Tag: tech

New at 123ish: If You Mourned NASA’a Opportunity Like A Lost Pet, This One’s For You

Why do humans anthropomorphize inanimate objects? Here we are on the brink of advances in AI, and we’re still failing the reverse Turing test with a simple shell script from the 1960s. Let’s explore the curious twists and turns of how humans relate to technology and get to know the Eliza effect. And maybe you won’t be impressed with Eliza, but you won’t be forgetting Laurie B. Andrews any time soon…

Related: My previous nattering on how much power AI is getting over us even now.

More stuff about robots and AI:

 

New at 123ish.com: It’s Time To Embrace The Bio-Tech Age!

We live in a dark new age of science denial. From anti-vaxxers to anti-GMO to climate change denial, science is under attack on so many fronts at once that the prospect of progress seems doomed. And in the middle of all that, I’m demanding that we go full warp speed ahead on bio-technology.

Yes, we may have a bumpy path resolving some of the stickier ethical questions of genetic engineering and cloning, but it’s a journey well worth taking if it rewards us with cures for disease, better agriculture, and perhaps a cure for human rock-headedness. Dare to dream!

More of my pro-science advocacy:

 

Geek Gifts Lists: Valentine’s Ideas

So it’s almost Valentine’s Day here, and you know we’re all about the geek love at Penguin Pete’s! I don’t usually do this kind of thing, but conveniently one of my gigs is at Krononaut, which curates lists of cool stuff we find on Amazon.

What’s the difference between that and the zillion other Amazon list blogs out there? Well, we make sure the product is in stock, has a price range in the median of ~$40 for a comfortable disposable income budget, and we organize things by theme. If you happened to be looking for a certain niche item, you can search Amazon and wade through pages of irrelevant results, or grab one of our lists and have a concise assortment between six and ten items long that’s targeted exactly at what you were shopping for. Sound nifty? You’ve no idea!

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A Biography of Dell Inc. Founder Michael Dell

Originally published 2007, part of a series I did for a biography website. Can’t even remember who now, but it’s long gone.

Michael Dell is among the top 100 richest persons in the world and the founder and CEO of the computer company Dell, Inc. His net worth is estimated by Forbes to be $28 billion USD.

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