ESN contributor and friend of the blog J. Nathan Matias and some colleagues are writing a series of articles on artificial intelligence to introduce Christian audiences to important topics and themes. They have an introductory essay which will link to additional articles as they appear in the weeks to come. Some of those are already available; for now I wanted to bring the series to your attention, and later this month we'll discuss the specifics. I'm particularly keen on "Relating to Artificial Persons" as I'm very … [Read more...] about Science Corner: More Machine Now Than Man
machine learning
Science Corner: Siri, Compose a Sonata
Electronics and computers have a long history in music making, from theremins (patented in the 1920s and most famously appearing in the Star Trek theme song) and synthesizers to the now-ubiquitous electric guitar. Pretty much from the moment we figured out how to produce electrical currents and do work with them in the 18th century, we've been harnessing it for play as well. Mostly we humans are actually choosing which notes to play when, although looping, noise, and random composition techniques give away some control … [Read more...] about Science Corner: Siri, Compose a Sonata
Science Corner: Picasso & Rockwell & Correlation & Causation
Be warned, art world! In addition to the usual philosophical debates endemic to your disciplines -- What is art? What is beauty? Is that a pipe? -- you may have to contend with some of the classic science conundrums as well. Using computer vision algorithms and machine learning techniques, researchers have scanned 1,700 paintings to identify similarities. Notionally, the presence of similarities might suggest an influence of one artist on the other, or a shared influence on both. And, indeed, the search identified … [Read more...] about Science Corner: Picasso & Rockwell & Correlation & Causation