MachineMachine /stream - tagged with communication http://machinemachine.net/stream/feed en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Sweetcron therourke@gmail.com Google explains how it searches the internet in under half a second, if you can find the video http://engadget.com/default/article.do?artUrl=http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/24/google-explains-how-it-searches-the-internet-in-under-half-a-sec/&category=classic&postPage=1 Ever wonder how Google manages to search the entire web and return results in half a second? Well, RobertvH from Munich did, and Mountain View’s head of web-spam, Matt Cutts, talks you through it in the above YouTube video. The short answer? Lots of backend firepower and, you know, a few years in the search game. If you remember the Google dance, Cutts explains what caused that, before going on to give a good idea about how today’s version of the site does what it does. If you’re thinking this all sounds a bit too much like SEO 101, you’d… ]]> Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:49:39 -0700 http://engadget.com/default/article.do?artUrl=http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/24/google-explains-how-it-searches-the-internet-in-under-half-a-sec/&category=classic&postPage=1 Harvard sociobiologist E.O. Wilson on the origins of the arts http://harvardmagazine.com/2012/05/on-the-origins-of-the-arts RICH AND SEEMINGLY BOUNDLESS as the creative arts seem to be, each is filtered through the narrow biological channels of human cognition. Our sensory world, what we can learn unaided about reality external to our bodies, is pitifully small. Our vision is limited to a tiny segment of the electromagnetic spectrum, where wave frequencies in their fullness range from gamma radiation at the upper end, downward to the ultralow frequency used in some specialized forms of communication. We see only a tiny bit in the middle of the whole, which we refer to as the “visual spectrum.” Our optical apparatus… ]]> Sat, 21 Apr 2012 05:37:47 -0700 http://harvardmagazine.com/2012/05/on-the-origins-of-the-arts Artificial Intelligence Could Be on Brink of Passing Turing Test http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/04/turing-test-revisited/artificial-intelligence-could-be-on-brink-of-passing-turing-test-wired-science-wiredcom Artificial Intelligence could be on brink of passing The Turing Test : http://t.co/oLsEJN33 ]]> Sat, 14 Apr 2012 08:37:53 -0700 http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/04/turing-test-revisited/artificial-intelligence-could-be-on-brink-of-passing-turing-test-wired-science-wiredcom Q&A;: The Anthropology of Searching for Aliens http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/04/space-anthropology/ Before we can understand an alien civilization, it might be useful to understand our own. To help in this task, anthropologist Kathryn Denning of York University in Toronto, Canada studies the very human way that scientists, engineers and members of the public think about space exploration and the search for alien life. From Star Trek to SETI, our modern world is constantly imagining possible futures where we dart around the galaxy engaging with bizarre alien races. Denning points out that when people talk about these futures, they often invoke the past. But they frequently seem to have a poor understanding… ]]> Fri, 06 Apr 2012 02:07:52 -0700 http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/04/space-anthropology/ Death of a data haven: cypherpunks, WikiLeaks, and the world's smallest nation http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/03/sealand-and-havenco.ars A data haven is "the information equivalent to a tax haven," a country that helps you evade other countries' rules on what you can and can't do with your bits. (Think "Swiss banking" for data.) The best-known example comes from Neal Stephenson's 1999 best-seller Cryptonomicon, whose heroes go up against murderous warlords, rapacious venture capitalists, and epic authorial digressions in their quest to bring untraceable communications to the masses and get rich in the process. ]]> Thu, 29 Mar 2012 06:46:28 -0700 http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/03/sealand-and-havenco.ars Death of a data haven: cypherpunks, WikiLeaks, and the world's smallest nation http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/03/sealand-and-havenco.ars A data haven is "the information equivalent to a tax haven," a country that helps you evade other countries' rules on what you can and can't do with your bits. (Think "Swiss banking" for data.) The best-known example comes from Neal Stephenson's 1999 best-seller Cryptonomicon, whose heroes go up against murderous warlords, rapacious venture capitalists, and epic authorial digressions in their quest to bring untraceable communications to the masses and get rich in the process. ]]> Wed, 28 Mar 2012 03:42:27 -0700 http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/03/sealand-and-havenco.ars Bacteria Use ‘Chemical Twitter’ and ‘Prisoner’s Dilemma’ to Make Decisions http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/science/bacteria-use-chemical-twitter-and-prisoner-s-dilemma-to-make-decisions-211625.html/bacteria-use-chemical-twitter-and-prisoners-dilemma-to-make-decisions-beyond-science-science-epoch-times http://t.co/fcnjW9hb Bacteria Use ‘Chemical Twitter’ and 'Prisoner's Dilemma' to Make Decisions @RiceUniversity @AmerChemSociety ]]> Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:06:01 -0700 http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/science/bacteria-use-chemical-twitter-and-prisoner-s-dilemma-to-make-decisions-211625.html/bacteria-use-chemical-twitter-and-prisoners-dilemma-to-make-decisions-beyond-science-science-epoch-times Interview with Umberto Eco: 'We Like Lists Because We Don't Want to Die' http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,659577,00.html/spiegel-interview-with-umberto-eco-we-like-lists-because-we-dont-want-to-die-spiegel-online-news-international Umberto Eco - "The list is the origin of culture... What does culture want? To make infinity comprehensible" : http://t.co/daRqmUvj ]]> Wed, 21 Mar 2012 09:35:40 -0700 http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,659577,00.html/spiegel-interview-with-umberto-eco-we-like-lists-because-we-dont-want-to-die-spiegel-online-news-international Physicists Discover Evolutionary Laws of Language http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/03/18/2146248/physicists-discover-evolutionary-laws-of-language/physicists-discover-evolutionary-laws-of-language-slashdot Physicists Discover Evolutionary Laws of Language - Slashdot - http://t.co/IzVdNxOz ]]> Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:20:23 -0700 http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/03/18/2146248/physicists-discover-evolutionary-laws-of-language/physicists-discover-evolutionary-laws-of-language-slashdot Culturomics: Have physicists discovered the evolutionary laws of language in Google's library? http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304459804577285610212146258.html?mod=googlenews_wsj Can physicists produce insights about language that have eluded linguists and English professors? That possibility was put to the test this week when a team of physicists published a paper drawing on Google's massive collection of scanned books. They claim to have identified universal laws governing the birth, life course and death of words. The paper marks an advance in a new field dubbed "Culturomics": the application of data-crunching to subjects typically considered part of the humanities. Last year a group of social scientists and evolutionary theorists, plus the Google Books team, showed off the kinds of things that could… ]]> Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:04:54 -0700 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304459804577285610212146258.html?mod=googlenews_wsj Did Stone Age cavemen talk to each other in symbols? http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/mar/11/cave-painting-symbols-language-evolution/did-stone-age-cavemen-talk-to-each-other-in-symbols-science-the-observer Did Stone Age cavemen talk to each other in symbols? http://t.co/vD1ILeZa #evolution ]]> Sun, 11 Mar 2012 05:35:44 -0700 http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/mar/11/cave-painting-symbols-language-evolution/did-stone-age-cavemen-talk-to-each-other-in-symbols-science-the-observer Would an alien radio pick up a cacophony or a damp fizzle? http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/208891 If an alien located on a planet 100 light years from here was to switch on a big, multi-frequency radio receiver, and record all the noises coming from outer space for the next hundred years, on all frequencies, how many soap operas, advertisements and new broadcasts would they pick up from Earth? Would a mass-market radio, similar to our Earthly equivalents, pick up anything? Over time, as the number of Earth transmissions increases exponentially, would the alien pick up a cacophony or a damp fizzle? We've all heard the cliché that since the first radio broadcast, the Earth has been… ]]> Thu, 23 Feb 2012 06:09:12 -0700 http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/208891 "Models of communication are…not merely representations of communication but representations for..." http://tumblr.machinemachine.net/post/17947545876 “Models of communication are…not merely representations of communication but representations for communication: templates that guide, unavailing or not, concrete processes of human interaction, mass and interpersonal.”

-

James Carey, Communication as Culture: Essays on Media and Society

The Shannon and Weaver Model - The Late Age of Print

 ]]> Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:21:08 -0700 http://tumblr.machinemachine.net/post/17947545876 “The Shannon and Weaver Model” http://www.thelateageofprint.org/2012/02/20/the-shannon-and-weaver-model//the-shannon-and-weaver-model-the-late-age-of-print “The Shannon and Weaver Model” by Ted Striphas: http://t.co/e8WireZf ]]> Mon, 20 Feb 2012 07:51:16 -0700 http://www.thelateageofprint.org/2012/02/20/the-shannon-and-weaver-model//the-shannon-and-weaver-model-the-late-age-of-print Digital tools 'to save languages' http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17081573/bbc-news-digital-tools-to-save-languages Digital tools 'to save languages' http://t.co/Lsxwg8Bm ]]> Sat, 18 Feb 2012 18:35:37 -0700 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17081573/bbc-news-digital-tools-to-save-languages Roar so wildly: Spam, technology and language http://www.radicalphilosophy.com/commentary/roar-so-wildly-spam-technology-and-language This is the raw text output of a chat session with a bot I modified to act as an interlocutor. I use our conversation, which revolves around the history of spam, particularly algorithmic filtering, litspam, and the theories of Wiener and Turing, as a way of putting forward the outlines of new, machine-driven forms of language for which spam was the testing ground. ]]> Thu, 16 Feb 2012 06:20:28 -0700 http://www.radicalphilosophy.com/commentary/roar-so-wildly-spam-technology-and-language Digital Images are SomeThing to aspire to? (A reflection on Hito Steyerl's proposal) http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/112854 Artist and film-maker, Hito Steyerl, asks us to stand shoulder to shoulder with our digital equivalents. Digital images are Things (like you and me) - a plethora of compressed, corrupted representations pushed and pulled through increasingly policed and capitalised information networks. If 80% of all internet traffic* is SPAM - a liberated excess withdrawn** from accepted channels of communication - perhaps it is in The Poor Image we find our closest kin? ]]> Thu, 16 Feb 2012 06:13:43 -0700 http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/112854 The Spam of the Earth: Withdrawal from Representation (by Hito Steyerl) http://www.e-flux.com/journal/the-spam-of-the-earth/ Image spam is one of the many dark matters of the digital world; spam tries to avoid detection by filters by presenting its message as an image file. An inordinate amount of these images floats around the globe, desperately vying for human attention.2 They advertise pharmaceuticals, replica items, body enhancements, penny stocks, and degrees. According to the pictures dispersed via image spam, humanity consists of scantily dressed degree-holders with jolly smiles enhanced by orthodontic braces. ]]> Sun, 12 Feb 2012 05:32:48 -0700 http://www.e-flux.com/journal/the-spam-of-the-earth/ The Era of Networked Science http://www.bostonreview.net/BR37.1/michael_nielsen_reinventing_discovery.php The Internet may well have its downsides, but it also has the potential to make us collectively smarter, according to open-science advocate Michael Nielsen. In Reinventing Discovery: The New Era of Networked Science, Nielsen argues that networked digital tools, such as discussion boards and online marketplaces, can make it easier for scientists to pool their data, share methodologies, and find far-flung collaborators. Even non-scientists are participating in large-scale citizen science projects. In Nielsen’s view, however, public policy has yet to catch up to technology. The digital environment will amplify our collective intelligence, but only if there are incentives for people… ]]> Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:41:40 -0700 http://www.bostonreview.net/BR37.1/michael_nielsen_reinventing_discovery.php On the trail of the wild and wonderful @Horse_ebooks http://splitsider.com/2012/01/the-ballad-of-horse_ebooks/the-ballad-of-horse-ebooks-splitsider On the trail of the wild and wonderful @Horse_ebooks : http://t.co/QYGn0092 #fb ]]> Tue, 10 Jan 2012 07:06:45 -0700 http://splitsider.com/2012/01/the-ballad-of-horse_ebooks/the-ballad-of-horse-ebooks-splitsider