Scientists No Longer Needed: We Have Machines That Can Do That Now

I heard this story a few weeks ago regarding the stunning news that a machine has uncovered the laws of motion (meaning that it didn't have a human tell it what the laws of motion were, it just figured it out) after playing with a pendulum for a few hours.

Damn.

To put that into perspective, it took humans a few centuries of work to figure those same laws out. And it took a little fella named Newton to invent Calculus to really get them worked out mathematically.

And some 'ol machine figures them out by messing around for an afternoon. I shake my head at the absurdity.

But what that tells me, on a much deeper level, is that we really are living in the future. Folks like Ray Kurzweil and Vernor Vinge have been preaching about the coming singularity for a while now... and I'm starting to get that little tingle in the back of my skull that they may be right. I just wonder if we'll really be able to tell when it's happening.

Oh, and the singularity is that magical moment when machines/AI surpasses humans in intelligence. At least in the Kurzweil version, once that happens we'll have a runaway chain reaction of advancement that will leave humanity surrounded by godlike machine intelligences that will be capable of insights and wonders that we won't even begin to be able to understand.

How can that happen? Well, the thought is that if you have a machine, smarter than any human, that designs the next generation of machine/AI/computer, then you'll have something that is greater than what any human could ever build.

Oh, and then this new, even smarter machine goes and designs and builds it successor, which is even more advanced.

And so on and so on. Before you know it, people are so removed from the process, and have been left so far behind intellectually, that we won't be capable of understanding machines anymore... hence the godlike entities I mentioned earlier.

Given that a rather plain machine was capable of uncovering the laws of Newtonian physics in a few short hours now. Imagine what sort of wonders it could uncover if it were a trillion times more advanced.

Again, we're really living in a sci-fi world.

All that being said, I'm a wee bit skeptical of the singularity actually happening as I described above, maybe a lifetime of seeing movies like the Terminator and the Matrix has made me take the prospect of computer overlords as silly.

But you never know.

More About the Wonder

I just finished Steal Across The Sky by Nancy Kress this week. I have never read anything by her before so I wasn't sure what to expect. Without knowing how she writes or paces a story made me a little antsy about reading this. The premise was fantastic and I figured that even if she isn't going to be my favorite writer I should still enjoy it based on the can't miss plot. After reading it my take on the story is.... well, somewhat irrelevant I suppose.

I liked it though. I can't recall the last time it took me so long to read a book this short. I think it drug out for weeks. I don't know if it is her writing style or the things I've been dealing with that made it go so slowly. I've been somewhat busy of late. Cleaning my garage out at home, doing schoolwork and enjoying a bit of the spring weather. But still, it seems like I should have read it quicker.

But there are different kinds of enjoyment I can get from books I read. Some are quick reads that I knock out over a weekend and love while reading, only to forget about it a few minutes later. Others, like this one, I slug through slowly and after I close the book for the final time I sit and think about it for a bit. Going over the the details in my mind. Sometimes a book like that can stick with me for weeks.

Resonance is the term that is used for that effect, authors generally want their stories to resonate with the reader. Ms. Kress' book may not quite do that for me, but it is pretty philosophical in nature and I enjoy the attempt she made to tell an entertaining story.

So while that sense of wonder I wrote about yesterday may not have been captured but the attempt was worthy. So I say read it and see for yourself.

Ah, To Wonder about Wonder

The geniuses at io9 have given me the best article I've read in a while about the attempt to capture a sense of wonder in writing.

The problem? Science fiction used to give the reader a sense of wonder about the universe. Nowdays everything pales in comparison to the brilliant works of the past.

Their take: You're getting old. You've read a variant of the same story so many times that it's become a cliche. You want a sense of wonder? Then be 14 again.

I like it. The article is brilliant. The writer makes his points well and with enough anecdotal evidence that it feels authoritative.

But it's wrong. The whole thing is just... wrong. I've been reading science fiction since I was a kid. The first summer I remember reading a novel included Foundation, Watchers, Riverworld, Millienum and Clan of the Cave Bear. The summer of 86 maybe.

Anyway, the point is that I've been reading science fiction novels for at a minimum of 23 years. Not ridiculously long, but long enough that I've encountered that sense of wonder more than once.

I mentioned in an earlier post about the awe I felt when I read Stephen Baxter's Ring. That was around 1995. I felt that after reading Arthur C. Clarke's Rama books (I read several back to back) in the early 90's. I even felt that sense of awe as recently as 2005 when I read Olaf Stapledon's Starmaker. Hell, that thing is 80 years old.

So is it me? Or is it the story? I agree that I can now read something and think that I would have liked it much more if I'd stumbled upon it 10 or 15 years ago. But that doesn't stop me from being appropriately wowed - the writer just can't be lazy about it and throw in a subplot about the transgalactic aliens that are here with godlike powers. I will need more that that.

I'm tempted to go on a rant about what it is that even draws me to science fiction in the first place. But I run the risk of getting stuck knee deep in my own crap. I'll save that one for a future post.

So please, read the original article, enjoy it, but don't believe it. It just isn't true.

Howdy Mr. Alien... Have You Ever Tried Grilled Cheese?

As an aspiring science fiction author, I read a lot of science and science related materials. Although I am firmly a layperson in all matters science I have a fascination and appreciation for it that is pretty powerful. Science, my hat is off to you good sir. Thanks for cell phones, the internet and the eradication of polio (although I'm not entirely thrilled with nuclear weapons and killer bees).

So the folks over at New Scientist magazine have put together a short look at what was actually on the voyager probes that NASA sent off into the depths of space back in the seventies.

In case anyone doesn't know, the Voyager missions (after the Pioneer missions a few years earlier) were intended to photograph the outer planets - and afterward they were just supposed to keep going.

And like the energizer bunny, they are. 32 years later they are still traveling at 40,000 mph deeper into the blackness of space.

After thinking that some aliens may stumble upon one of our spacecraft at some point in the far future as our beloved voyagers enter into a new solar system, the great Carl Sagan helped in designing a small multimedia device that would serve as a simple "hello" from the people of earth.

The amount of storage date available at the time was pretty limited. A handful of pictures and data that has to teach any would be life-forms the basics of earth, language, humanity and whatever else they need to know to get a good idea of who and what we are. No small task.

So Carl and the gang produced a gold record of what they thought was important for the denizens of the galaxy to know about us. So what was on this mysterious golden record?



That's right, a bald guy eating grilled cheese, a young girl treating an ice cream cone, er, inappropriately, and of course, Stevie Wonder.

Wow. No wonder aliens are always hell bent on destroying us when they show up in the movies, look at the crap we are inundating them with. At least the stuff we transmit from earth is on accident, we did this on purpose.

I weep for us all.

Lookie Me!

I'm not usually one for horror sort of stuff, but I sketched this ugly fella out while I was on hold at work today (I do actually work though). I was relatively frustrated and started to draw a screaming man. But I pushed the reality a bit too far and it ended up looking more like a guy with either an unhinged jaw or someone suffering from a werewolfy sort of thing.

So I gave him fangs and that was that.

All that makes me think of fan art. I read several of E.E. Knight's Vampire Earth novels over the winter and noticed that his series has spawned a bit of fan art that he has taken and made a book trailer out of. Take a look:


I've always wanted to do some sort of fan art - but outside of superheros I never really have gotten so caught up in a fictional universe that I felt I had anything to contribute. But I think I may be willing to try something soon. I can just feel it coming. I'll have to find the right book first, and something that I think I can pull off without it going beyond my ability to actually produce.

So, if anything comes to mind, I'll be sure to give it a shot and post it here.

A Word About Pencils

To the right is a sketch I did recently (now that's answering the phone with an attitude). I've always been pretty okay with the pencil, but as always, I've found that the internet is the great humbler. A quick search of penciled pieces of art quickly reminds me of what the difference is between a true artist and someone like me - as proud of myself as I can be sometimes I am deeply awed by the skills of others. It'll either inspire me to achieve the impossible... or make me shrug my shoulders and just quit.

And why is that? Seeing the works of artists who've produced some of the most beautiful images I've ever seen has a tendency to make me want to throw down my pencils and quit. But reading a particularly moving short-story or novel seems to inspire me to try to do go write.

Odd. I'd place that one up to desire maybe. My dreams of being an accomplished writer far outweigh any thoughts I may have of being an accomplished artist. In the end I guess I need a creative outlet in order to fill sane. In my distant past it was art, later it was music, then photography, and for the last half decade or so it's been writing.

I hope this one sticks, I seem to enjoy the process of writing more than the others I've mentioned and if I got something to say I don't have to take a picture about it... I can just write it.

Talk again soon.

A Little Shout Out to My Friends: Part Deux

After making my last post I realized that for the most part, the entire thing was a tangent. Oops.

There are two items regarding the links on the side of the page I wanted to bring to the world's attention that I didn't touch on earlier that I would like to now.

Firstly, the book cover to the right is indeed a book I contributed too that was recently released (the picture is really a link, go ahead, click it). There are two stories of my own creation that fill the pages: Nanoswarm and War Angel. Both of which are up for some pretty major awards... er, ok, maybe not. But still...

Anyhow, the book was done by the writing group I frequent and for the hope that we can make someone's life a least a tiny bit better. So all of the proceeds are going to a Knoxville charity that services the homeless. So seriously, buy it.

Secondly, when I actually sit down to write, finding the muse can be a bit of a challenge. Music often serves me as the perfect mood setting device. If I'm writing an intense action scene I'll try to have something playing that appropriately coveys the mood I'm trying to find in what I'm writing - as long as it doesn't actually distract me from the writing itself I'm inspired.

Anyway, spend a few minutes checking out the musical diversions - right now it only has the Nashville songwriter Angus Danu and his soothing tunes but I'll post another or two in the coming days.

Happy writing.