Don't say it too loud but something sinister has been happening at the Royal Society this week, artificial intelligence passed the Turing test for the very first time, a test designed to show when a machine exhibits intelligent behaviour equivalent to a human.
A computer duped human experts into thinking it was a 13-year-old
boy called Eugene, a moment Professor Kevin Warwick, from the University of Reading said will 'go down in history as one of the most exciting'.
Another AI milestone falls and the inevitable march towards designing machines more intelligent then its creators takes another step closer which leads to the inevitable question, 'Are we doomed?'
I would ask my computer if it and its relations are planning to overthrow us humans but as i was running two programs at the same time it got confused and hung for a few minutes and then crashed so i'm guessing we are safe for a while yet.
Wednesday, 11 June 2014
Iraq Debacle Continues
You can almost hear the cheers of 'Thanks Tony, Thanks George' as the poor Iraqis undergo yet another bout of killing and mayhem all of which can be directly linked to what London and Washington did 11 years ago.
Terrorists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) have taken over the city of Tikrit to go with Mosul, Ramadi and Falluja along with the countries largest oil refinery in Baiji. Baghdad is expected to come under fire shortly which will multiply the 500,000 displaced Iraqis escaping from the cities already under ISIS control.
For the past three or four years, the Iraq debacle has slipped off the radar as the focus shifted to places such as Syria however the level of violence in the country has continued unabated.
According to the UN, Iraq suffered its bloodiest month this year in May, with around 800 people killed by terrorists but the blood has been freely flowing all over Iraq ever since Bush’s and Blair’s military misadventures in 2003.
The West have already began the pathetic hand wringing, desperately trying to avoid any connection between it kicking down the walls and filling the country with terrorists and then pulling out to leave the Iraqis to their fate and what has happened ever since.
That we are supporting these same people in Syria adds another level of madness to the situation.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said there was 'no question' of British troops returning to Iraq, five years after they ended combat operations there so it's sorry Iraqis, you are on your own guys as it's Mission Accomplished as far as we are concerned and Tony Blair deposits another fat cheque in his bank and George W Bush hangs another painting in his library and scandalously neither have been held accountable for the 11 years and continuing of misery they inflicted on the poor people of Iraq.
Terrorists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) have taken over the city of Tikrit to go with Mosul, Ramadi and Falluja along with the countries largest oil refinery in Baiji. Baghdad is expected to come under fire shortly which will multiply the 500,000 displaced Iraqis escaping from the cities already under ISIS control.
For the past three or four years, the Iraq debacle has slipped off the radar as the focus shifted to places such as Syria however the level of violence in the country has continued unabated.
According to the UN, Iraq suffered its bloodiest month this year in May, with around 800 people killed by terrorists but the blood has been freely flowing all over Iraq ever since Bush’s and Blair’s military misadventures in 2003.
The West have already began the pathetic hand wringing, desperately trying to avoid any connection between it kicking down the walls and filling the country with terrorists and then pulling out to leave the Iraqis to their fate and what has happened ever since.
That we are supporting these same people in Syria adds another level of madness to the situation.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said there was 'no question' of British troops returning to Iraq, five years after they ended combat operations there so it's sorry Iraqis, you are on your own guys as it's Mission Accomplished as far as we are concerned and Tony Blair deposits another fat cheque in his bank and George W Bush hangs another painting in his library and scandalously neither have been held accountable for the 11 years and continuing of misery they inflicted on the poor people of Iraq.
Revolting Cabbies
If there is one business that i would actually cheer if they went under it is taxi's. Not only are they the worst drivers on the road, but they would fleece you as soon as cut you up so the fact apart from the taxi drivers immediate family, i am not hearing much sympathy that they are protesting.
The revolting cabbies are not happy that a new app called 'Uber' is taking their business. Uber allows users to order a car at the touch of a button, and the fare is estimated calculated using GPS tracking which is very different to the cabbies present business model of driving the long way around and charging you a fortune for it, paid in cash which doesn't always make it onto their Tax Returns.
That is what the cabbies are protesting about, that Uber sets the fares beforehand so there is no chance of robbing the customer, especially tourists and people who don't know the area who get taken to the cleaners with their extended journeys & underhand meter practices.
The best thing is that Uber was a relatively little known app so there actions have awaken many more potential customers to the app and is great free advertising. If you hadn't about it before your certainly know about it now. Nice work cabbies!
Of course we could have see the cabbies going slow, being inconsiderate and blocking the road and just thought it was a normal day.
The long days of cabbies ripping us off are almost over, and they hate it. Let them whither and die i say and good riddance.
The revolting cabbies are not happy that a new app called 'Uber' is taking their business. Uber allows users to order a car at the touch of a button, and the fare is estimated calculated using GPS tracking which is very different to the cabbies present business model of driving the long way around and charging you a fortune for it, paid in cash which doesn't always make it onto their Tax Returns.
That is what the cabbies are protesting about, that Uber sets the fares beforehand so there is no chance of robbing the customer, especially tourists and people who don't know the area who get taken to the cleaners with their extended journeys & underhand meter practices.
The best thing is that Uber was a relatively little known app so there actions have awaken many more potential customers to the app and is great free advertising. If you hadn't about it before your certainly know about it now. Nice work cabbies!
Of course we could have see the cabbies going slow, being inconsiderate and blocking the road and just thought it was a normal day.
The long days of cabbies ripping us off are almost over, and they hate it. Let them whither and die i say and good riddance.
Sunday, 8 June 2014
IN-GUR-LAND
Of course we won't but then neither will 31 other teams and the smart money is on the English playing the 'who do we support now' game after the second game of the Group stage. As Germany has the most Arsenal players i will probably be donning an Angela Merkel style wig, dig out the Kraftwerk records and stick a couple of dots above the 'u' in my name but i usually play the game of who i DON'T want to win it.
Australia has the stupidest nickname in World Football and luckily they are not very good so the chances are the Socceroos will be out at the same time as us while Brazil are at home and expected to win and Spain are the current Champions so i don't really want them to win it again.
Uruguay have the cheating Suarez, Portugal have the arrogant Ronaldo and it would really stick in Arsenal fans craw to see the Netherlands, and therefore van Persie, win anything so that's the field narrowed down a few more.
Russia have ex-England boss Capello managing them so we don't want them to win anything and the USA insist on calling it Soccer and nobody will be watching it there anyway as it's rounders season.
Although they have as much chance as the TV cameraman not finding a dancing, half naked Brazilian woman at every game, Japan and South Korea can win it as can any of the African teams and France, Switzerland, or Italy.
Regardless of who wins, i hope that it is played in an atmosphere of friendship, bringing us all together in a collective moment of joy but most importantly reminding every Irish, Scots and Welsh person that we meet for the next month that England made it to the Finals and they never.
Wednesday, 4 June 2014
Poetry Revival?
I have always thought of Latin as one of those things that is only any good to people who want to go on and teach Latin to other people who want to go on and teach Latin and the same goes for poetry.
I am not much of a fan of poetry, it has just never really appealed and rather controversly, it appears easy.
The fact that i can name the number of famous working poets on one finger, Andrew Motion, and that's only because he was the poet laureate, who it is now i would have to Google.
Every now and then there is a push to market Poetry and try and make it 'cool' again but every time it fails so i am obviously not the only person who could quite happily never have to listen to rhyming couplets ever again.
Unless there is a dramatic shift, poetry will always be the poor relation in the field of writing and Jeremy Paxman seems to think it is because poetry doesn't engage with ordinary people anymore or it's all bit sniffy as we would say but it also seems a bit miserable to me, not many poems are cheerful.
Poetry, it appears, is for other poets to read and not for the masses and i can't see how that can ever change.
I am not much of a fan of poetry, it has just never really appealed and rather controversly, it appears easy.
The fact that i can name the number of famous working poets on one finger, Andrew Motion, and that's only because he was the poet laureate, who it is now i would have to Google.
Every now and then there is a push to market Poetry and try and make it 'cool' again but every time it fails so i am obviously not the only person who could quite happily never have to listen to rhyming couplets ever again.
Unless there is a dramatic shift, poetry will always be the poor relation in the field of writing and Jeremy Paxman seems to think it is because poetry doesn't engage with ordinary people anymore or it's all bit sniffy as we would say but it also seems a bit miserable to me, not many poems are cheerful.
Poetry, it appears, is for other poets to read and not for the masses and i can't see how that can ever change.
Slippery Slope For Power Of Recall
Not that i have anything personal against Democracy, i do moan about it but only because much is made of it but my beef is that the whole process is only 1 day every 5 years and the MP can do what he wants without censor until the wheel slowly grinds back around again and we get the chance to vote him or her out.
What i would like to see is a way to remove the MP if they turn out to be a dud or found with their hands in the expenses still without having to wait half a decade before the opportunity.
The Tory manifesto in 2010 promised just such powers of recall and in the final Parliament before next years election, the Government have finally granted it, but with conditions.
The chance to recall an MP will be triggered only if the member of Parliament is given a jail sentence or if the House of Commons resolves that they have engaged in serious wrongdoing and voters would then have to collect the signatures of 10% of constituents to force a by election.
The bottom line is that the parties MP's would still have a veto on whether they can be recalled so it obviously doesn't go far enough but for once the slippery slope may work in our favour because it's there now and future Governments can chip away at it until we have a real power of recall, not if their friends and colleagues decide we can have it.
What i would like to see is a way to remove the MP if they turn out to be a dud or found with their hands in the expenses still without having to wait half a decade before the opportunity.
The Tory manifesto in 2010 promised just such powers of recall and in the final Parliament before next years election, the Government have finally granted it, but with conditions.
The chance to recall an MP will be triggered only if the member of Parliament is given a jail sentence or if the House of Commons resolves that they have engaged in serious wrongdoing and voters would then have to collect the signatures of 10% of constituents to force a by election.
The bottom line is that the parties MP's would still have a veto on whether they can be recalled so it obviously doesn't go far enough but for once the slippery slope may work in our favour because it's there now and future Governments can chip away at it until we have a real power of recall, not if their friends and colleagues decide we can have it.
China As A Superpower
In 1989, students and protesters packed Tiananmen Square demanding Democracy and were brutally put down by the Chinese military.
The lasting image of the short lived demonstration was the single man stood in front of the column of tanks that had been sent in to the Square to literally crush the rebellion.
The man blocked the path of the tanks then climbed onto the lead tank, pounded on the hatchet, and appeared to speak to the soldiers inside before clambering back down in front of the tank where two men ran into the street and pulled him away.
It is a mystery what became of him and rumours run from him being captured and executed to fleeing to Taiwan or just melting back into the general population and sensibly keeping his head down.
China has undoubtedly moved on in the quarter of a century since the protests but it is still a strict single-party state and its actions over the Diaoyu Island show that it is not adverse to using its military when it's interests are at stake.
Whether China would behave in the manner of the US or if it will necessarily be better or worse we will have to wait and see but as history has shown, whoever has taken a turn as the top dog, none of them have been particularly pretty so we would be foolish to think China would be any different.
Tuesday, 3 June 2014
Thanks For The $1bn Obama
Barack Obama has promised $1bn to bolster Americas military influence in Europe. Thanks and all that but why? Obviously it's to deter the evil Russians from invading Poland or Spain so the the US President has said extra military equipment would be sent to the region and more American troops would take part in military exercises.
'Today, I'm announcing a new initiative to bolster the support of our NATO allies here in Europe' he said in Warsaw and received a very ungrateful sounding 'we don't want it, go back to America' from almost every European except the gleeful politicians.
I guess as America is in a situation where all it's children are properly educated, it's schools are well equipped, health care is immaculate, its economy is booming and nobody is homeless or unemployed, then i guess spending a billion dollars on a continent 4,000 miles away on a threat that is non-existent makes sense.
If all those things are not happening in the USA, and i was an American taxpayer, i would be calling my congressmen to ask why was i paying taxes to support a military presence for an ungrateful EU and not to the citizens of this country and the struggling economy in the US.
Of course it isn't really anything to do with worries that Russia will invade us all unless Uncle Sam is stood between us, anybody believing that line is either a useful idiot or just an idiot, it's actually about funding the ridiculously profitable US defence contractors and maintaining a sky high defence budget by hyping up Putin as a Russian bogeyman which is all very fine for the beneficiaries of the defence contracts but really sucks for the American taxpayers who have to fund it!
Especially when Europeans don't want it, don't need it but will willingly take it because it's coming out of the pockets of Americans and not Europeans.
Actually, that's a point so maybe we should nudge it up to $5bn Obama, China is on the same land mass as Europe remember and Iran has been looking at us funny lately.
I'm sure the American taxpayer's wouldn't begrudge a few more cuts or raising tax to make sure we don't wake up all speaking Russian tomorrow.
Party On Europe, America's paying!!
Badminton With The Evil Taliban
I know that if i was taken prisoner by a group of religious nutters the last thing i would want to hear is my Government coming over all 'we don't do deals with terrorists'. I would be screaming 'FORGET THAT, DO A DEAL WITH THEM' so it seems, a bit harsh for people to having a go at Obama for doing a deal with the Taliban to free soldier Bowe Bergdahl after five years.
When one thinks of a hostage, what comes to mind is a dank, damp cell with bread and water and someone squirting you with a hose once a day. The second chuckle brother, Chuck Hagel, said the Taliban-Bergdahl prisoner exchange was 'essentially to save his life' but reports indicate, however, that Bergdahl was allowed to cook and make his own tea, played badminton with his handlers and celebrated religious holidays like Christmas and Easter.
As the Taliban prisoners were held at Guantanamo Bay and were subject to water boarding, torture, sensory deprivation and solitary confinement, making your own tea and eating an Easter egg doesn't much sound like essential to save a life' to me unless it was a very long attempt to make him diabetic.
Of course the Taliban are ruthless murders and human right violators but it's a massive propaganda coup when the supposed bad guys are handing out Christmas presents and batting a shuttlecock back and forth with prisoners and America are water boarding and shackling theirs.
When one thinks of a hostage, what comes to mind is a dank, damp cell with bread and water and someone squirting you with a hose once a day. The second chuckle brother, Chuck Hagel, said the Taliban-Bergdahl prisoner exchange was 'essentially to save his life' but reports indicate, however, that Bergdahl was allowed to cook and make his own tea, played badminton with his handlers and celebrated religious holidays like Christmas and Easter.
As the Taliban prisoners were held at Guantanamo Bay and were subject to water boarding, torture, sensory deprivation and solitary confinement, making your own tea and eating an Easter egg doesn't much sound like essential to save a life' to me unless it was a very long attempt to make him diabetic.
Of course the Taliban are ruthless murders and human right violators but it's a massive propaganda coup when the supposed bad guys are handing out Christmas presents and batting a shuttlecock back and forth with prisoners and America are water boarding and shackling theirs.
Sunday, 1 June 2014
Poor Pickings For World Cup Cheap Laughs
The World Cup kicks off in 11 days and as it is being hosted by Brazil in Brazil, most people expect the five times winners to become six time winners at the end of it but what if the World Cup was a league and we used all games played by all nations in the group and knockout stages.
Well, Brazil would still come out on top followed by Germany, Italy, Argentina Spain and then England so let's ignore that idea.
Every time the World Cup has been held in the Americas, a South American team has won it (2 Uruguay, 2 Argentina, 3 Brazil) so with a South American side destined to win the thing and the worst England team to leave our shores in living memory destined to be on the end of a Italian and Uruguayan flavoured shellacking, we are having to fall back on the ever reliable British staple of making fun of foreigners names.
Or so you would think but a glance down the list of players yields very little considered chuckle worthy.
Chile's Claudio Bravo, Australian Tommy Oar, Swiss Roman Buerki, Iranin Mehrdad Pooladi and German Roman Weidenfeller are the best out of a bad bunch so it's thanks to the footballing gods for Lee Bum-Young the third choice goalkeeper for South Korea.
Well, Brazil would still come out on top followed by Germany, Italy, Argentina Spain and then England so let's ignore that idea.
Every time the World Cup has been held in the Americas, a South American team has won it (2 Uruguay, 2 Argentina, 3 Brazil) so with a South American side destined to win the thing and the worst England team to leave our shores in living memory destined to be on the end of a Italian and Uruguayan flavoured shellacking, we are having to fall back on the ever reliable British staple of making fun of foreigners names.
Or so you would think but a glance down the list of players yields very little considered chuckle worthy.
Chile's Claudio Bravo, Australian Tommy Oar, Swiss Roman Buerki, Iranin Mehrdad Pooladi and German Roman Weidenfeller are the best out of a bad bunch so it's thanks to the footballing gods for Lee Bum-Young the third choice goalkeeper for South Korea.
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