my brain hurts

I think the best sentence to test an AI system’s ability to understand is the (possibly apocryphal) newspaper headline:

Shell Found on Beach

I think the best sentence to break an AI is now:

Look, having nuclear—my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart—you know, if you’re a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I'm one of the smartest people anywhere in the world—it’s true!—but when you're a conservative Republican they try—oh, do they do a number—that’s why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortune—you know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because we’re a little disadvantaged—but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me—it would have been so easy, and it’s not as important as these lives are (nuclear is powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what's going to happen and he was right—who would have thought?), but when you look at what's going on with the four prisoners—now it used to be three, now it’s four—but when it was three and even now, I would have said it's all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don't, they haven’t figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it’s gonna take them about another 150 years—but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us.

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anthem to the multi-verse

Seen in New Scientist’s Feedback section:

“Multiverse theory is a lot like the national anthem,” writes Carl Zetie. “In theory there are many ‘verses, but in practice we only ever experience one.”

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film review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Remember the days when there was only one in-flight movie, which you didn’t want to watch? Well, nowadays there’s a whole raft to choose from, mostly ones you don’t want to watch, and some you feel a little curiosity about. This was how I ended up watching Pride and Prejudice and Zombies on a tiny screen with scratchy sound, several miles up in the sky on a nine hour flight.

I’ve not read the book, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, that is. I have, of course, read the original zombie-free Pride and Prejudice, and watched the BBC dramatisation. But I’m not a zombie horror fan in general (despite rather enjoying Rowland’s White Trash Zombie series), so I was a little dubious.

However, this is fun. It is played completely straight (for the most part) as a historical romance, just in a context where there are zombies roaming the land, and everyone is trained in martial arts to protect themselves. It has the ‘same’ underlying plot as the original: Elizabeth Bennett is prejudiced against the proud Darcy, but they each learn the error of their ways.

The zombie context changes the flavour of the romance, however. (You don’t say?) Despite the standard trope of Mrs Bennett trying to get good marriages for her daughters, all five of the Bennett sisters are experts in Chinese-style martial arts (rather than the more aristocratic Japanese-style). Darcy’s eye-patch wearing aunt Lady Catherine de Bourgh is a renowned zombie hunter, and the dastardly Wickham is up to something more sinister than elopement. Matt Smith as the oily Parson Collins hits all the right notes. There is some of the original dialogue, marginally altered for context, although delivered in different circumstances: Elizabeth’s rejection of Darcy’s first proposal contrasts dialogue and action brilliantly. The zombie apocalypse finale and heroic rescue does deviate somewhat from the original.

This is pure nonsense, but the straight way it is delivered, and the clever interweaving of the original and the zombie plot makes for fun viewing. It readily passes the Bechdel test, as various of the female characters talk about martial arts and zombie killing (in addition to prospective husbands). I was somewhat distracted by the economic viability of the scenario: how did the peasants grow the food given they had no protection from the roaming zombies? But nevermind; I enjoyed this, and it was definitely engrossing enough to while away nearly two of those nine hours in flight.

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eyes firmly closed

O.M.G.  A rich source of nightmares!

China's glass walkway opens in Tianmen mountain

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reducing class mobility

RIP maintenance grants. It’s one more move to keep the poor from education

But such analysis ignores the cultural attitudes towards debt in many working-class communities. The ingrained attitude that you never borrow money acts as a barrier to many who would otherwise like to study.

Indeed.  I am incredibly privileged.  When I went to university, waaay back in the day, there were no fees, and (my parents were so poor that) I got a full maintenance grant.  (£660/yr, which was enough to live on without needing more than a summer job.)  And my parents, despite being rather bemused at whatever it was I was doing (I was the first in the extended family to go to University), were fully supportive (morally, if not financially).  But if I'd had to borrow money, no way would I have done it.

I despair at what similar kids are going through today.

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science is global

I haven't actually visited all these countries.  However, I am writing a conference report, emphasising that #ScienceIsGlobal, and used this website to produce a map of contributors.

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solar beats coal, but gas beats both

More solar power that coal powered electricity in the UK this May, but each is only a small fraction of the total.

Solar just made more power than coal in the UK for the first month ever

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