Adina Levin's weblog. For conversation about books I've been reading, social software, and other stuff too.
Shoplifting is a problem for stores. The logical solution? Retail stores require that all clothing and bag makers redesign the pockets, handbags, and backpacks. If you try to steal something, an alarm goes off when you try to leave the store. If someone, somewhere has figured out how to steal using your model of backpack, … Continue reading “Vista late adopter”
The Economist had a few encouraging stories about a new way of financing the environmental restoration of forests and wetlands. The Panama Canal will suffer from floods and silting because the hills upstream are being deforested. So a forestry insurance company is seeking to issue a 25-year bond to pay for the forest to be … Continue reading “Finding the buyer for forests and swamps”
Thanks to Ed Nixon for a link to an interesting article by philosopher John Searle, arguing against Ray Kurzweil’s contention that computers will soon be smarter than people. The strong part of Searle’s article is the argument that “syntax is not semantics” — a computer that can calculate chess moves based on pre-defined algorithms does … Continue reading “Computers won’t be reading Plato any time soon, Part 2”