Large swaths of the Internet have fallen under the spell of Baby Yoda, and I guess I'm not immune to those charms either. (Yes, I recognize they're not actually young Yoda, but the character doesn't have an actual name and Baby Yoda has a satisfying lilt.) Actually, part of the charm is intrinsic to our biology and psychology as humans; certain features common to human babies, like big eyes and proportionately large heads, read as cute to nearly all of us across a variety of contexts. One might expect baby chimps and … [Read more...] about Science Corner: The Force of Cuteness
cooperation
Science Corner: Artificial Intelligence Deploys Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe
My son finds decision-making challenging at times (OK, who doesn't?) and eeny, meeny, miny, moe helps him break his internal deadlock. Actually, it did until he realized it was deterministic and he could decide the outcome by choosing where to start. So now he waves his hand around while he sings a song for a while, then opts for whatever he's pointing at when the song ends. I'm not sure it's actually a random process, but it seems like it must be closer than the original version. Plus he finds it satisfying which is … [Read more...] about Science Corner: Artificial Intelligence Deploys Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe