#FOWC Archives – Page 27 of 104

April 1, 2024April 5, 2024

A is for Antorbital Fenestra

Albuquerque museum, photo by kajmeister.

Dinosaurs had an extra hole in their head.

As we start this journey of 26 posts all about dinosaurs, you may have noticed that A does not start with a kind of dinosaur. This is not going to be about 26 different dinosaurs, although I promise I will throw in a few. So A is not for Apatosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Albertosaurus, or even Archosaur. This A is about how dinosaurs were grouped and identified as dinosaurs.

So one thing to know, even before I say more about what the ant-orbit-a-whatchamacallit, is that these posts are going to wrestle with questions about dinosaurs, such as:

What made a dinosaur a dinosaur?
Where did the dinosaurs come from? And where did they go?
What did they look like?
How did they behave?
And, most of all, how do we know?

In other words, I’m going to talk about the things that dinosaurs did. Their habits. Their loves and losses.. well, maybe not that. But the dinosaur ouvre, so to speak (i.e. their “body of work.” Body get it?) Since they lived 200 million years ago, it gets a little tricky trying to guess. But you would be surprised at what those clever scientists who study bones can figure out, just from the bones.

March 18, 2024March 23, 2024

The Wild West of Chat/AI

Image created by the AI Art Generator. See explanation below.

Rampant fear or unquestioning enthusiasm. These seem to be the two fundamental attitudes people have about Generative AI models. Programs like Chat GPT, Bloom, and Replika are demonstrating the power, potential, and problems associated with having technology that seems to talk. Aside from getting some definitional clarity around what Chat/AI is and is not, I present here a couple of Use Cases. They may inspire in you, as they have in me, both fear and enthusiasm.

Let’s Call It What It Is: Simulated Talking

A few definitions might be in order. First of all, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a large field, so let’s be clear that AI and Generative AI are different things. AI models are ones where you feed in data to get recommendations and predictions. We use simple models and algorithms ourselves, for instance, checking the weather by looking outside; that’s an unsophisticated algorithm that isn’t terribly predictive. In the past, computer models were similarly limited. They broke down fairly quickly if the variables got complicated or the model tried to look too far in the future. I can guess the weather in an hour, but what about next Sunday at 11 am, when I want to play pickleball? AI means that the models are big enough and full of enough data that the predictive accuracy is far beyond what computers “used” to predict. A self-driving car might be an example of AI. It’s not creating text or art, but it needs a huge influx of data and sophisticated decision-making capabilities in order to navigate a very complex environment.

Generative AI, which I’ll also call Chat/AI here, is a model that can create “new” content as part of its predictive output. You feed it tons of examples, and it creates something “new” or seems new, based on previous human-created patterns that made sense. The following example came from Prof. Louis Hyman, who will be discussed below. Suppose you asked Chat/AI to fill in the cat sat on the ____. The model might suggest floor, chair, lap, or mat. But mat might be the highest likelihood, perhaps 50%, so the generative AI picks that word.

February 27, 2024March 5, 2024

Benjamin Banneker, First Black American Intellectual: Part 2, Benjamin’s Abolitionist Almanac

Herein shall we continue the story of Benjamin Banneker, surveyor, farmer, astronomer, polymath, and noted abolitionist. Be sure to read Part One, the history of Banneker’s family and his acquisition of mathematical knowledge.

Benjamin Banneker was nearly sixty when he hit upon the idea of publishing an almanac of natural information. As a farmer, he had kept copious notes, documenting the practices of bees and noting the 17-year cycle of cicadas. Unmarried, he worked his land mostly alone, though he still chatted with his neighbor, George Ellicott. One day, Ellicott brought over a telescope. It turned Banneker’s last two decades into a whirlwind of calculation, publication, and provocation. It would make him famous again for a brief time. He would also poke the hornet’s nest.

“Do you have an answer, Ben?” the schoolmaster’s voice barked out. Startled, Ben looked up and scanned the class, faces turned to stare and giggle. “What is 23 by 7?” Without any calculation, Ben replied, “14 in the tens place and 21 which is 161.” Still, he had not been paying attention. The master picked up the book that had absorbed his young pupil, Newton’s Principia. “I’m sorry, sir,” Ben said. “I forgot to ask if I could…” The master squinted but tried to suppress a grin. “Practicing your Latin?” “Yes, sir. Perhaps you could explain this part … ‘precession of the equinoxes…'”

Alone with a Telescope

In 1788, Benjamin at 57 had continued to eke out a small harvest of apples and wheat, even as the Ellicott Mills and other larger farms had grown around him. His minor celebrity status as a clock maker had died down a bit, although the clock still kept time and the occasional passerby poked his head in to gawk. The Revolution had come and gone. The War had come and gone, too.