Jottings II: Style of play, style of thought – human knowledge as a collection of local maxima

Pursuant to the last note, it is interesting to ask the following question: if human discovery of a game space like the one in go centers around what could be a local maxima, and computers can help us find other maxima and so play in an "alien" way -- i.e. a way that is not… Fortsätt läsa Jottings II: Style of play, style of thought – human knowledge as a collection of local maxima

Authority currencies and rugged landscapes of truth (Fake News Notes #9)

One model for thinking about the issue of misinformation is to say that we are navigating a flat information desert, where there is no topology of truth available. Now hills of fact, no valleys of misinformation. Our challenge is to figure out a good way to add a third dimension, or more than one single… Fortsätt läsa Authority currencies and rugged landscapes of truth (Fake News Notes #9)

Innovation III: What is the price of a kilo of ocean plastic?

A thought experiment. What would happen if we crowdsourced a price - not just a sum - per kilo of ocean plastic retrieved? This would require solving a few interesting problems along the way but would not be impossible. First, we would need to develop a means to crowdsourced prices rather than sums. What we… Fortsätt läsa Innovation III: What is the price of a kilo of ocean plastic?

Innovation and evolution I: Speciation rates and innovation rates

As we explore analogies between innovation and evolution, there are some concepts that present intriguing questions. The idea of a speciation rate is one of these concepts and it allows us to ask questions about the pace of innovation in new ways. Are speciation rates constant or rugged? That is: should we expect bursts of… Fortsätt läsa Innovation and evolution I: Speciation rates and innovation rates