Artificial Intelligence Book

This book on artificial intelligence sounds pretty interesting. Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach by Stuart Russell and Peter Norvig. My dad has said he is interested in artificial intelligence, and he is working on a "knowledge base" program, which is kind of like a blog on steroids. I never was interested in the aspect of artificial intelligence where we try to make a machine "smart" by emulating how human brains work. However, it sounds like I had the wrong impression of artificial intelligence because it is always so closely associated with robotics. It sounds like it is more about logic and relating information, which is more interesting. This might not necessarily be that different from emulating how brains work, but the task seems more significant (helping people sort information) than having a robot that can do some random thing autonomously. Most things that you would want a robot to help with could be automated anyway or controlled without AI.

Nuclear Technology

Smark sent me this. It's a summary of some google tech talks on thorium, which could be an alternative to today's nuclear reactors. I'm sold! Where do I sign up?

Conspicuous Consumption

Cool MIT spotlight on Sloan research on demand for luxury goods.

Infiltrate

Next year I want to sign up to interview MIT undergraduates as an MIT Educational Counselor.

Yang Sighting

Mikeyp saw me on the internet.

6 elaborate forms of suicide passed off as extreme sports.

Poorly Made in China

I'm reading this book right now by Paul Midler, an American who works in China with manufacturing. It's about "quality fade," and as the book goes on, the author gets more and more negative about China. It's still funny to read about all the crazy stuff that goes on there, though, although I'm starting to be wary that it might be another China bashing book. At the same time, he says he likes to live there, and I don't see what he likes about living there if he has so many complaints.

Model Economy as Physics Problem

University of Utah physicist Tim Garrett did a study and came to a conclusion similar to the WORLD model conclusions.

Perhaps the most provocative implication of Garrett's theory is that conserving energy doesn't reduce energy use, but spurs economic growth and more energy use.

It certainly challenges Amory Lovins' school of thought where sustainability can be achieved through new business models and practices. I don't think it necessarily precludes sustainable business, but it's not as straightforward as many sustainable business proponents would like to believe.

Senate Health Care Bill

I haven't had time lately to really research the health care bill, but I am going to make an effort to do that in the coming weeks.

NYTimes article "Obama Backs Senate on Health Bills' Disparities"
The current price tag of the health care of the Senate is $848 billion over 10 years. It's hard to understand what this means, though, because I'm not sure what our current trajectory costs. They say that the costs will not add to the deficit. But how much does it add to the deficit if we don't pass the health bill? I have a hard time believing it's zero.

Anyway, there are now four pillars of the health care bill

1. cadillac plans' excise tax
2. not adding to the deficit
3. Medicare commission
4. promote "delivery system reforms" for high quality care vs high quantity care

Labor unions are against the excise tax on expensive plans. Here is some more information on what it would do.

The Senate bill would impose an excise tax of 40 percent on the cost of employer-sponsored insurance policies above $8,500 for individuals and $23,000 for families. It provides for increasing those thresholds by $1,350 for individuals and $3,000 for families in cases where workers are in “a high-risk profession or employed to install electrical or telecommunications lines.” And there would be an additional increase in the thresholds, by the same amounts, in the 17 states where health insurance is most expensive.

More later on what these really all mean.

Your Disco Song

new song by Vitalic. I could have sworn Autotune the News used it, but now I can't find which one.

Civilization State

The LA Times recently had an article about Understanding China by Martin Jacques. I don't know that much about him, but he wrote "When China Rules the World: the End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order." I'm not sure how much credibility he has.

I like this characterization of the "civilization state," though. It is an idea that is often described and touched on when Chinese nationals try to explain the nature of the Chinese state compared to the Western idea of a state. People try to say that Han is the race, but there are other races, too, since China is a state. At the same time, there is Chinese culture just as there is American culture, although it's more ethnic so there can be ethnic Chinese people that live in other countries. They are probably usually ethnic Han, but people usually say ethnic Chinese. In contrast, American is not thought of as an ethnicity, although Americans who live overseas are still considered American, but then if they are ethnic Irish or something, they would still be considered Irish. It all makes more sense if China is thought of as a civilization state because then you can see how being Chinese is more than being ethnic Han.

It also makes it easier to explain why all the territorial conflicts are so complicated. When China became a modern state, the boundaries were being drawn. However, the civilization state has a collective idea of where the boundaries should be. Since the civilization has been around longer than the current government, the idea of where the boundaries are can extend beyond the jurisdiction of the government.