A.I.’S MIRAGE REASONING—ITS LATEST HALLUCINATIONS
I’VE COME TO RESPECT GARY MARCUS’ knowledge and opinions concerning A.I. His latest analysis “The Mirage of Visual Understanding in Current Frontier Models,” Substack, March 29, 2026, introduces me to … Continue reading
A RUBE GOLDBERG-SORTA TALE
THE MARCH 2, 2026, AAAS SCIENCE HAS REVIEWS of fourteen books selected from two lists prepared annually by the National Science Teaching Association and the Children’s Book Council—the “Best STEM … Continue reading
A.I.’S PLACE, HUMAN EFFORT, AND FRICTION-MAXXING PART 2
YESTERDAY, DONALD MACKENZIE SHARED TRADEOFFS of A.I.’s seemingly unbridled upscaling. Here in Part 2, two means of human control are offered. One is pedagogical, though applicable to the rest of … Continue reading
A.I.’S PLACE, HUMAN EFFORT, AND FRICTION-MAXXING PART 1
HUMANITY IS AT A CUSP OF INTELLECT, tantamount to moveable type’s effect on sharing thought, radio and television’s effect on communicating it, and the computer’s effect on amassing it. Today, … Continue reading
STORING STUFF FOR MILLENNIA
HITTING THE “SAVE” BUTTON instills perhaps misplaced confidence. True, the stuff continues to exist somewhere or other. But can it be easily retrieved? And for how long? Robert F. Service … Continue reading
THE PALIMPSEST OF ARCHIMEDES PART 1
THE WORD “PALIMPSEST” MAY JOG THE MEMORY of longtime readers of this website: “Medieval DNA Sleuthing,” SimanaitisSays, August 7, 2017, described “A palimpsest is a piece of writing material, parchment, … Continue reading
BOUBA-KIKI: EVEN CHICKS CAN PLAY PART 2
YESTERDAY IN PART 1, WE LEARNED ABOUT ASSOCIATING shapes with made-up words, briefly spiky ones linked to “kiki,” blobby ones to “bouba.” Surprisingly enough, people around the world speaking different … Continue reading
BOUBA-KIKI: EVEN CHICKS CAN PLAY PART 1
BEFORE YOU BEGIN, PAIR THE MADE-UP WORDS “BOUBA” AND “KIKI” with these pictured shapes. Which is which? Images from science friday. As noted by the sciencefriday.com website, “The Bouba-Kiki Effect … Continue reading
HUT! HUT! PROTECTING ONE’S BRAIN PART 2
YESTERDAY, WE BEGAN GLEANING TIDBITS about the latest in football helmets. Today in Part 2, Adrian Cho delves deeper into “Softening The Blow,” AAAS Science, February 5, 2026. There’s also … Continue reading
HUT! HUT! PROTECTING ONE’S BRAIN PART 1
WHEN I WAS GROWING UP, AUTUMNAL WEEKENDS were made—or ruined—by the performance of the Cleveland Browns football team. That was the era of Lou Groza, Otto Graham, Dante Lavelli, and … Continue reading
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