Enthusiasts for Extraterrestrial Communication
In today's edition: Doubt, tuning neural networks, a literary history of word processing, Martian messaging, 15 billion transistors, and the current state of play in Silicon Valley.
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"It wasn’t just the grisly image of a human cadaver with more than 200 electrodes inserted into its brain that set people whispering; it was what those electrodes detected—or rather, what they failed to detect. When Buzsáki and his colleague, Antal Berényi, of the University of Szeged in Hungary, mimicked an increasingly popular form of brain stimulation by applying alternating electrical current to the outside of the cadaver’s skull, the electrodes inside registered little. Hardly any current entered the brain. On closer study, the pair discovered that up to 90% of the current had been redirected by the skin covering the skull, which acted as a 'shunt,' Buzsáki said."
2. Learn how to tune a neural network by playing with this one in your browser.
"It’s a technique for building a computer program that learns from data. It is based very loosely on how we think the human brain works. First, a collection of software “neurons” are created and connected together, allowing them to send messages to each other. Next, the network is asked to solve a problem, which it attempts to do over and over, each time strengthening the connections that lead to success and diminishing those that lead to failure."
3. Perhaps no book has ever been more relevant to my interests.
"The story of writing in the digital age is every bit as messy as the ink-stained rags that littered the floor of Gutenberg’s print shop or the hot molten lead of the Linotype machine. During the period of the pivotal growth and widespread adoption of word processing as a writing technology, some authors embraced it as a marvel while others decried it as the death of literature. The product of years of archival research and numerous interviews conducted by the author, Track Changes is the first literary history of word processing."
4. Victorians, giant mirrors, aliens, etc.
"Then, an astronomer writing under the name A. Mercier proposed putting a series of reflectors on the Eiffel Tower, which would capture light at sunset and redirect it towards Mars. He also had an idea for a series of mirrors that would transfer sunlight from the light side of a mountain to its dark side, so the signal to Mars would be clearer. In each of these scenarios, the light would flash a simple code to show to whoever or whatever might be out there that the signal was intentional. By the turn of the century, enthusiasts for extraterrestrial communication were convinced that interplanetary messaging could really be possible; there was even a prize meant to stimulate research. The Pierre Guzman Prize, established in the will of a wealthy Frenchwoman, would go to whoever could communicate with a planet or other star and receive a response. It came with a 100,000-franc reward."
"The chip has 15 billion transistors, or three times as much as many processors or graphics chips on the market. It takes up 600 square millimeters. The chip can run at 21.2 teraflops. Huang said that several thousand engineers worked on it for years. 'Three years ago, when we went all in, it was a leap of faith,' Huang said. 'If we build it, they will come. But if we don’t build it, they won’t come.'"
"As we move forward, it is important for all players in the ecosystem to realize that the game has changed. Equally important, each player must understand how the new rules apply to them specifically. We will start by highlighting several emotional biases that can irrationally impact everyone’s decision making process. Next we will highlight the new player in the ecosystem that is poised to take advantage of these aforementioned changes and emerging biases. Lastly, we will then walk through each player in the ecosystem and what they should consider as they navigate this brave new world."
1. sciencemag.org 2. playground.tensorflow.org 3. hup.harvard.edu 4. atlasobscura.com 5. venturebeat | @cdixon 6. abovethecrowd.com
Enthusiasts for Extraterrestrial Communication