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  • Jun
  • 26
  • 2008

Why the cloud cannot obscure the scientific method

With petabytes of storage and advanced datamining techniques, our ability to ferret out obscure relationships among items and events has never been greater. But it’s beyond hyperbole to suggest that this capacity has made scientific reasoning obsolete, as was proposed earlier this week.

I can't possibly imagine how he comes to that conclusion. Correlations are a way of catching a scientist's attention, but the models and mechanisms that explain them are how we make the predictions that not only advance science,…

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  • Jun
  • 16
  • 2008

Using Brainwaves To Chat And Stroll Through Second Life

On 7th June 2008, Keio University succeeded in the worlds first demonstration experiment with the help of a disabled person to use brainwave to chat and stroll through the virtual world.

*Second Life® is a 3-D virtual community, created and operated by U.S.-based company Linden Lab, with a growing population from more than 100 countries around the globe. Residents of Second Life® can create their own homes,…

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  • Jun
  • 15
  • 2008

How we read online. - By Michael Agger - Slate Magazine

You're probably going to read this.
It's a short paragraph at the top of the page. It's surrounded by white space. It's in small type.

The really unforgivable sin of online journalism is explaining things through links. My rule: if the article doesn't make a point that I can decipher without clicking the blue text, then it's almost certainly not worth following through…

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  • May
  • 14
  • 2008

How Second Life Affects Real Life - TIME

Looks cool; Ive never played before.

Lead researcher Nick Yee, a former Stanford graduate student who now works for the nearby Palo Alto Research Center, replicated his study, then appended a second part: an hour after their forays online, the same volunteers were told they were…

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  • May
  • 07
  • 2008

The Stats Are In: You’re Just Skimming This Article - ReadWriteWeb

Earlier this this year, we commented on the infamous Steve Jobs quote “…the fact is people don't read anymore,” arguing that, people do read, they just prefer to do it online. However, in this transition from page to screen, a question has risen: are people really reading online content or just scanning page? Apparently, it's the latter.

I typically scan all my unread subject lines throughout the day. If something looks interesting, I start reading - if it looks like I can get the gist of it in a couple of minutes or less, I go ahead and read (or skim it now). If it…

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  • Mar
  • 27
  • 2008

Futurist Ray Kurzweil & Preventing Death By Aging

WIRED MAGAZINE: 16.04
Med-Tech : Drugs
Futurist Ray Kurzweil Pulls Out All the Stops (and Pills) to Live to Witness the Singularity

Kurzweil transformed the singularity from an interesting speculation into a social movement. His best-selling books The Age of Spiritual Machines and The Singularity Is Near cover everything from unsolved problems in neuroscience to the…

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  • Mar
  • 08
  • 2008

Coding Horror: A Question of Programming Ethics

It's hard not to love open-source when stuff like this crops up

I recently recovered a PC from a municipal recycling center. While evaluating its value for parts I discovered it was completely functional. The HDD still had the OS, Outlook, and several years of Turbo Tax on it. Everything was live. I didn't…

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  • Feb
  • 27
  • 2008

The Truth About Autism: Scientists Reconsider What They Think They Know

“…a small but growing cadre of neuropsychological researchers…are taking a fresh look at the nature of autism itself. The condition, they say, shouldn't be thought of as a disease to be eradicated. It may be that the autistic brain is not defective but simply different– an example of the variety of human development.”

The YouTube post, she says, was a political statement, designed to call attention to people's tendency to underestimate autistics. It wasn't her first video post, but this one took off. “When the number of viewers began to climb, I…

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  • Feb
  • 20
  • 2008

Autism Breakthrough: Girl’s Writings Explain Her Feelings

Carly Fleischman has severe autism and is unable to speak a word. But thanks to years of expensive and intensive therapy, this 13-year-old has made a remarkable breakthrough… (Also, check out the very moving video linked in the article.)

“It is hard to be autistic because no one understands me. People look at me and assume I am dumb because I can't talk or I act differently than them. I think people get scared with things that look or seem different than them.”…

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