Whatever happened to artificial intelligence?

When people ask me about my education, I always say that I have a masters in artificial intelligence (really, an MMath in computer science, specializing in AI, but it’s easiest to just say AI). Outside the CS community, this almost always gives a response with something to do about robots and machines that can think (in other words, the Turing Test). AI is much more broad than that, and this article is a great discussion of various aspects of AI, without getting into too much detail for non-technical types to understand it.

On an unrelated note, 5 hours until Return to Forever!

World of Warcraft science conference

I came across this article about a science conference run entirely within World of Warcraft. Sounds like a neat idea! Then again, my grad supervisor or another grad student on the projet I worked on is going to Sydney, Australia in September for a paper which I’m credited on; I’d much rather go to Sydney than log into WoW.

Esbjörn Svensson

I must be cursed. If I miss seeing a jazz artist I like when they come to Toronto, they die before I get a chance to see them (Joe Zawinul brought the Zawinul Syndicate to the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival in 2003, and I couldn’t make it, and he died last year). If I decide that they may not play here often and want to go see them, they also die.

Make your own video free!

The Get Out Clause, a UK band, came up with a great way of creating a video, according to this article. They played live on the streets of Manchester in front of various CCTV security cameras, and then invoked the Freedom of Information Act to get the footage. Apparently, only 25% of the businesses they contacted complied, but they still got plenty of footage.