Stephen Thaler's Imagination Machine

Stephen Thaler’s Imagination machine has improved everything from a toothbrush to warheads. It has even composed a music album called “Songs of the Neurons”. How does this work? He uses an artificial neural network. These networks “dream” based on what they know. Random “noise” triggers the machines to dream. One neural network is stimulated via computational ‘heat”. While another is a “perceptron” watching the stream of ideas. The perceptron micromanages the heat in order to generate betters ideas. These “imagitron” networks are not written by humans but are self-assembled.

How much should we trust these AI machines? Should we let them diagnose illnesses? Machines can store and know more about a wide variety of illnesses. They should be better at diagnosing illness. If we let all the doctors go away and rely on the AI machines, then what happens if one of the AI machines produces invalid responses? Do we even notice?

The technology to implement this is here. But we need to deal with the moral implications before proceeding.

http://wfs.org/May-June09/Thalerpage.htm

iWeb

In the olden days content, design, and web programming have been mixed. It has been difficult for a beginner to break into web design and publishing. The learning curve has been too steep. This tool is Apples attempt to make this easier. It is called iWeb and comes with the MAC OSX leopard operating system. Since I am teaching the MAC OS I thought that I would give this tool a try. It separates the content from the programming and the layout. It is very easy to use. But I did not find it overly powerful. There is a trade off between ease of use and raw power and flexibility. Here is a sample iWeb that I created.

www.dataprocs.com

If you are interested in more Tips and fun links from Computer Bob, check out my company website.

http://www.dataprocs.com/Datapro/Tips/Tips.html

Horizon Report

In this prediction, the Horizon report predicts that nearly everything will be Geo tagged. This prediction is about 2 years out according to the prediction. But I am seeing this happening everywhere NOW. Cameras now routinely geo tag photos and show you on Google map where the photo was taken. Parents are tagging there children in case they are lost. But how far does this go. Stores could use geo tagging to track the movements of customers. They could use this information to force customers down isles with items that yield the highest profits. Should our location is tracked on a website so our friends can easily find us, along with the predators? I think that this concept has a lot of good. But it also contains a lot of bad. Are we as a society ready to combat the bad in order to obtain the good points of this technology?

David Pogue on Technology

http://www.ted.com/talks/david_pogue_says_simplicity_sells.html

David Pogue say Simplicity sells. The problems with software today is that it is poorly designed and poorly supported. We need to improve on these two items.

Why should we hit 'start' in Windows to shut down? Why does it take so many clicks in different places to create a new document in Word? Why does the print dialog box look like a 747 control panel, when all you want to do is print? Oh and just where is that print button?

35% of a company's revenue comes from updates. So we need to find something to add, perhaps a new feature. If we improve anything enough, it will ruin it.

What can we do? Simplicity sells. More ideas like the iPod, Google, Macbook power connector and voice memos need to be developed. Remember it is simplicity, elegance, and beauty that sells.

Points for Discussion:
1. How many items should be on a menu?
2. How many nested levels is too many?
3. Is there a balance between simplicity and power?
4. Should we have different menus for power users and normal users?
5. What about color?
6. What about placement?
7. When should we update?
8. What can we do about support?
9. What about outsourcing? Does it work?