year, Peter Hadfield (at 07.23, BBC Radio 4 Today programme).

The debate can be viewed here.

Problem with Real Science: It Doesn't Always Ask the Right Questions

2009-12-01T14:27:00.016Z

Imagine this, flash forward to the future and it's all bright, sky blue with no clouds for UK science.

Picture above from:
http://murdon.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/flashforward-logo.jpg

Unfortunately, this was not the picture that emerged from yesterday's disappointing debate with UK Science Minister, Lord Drayson and others. The discussion did highlight the lack of funding for UK science research, and the problem of effectively communicating the benefit of science to the masses.

Admittedly, the panel did not represent all science, nevertheless a significant part: physics. Innovations in physics contribute to UK's GDP and employs many (according to the Institute of Physics 2007 Report, prepared by Centre of Economics and Business Research Ltd.)

In contrast to science fiction, much of real science is mediocre, conducted by dull scientists incapable of inspiring others, somewhat overwhelmed by their own hubris, with poor, lazy research skills (recently aghast at a respected peer-reviewed journal in which an article cites Wikipedia as a source, not once, but twice*).

Hence, was not shocked when one of the panelists asked if "philosophy is done here?" - this in a country where Philosophical Transactions, one of the oldest, peer-reviewed and "essential reading for mathematicians, physicists, engineers and other physical scientists" is the journal of the Royal Society: "the world's oldest scientific academy in continuous existence".

The debate can be viewed again at the Times Higher Education site from 6pm GMT today.

As it was a Monday night, was really pleased when the debate was over, because it's FLASH FORWARD night. Based on Canadian author, Robert J. Sawyer's book of the same name, the TV show dramatises, in spectacular fashion, the result of a 137 seconds world-wide blackout that causes people to view their future six months ahead (25 years in the book). Now that show, even better than William Petersen's CSI, shows physics/science in all its glamorous glory. Ah, if only real science were as exciting!

Picture from:
http://screenrant.com/flashforward-premiere-mikew-27514/

(* Authors include UNESCO Chair in Information and Computer Ethics, and Junior Research Associate - Information Ethics Group (IEG), University of Oxford; February 2009 issue of Minds and Machines)

Trailblazing Programme launched by The Royal Society to mark 350th anniversary

2009-11-30T16:38:00.003Z

"Trailblazing is an online, interactive timeline launched to commemorate the Royal Society’s 350th anniversary in 2010."

....

The Royal Society is the UK’s academy of sciences and the world’s oldest science academy ... it wants people all over the UK to join in celebrating 350 years of scientific achievement and endeavour.

That is why it is undertaking a broad and exciting programme of activities – exhibitions, lecture, conferences, a new book, a vast science festival on the South Bank in London, television and radio broadcasting and much more besides."

See here for more information on the Royal Society's 350th anniversary events.

The Prospects for UK Science: Blue Sky Debate

2009-11-29T18:52:00.007Z

UK Science Minister, Lord Drayson will debate the challenge to inspire the next generation of scientists, web-cast by Times Higher Education on 30 November 2009, 7pm. View here.

Countdown to James Cameron's 3D AVATAR Release

2009-11-26T12:29:00.011Z

23 days to go!

Join the Official Avatar Community on TypePad.

From yesterday's Los Angeles Times:

'Avatar' as innovation: 'We were in new territory...there was no road there'
November 25, 2009 | 2:43 pm

"AVATAR" COUNTDOWN: 24 DAYS

"Avatar" may be the most ambitious film of 2009, and here at the Hero Complex we're bringing you coverage that fits this major movie moment with 30 stories in 30 days. Today it's the first installment of a two-part conversation with Rick Carter, one of Hollywood's most celebrated production designers, whose credits include "Forrest Gump," "Jurassic Park" "War of the Worlds," and "The Polar Express.."

GB: You've worked with a relatively narrow group of directors but it's quite the list -- Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Robert Zemeckis and now Zack Snyder. I would imagine, too, that "Avatar" is already feeling like a career highlight for you just based on its aspirations...

RC: Absolutely. Jim has made an amazing movie. He's quite a talent and when he puts his mind to something it's quite formidable.

GB: Coming into this project, what were some of the specific challenges it presented to you?

RC: I take a page out of the philosophy that obstacles are surmountable opportunities. I'm pretty optimistic because things have gone well for me. Coming into "Avatar," I had only really been working with Spielberg and Zemeckis up to that point. That's twentysomething years. My approach is to orient myself toward the vision of the director and that becomes the sole thing I have to concern myself with. There are many decisions but the one challenge really is to fulfill that vision. Those guys are so strong as directors that it's nice because the process isn't diluted with other concerns, like executives from the studio or even public opinion, which can happen to some degree sometimes. Its about the director's vision, solely, and completing it and realizing it. And at the point where there isn't something there, the task is, "What can I offer? What can people in the art department offer?"

GB: Where did you begin on "Avatar"?

RC: Coming into "Avatar," it took me about 3 1/2 hours to read the script, even before I had the interview with Jim. I really wanted to take my time to "see" the movie. It was clear that what he was doing was not just about a literal translation; you couldn't just piece it together by thinking of things you had seen in other films because it was an entirely new world. As I started reading through it there was a part -- and it's a part, actually, that's not in the movie anymore -- but one of the alien characters says, "When you see everything you see nothing." And I stopped at that and thought, "What does that mean?" And I realized that the state that I was in reading the script was that I was so overwhelmed with all of what I was seeing that I was actually starting to see nothing. I was in a state of what I call whiteout, where everything is in there. I liken that actually to "Pinocchio" and wishing on a white star that comes down and fills the frame of the window and out steps the Blue Fairy and out of that something is created, Pinocchio comes to life. So in a very lyrical way I gave myself over to that idea that there was too much for me to see.

Read more of the interview here.

Watch trailer at Official AVATAR movie homepage.

Peter Kay: "Generous Genius" of BBC Children in Need

2009-11-20T19:27:00.009Z

Oh, how cute is Peter Kay's new BBC Children in Need 2009 single!

Featuring an "Animated All Star Band", the song "unites children's TV characters from over fifty years" including The ThunderbirdsTM:

Doing a Live Aid-esque rendition, Peter Kay's Animated All Star Band perform "a medley of popular songs for all generations to enjoy; Can You Feel It (originally by The Jacksons), Don't Stop (originally by Fleetwood Mac), Jai Ho (originally by Pussycat Dolls), Tubthumping (originally by Chumbawamba), Never Forget (originally by Take That), Hey Jude (originally by The Beatles), and One Day Like This (originally by Elbow)." (From BBC Children in Need)

Here's the song:

And I thought he was going to pull off "All you need is love", but what he's done is simply brilliant! Corr, watching ThunderbirdsTM brings back memories: loved Scott Tracy (but not as much as Captain Scarlett!!! In full SUPERMARIONATION, here're the Thunderbirds team:

Congratulations to Peter Kay for pulling of another unique, fun single for charity. And the fantastically, loveable big-hearted comic genius has announced he'll be back on tour next year!! Can't wait. In the meantime, Peter Kay's 'Animated All Star Band' single is available for pre-order from iTunes, please download and help the cause.

BBC Children in Need 2009

2009-11-20T11:04:00.005Z

"Get it first! Peter Kay and 100 Famous Faces sing for Pudsey" - from the BBC Children in Need website:

"BBC Children in Need is delighted to announce this year's world-exclusive charity single from Peter Kay is available to pre-order on iTunes!

Be the first to get the single that promises to be another must have chart hit from Peter Kay. With over 100 famous faces from the UK and America, there will be something for everyone!

Not only is the single a musical delight for the whole family's ears, but for every video or song sold, the purchase will benefit the BBC Children in Need Appeal. This means if you buy the single, you will be helping to make a positive change to a young life in need here in the UK.

Perfect for a gift and just in time for Christmas, the single will be jam-packed with friendly faces and a bundle of joy and laughter that you can watch again and again. Plus, it has a guarantee of amusement from the comedian himself...

"It's taken two years of planning to create the video and I just know people are going to be both astonished and delighted,' Peter Kay said. 'It's been a real labour of love but the result is joyous, potentially another Amarillo!"

Kay will reveal the single during BBC Children in Need's Appeal show this Friday, 20 November, on BBC One, but the public can pre-order the single and video on iTunes and be the first to get the single!

This is Peter Kay's fourth charity single in five years. Previous hits include chart topping "Is This The Way To Amarillo", "I'm Gonna Be (500 miles)" and "Once Upon A Christmas Song."

From BBC Children in Need website.

Love Peter Kaye, can't wait to hear his new track for this cause, know it'll be awesome.

End Water Poverty

2009-11-18T09:58:00.003Z

"Waterborne diseases kill thousands every day" (End Water Poverty)

picture from End Poverty Water site

"There is a global crisis in water and sanitation. Billions of people live in the kind of squalor that was eradicated long ago in the rich world.

884 million people don't have clean water and 40% of the world’s population suffer without a safe toilet, that’s 2.5 billion people.

This crisis kills many and dramatically affecting life in developing countries."

Please help End Water Poverty and End the sanitation crisis by signing here.

Charter for Compassion

2009-11-18T09:51:00.003Z

16308 have joined the Charter for Compassion so far:

"...call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

....urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensible to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community."

Acts of compassion include:
Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue Group in California

Act here.

See also Random Acts of Kindness Foundation.

Problem with BCS's Machine Intelligence Competition

2009-11-15T18:27:00.006Z

BCS 2009 Machine Intelligence Contest announce A.L.I.C.E* involvement:

"The British Computer Society Specialist Group on Artificial Intelligence (SGAI) has announced the finalists in the BCS Machine Intelligence competition, the eighth in a regular series held at its annual conferences at Peterhouse College, Cambridge. The prize is awarded on the basis of delegate voting to the system ‘which best demonstrates progress towards machine intelligence’.

One of this year’s finalists is ALICE, a chatbot developed by Dr. Richard Wallace and his colleagues at the ALICE AI Foundation. It aims to demonstrate that simple behaviourist stimulus-response methods, when applied on a large scale, lead to a believable illusion of intelligence in the context of Turing's Imitation Game. It has three times won the prestigious Loebner Prize, an annual international artificial intelligence competition for the most human-like chatbot." (From BCS_SIGAI email)

* Alice last won a Loebner Prize back in 2004. In that competition, in points awarded it was actually runner up to John Precedo's system, disqualifed on a technicality. Alice came sixth in Loebner Prize 2008.

"Will it win the BCS Machine Intelligence prize to add to this, in the face of opposition from

Dora the Explorer, a mobile robot which is able to inspect its own world knowledge for gaps and then perform behaviours to fill these gaps (e.g. by searching the room for objects which support inference about room category, such as a kettle in a kitchen).

Taaable, a system that illustrates how humans and machines can collaborate to reason and can share common knowledge on a particular domain, in this case creating recipes.

Fly by Ear, an intelligent autonomous helicopter which has been evolved to react optimally to its environment by listening to the sound emitted by the helicopter and interpreting the information transferred.

The competition is on Wednesday December 16th and is open to all delegates to the SGAI annual conference AI-2009 www.bcs-sgai.org/ai2009 or the SGAI Real AI Day (the following day) www.bcs-sgai.org/realai2009. " (From BCS_SIGAI email)

Problems with BCS's Machine Intelligence contest include that it is exclusive. Only delegates to BCS SIGAI conference have access. Secondly, the contest does not gather like-technology; contestants differ in what type of intelligence they attempt to demonstrate. For example, in 2009 Alice's dialogue will compete alongside Fly by Ear's helicopter autonomy.

As delegates decide, presumably not all can be experts in the dissimilar competing technologies, hence, judgment will be based on subjective opinion of "progress towards machine intelligence". Will the visceral concede to the abstract this year? Chatbot systems, Carpenter's Jabberwacky, and David Burden's HALO are past BCS Machine Intelligence contest entrants. Neither won it, good luck to Alice designer, Richard Wallace.

'Alan Turing Year' on Facebook

2009-11-11T10:07:00.004Z

Join 'Alan Turing Year' Facebook page for information and news of 2012 centenary events:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Alan-Turing-Year/199853901070

Practical Turing Tests

2009-11-04T11:36:00.015Z

Couple of new papers on Practical Turing tests:

1. Testing Turing’s five minutes, parallel-paired imitation game accepted for publication in (forthcoming) Kybernetes Turing Test Special Issue. Snippets from the abstract and conclusion -

Abstract: The authors consider Turing’s two tests for machine intelligence: the parallel-paired, three-participants’ game presented in his 1950 paper, and the ‘jury-service’ one-to-one measure described two years later in a radio broadcast. Both versions were instantiated in practical Turing tests during the 18th Loebner Prize for Artificial Intelligence hosted at the University of Reading, UK, in October 2008....

Conclusion: The Turing test supposes all humans are ‘packed’ with conversational intelligence, that interrogators could preclude their subjective notion of intelligence (Warwick, 2001), and what constitutes a machine-like response. .... What we have seen, and can conclude from that competition, is that .... ACE dialogue has improved since Eliza. Modern Elizas are able to recall, share information and disclose personal interests. The progress may appear slow, but it is present. [© Shah & Warwick 2009a]

2. Hidden Interlocutor Misidentification in Practical Turing Tests submitted for journal publication - snippet below:

Abstract: Based on insufficient evidence, and inadequate research, Floridi and his students report inaccuracies and draw false conclusions in their Minds and Machines evaluation, which this paper aims to clarify....

Conclusion: We suggest the interrogation strategy of 'power' .... resulted in a low correct identification rate. .... As Turing himself reminded: "[the] popular view that scientists proceed inexorably from well-established fact to well-established fact, never being influenced by any unproved conjecture, is quite mistaken" (1950: p.442). [© Shah & Warwick 2009c]

See also Myths and Misconceptions, re practical Turing tests in the 2008 Loebner Prize.

Android & Eve

2009-11-02T10:32:00.007Z

Bridging Biology, Medicine and Technology, hosted at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology, Vienna Biocenter, November 12th – 13th 2009

Speakers include Miguel Nicolelis (Duke University):

Research
Miguel Nicolelis is best known for his pioneering work in "reading monkey thought". He and his colleagues implanted electrode arrays into a monkey's brain that were able to detect the monkey's motor intent and thus able to control reaching and grasping movements performed by a robotic arm. This was possible by decoding signals of hundreds of neurons recorded in volitional areas of the cerebral cortex while the monkey played with a hand-held joystick to move a shape in a video game. These signals were sent to the robot arm, which then mimicked the monkey's movements and thus controlled the game. After a while the monkey realized that thinking about moving the shape was enough and it no longer needed to move the joystick. So it let go of the joystick and controlled the game purely through thought. A system in which brain signals directly control an artificial actuator is commonly referred to as brain-machine interface or brain-computer interface.

Presentation:
In this talk, I will review a series of recent experiments demonstrating the possibility of using real-time computational models to investigate how ensembles of neurons encode motor information. These experiments have revealed that brain-machine interfaces can be used not only to study fundamental aspects of neural ensemble physiology, but they can also serve as an experimental paradigm aimed at testing the design of modern neuroprosthetic devices. I will also describe evidence indicating that continuous operation of a closed-loop brain machine interface, which utilizes a robotic arm as its main actuator, can induce significant changes in the physiological properties of neurons located in multiple motor and sensory cortical areas. This raises the hypothesis of whether the properties of a robot arm, or any other tool, can be assimilated by neuronal representations as if they were simple extensions of the subject's own body.

From here.

And, Niels Birbaumer:

Research
Birbaumer’s research focuses on neuronal plasticity and learning; Neurophysiological communication systems for motor paralysis (Brain-Computer-Interface); Behavioral medicine of epilepsy, Parkinson's disease; Amyotrohpic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and pain: Slow cortical potentials and psychological processes; Analysis and modification of anxiety and antisocial behavior; Self-regulation of electrical and magnetic and metabolic brain processes; Psychophysiology and behavior modification of chronic pain states; Neuropsychology of musical talent; Neural network models of brain activity, cognitive processes and non-linear dynamics; Functional Magnetic Resonance (fMRI) and learning; Magnetoencephalography (MEG) of cognitive and emotional processes, fetal brain processes and behavior; diabetes and brain processes.

Presentation:
Titel: Complete Silence: Brain-Computer-Interfaces and Paralysis
Abstract:The presentation summarizes recent work on the application of Brain Computer interfaces in Paralysis, Locked-In Syndrome and chronic stroke. Reasons for problems of brain communication in completely locked in patients are given and new data to solve the problem of "extinction of goal directed thinking" are discussed. The surprisingly good results in chronic stroke and movement restoration will be presented.Future applications of fMRI-BCI in psychiatry, neurology and psychology are illustrated with data from our lab.

From here.

[Prefer Android & She-borg for title!]

This is it!

2009-10-30T15:48:00.010Z

No, not Michael Jackson, but this is truly it: BFI IMAX 3D-presentation of James Cameron's AVATAR, tickets now on sale:

"Tickets for James Cameron's highly anticipated blockbuster are now on sale. See the most talked about movie of the year in stunning IMAX 3D at BFI IMAX from Wed 16 Dec.

An ex-Marine finds himself thrust into hostilities on the alien planet Pandora, filled with exotic life forms. As an Avatar - a human mind in an alien body - he is torn between two worlds in a desperate fight for his own survival and that of its indigenous people, the Na'vi. More than 14 years since the story's inception and four years in the making, Avatar marks James Cameron's return to feature directing since helming 1997's Titanic, the highest grossing film of all time and winner of eleven Oscars® including Best Picture.

Featuring brand new CGI technologies that will transform the environments and characters into photorealistic 3D imagery that transports you to a world rich with imaginative vistas, creatures and characters. Avatar will break new ground in delivering a fully immersive, emotional story which promises to reinvent the moviegoing experience."

Picture and information from BFI IMAX site here.

Book online at www.bfi.org.uk/avatar or call 0870 787 2525.

AVATAR Trailer

Carlos Santana and Rob Thomas - "Ain't No Sunshine"

2009-10-25T00:47:00.003+01:00

Awesome:

And this oldie, from Live Aid '85 with Pat Metheney:

When will 'slave-trade' mentality, treating Africans as less than human, desist?

2009-10-13T12:13:00.030+01:00

The Guardian newspaper has been gagged:

"The Guardian has been prevented from reporting parliamentary proceedings on legal grounds which appear to call into question privileges guaranteeing free speech established under the 1688 Bill of Rights."

However, the Spectator's Alex Massie reports:

"This appears to be the question in, er, question:

From Parliament.uk, “Questions for Oral or Written Answer beginning on Tuesday 13 October 2009″

(292409)
61
N Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme): To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation to protect (a) whistleblowers and (b) press freedom following the injunctions obtained in the High Court by (i) Barclays and Freshfields solicitors on 19 March 2009 on the publication of internal Barclays reports documenting alleged tax avoidance schemes and (ii) Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura."

In May 2009, BBC 2 Newsnight's item, "Dirty tricks and toxic waste in Ivory Coast" detailed "the biggest toxic dumping scandal of the 21st century":

"When Newsnight first investigated the toxic dumping scandal in 2007 one of Trafigura's founders Eric de Turckheim told Jeremy Paxman "these materials were not dangerous for human beings. It was smelly, but not dangerous."

Newsnight's new investigation shows this was far from the case. Trafigura continues to deny any wrongdoing."

From here

The Guardian reported in September, "How UK oil company Trafigura tried to cover up African pollution disaster", revealing internal Trafigura correspondence:

"One trader wrote, on 10 March 2006: "I don't know how we dispose of the slops [lethal toxic waste] and I don't imply we would dump them, but for sure, there must be some way to pay someone to take them."

The resulting black, stinking, slurry was eventually dumped around landfills in Abidjan [Ivory Coast], after Trafigura paid an unqualified local man to take it away in tanker trucks at a cheap rate.

Trafigura's libel lawyers, Carter-Ruck, recently demanded the Guardian deleted published articles, saying it was "gravely defamatory" and "untrue" to say Trafigura's waste had been dumped cheaply and could have caused deaths and serious injuries. Both the Dutch paper Volkskrant and Norwegian TV said they were yesterday also threatened with gagging actions."

From here.

WikiLeaks presents Minton report, "Trafigura toxic dumping along the Ivory Coast broke EU regulations"

Disgusting. No qualms at their profit-focused, waste-disposal strategy, allegedly, disastrously affecting many Abidjanians, Trafigura's attempt to conceal their actions, and gagg the Guardian, is nothing short of heinous. When will Africans be considered as human as non-Africans? Al-JazeeraEnglish Youtube report:

UK residents can sign-up to support freedom of the press, Number 10 "petition the Prime Minister to enshrine in law the absolute right of the media to report the proceedings of The House in full at all times", here:

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/PressFreedom/

38 Degrees campaigns - write to your MP, takes 2 mins to sign up for "PROTECT OUR FREE PRESS: STOP THE GAG"

Update, 13.29:

"The existence of a previously secret injunction against the media by oil traders Trafigura can now be revealed.

Within the past hour Trafigura's legal firm, Carter-Ruck, has abandoned an attempt to prevent the Guardian from reporting proceedings in parliament that revealed its existence.

Labour MP Paul Farrelly put down a question yesterday to the Justice Secretary, Jack Straw. It asked about the injunction obtained by "Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton Report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura".

The Guardian was due to appear at the High Court at 2pm to challenge Carter-Ruck's behaviour, but the firm has dropped its claim that to report parliament would be in contempt of court."

From here.

Discussion can be followed via #Trafigura on Twitter.

Very good blog posts on the Trafigura scandal:

The Lay Scientist: Trafigura: A Carter-Ruck Fuck-Up

Jack of Kent: The Most Significant Constitutional Case Of Our Generation?

Iain Dale's Diary: Carter-Ruck Folds Over Guardian Gagging

Journalism.co.uk: The journalist and NGO collaboration to expose Trafigura toxic waste dump

OJB: Mugging the rich bastard lawyers

For other blogs on Trafigura, see this page.

And from Liberal Democrat Voice: "Which neatly proves the point: toxic material is very difficult to hide…"

Obama is remembered by The Nobel Foundation

2009-10-09T16:06:00.012+01:00

Astonishingly, the 44th US President, Barack Obama, is awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize!

Considering how long ago, around February 2009, nomination(s) was/were made, you're left with the feeling that there's no area in which politics does not feature, be it in science, sports, arts or even in politics.

The announcement:

"for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples"

I'm trying to recall what "extraordinary effort" towards world peace could have been made by the few-days-new US President by February 2009. He is, right now in a press interview, saying he is undeserved, and that challenges (for world peace) can't be met by any one leader, or any one nation. And, as if bombing Afghanistani and Pakistani women and children to oblivion is not enough, US/NASA bombs the moon in search of water on the same day Obama wins the Peace Nobel Prize!

Will UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown receive the 2009 Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences? We'll know on Monday 12 October 2009.

Obama remembers Turing

2009-10-08T11:00:00.007+01:00

US President Barack Obama speaks of his appreciation for the work of Alan Turing:

"There's no better illustration than what took place at the close of World War II, when the United States transported dozens of captured V-2 rockets from Germany to New Mexico. These were among the most sophisticated weapons in the world, a reminder that much of World War II was fought far from the battlefield -- by Alan Turing in Bletchley Park, and Oppenheimer in Los Alamos, and by countless others who developed radar and aircraft and antibiotics".

Read more here.

Alan Turing Scrapbook maintained by Turing biographer Dr. Andrew Hodges.

2009 Nobel Prizes

2009-10-06T15:48:00.005+01:00

2009 Physics Nobel Prize announced earlier today - shared between Charles K. Kao (1/2), Willard S. Boyle (1/4) and George E. Smith. The 2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine was announced yesterday, shared between Elizabeth H. Blackburn (1/3), Carol W. Greider (1/3) and Jack W. Szostak (1/3).

Remaining 2009 Nobel Prize announcements:

"Chemistry - Wednesday, October 7, 11:45 a.m. CET at the earliest
Literature - Thursday, October 8, 1:00 p.m. CET at the earliest
Peace - Friday, October 9, 11:00 a.m. CET

Announcement of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel will be held on Monday, October 12, 1:00 p.m. CET at the earliest."

More information here.

2009 Singularity Summit

2009-10-05T17:39:00.009+01:00

"Artificial Intelligence is probably the most important technology in humanity's future. Now is the time to be looking closely at its benefits and risks", Peter Thiel, one of the founders of the Singularity Institute.

"In the coming decades, humanity will likely create a powerful artificial intelligence. SIAI exists to handle this urgent challenge, both the opportunity and the risk."

The singularity will occur when we create "smarter-than-human intelligence" (from here).

I don't doubt we'll create something awesome, not artificial human intelligence but an alternative, powerful cognition.

Singularity Summit 2009 videos:

Click here for summit overview.

Moctezuma II of Mé-shee-ka

2009-10-02T14:28:00.028+01:00

Visited British Museum's Moctezuma exhibition yesterday. Enjoyed it as much as their First Emperor Terracotta Army exhibition last year, and Shah 'Abbas exhibition earlier in the year.

Born in 1467, Moctezuma II, great-grandson of Moctezuma I, was the 9th and last ruler of the Aztecs, Mé-shee-ka. Around the time Henry VIII ruled England (1509-1547), Moctezuma presided over a large empire (central Mexico today), from 1502 till his death, 30 June 1520.

Worshipping the sun, the heart organ was central to Mé-shee-ka religious beliefs. Human hearts were sacrificed to feed the sun.

Sadly, not much remains of their recorded history; most is known through post-Hispanic conquest retrospective codices, including the Codex Mendoza.

Amazing model of Moctezuma II's capital city Tenochtitlan, with its sacred precinct, ceremonial centre which housed the ruler's palace, and the Great Temple scene of blood-letting, human heart sacrificing, is on display in the British Museum Moctezuma II exhibition.

Modern Mexico City is located on the site of Tenochtitlan.

Poem displayed during the last, haunting film scene:

"Proud of itself is Tenochtitlan,
The city in the lake.

Here no one fears to die in war.

With our arrows
With our shields
The city exists
Tenochtitlan endures

Where the eagles are resting,
Where the jaguars are exalted, The sun god is invoked.

This is our glory.

This is your command,
O giver of life.
Have this in mind,
O lords,
Do not forget."

Evenutally defeated by the Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés , remembered as an indecisive, weak incumbent by his people, Moctezuma II is seen as an enigmatic, fascinating man in Europe.

Moctezuma II's family lineage lives on in Mexico and Spain.

More on Moctezuma, the man who lost an empire, "a proven military commander yet in just two years his rule and the supremacy of his Mexica people collapsed, conquered by a few hundred Spanish adventurers", can be found in a Telegraph article.

Visit British Museum's Moctezuma Aztec Ruler Exhibition, 24 September 2009 - 24 January 2010, click here for ticket booking and enjoy!

WolframAlpha Live Webcast

2009-09-17T20:10:00.005+01:00

WolframAlpha live webcast here.

"Whether it’s Wolfram|Alpha, Mathematica, or A New Kind of Science, Stephen Wolfram is a man of big ideas. And this Thursday, September 17, at 2pm U.S. CDT, he will be sharing some of his thoughts, and taking your questions during a live webcast on justin.tv.

If you have a question you’d like to ask Stephen, please send it as a comment to *this blog post or tweet to @Wolfram_Alpha. We’ll also be taking questions live on the justin.tv chat during the webcast."

* http://blog.wolframalpha.com/

"Wolfram|Alpha is a computational knowledge engine being developed by Wolfram Research. The project was announced in March 2009 by Stephen Wolfram. Wolfram|Alpha will officially launch on May 18, 2009 as "one simple input field that gives access to a huge system, with trillions of pieces of curated data and millions of lines of algorithms."

http://www.justin.tv/wolframalpha

Watch live video from Wolfram|Alpha on Justin.tv

Science Debate: Lord Drayson vs Dr Ben Goldacre

2009-09-16T18:54:00.010+01:00

Science debate at the Royal Institution streaming live at The Times Higher.

Lord Drayson picture by Kate AG (from twitpic):

Live debate: Science reporting: is it good for you?
16 September 2009, 7pm
Join Science Minister Lord Drayson and Dr Ben Goldacre (author of Bad Science) for an open discussion on the state of science reporting in Britain.

Participate in the debate via Twitter (@timeshighered) - air your views on what’s good and bad about the coverage of science and science-related stories in the UK. For full details visit www.rigb.org or call 020 7409 2992. For customer support call 020 3194 3372.

Please note that the debate will also be available *here to view on demand from 17 September 2009 at 4pm GMT.

* http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/webcast.html

Dr. Ben Goldacre picture by Kate AG (from twitpic):

Turing special promotional code for stay at Alan Turing's birthplace, now Colonnade Hotel, London W9

2009-09-16T16:24:00.015+01:00

The Colonnade Hotel, which was the Warrington Lodge when Alan Turing was born there, 23 June 1912, are offering a special promotional code under “Turing” . Turing code enables visitors to a 10 per cent reduction on their Best Available Room Rate.

Colonnade Hotel

CONTACT details:

2 Warrington Crescent, Little Venice,
London W9 1ER
Tel: +44 (0)20 7286 1052
rescolonnade@theetoncollection.com

Alan Turing's birthplace, and the Colonnade Hotel

2009-09-15T19:04:00.001+01:00

Alan Turing was born in Warrington Lodge, a nursing home in Paddington London, on Sunday 23 June, 1912. The Colonnade Hotel now occupies that spot in Warrington Crescent, Maida Vale W9.

On what would have been his 86th birthday, 23 June 1998, an official Blue Plaque was unveiled at Turing's birthplace by his biographer, author of Alan Turing: The Enigma, Andrew Hodges.

Picture from here.

The Colonnade hotel is offering 10 percent reduction, until the end of the year (2009), on its 'Best Available Rate' to visitors wanting to stay where Turing was born, and where Sigmund Freud once stayed. See the brochure below and don't forget to quote 'neighbour' if you book:

The Colonnade -

The Financial Crimes: Alan Turing: apologies required

2009-09-15T19:03:00.000+01:00

The Financial Crimes: Alan Turing: apologies required

UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, Apologises for "Appalling" Treatment of Alan Turing

2009-09-11T08:53:00.013+01:00

Fantastic news! Great success for John Graham-Cumming and his petition to 10 Downing Street, demanding an apology to Alan Turing, a brilliant mathematician and code-breaker, named by Time Magazine as "one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century" in 1999. UK's Prime Minister, Gordon Brown has apologised:

"Alan deserves recognition for his contribution to humankind. For those of us born after 1945, into a Europe which is united, democratic and at peace, it is hard to imagine that our continent was once the theatre of mankind’s darkest hour. It is difficult to believe that in living memory, people could become so consumed by hate - by anti-Semitism, by homophobia, by xenophobia and other murderous prejudices - that the gas chambers and crematoria became a piece of the European landscape as surely as the galleries and universities and concert halls which had marked out the European civilisation for hundreds of years. It is thanks to men and women who were totally committed to fighting fascism, people like Alan Turing, that the horrors of the Holocaust and of total war are part of Europe’s history and not Europe’s present.

So on behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan’s work I am very proud to say: we’re sorry, you deserved so much better.

Gordon Brown"

Read full statement on Number10.gov.uk

"Plato said that there is no true measure of justice, but it is important for a government to give the appearance of justice to society. This is a textbook example of that in action".. (Computer World blogs)

BBC news report: PM apology after Turing petition

Gordon Brown has said he is sorry for the "appalling" way World War II code breaker Alan Turing was treated for being gay.

A petition on the No 10 website had called for a posthumous government apology to the computer pioneer.

The campaign was the idea of computer scientist John Graham-Cumming.

He was seeking an apology for the way the mathematician was treated after his conviction. He also wrote to the Queen to ask for Turing to be awarded a posthumous knighthood.

The campaign was backed by Ian McEwan, scientist Richard Dawkins and gay-rights campaigner Peter Tatchell. The petition posted on the Downing Street website attracted thousands of signatures.

Mr Brown, writing in the Telegraph newspaper, said: "While Mr Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can't put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him."

National legacy

He said Mr Turing deserved recognition for his contribution to humankind.

From here.

Gordon Brown passes Turing test for humanness!

"The real Turing test: learning to say sorry" from: New Scientist

iTWire:

"Online petitions posted to the official 10 Downing Street website are plentiful, provide fodder for newspaper reporters when it is a slow news day and rarely have any real impact. So I didn't exactly hold out much hope when I added my signature to this one.

Normally you might expect a few hundred people to sign a petition such as this, maybe a couple of thousand if you are lucky. As of today, this one has more than 31,000 signatures.

Thanks largely to a word of mouth online campaign which spread across social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, the number of people signing and the amount of publicity being generated rose quickly.

Beleaguered British PM Gordon Brown, no doubt looking for a good news story to boost his ratings, latched on and in a highly unusual turn of events acted upon the demands of the petitioners. He gave that apology for the treatment of Alan Turing.

As one of the signatories of the Alan Turing apology petition, I today received an email from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown"

Poignant apology to ponder, on the eighth anniversary of a terrible act against human-kind: 9/11.

9.9.09 at the Rose Bowl sees 3rd ODI between England and Australia

2009-09-09T14:27:00.015+01:00

England won toss and elected to bat, on partly cloudly cool day/night match in Southampton, for the 3rd ODI against Australia

""We've got to improve our batting," Strauss dead-pans like a total champion." From Cricinfo.

Teams
England: Strauss, Bopara, Prior, Shah, Collingwood, Morgan, Wright, Bresnan, Swann, Sidebottom, Anderson

Australia: SR Watson, TD Paine, CL White, MJ Clarke*, CJ Ferguson, MEK Hussey, JR Hopes, MG Johnson, B Lee, NM Hauritz, NW Bracken

Follow audio coverage via TMS

At ECB's on-line scorecard.

Text score and summary on Cricinfo.

England need to win, else they'll move to Lord's 4th ODI on Saturday 12 September, 3-0 down

Lord's Nine for 9/9/09:

On the ninth day of the ninth month of the ninth year of the new Millennium we look back on an action-packed year at The Home of Cricket - picking out nine highlights. Read our nine season's highlights

http://www.lords.org/latest-news/top-stories/

Lancaster Bomber Flypast at Lord's Cricket Ground during 2nd ODI, 6.9.09

2009-09-06T21:09:00.006+01:00

A veteran Lancaster Bomber pilot, Group Captain Bill Farquson, was one of Aggers' TMS guests in the innings' interval, during the 2nd ODI at Lord's between England and Australia.

From cricinfo:

"The fly past from a Lancaster Bomber that brought the Lord's crowd to their feet as it flew in over the Nursery Ground, then turned and made a return pass. The event was to commemorate 65 years since Lord's was handed back after being used as a RAF receiving base in World War Two".

RAF AIR CREW AT LORDS:

On the Lord's Pavilion west side, back, is a memorial seat in the south wall with a bronze plaque above.

MANY ENTERING THE RAF TROUGH/
GATE NO.1 AIR CREW RECEPTION AREA
AT LORDS DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR
GAVE THEIR LIVES. OUR ENJOYMENT OF
CRICKET REFLECTS THEIR SACRIFICES.

9.9.09 postscript from TMS blog:

Group Captain Bill Farquharson DFC who joined us in the commentary box to tell the amazing story of life as a bomber pilot. More than 55,000 people died in Bomber Command, three out of every five who joined, and Farquharson admitted that he was extremly frightened all of the time.

He told us that just before one mission a colleague asked him "'If you don't come back, can I have your hat?' You see, I had just got myself a new service hat. Well in fact I was reported missing and when I got back my hat was gone. However, it was returned to me in the end."

Farquharson also told us about a very lucky escape. He said: "I went on one mission and we were hit by flak. I knew we had been hit but I hoped not too badly. When I got back and pulled my parachute from under me I noticed a large lump of flak stuck inside it. If it had gone any further, it would have been the end of my matrimonial prospects!"

David Levy Winner of 2009 Loebner Prize for Artificial Intelligence & Information for 2010 Loebner Prize

2009-09-06T16:51:00.009+01:00

David Levy, author of Love and Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships beats two other entrants to win the 2009 Loebner Prize for Artificial Intelligence.

From Hugh Loebner Robitron post #12868 4.26pm Sunday 6 September 2009:

No programs fooled the judges. Therefore, victory was determined by rankings (1 = highest)

First Place David Levy - Rank 4.5
Second Place Rollo Carpenter - Rank 5.0
Third Place Mohan Embar - Rank 5.5

David Levy won the 1997 Loebner Prize, well done on becoming twice winner.

9.9.09 postscript: 2009 Loebner Prize Transcripts, interlaced by Kris Schnee, available here.

Loebner 2009 Judge's assessment:

I was one of the judges for the Loebner prize.

None of the judges had any difficulty in distinguishing human from non-human interlocutors after the first or second turn in the conversation. The two main features which allowed me to identify a human vs. a non-human agent are (i) capacity for fluent domain general discourse marked by frequent and unpredictable changes in topic, (ii) willingness to allow the judge to take over the conversation, (iii) capacity to handle ellipsis, pronouns, and non-sentential fragments, and (iv) typing errors and corrections in human but not program contributions. The relative absence of progress in developing general purpose conversational agents contrast sharply with the substantial progress of the past 10-15 years in task driven, domain specific dialogue management systems and other types of NLP.

From here: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1726

Information on the 2010 Loebner Prize, 20th consecutive Loebner sponsored contest, will be held 23 October 2010 at California State University, Los Angeles:

First Prize: $3000 and the Bronze Annual Medal
Second Prize: $1000
Third Prize: $750
Fourth Prize: $250.

At risk will be the $25,000 Silver Medal Prize. This prize will be awarded to any submitter(s) whose program:

1. Can, when, tested by the method of Paired Comparisons with a human, fool more judges into thinking it is a human than can any other entered program;

2. And can fool at least 1/2 of at least four judges (i.e. 2 of 4, 3 of 5 or 6, etc.) when compared with at least 4 humans.

3. In the event that two or more programs succeed equally with regard to point 2, the prize money will be split, but the Silver Medal itself will be awarded to the submitter(s) whose entry is scored highest by the judges who judged the program to be a program.

Cuban Numbers, Enigma Machines and Lancaster Bomber Flypast, all at 70th Anniversary Bletchley Park Event, Saturday 5 September, 2009

2009-09-06T12:48:00.028+01:00

Saturday 5 September 2009, place to be: Bletchley Park

for the Annual Enigma Reunion

celebrating the 70th anniversary of the arrival of Alan Turing & Gordon Welchman.

My day began listening to Professor Nick Gesslar's talk on Cuban Numbers Station: The Little Spy Engine . Fascinating story revealed of Ana Belen Montes,

US Defence Intelligence Agency's primary intelligence analyst responsible for Cuba and Latin America, arrested days after the 9/11 attacks for espionage: "She had nothing to do with the terrorist strikes, but her arrest had everything to do with protecting the country at a time when national security was of paramount importance." ( from FBI's Case of the Cuban Spy).

Professor Gesslar discussed Scott Carmichael, Defense Intelligence Agency's senior counter-intelligence investigator covering 2000 intelligence agents including Montes. In his book True Believer, Montes is revealed as a rewarded agent who detested the manner in which the US treated its neighbour, Cuba. She considered US's actions cruel, unjust and overly aggressive. Apparently she has these words on a piece of paper pinned to a wall in her prison cell:

The king hath note of all that they intend by interceptions which they dream not of

Lancaster bomber flypasts, and a 1940s fashion show, were other notable parts of an eventful day, as were the company and reminiscence of Julia and Anna, two wonderful ladies I met at Bletchley's excellent 70th anniversary Annual Enigma Reunion.

9.9.09 postscript:

Bletchley Park features in BBC1's The Week We Went to War.

Alan Turing Petition: Report on BBC2's Newsnight, 3.9.09

2009-09-03T21:21:00.013+01:00

Jeremy Paxman on BBC 2's Newsnight asks whether Alan Turing deserves a posthumous apology. John Graham-Cumming's 10 Downing Street Turing petition has reached 26,419 signatories.

Tonight's Newsnight episode can be viewed at BBCiPlayer after the show.

Here's a biography of Jeremy Paxman:

After a stint making the tea at Radio Brighton, Jeremy Paxman began his journalistic career covering the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

After three years in Belfast he had almost learned the language, but then moved to London and became a reporter, first on Tonight and then on Panorama, where assignments took him all over the world.

He then had a few undistinguished months of reading aloud on the Six O'Clock News, before becoming a presenter on the regional news programme London Plus (known within the building as "Sod Off Kent") in the mid-80s, and then on the BBC's Breakfast Time.
For four years Jeremy presented Start the Week on Radio Four before deciding that he didn't like getting up that early in the morning.

Although taken onto a resettlement programme to learn how to become a producer, he proved incapable of even the most basic tasks and in 1989 was given a temporary stint presenting Newsnight. Since then the BBC has been unable to find anything else to do with him.

Jeremy has chaired University Challenge since 1994, where his capacity for mispronouncing Italian has led to frequent complaints.

His books include: The Victorians; Friends in High Places; Fish, Fishing and the Meaning of Life; The English; The Political Animal and On Royalty, some of which are almost readable.

The scion of a long line of illiterate peasants and benefit scroungers, he was born in Leeds, educated in Worcestershire and took a degree (in English, although it does not sound to be his first language) at St Catharine's College, Cambridge.
Even more unexpectedly, he has some honorary degrees, fellowships and awards.

From here.

The Internet is 40 years old today!

2009-09-03T16:22:00.007+01:00

"This was the day that the infant Internet took its first breath of life" Leonard Kleinrock, Professor of Computer Science at UCLA - one of the men who enabled two computers to exchange data over a network for the very first time. "It was the first time...this baby came out and looked around and started talking to the world" (from Computer World).

From Discover magazine:

"On September 2, 1969, computer scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, hooked up two computers via a 15-foot cable, allowing them to exchange data. It marked a milestone in the creation of the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, or ARPANET, which later gave rise to the Internet t wasn’t until October 29 of the same year that the first message was sent between computer nodes; for that reason, some say the Internet was really born at the end of October. In any case, the Internet has come a long way since 1969: The first message was supposed to be “login” but [computer scientist Leonard] Kleinrock was only able to type “lo” before the system crashed [ABC News]."

From the Telegraph:

"Forty years ago today computer was joined with computer in a union that would not be limited to just a few minutes of slow, buggy data transfer, it would transcend the boundaries oftechy types and become part of everyday life, closely bound into our economic and social structures. Here we celebrate the ten cleverest youngish men who made it happen, and in so doing designed the mechanics behind the modern world."

UK Alan Turing petition number passes 25,000, and Bletchley Enigma Reunion

2009-09-03T10:56:00.008+01:00

John Graham-Cumming's petition "to apologize for the prosecution of Alan Turing that led to his untimely death" has now reached 25,682 signatories on the 10 Downing Street Turing petition site. Awesome!

The World Turing petition has reached 9750.

Remembering WWII code-breakers

This weekend, 5/6 September 2009 will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the arrival of Alan Turing and Gordon Welchman at Bletchley Park for the Annual Enigma Reunion. Highlights inlcude:

"guest speakers giving talks, which will be taking place over the two days of the event. So why not come along and see these unique machines and attend one of the talks.

In addition all of the regular, fascinating exhibits at BP will be open to visitors. These include the rebuilds of Colossus and the Bombe, Jack Darrah’s unique collection of Churchillian memorabilia and Block B museum. Our popular guided tours are available to visitors.

Watch the skies above Bletchley Park come alive with a Battle of Britain Memorial Flypast of a Lancaster." (On Saturday 5th September at 3.15pm)

World Turing Petition upto 9175 signatures!

2009-09-02T11:53:00.003+01:00

World Turing petition "Started by Cameron Buckner, as a show of solidarity with Graham-Cumming's effort in the UK, so that those who are not British citizens can also express their opinion." now has 9175 signatures here:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/worldturingpetition/index.html

10 Downing Street's Turing apology petition raked up 23,723 signatories, amazing! Could it reach 1 million by John Graham-Cumming's 20 January 2010 deadline?

Link here to sign: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/turing/

70th Anniversary of the Invasion of Poland

2009-09-01T16:49:00.004+01:00

News articles:

"The controversy began on August 23, 1939, when a non-aggression treaty was signed in Moscow by German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov.

The pact secured Soviet neutrality and consequentially sealed the fate of Poland, which was invaded by the German army on September 1, 1939. ...

...the 70th anniversary of the German invasion of Poland, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will speak in Gdansk, Poland, to defend the Soviet Union's policies vis-a-vis the war."

More here,

"70 years on, Poland's WWII wounds haven't healed ......the resentments that still bubble up from the war that broke out with Hitler's attack on Poland on Sept. 1, 1939. Today, as Polish, German and Russian leaders join on Tuesday to mark the anniversary, Polish-German relations are at one level an idyll of open borders and shared membership in the prosperous, democratic European Union.

But at another level, they are one rancorous episode after another: a Polish prime minister demanding greater voting power in European forums to make up for Poland's war-related loss of population; a German magazine article that stirs Polish outrage by saying Germany had the willing help of Poles and others in executing its genocidal actions."

From AP.

Other reports:
BBC
Telegraph

18,559 signed up to Turing petition and '"Why People became White"

2009-09-01T15:53:00.005+01:00

Awesome, as of 15.54 UK time, there are now 18,559 signatories to the 10 Downing Street Alan Turing pardon petition. That's an incredible increase; can it reach half-a-million signatories by 20 Jan 2010 deadline? Or even a million? Sign here if you haven't already (UK residents only):

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/turing/

Why people became white, article on LiveScience:

Humans come in a rainbow of hues, from dark chocolate browns to nearly translucent whites.

This full kaleidoscope of skin colors was a relatively recent evolutionary development, according to biologists, occuring alongside the migration of modern humans out of Africa between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago.

The consensus among scientists has always been that lower levels of vitamin D at higher latitudes — where the sun is less intense — caused the lightening effect when modern humans, who began darker-skinned, first migrated north.

But other factors might be at work, a new study suggests. From the varying effects of frostbite to the sexual preferences of early men, a host of theories have been reviewed.

Vitamin iDea

Vitamin D plays an important role in bone growth and the body's natural protection against certain diseases, and the inability to absorb enough in areas of less-powerful sunlight would have decreased life expectancies in our African ancestors. The further north they trekked, the more vitamin D they needed and the lighter they got over the generations, due to natural selection.

This explanation accounts for the world's gradients of skin color traveling south to north, the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among African immigrants to higher latitudes, as well as the relatively darker skin of Canada's Inuit peoples, who have good levels of vitamin D despite living in the Arctic, due to their diet rich in oily fish.

Rest of article here.

Turing Petition upto 12,041 signatories!

2009-08-31T17:33:00.004+01:00

As of 17.40 Bank Holiday Monday, 31 August 2009, number of signatories to 10 Downing Street petition, re apology for mistreating the late, great Alan Turing is up to 12,041.

Awesome!

Note, petition open till 20 January 2010

From the BBC today:

Thousands call for Turing apology

Alan Turing is said to be the founder of computer science
Thousands of people have signed a Downing Street petition calling for a posthumous government apology to World War II code breaker Alan Turing.
Writer Ian McEwan has just backed the campaign, which already has the support of scientist Richard Dawkins.

In 1952 Turing was prosecuted under the gross indecency act after admitting to a sexual relationship with a man. Two years later he killed himself.

The petition was the idea of computer scientist John Graham-Cumming.
He is seeking an apology for the way the young mathematician was treated after his conviction. He has also written to the Queen to ask for a posthumous knighthood to be awarded to the British mathematician.

Alan Turing was given experimental chemical castration as a "treatment" and his security privileges were removed, meaning he could not continue work for the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).

"This added insult and humiliation ultimately drove him to suicide," said gay-rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, who also backs the campaign. "With Turing's death, Britain and the world lost one of its finest intellectual minds. A government apology and posthumous pardon are long overdue."

Guardian piece on 'Why can't computers think?

2009-08-31T15:08:00.008+01:00

Today's Guardian asks "Why can't computers think?:

At the end of this week, the 2009 Loebner prize will be contested in Brighton, to try to find a computer program that can fool a human that it is another human over five minutes of interaction through a screen. We know they will all fail. ......... It's not that computers can never fool people.

True, from Flirty bot passes for human:

"New software designed to conduct flirtatious conversations is good enough to fool people into thinking they are chatting with a human, a security company has warned. The CyberLover software was designed in Russia to engage people in conversations with the objective of inducing them to reveal information about their identities or to lead them to visit a web site that will deliver malicious content to their computers."

From Comment is free (Cif):

The 2009 Loebner Prize has just three computer entries, each of which will be compared against four humans interrogated by only four judges. This is in contrast to the 2008 Loebner Prize contest.

[Note, neither Elbot, Loebner Prize 2008's winner, nor runner-up Eugene have entered Loebner 2009]

To encourage and attract the best systems to enter a contest, the reward must be substantial. Professor Selmer Bringjord of RPI, said as much at the 2008 AISB Symposium on the Turing test.

Compare the Loebner Prize's $3000 and bronze medal award last year (same amount to be awarded in 2009) to DARPA's reward for their 2007 Urban Challenge:

1st Place: $2,000,000
2nd Place: $1,000,000
3rd Place : $500,000

Don't expect a machine to display 'thinking' in the lifetime of the Loebner Prize, or achieve the 30% deception rate required by Turing to pass his imitation game:

"average interrogator will not have more than a 70 per cent chance or making the right identification after five minutes of questioning". (Turing, 1950)

The Mentalist's Simon Baker for the new Batman's Joker?

2009-08-25T23:14:00.007+01:00

In The Mentalist Revealed Simon Baker says he "loves conmen and deception", that's why he "loves acting". He could more than adaquately replace his (late) Aussie compatriot, Heath Ledger, as the Joker, facing off Christian Bale's Batman.

Guardian report here.

The Herald report here.

Pictures from here and here.

2009 Loebner Prize schedule

2009-08-23T11:50:00.006+01:00

Sponsor of the Loebner Prize for Artificial Intelligence, Dr. Hugh Loebner, announces change to the Turing tests scheduled in the 19th Contest, hosted at Interspeech 2009:

Round 1: J1E1C1, J2E3C2, J3E2C4
Round 2: J1E3C3, J2E2C1, J4E1C2
Round 3: J1E2C2, J3E1C3, J4E3C4
Round 4: J2E1C4, J3E3C1, J4E2C3

The contest will begin at 11:00 AM
There will be FOUR rounds of 20 minutes duration.

- 10 minutes for interaction with entities (5 minutes with each)
- 5 minutes for judging
- 5 minutes for rearranging seating, etc.

Message #12811 on Robitron, Aug 22, 2009.

2009 Loebner Prize 12 Turing tests final (three machine entries, four judges and four hidden-humans) will be a short contest. (2008 Loebner Prize final's featured 96 parallel-paired Turing tests held over 24 rounds, 24 judges, 21 hidden-humans and five machines).