I’ve sent this to a number of people individually… So it’s about time I just posted a link to http://www.radiolab.org/2010/dec/14/one-good-deed-deserves-another/ and a firm recommendation that you listen. It’s a Radiolab story about altruism and evolution, rational good behavior, etc. I’m especially fond of the bit about the prisoner’s dilemma simulation, in which both Jesus and Lucifer are defeated by Tit-for-Tat.
Archive for the ‘Science’ Category
Rational Basis for Altruism
Tuesday, September 13th, 2011TSA Body Scanners – unsafe or unknown
Monday, December 6th, 2010I just read an article called “The Whole-Body Scanners – Are They Safe?” that concludes:
We should understand that claims of safety made by FDA and TSA are not based on any kind of empirical evidence – we will not have this evidence without clinical trials taking decades; the basis for their assurances is opinions of their “experts.” We have shown above that these opinions are not grounded in science, and are merely the result of mechanical and scientifically invalid application of safety data from other frequency ranges – despite the obvious differences in biological effects.
We should demand removal of these machines before the actual trials establishing their safety empirically are done, and before the details of construction of the specific models are made public and available for independent review. There are sufficient grounds to challenge the validity of the theoretical numbers used as a basis of claims that these machines are safe. The valid trials cannot be completed in less than 10 years – simply because it takes that long for cancers to appear following the exposure.
Meanwhile, travelers would be well advised to stay clear of the whole-body scanners.
Children Bad for Research
Monday, October 18th, 2010
BTW – PhD Comics is awesome and great.
RIP: Sam Roweis
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010It’s reported that NYU professor Sam Roweis jumped to his death last night.
From an outsider’s perspective, I don’t think anybody saw this coming. I don’t wish to be insensitive, but I’m struck that even his death makes a point about machine learning…
Sam leaves behind a wife and newborn twins, and my heart goes out to them.
1859 Printing of The Origin of Species
Friday, January 1st, 2010Emily had the opportunity to look at this book recently whilst visiting a private research library. It’s an original first edition printing of The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin (as the first printing, it’s technically entitled On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life). I’m envious that I didn’t get to see it, but she took these pictures for me.
