AI Chatbot Example

AI Chatbot Example — independent reviews, comparisons, pricing and step-by-step guides on Aizhi.

• 

  Digital transaction management

  Digital transaction management (DTM) is a category of cloud services designed to digitally manage document-based transactions. DTM removes the friction inherent in transactions that involve people, documents, and data to create faster, easier, more convenient, and secure processes. DTM goes beyond content and document management to include e-signatures, authentication and non-repudiation; enabling co-browsing between the customer and the business; document transfer and certification; secure archiving that goes beyond records management; and a variety of meta-processes around managing electronic transactions and the documents associated with them. DTM standards are proposed and managed by the xDTM Standard Association Aragon Research has estimated that "by YE 2016, 70% of large enterprises will have a DTM initiative underway or fully implemented."

  Read more →
• 

  Context-sensitive user interface

  A context-sensitive user interface offers the user options based on the state of the active program. Context sensitivity is ubiquitous in current graphical user interfaces, often in context menus. A user-interface may also provide context sensitive feedback, such as changing the appearance of the mouse pointer or cursor, changing the menu color, or with auditory or tactile feedback. == Reasoning and advantages of context sensitivity == The primary reason for introducing context sensitivity is to simplify the user interface. Advantages include: Reduced number of commands required to be known to the user for a given level of productivity. Reduced number of clicks or keystrokes required to carry out a given operation. Allows consistent behaviour to be pre-programmed or altered by the user. Reduces the number of options needed on screen at one time. === Disadvantages === Context sensitive actions may be perceived as dumbing down of the user interface, leaving the operator at a loss as to what to do when the computer decides to perform an unwanted action. Additionally non-automatic procedures may be hidden or obscured by the context sensitive interface causing an increase in user workload for operations the designers did not foresee. A poor implementation can be more annoying than helpful – a classic example of this is Office Assistant. == Implementation == At the simplest level each possible action is reduced to a single most likely action – the action performed is based on a single variable (such as file extension). In more complicated implementations multiple factors can be assessed such as the user's previous actions, the size of the file, the programs in current use, metadata etc. The method is not only limited to the response to imperative button presses and mouse clicks – pop-up menus can be pruned and/or altered, or a web search can focus results based on previous searches. At higher levels of implementation context sensitive actions require either larger amounts of meta-data, extensive case analysis based programming, or other artificial intelligence algorithms. === In computer and video games === Context sensitivity is important in video games, especially those controlled by a gamepad, joystick or computer mouse in which the number of buttons available is limited. It is primarily applied when the player is in a certain place and is used to interact with a person or object. For example, if the player is standing next to a non-player character, an option may come up allowing the player to talk with them. Implementations range from the embryonic 'Quick Time Event' to context sensitive sword combat in which the attack used depends on the position and orientation of both the player and opponent, as well as the virtual surroundings. A similar range of use is found in the 'action button' which, depending upon the in-game position of the player's character, may cause it to pick something up, open a door, grab a rope, punch a monster or opponent, or smash an object. The response does not have to be player activated – an on-screen device may only be shown in certain circumstances, e.g. 'targeting' cross hairs in a flight combat game may indicate the player should fire. An alternative implementation is to monitor the input from the player (e.g. level of button pressing activity) and use that to control the pace of the game in an attempt to maximize enjoyment or to control the excitement or ambience. The method has become increasingly important as more complex games are designed for machines with few buttons (keyboard-less consoles). Bennet Ring commented (in 2006) that "Context-sensitive is the new lens flare". === Context-sensitive help === Context sensitive help is a common implementation of context sensitivity, a single help button is actioned and the help page or menu will open a specific page or related topic.

  Read more →
• 

  Computer-automated design

  Design Automation usually refers to electronic design automation, or Design Automation which is a Product Configurator. Extending Computer-Aided Design (CAD), automated design and Computer-Automated Design (CAutoD) are more concerned with a broader range of applications, such as automotive engineering, civil engineering, composite material design, control engineering, dynamic system identification and optimization, financial systems, industrial equipment, mechatronic systems, steel construction, structural optimisation, and the invention of novel systems. The concept of CAutoD perhaps first appeared in 1963, in the IBM Journal of Research and Development, where a computer program was written. to search for logic circuits having certain constraints on hardware design to evaluate these logics in terms of their discriminating ability over samples of the character set they are expected to recognize. More recently, traditional CAD simulation is seen to be transformed to CAutoD by biologically-inspired machine learning, including heuristic search techniques such as evolutionary computation, and swarm intelligence algorithms. == Guiding designs by performance improvements == To meet the ever-growing demand of quality and competitiveness, iterative physical prototyping is now often replaced by 'digital prototyping' of a 'good design', which aims to meet multiple objectives such as maximised output, energy efficiency, highest speed and cost-effectiveness. The design problem concerns both finding the best design within a known range (i.e., through 'learning' or 'optimisation') and finding a new and better design beyond the existing ones (i.e., through creation and invention). This is equivalent to a search problem in an almost certainly, multidimensional (multivariate), multi-modal space with a single (or weighted) objective or multiple objectives. == Normalized objective function: cost vs. fitness == Using single-objective CAutoD as an example, if the objective function, either as a cost function J ∈ [ 0 , ∞ ) {\displaystyle J\in [0,\infty )} , or inversely, as a fitness function f ∈ ( 0 , 1 ] {\displaystyle f\in (0,1]} , where f = J 1 + J {\displaystyle f={\tfrac {J}{1+J}}} , is differentiable under practical constraints in the multidimensional space, the design problem may be solved analytically. Finding the parameter sets that result in a zero first-order derivative and that satisfy the second-order derivative conditions would reveal all local optima. Then comparing the values of the performance index of all the local optima, together with those of all boundary parameter sets, would lead to the global optimum, whose corresponding 'parameter' set will thus represent the best design. However, in practice, the optimization usually involves multiple objectives and the matters involving derivatives are a lot more complex. == Dealing with practical objectives == In practice, the objective value may be noisy or even non-numerical, and hence its gradient information may be unreliable or unavailable. This is particularly true when the problem is multi-objective. At present, many designs and refinements are mainly made through a manual trial-and-error process with the help of a CAD simulation package. Usually, such a posteriori learning or adjustments need to be repeated many times until a ‘satisfactory’ or ‘optimal’ design emerges. == Exhaustive search == In theory, this adjustment process can be automated by computerised search, such as exhaustive search. As this is an exponential algorithm, it may not deliver solutions in practice within a limited period of time. == Search in polynomial time == One approach to virtual engineering and automated design is evolutionary computation such as evolutionary algorithms. === Evolutionary algorithms === To reduce the search time, the biologically-inspired evolutionary algorithm (EA) can be used instead, which is a (non-deterministic) polynomial algorithm. The EA based multi-objective "search team" can be interfaced with an existing CAD simulation package in a batch mode. The EA encodes the design parameters (encoding being necessary if some parameters are non-numerical) to refine multiple candidates through parallel and interactive search. In the search process, 'selection' is performed using 'survival of the fittest' a posteriori learning. To obtain the next 'generation' of possible solutions, some parameter values are exchanged between two candidates (by an operation called 'crossover') and new values introduced (by an operation called 'mutation'). This way, the evolutionary technique makes use of past trial information in a similarly intelligent manner to the human designer. The EA based optimal designs can start from the designer's existing design database, or from an initial generation of candidate designs obtained randomly. A number of finely evolved top-performing candidates will represent several automatically optimized digital prototypes. There are websites that demonstrate interactive evolutionary algorithms for design. allows you to evolve 3D objects online and have them 3D printed. allows you to do the same for 2D images.

  Read more →
• 

  Google AI Studio

  Google AI Studio is a web-based integrated development environment developed by Google for prototyping applications using generative AI models. Released in December 2023 alongside the Gemini API, the platform provides access to Google's Gemini family of models and related tools for image, video, and audio generation. The service targets both developers and non-technical users for testing prompts and generating code for the Gemini API. == History == Google launched AI Studio on December 13, 2023, as the successor to Google MakerSuite. MakerSuite, introduced at Google I/O in May 2023, had provided similar functionality for Google's PaLM language models. The AI Studio was launched alongside the public release of the Gemini API. == Features == AI Studio's interface consists of a central prompt area and a settings panel for model selection and parameter adjustment. The platform supports chat prompts for multi-turn conversations and includes system instructions for defining model behavior, tone, or specific rules. Users can employ zero-shot and few-shot prompting techniques to guide the model's output format. The platform processes various media types including video, audio, and documents, and can generate images through Imagen models, videos through Veo models, and audio through text-to-speech functionality. Additional tools include real-time streaming for screen sharing and live analysis, code execution in a sandboxed Python environment, grounding with Google Search for current information, URL context for analyzing specific web pages, and a thinking mode for complex reasoning tasks. == Available models == The platform provides access to several Google AI models including the Gemini language models, Imagen for image generation, Veo for video generation, LearnLM for educational applications, and Gemma, Google's open-source model family. == Privacy and data usage == Google AI Studio's data handling differs between free and paid users. For free tier users, Google uses submitted prompts, uploaded files, and generated responses to improve its products and services, with human reviewers potentially reading and annotating the data after disconnection from user accounts. Google advises against submitting sensitive information on the free tier. Users who enable Google Cloud Billing are considered paid service users, and their data is not used for product improvement. Data is processed according to Google's Data Processing Addendum and retained temporarily for abuse monitoring. == Availability == The platform is available at no cost, with API usage subject to a free tier with daily and per-minute rate limits. Access is restricted to users aged 18 and older in specific countries and territories. The service was initially unavailable in the United Kingdom and European Economic Area due to regulatory concerns, which drew user complaints. == Reception == Reviews have noted the platform's accessibility and integration with Gemini models, with features such as real-time screen sharing and large context windows cited as notable capabilities. However, reviewers have raised concerns about the privacy implications for free tier users, whose data is used for model training. Some users have reported inconsistent performance with features like screen streaming and issues with folder uploads for large datasets. The initial geographic restrictions were a point of criticism among developers in affected regions.

  Read more →
• 

  Subvocal recognition

  Subvocal recognition (SVR) is the process of taking subvocalization and converting the detected results to a digital output, aural or text-based. A silent speech interface is a device that allows speech communication without using the sound made when people vocalize their speech sounds. It works by the computer identifying the phonemes that an individual pronounces from nonauditory sources of information about their speech movements. These are then used to recreate the speech using speech synthesis. == Input methods == Silent speech interface systems have been created using ultrasound and optical camera input of tongue and lip movements. Electromagnetic devices are another technique for tracking tongue and lip movements. The detection of speech movements by electromyography of speech articulator muscles and the larynx is another technique. Another source of information is the vocal tract resonance signals that get transmitted through bone conduction called non-audible murmurs. They have also been created as a brain–computer interface using brain activity in the motor cortex obtained from intracortical microelectrodes. == Uses == Such devices are created as aids to those unable to create the sound phonation needed for audible speech such as after laryngectomies. Another use is for communication when speech is masked by background noise or distorted by self-contained breathing apparatus. A further practical use is where a need exists for silent communication, such as when privacy is required in a public place, or hands-free data silent transmission is needed during a military or security operation. In 2002, the Japanese company NTT DoCoMo announced it had created a silent mobile phone using electromyography and imaging of lip movement. The company stated that "the spur to developing such a phone was ridding public places of noise," adding that, "the technology is also expected to help people who have permanently lost their voice." The feasibility of using silent speech interfaces for practical communication has since then been shown. In 2019, Arnav Kapur, a researcher from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, conducted a study known as AlterEgo. Its implementation of the silent speech interface enables direct communication between the human brain and external devices through stimulation of the speech muscles. By leveraging neural signals associated with speech and language, the AlterEgo system deciphers the user's intended words and translates them into text or commands without the need for audible speech. == Research and patents == With a grant from the U.S. Army, research into synthetic telepathy using subvocalization is taking place at the University of California, Irvine under lead scientist Mike D'Zmura. NASA's Ames Research Laboratory in Mountain View, California, under the supervision of Charles Jorgensen is conducting subvocalization research. The Brain Computer Interface R&D program at Wadsworth Center under the New York State Department of Health has confirmed the existing ability to decipher consonants and vowels from imagined speech, which allows for brain-based communication using imagined speech, however using EEGs instead of subvocalization techniques. US Patents on silent communication technologies include: US Patent 6587729 "Apparatus for audibly communicating speech using the radio frequency hearing effect", US Patent 5159703 "Silent subliminal presentation system", US Patent 6011991 "Communication system and method including brain wave analysis and/or use of brain activity", US Patent 3951134 "Apparatus and method for remotely monitoring and altering brain waves". Latter two rely on brain wave analysis. == In fiction == The decoding of silent speech using a computer played an important role in Arthur C. Clarke's story and Stanley Kubrick's associated film A Space Odyssey. In this, HAL 9000, a computer controlling spaceship Discovery One, bound for Jupiter, discovers a plot to deactivate it by the mission astronauts Dave Bowman and Frank Poole through lip reading their conversations. In Orson Scott Card's series (including Ender's Game), the artificial intelligence can be spoken to while the protagonist wears a movement sensor in his jaw, enabling him to converse with the AI without making noise. He also wears an ear implant. In Speaker for the Dead and subsequent novels, author Orson Scott Card described an ear implant, called a "jewel", that allows subvocal communication with computer systems. Author Robert J. Sawyer made use of subvocal recognition to allow silent commands to the cybernetic 'companion implants' used by the advanced Neanderthal characters in his Neanderthal Parallax trilogy of science fiction novels. In Earth, David Brin depicts this technology and its uses as a normal gear in the near future. In Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, Cory Doctorow has cellphone technology become silent through a cochlear implant and miking the throat to pick up subvocalization. William Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy frequently uses sub-vocalization systems in various devices. In Kage Baker's Company novels, the immortal cyborgs communicate subvocally. In the Hugo Award-winning Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons, the characters often use subvocalization to communicate. In the Culture novels by Iain M. Banks, more highly advanced species often communicate subvocally through their technology. In Deus Ex: Human Revolution (2011), the protagonist is augmented with a subvocalization implant for sending covert communications (and a corresponding cochlear implant for receiving covert communications). In the tabletop RPG and video game series Shadowrun, player characters can communicate via subvocal microphones in some instances. In Paranoia, all citizens can speak to the computer via their "cerebral cortech" implants. Alistair Reynolds Revelation Space trilogy frequently uses sub-vocalization systems in various devices.

  Read more →
• 

  The Way (novel series)

  The Way series is a trilogy of science fiction novels and one short story by American author Greg Bear published from 1985 to 1999. The first novel was Eon (1985), followed by a sequel, Eternity and a prequel, Legacy. It also includes The Way of All Ghosts, a short story that falls between Legacy and Eon. == Novels == === Eon === Eon chronicles the appearance and discovery of the Thistledown, and its subsequent effect on humanity. In the early 21st century, the United States and the USSR are on the verge of nuclear war. In that tense political climate, an asteroid appears out of near space after an unusual supernova and settles into an extremely elliptical orbit near Earth orbit. The two nations each try to claim this mysterious object, which appears to be a virtual duplicate of Juno. It is hollow and contains seven vast terraformed chambers. Two of the chambers contain cities long abandoned by human beings who seemed to come from Earth's future. The asteroid is called the Thistledown by its builders. A startling discovery is that it is bigger inside than outside. The seventh chamber appears to stretch into infinity. The human inhabitants of the Thistledown come from an alternate timeline, approximately 1000 years in the future. In their timeline, human civilization was nearly destroyed by the "Death", a calamitous World War involving nuclear weapons. The Death occurred at approximately the same time as the appearance of the Thistledown in the present time. Its presence threatens to cause the Death to occur on the current timeline as well. An expedition is sent down the seemingly infinite seventh chamber (The "Way", as it is known) where it encounters the descendants of humanity. The high technology of this civilization, known as the Hexamon, has control over genetic engineering, human augmentation, and matter itself. The Hexamon includes several alien species who have come to live with humanity's descendants. The Hexamon itself is at war with an alien race known as the Jarts from further down the corridor still. In 2007, CGSociety organised a "CG Challenge" based upon Eon === Eternity === Jarts, politics, and technology make up the second book in the series: Eternity. The Jart religion is based on the preservation of all data, which encompasses all life forms, past and present, and sending that data to the Jarts' future masters, their descendants. === Legacy === In the third book (a prequel, set in the time before Eon), Legacy, soldier Olmy ap Sennon is sent to spy on a group of dissidents who have used the spacetime tunnel of "the Way" (introduced in Eon) to colonize the alien world of Lamarckia, a planet with an ecosystem that learns from its changed environment in a way that resembles Lamarckian evolution. Its plants and animals turn out to actually be parts of continent-sized organisms. === "The Way of All Ghosts" === In the short story "The Way of All Ghosts" soldier Olmy ap Sennon is sent to close a lesion that formed out of a wayward gate into perfection. This story was published in 1999 in Far Horizons. == Fictional history of the Thistledown == Within the universe of The Way, the Thistledown is an asteroid starship built by hollowing out Juno and fitting it with mass-driver (rail gun) engines and thermonuclear drives. Inside the asteroid, seven giant "Chambers" are built, of which two host cities for the inhabitants, while others host machinery and recreation areas. The asteroid is prepared 500 years in the future, as told in Bear's novel Eon, and is engaged on a multi-generational journey to Epsilon Eridani, around which a habitable planet is known to circle. The journey is meant to take 60 years, as the ship can only maintain a velocity of 20% the speed of light. This limitation is removed after the technology of the Thistledown was improved to include inertial dampeners, allowing higher accelerations. Inhabiting the Thistledown are the best and brightest of Earth, who are quite diverse both culturally and politically. The Thistledown's society includes one transcendent genius, Konrad Korzenowski, whose preference for living in the Thistledown as compared with an outer universe, causes him to experiment with closed-geodesic space time in the Seventh Chamber, 20 years into the Thistledown's voyage. The results of his experiments are shattering in the extreme: He creates a unique pocket universe: The Way. == The Way == === Origin === The eponymous Way is an extension of the 7th Chamber, and was formed in the novels using the machinery of the 6th Chamber. This machinery is a selective inertial damper, developed by engineers within the Thistledown with twofold purpose—to permit the Thistledown to accelerate to the limit of its engines (up to 99% the speed of light) and to selectively dampen inertia within the vessel, e.g., water within waterways, high velocity train systems. The inertial dampening machinery within the 6th Chamber is anchored to the structure of the Thistledown, equally spaced around the chamber at the vertices of a regular heptagon. === Creation === At the creation, and rejoining of the Way to the Thistledown, the character Konrad Korzenowski and his engineers designed and 'built' the Way out of the in-folded geodesics of the inertial dampening field of the 6th Chamber machinery. This is described in the books by first considering the inertial dampening field: Within the Thistledown, the field envelops the asteroid, effectively isolating it from the Einsteinian Metrical Frame, permitting relative inertia to be ignored. The Thistledown was, at the time of activation, isolated from its continuum, but only selectively. Its matter and energy anchored it to its continuum and relative time, but its geometry and quantum entanglement had been strained by the inertial dampener, thus making it susceptible to superspace distortions, and therefore it could be affected by them negatively. Korzenowski, having been influenced by the earlier work of Vazquez on Earth, and in developing her work within the Thistledown, planned a radical extension of the inertial field of the 6th Chamber - effectively extending the field away to an infinite extent within the 7th Chamber. In order to do this effectively, he and his engineers modified a set of semi-sentient field calibration tools to build the first Clavicles. Unlike the field calibration tools from which they were descended, the Clavicles possessed the ability not only to manipulate the field, but extend it as an extension of the will of the operator. Already radical enough, Korzenowski and his team went further. By extending the field of the 6th Chamber from within the 7th Chamber of the Thistledown, they could then directly access what Vasquez had calculated within her own work—alternate world lines as non-gravity bent geodesics of superspace. Korzenowski thus 'felt' superspace within the 7th Chamber, selecting the infinite selection of possible alternate pocket universes accessible by the Clavicle to form, as a sheer act of will, the Way from his designs and his vision. The resulting structure was constructed, not of matter, but of previously in-folded superspace vectors now infinitely extended. (in the manner of Schwarzschild folded geometry, or of an asymptotic curve.) The Way was thus opened. The Way's geometry also gave rise to the Flaw - as superspace geometry of the field boundary was extended infinitely, so the folded geodesics of the field unfold in the geometric centre of the Way to form a singularity. This singularity, the Flaw, rests within the Way's plasma tube (which in turn is sustained by the Flaw). The Flaw 'produces' gravity by actively repulsing matter away from itself in an acceleration at the square of the distance away from itself. In addition, any object encircling the Flaw, and then exerting pressure against it, experiences this pressure as a translation force along the Flaw's length perpendicular to the direction of force. The motion thus induced is controllable by the angle at which an annular ring enclosure is pressed against the Flaw. The same spatial transform also can be used to turn tip turbines in order to generate electricity. The Flaw permits a violation of the First Law of Thermodynamics, therefore defining the Way as a perpetual motion machine of the First Order, making energy out of nothing. === Early history === The Way, as formed, was described by Bear as being in vacuum and did not consist of matter within its infinite length. Due to extremely slight ambiguity involved in its creation, the synchronicity between time within the Way, and within the Thistledown, was not exact. Thus, the Engineers spend two decades working to correct these faults using the Clavicles to manipulate the junction between Way and Thistledown. During this period, ambition led Korzenowksi to use the clavicle to open the first exploratory gate within the way, leading to the universe of the Jarts. Though the gate to Jart world was closed, the advanced Jarts neve

  Read more →
• 

  Vehicle infrastructure integration

  The Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII), also known as "Connected Roadways" or "vehicle-to-everything" (V2X) technology, is a United States Department of Transportation initiative that aims to improve road safety by developing technology that connects road vehicles with their environment. This development draws on several disciplines, including transport engineering, electrical engineering, automotive engineering, telematics, and computer science. Although VII specifically covers road transport, similar technologies are under development for other modes of transport. For example, airplanes may use ground-based beacons for automated guidance, allowing the autopilot to fly the plane without human intervention. == Goals == The goal of VII is to establish a communication link between vehicles (via On-Board Equipment, or OBE) and roadside infrastructure (via Roadside Equipment, or RSE) to enhance the safety, efficiency, and convenience of transportation systems. Two potential approaches are the widespread deployment of a dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) link on the 5.9GHz band, and cellular communication (C-V2X). Either of these methods would allow vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication. The initiative has three priorities: Stakeholder evaluation and acceptance of the business model and its deployment schedule, Validation of the technology, with a focus on communications systems, in relation to deployment costs, and Creation of legal structures and policies, especially concerning digital privacy, to improve the system's long-term potential for success. === Safety === Current automotive safety technology relies primarily on vehicle-based radar, lidar, and sonar systems. This technology allows, for instance, a potential reduction in rear-end collisions by monitoring obstacles in front of or behind the vehicle and automatically applying the brakes when necessary. This technology, however, is limited by the sensing range of vehicle-based radar, particularly in angled and left-turn collisions, such as a motorist losing control of the vehicle during an impending head-on collision. The rear-end collisions addressed by current technology are generally less severe than angled, left-turn, or head-on collisions. VII promotes the development of a direct communication link between road vehicles and all other vehicles nearby, allowing for the exchange of information on vehicle speed and orientation or driver awareness and intent. This real-time exchange of information may enable more effective automated emergency maneuvers, such as steering, decelerating, or braking. In addition to nearby vehicle awareness, VII promotes a communication link between vehicles and roadway infrastructure. Such a link may allow for improved real-time traffic information, better queue management, and feedback to vehicles. Existing implementations of VII use vehicle-based sensors that can recognize and respond to roadway markings or signs, automatically adjusting vehicle parameters to follow the recognized instructions. However, this information may also be acquired via roadside beacons or stored in a centralized database accessible to all vehicles. === Efficiency === With a VII system in place, vehicles will be linked together. The headway between vehicles may therefore be reduced so that there is less empty space on the road, increasing the available capacity per lane. More capacity per lane will in turn imply fewer lanes in general, possibly satisfying the community's concerns about the impact of roadway widening. VII will enable precise traffic-signal coordination by tracking vehicle platoons and will benefit from accurate timing by drawing on real-time traffic data covering volume, density, and turning movements. Real-time traffic data can also be used in the design of new roadways or modification of existing systems as the data could be used to provide accurate origin-destination studies and turning-movement counts for uses in transportation forecasting and traffic operations. Such technology would also lead to improvements for transport engineers to address problems whilst reducing the cost of obtaining and compiling data. Tolling is another prospect for VII technology as it could enable roadways to be automatically tolled. Data could be collectively transmitted to road users for in-vehicle display, outlining the lowest cost, shortest distance, and/or fastest route to a destination on the basis of real-time conditions. === Existing applications === To some extent, results along these lines have been achieved in trials performed around the globe, making use of GPS, mobile phone signals, and vehicle registration plates. GPS is becoming standard in many new high-end vehicles and is an option on most new low- and mid-range vehicles. In addition, many users also have mobile phones that transmit trackable signals (and may also be GPS-enabled). Mobile phones can already be traced for purposes of emergency response. GPS and mobile phone tracking, however, do not provide fully reliable data. Furthermore, integrating mobile phones in vehicles may be prohibitively difficult. Data from mobile phones, though useful, might even increase risks to motorists as they tend to look at their phones rather than concentrate on their driving. Automatic registration plate recognition can provide large quantities of data, but continuously tracking a vehicle through a corridor is a difficult task with existing technology. Today's equipment is designed for data acquisition and functions such as enforcement and tolling, not for returning data to vehicles or motorists for response. GPS will nevertheless be one of the key components in VII systems. == Limitations == === Privacy === VII architecture is designed to prevent identification of individual vehicles, with all data exchange between the vehicle and the system occurring anonymously. Exchanges between the vehicles and third parties such as OEMs and toll collectors will occur, but the network traffic will be sent via encrypted tunnels and will therefore not be decipherable by the VII system. Data sharing with law enforcement or Homeland Security was not included in system design as of 2006. === Technical issues === ==== Coordination ==== A major issue facing the deployment of VII is the problem of how to set up the system initially. The costs associated with installing the technology in vehicles and providing communications and power at every intersection are significant. ==== Maintenance ==== Another factor for consideration in regard to the technology's distribution is how to update and maintain the units. Traffic systems are highly dynamic, with new traffic controls implemented every day and roadways constructed or repaired every year. The vehicle-based option could be updated via the internet (preferably wireless) but may subsequently require all users to have access to internet technology. Alternatively, if receivers were placed in all vehicles and the VII system was primarily located along the roadside, information could be stored in a centralized database. This would allow the agency responsible to issue updates at any time. These would then be disseminated to the roadside units for passing motorists. Operationally, this method is currently considered to provide the greatest effectiveness but at a high cost to the authorities. ==== Security ==== Security of the units is another concern, especially in light of the public acceptance issue. Criminals could tamper, remove, or destroy VII units regardless of whether they are installed inside vehicles or along the roadside. Magnets, electric shocks, and malicious software (viruses, hacking, or jamming) could be used to damage VII systems – regardless of whether units are located inside vehicle or along the roadside. == Recent developments == Much of the current research and experimentation is conducted in the United States where coordination is ensured through the Vehicle Infrastructure Integration Consortium; consisting of automobile manufacturers (Ford, General Motors, Daimler Chrysler, Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Volkswagen, BMW), IT suppliers, U.S. Federal and state transportation departments, and professional associations. Trialing is taking place in Michigan and California. The specific applications now being developed under the U.S. initiative are: Warning drivers of unsafe conditions or imminent collisions. Warning drivers if they are about to run off the road or speed around a curve too fast. Informing system operators of real-time congestion, weather conditions and incidents. Providing operators with information on corridor capacity for real-time management, planning and provision of corridor-wide advisories to drivers. In mid-2007, a VII environment covering some 20 square miles (52 km2) near Detroit was used to test 20 prototype VII applications. Several automobile manufacturers are also conducting their own VII research and triali

  Read more →
• 

  IJCAI Award for Research Excellence

  The IJCAI Award for Research Excellence is a biannual award before given at the IJCAI conference to researcher in artificial intelligence as a recognition of excellence of their career. Beginning in 2016, the conference is held annually and so is the award. == Laureates == The recipients of this award have been: John McCarthy (1985) Allen Newell (1989) Marvin Minsky (1991) Raymond Reiter (1993) Herbert A. Simon (1995) Aravind Joshi (1997) Judea Pearl (1999) Donald Michie (2001) Nils Nilsson (2003) Geoffrey E. Hinton (2005) Alan Bundy (2007) Victor R. Lesser (2009) Robert Kowalski (2011) Hector Levesque (2013) Barbara Grosz (2015) for her pioneering research in Natural Language Processing and in theories and applications of Multiagent Collaboration. Michael I. Jordan (2016) for his groundbreaking and impactful research in both the theory and application of statistical machine learning. Andrew Barto (2017) for his pioneering work in the theory of reinforcement learning. Jitendra Malik (2018) Yoav Shoham (2019) Eugene Freuder (2020) Richard S. Sutton (2021) Stuart J. Russell (2022) Sarit Kraus (2023) for her pioneering work of the study of interactions among self-interested agents, creating the field of automated negotiation, and developing methods for coalition formation and teamwork, both as formal models and real-world implementations. == Winners of also Turing Award == John McCarthy (1971) Allen Newell (1975) Marvin Minsky (1969) Herbert A. Simon (1975) Judea Pearl (2011) Geoffrey Hinton (2018) Andrew Barto (2024) Richard S. Sutton (2024)

  Read more →
• 

  Digital omnivore

  A digital omnivore is a person who uses multiple modalities (devices) to access the Internet and other media content in their daily life. As people increasingly own mobile devices, cross-platform multimedia consumption has continued to shape the digital landscape, both in terms of the type of media content they consume and how they consume it. As of 2021, at least half of all global digital traffic is generated by mobile devices. == Connected devices and digital consumption == A 2015 study of digital media consumption showed that smartphones were primarily used for communication, and tablets were primarily used for entertainment – additionally, both were frequently used in conjuncture with other devices, like televisions. An earlier 2011 analysis of the way consumers in the U.S. viewed news content on their devices throughout the day demonstrated how people use different mobile devices for different functions. On a typical weekend morning, digital omnivores accessed their news using their tablet, favored their computer during the working day, and returned to tablet use in the evening, peaking between the hours of 9pm and midnight. Mobile phones were used for web-browsing throughout the day when users were away from their personal computer. Increased Wi-Fi availability and mobile broadband adoption have changed the way people are going online. In August 2011, more than a third (37.2%) of U.S. digital traffic coming from mobile phones occurred via a Wi-Fi connection while tablets, which traditionally required a Wi-Fi connection to access the Internet, are increasingly driving traffic using mobile broadband access. As of 2021, LTE, 5G, and other forms of mobile broadband access are available on the majority of mobile devices. Tablets contributed nearly 2% of all web browsing traffic in the United States in 2011. During this period, iPads also began to account for a higher share of Internet traffic than iPhones (46.8% vs. 42.6% of all iOS device traffic. == Implications for marketing, advertisers and publishers == As of 2021, the average amount of time spent daily consuming digital media was eight hours, an increase from 2020 and a further increase from 2019, partially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok, as well as other online platforms like YouTube, incorporate advertisements into the in-app or online experience, with some offering the ability to shop for and sell items through the app or website.

  Read more →
• 

  KitKat (cat)

  KitKat was a bodega cat from the Mission District of San Francisco who was killed by a Waymo car on October 27, 2025. Locals built altars and the death has raised comments about the safety of self-driving cars. == Life == Mike Zeidan, the owner of Randa's Market, adopted KitKat as a stray to help keep rodents out of his store. KitKat lived in Randa's Market for six years and was well-loved by the neighborhood, including an appearance on a shop cats map that went viral in 2022 as a "particularly friendly cat". After KitKat arrived at the bodega, customers were said to come more often, and regularly brought the cat food and gifts. == Death == At around 11:40 pm on October 27, 2025, witnesses saw KitKat sitting in front of a stopped Waymo car for seven seconds. He walked under the car as the car pulled out, and the right rear tire ran over the back half of his body. A bartender who was taking a cigarette break used a sandwich board sign as a stretcher and took KitKat to an emergency animal clinic. An hour later, KitKat was pronounced dead. Waymo confirmed that the cat was killed by one of its vehicles on October 30. Surveillance footage of the incident was released in December. From Waymo's report to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA): The Waymo AV was stopped next to the curb for a passenger pickup facing east on 16th Street. As the passengers were boarding the Waymo AV, a cat approached the Waymo AV from the southern sidewalk of 16th Street and sat in the roadway partially under the front right corner of the Waymo AV. A pedestrian approached the Waymo AV from the east on the southern sidewalk of 16th Street and began crouching near the front of the Waymo AV, stepping partially into the roadway, appearing to reach for the cat. As they did so, the cat moved farther from the sidewalk under the Waymo AV and the pedestrian stepped back onto the sidewalk. The Waymo AV then departed the pickup location and the rear right tire made contact with the cat. At the time of impact, the Waymo AV's Level 4 ADS was engaged in autonomous mode. Waymo later received notice that the cat did not survive. The passengers in the Waymo AV did not have seatbelts fastened at the time, having just boarded the Waymo AV. Prior to KitKat's death, the NHTSA had logged 14 collisions between Waymo cars and animals, of which 5 were confirmed fatalities. == Aftermath == After KitKat's death, an altar was created outside Randa's Market. People left flowers, candles, cat food, written notes, and Kit Kat candy bars in the cat's honor. A city worker took down the memorial for fire safety reasons, but neighbors built it again. Local supervisor Jackie Fielder held a rally called "Justice for KitKat" in support of a non-binding San Francisco resolution to shift decision-making about the operation of self-driving cars from the state to individual counties. Critics say that the resolution is performative because it is non-binding, that local control would make autonomous vehicle operation impractical, and that Waymo is still far less dangerous to animals than human drivers. Elon Musk commented that "many pets will be saved by autonomy". There are multiple meme coins inspired by KitKat.

  Read more →
• 

  Shy Girl

  Shy Girl is a horror novel initially self-published in February 2025 by Mia Ballard. Publishing rights for the book were acquired by Hachette Book Group, which released the book in the United Kingdom in November 2025 and planned to publish it in the United States in 2026. Its US release was cancelled and its UK release was discontinued after it faced accusations of being created with generative AI. Ballard denied having personally used AI in the book's writing, claiming that a freelance editor had introduced AI-generated changes. She also stated that she would take legal action against the editor. == Premise == The novel follows Gia, a depressed woman with obsessive–compulsive disorder, who encounters a mysterious man named Nathan while looking for a sugar daddy to ease her financial troubles. Nathan offers to erase all of Gia's debts in exchange for her agreeing to live as his pet. Living like an animal convinces her that she is becoming an animal, making her behave like one. == Publication and cancellation == Shy Girl was first self-published online by Mia Ballard in February 2025. Marketing material described the book as a "buzzy BookTok sensation" and "bloody and unforgiving". The self-published edition of the book was highly successful and had over 4,900 ratings on Goodreads and an average score of 3.52 stars. In an interview, Ballard described her writing style as lyrical, feverish, and introspective, and stated she was more interested in "what it feels like to live inside a body" than in plot-driven storylines. Publishing rights were acquired by Hachette Book Group and it was published by its Wildfire imprint in the United Kingdom in November 2025. By March 2026, the book had sold 1,800 copies in the United Kingdom. A US release was planned for 2026 by the imprint Orbit Books. After the British publication, critics and readers began to make claims that the book appeared to have been written by generative AI. A January 2026 post on Reddit claimed that the book had many of the hallmarks of having been written with a large language model, and stated that it was "repulsive" that the book was accepted by Hachette. A two-and-a-half-hour video essay covering the book, titled "i'm pretty sure this book is ai slop", received 1.2 million views on YouTube by March 2026. In response, Hachette Book Group announced in March 2026 that it would cancel the book's US publication and discontinue its UK publication. It told The Wall Street Journal that it had made "a lengthy investigation" before deciding to cancel the book. Ballard told The New York Times that she had not used AI when writing the book, but that AI-generated elements were added by a freelance editor without her knowledge. She also stated that she could not elaborate on her claim because she was pursuing legal action against the editor. Writer Andrea Bartz opined that the situation "raises many concerns about trust, authenticity and publishing's readiness for a new, A.I.-assisted world", but that "readers made it abundantly clear they want books by humans, not machines".

  Read more →
• 

  Vagueness

  In linguistics and philosophy, a vague predicate is one which gives rise to borderline cases. For example, the English adjective "tall" is vague since it is not clearly true or false for someone of middling height. By contrast, the word "prime" is not vague since every number is definitively either prime or not. Vagueness is commonly diagnosed by a predicate's ability to give rise to the sorites paradox. Vagueness is separate from ambiguity, in which an expression has multiple denotations. For instance the word "bank" is ambiguous since it can refer either to a river bank or to a financial institution, but there are no borderline cases between both interpretations. Vagueness is a major topic of research in philosophical logic, where it serves as a potential challenge to classical logic. Work in formal semantics has sought to provide a compositional semantics for vague expressions in natural language. Work in philosophy of language has addressed implications of vagueness for the theory of meaning, while metaphysicists have considered whether reality itself is vague. == Importance == The concept of vagueness has philosophical importance. Suppose one wants to come up with a definition of "right" in the moral sense. One wants a definition to cover actions that are clearly right and exclude actions that are clearly wrong, but what does one do with the borderline cases? Surely, there are such cases. Some philosophers say that one should try to come up with a definition that is itself unclear on just those cases. Others say that one has an interest in making his or her definitions more precise than ordinary language, or his or her ordinary concepts, themselves allow; they recommend one advances precising definitions. === In law === Vagueness is also a problem which arises in law, and in some cases, judges have to arbitrate regarding whether a borderline case does, or does not, satisfy a given vague concept. Examples include disability (how much loss of vision is required before one is legally blind?), human life (at what point from conception to birth is one a legal human being, protected for instance by laws against murder?), adulthood (most familiarly reflected in legal ages for driving, drinking, voting, consensual sex, etc.), race (how to classify someone of mixed racial heritage), etc. Even such apparently unambiguous concepts such as biological sex can be subject to vagueness problems, not just from transsexuals' gender transitions but also from certain genetic conditions which can give an individual mixed male and female biological traits (see intersex). In the common law system, vagueness is a possible legal defence against by-laws and other regulations. The legal principle is that delegated power cannot be used more broadly than the delegator intended. Therefore, a regulation may not be so vague as to regulate areas beyond what the law allows. Any such regulation would be "void for vagueness" and unenforceable. This principle is sometimes used to strike down municipal by-laws that forbid "explicit" or "objectionable" contents from being sold in a certain city; courts often find such expressions to be too vague, giving municipal inspectors discretion beyond what the law allows. In the US this is known as the vagueness doctrine and in Europe as the principle of legal certainty. === In science === Many scientific concepts are of necessity vague, for instance species in biology cannot be precisely defined, owing to unclear cases such as ring species. Nonetheless, the concept of species can be clearly applied in the vast majority of cases. As this example illustrates, to say that a definition is "vague" is not necessarily a criticism. Consider those animals in Alaska that are the result of breeding huskies and wolves: are they dogs? It is not clear: they are borderline cases of dogs. This means one's ordinary concept of doghood is not clear enough to let us rule conclusively in this case. == Approaches == The philosophical question of what the best theoretical treatment of vagueness is—which is closely related to the problem of the paradox of the heap, a.k.a. sorites paradox—has been the subject of much philosophical debate. === Fuzzy logic === One theoretical approach is that of fuzzy logic, developed by American mathematician Lotfi Zadeh. Fuzzy logic proposes a gradual transition between "perfect falsity", for example, the statement "Bill Clinton is bald", to "perfect truth", for, say, "Patrick Stewart is bald". In ordinary logics, there are only two truth-values: "true" and "false". The fuzzy perspective differs by introducing an infinite number of truth-values along a spectrum between perfect truth and perfect falsity. Perfect truth may be represented by "1", and perfect falsity by "0". Borderline cases are thought of as having a "truth-value" anywhere between 0 and 1 (for example, 0.6). Advocates of the fuzzy logic approach have included K. F. Machina (1976) and Dorothy Edgington (1993). === Supervaluationism === Another theoretical approach is known as "supervaluationism". This approach has been defended by Kit Fine and Rosanna Keefe. Fine argues that borderline applications of vague predicates are neither true nor false, but rather are instances of "truth value gaps". He defends an interesting and sophisticated system of vague semantics, based on the notion that a vague predicate might be "made precise" in many alternative ways. This system has the consequence that borderline cases of vague terms yield statements that are neither true, nor false. Given a supervaluationist semantics, one can define the predicate "supertrue" as meaning "true on all precisifications". This predicate will not change the semantics of atomic statements (e.g. "Frank is bald", where Frank is a borderline case of baldness), but does have consequences for logically complex statements. In particular, the tautologies of sentential logic, such as "Frank is bald or Frank is not bald", will turn out to be supertrue, since on any precisification of baldness, either "Frank is bald" or "Frank is not bald" will be true. Since the presence of borderline cases seems to threaten principles like this one (excluded middle), the fact that supervaluationism can "rescue" them is seen as a virtue. === Subvaluationism === Subvaluationism is the logical dual of supervaluationism, and has been defended by Dominic Hyde (2008) and Pablo Cobreros (2011). Whereas the supervaluationist characterises truth as 'supertruth', the subvaluationist characterises truth as 'subtruth', or "true on at least some precisifications". Subvaluationism proposes that borderline applications of vague terms are both true and false. It thus has "truth-value gluts". According to this theory, a vague statement is true if it is true on at least one precisification and false if it is false under at least one precisification. If a vague statement comes out true under one precisification and false under another, it is both true and false. Subvaluationism ultimately amounts to the claim that vagueness is a truly contradictory phenomenon. Of a borderline case of "bald man" it would be both true and false to say that he is bald, and both true and false to say that he is not bald. === Epistemicist view === A fourth approach, known as "the epistemicist view", has been defended by Timothy Williamson (1994), R. A. Sorensen (1988) and (2001), and Nicholas Rescher (2009). They maintain that vague predicates do, in fact, draw sharp boundaries, but that one cannot know where these boundaries lie. One's confusion about whether some vague word does or does not apply in a borderline case is due to one's ignorance. For example, in the epistemicist view, there is a fact of the matter, for every person, about whether that person is old or not old; some people are ignorant of this fact. === As a property of objects === One possibility is that one's words and concepts are perfectly precise, but that objects themselves are vague. Consider Peter Unger's example of a cloud (from his famous 1980 paper, "The Problem of the Many"): it is not clear where the boundary of a cloud lies; for any given bit of water vapor, one can ask whether it is part of the cloud or not, and for many such bits, one will not know how to answer. Hence, perhaps such a term as 'cloud' is not itself vague, but rather precisely denotes a vague object. This strategy has occasionally been poorly received; most notably, in Gareth Evans' short paper "Can There Be Vague Objects?" (1978), wherein an argument is examined which appears to show that vague identity-statements are impossible (i.e., result in logical incoherence). David Lewis explains that the reader is intended to conclude, with Evans, that—since there clearly are, in fact, meaningful vague identities—any purported proof to the contrary cannot be right; and as the proof relies upon the premise that vague terms precisely denote vague objects, but fails under the view that vague terms reflect a merel

  Read more →
• 

  Cyborg

  A cyborg () is a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts. It is a portmanteau of cybernetic and organism. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline. In contrast to biorobots and androids, the term cyborg applies to a living organism that has undergone restoration of function or enhancements of abilities due to the integration of some artificial component or technology that relies on feedback. == Description and definition == Alternative names for a cyborg include cybernetic organism, cyber-organism, cyber-organic being, cybernetically enhanced organism, cybernetically augmented organism, technorganic being, techno-organic being, and techno-organism. Unlike bionics, biorobotics, or androids, a cyborg is an organism that has restored function or, especially, enhanced abilities due to the integration of some artificial component or technology that relies on some sort of feedback, for example: prostheses, artificial organs, implants or, in some cases, wearable technology. Cyborg technologies may enable or support collective intelligence. A related idea is the "augmented human". While cyborgs are commonly thought of as mammals, including humans, the term can apply to any organism. === Placement and distinctions === D. S. Halacy's Cyborg: Evolution of the Superman (1965) featured an introduction which spoke of a "new frontier" that was "not merely space, but more profoundly the relationship between 'inner space' to 'outer space' – a bridge...between mind and matter." In "A Cyborg Manifesto", Donna Haraway rejects the notion of rigid boundaries between humanity and technology, arguing that, as humans depend on more technology over time, humanity and technology have become too interwoven to draw lines between them. She believes that since we have allowed and created machines and technology to be so advanced, there should be no reason to fear what we have created, and cyborgs should be embraced because they are part of human identities. However, Haraway has also expressed concern over the contradictions of scientific objectivity and the ethics of technological evolution, and has argued that "There are political consequences to scientific accounts of the world." === Biosocial definition === According to some definitions of the term, the physical attachments that humans have with even the most basic technologies have already made them cyborgs. In a typical example, a human with an artificial cardiac pacemaker or implantable cardioverter-defibrillator would be considered a cyborg, since these devices measure voltage potentials in the body, perform signal processing, and can deliver electrical stimuli, using a synthetic feedback mechanism to keep that person alive. Implants, especially cochlear implants, that combine mechanical modification with any kind of feedback response are also cybernetic enhancements. Some theorists cite such modifications as contact lenses, hearing aids, smartphones, or intraocular lenses as examples of fitting humans with technology to enhance their biological capabilities. The emerging trend of implanting microchips inside the body (mainly the hands), to make financial operations like a contactless payment, or basic tasks like opening a door, has been erroneously marketed as more recent examples of cybernetic enhancement. The latter has not yet seen significant traction outside niche areas in Scandinavia and in actual function is little more than a pre-programmed Radio-frequency identification (RFID) microchip encased in glass that does not interact with the human body (it is the same technology used in the microchips injected into animals for ease of identification), thus not fitting the definition of a cybernetic implant. As cyborgs currently are on the rise, some theorists argue there is a need to develop new definitions of aging. For instance, a bio-techno-social definition of aging has been suggested. The term is also used to address human-technology mixtures in the abstract. This includes not only commonly used pieces of technology such as phones, computers, the Internet, and so on, but also artifacts that are not usually considered technology; for example, pen and paper, and speech and language. When augmented with these technologies and connected in communication with people in other times and places, a person becomes capable of more than they were before. An example is a computer, which gains power by using Internet protocols to connect with other computers. Another example is a social-media bot—either a bot-assisted human or a human-assisted-bot—used to target social media with likes and shares. Cybernetic technologies thus include highways, pipes, electrical wiring, buildings, electrical plants, libraries, and other infrastructural constructs. Bruce Sterling, in his Shaper/Mechanist universe, suggested an idea of an alternative cyborg called 'Lobster', which is made not by using internal implants, but by using an external shell (e.g. a powered exoskeleton). The computer game Deus Ex: Invisible War prominently features cyborgs called Omar, Russian for 'lobster'. === Evolutionary perspective === In 1994, Hans Hass formulated a scientific view of the human-machine hybrids he called "hypercells". They can expand their biological cell body with artificial artifacts and thus expand their performance body. The theory of hypercells or Homo proteus, as Hass called the human-machine hybrid to distinguish Homo sapiens, extends Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and deals with the course of evolution beyond humans. In his 2019 book Novacene, James Lovelock used the term "cyborgs" to refer to the next generation of beings who will become the "understanders of the future" and "lead the cosmos to self-knowledge". While acknowledging the organic component in Clynes' and Kline's definition, he proposed that these cyborgs "will have designed and built themselves from the artificial intelligence systems we have already constructed", and used the term cyborg "to emphasize that the new intelligent beings will have arisen, like us, from Darwinian evolution." == Origins == The concept of a man-machine mixture was widespread in science fiction before World War II. As early as 1843, Edgar Allan Poe described a man with extensive prostheses in the short story "The Man That Was Used Up". In 1911, Jean de La Hire introduced the Nyctalope, a science fiction hero who was perhaps the first literary cyborg, in Le Mystère des XV (later translated as The Nyctalope on Mars). Nearly two decades later, Edmond Hamilton presented space explorers with a mixture of organic and machine parts in his 1928 novel The Comet Doom. He later featured the talking, living brain of an old scientist, Simon Wright, floating in a transparent case, and in all the adventures of his famous hero, Captain Future. In 1944, in the short story "No Woman Born", C. L. Moore wrote of Deirdre, a dancer, whose body was burned completely and whose brain was placed in a faceless but beautiful and supple mechanical body. In 1960, the term "cyborg" was coined by Manfred E. Clynes and Nathan S. Kline to refer to their conception of an enhanced human being who could survive in extraterrestrial environments: For the exogenously extended organizational complex functioning as an integrated homeostatic system unconsciously, we propose the term 'Cyborg'. Their concept was the outcome of thinking about the need for an intimate relationship between human and machine as the new frontier of space exploration was beginning to develop. A designer of physiological instrumentation and electronic data-processing systems, Clynes was the chief research scientist in the Dynamic Simulation Laboratory at Rockland State Hospital in New York. The term first appears in print 5 months earlier when The New York Times reported on the "Psychophysiological Aspects of Space Flight Symposium" where Clynes and Kline first presented their paper: A cyborg is essentially a man-machine system in which the control mechanisms of the human portion are modified externally by drugs or regulatory devices so that the being can live in an environment different from the normal one. Thereafter, Hamilton would first use the term "cyborg" explicitly in the 1962 short story, "After a Judgment Day", to describe the "mechanical analogs" called "Charlies," explaining that "[c]yborgs, they had been called from the first one in the 1960s...cybernetic organisms." The 1972 novel Cyborg by Martin Caidin introduced the character of bionic government agent Steve Austin, and was adapted into the popular television series The Six Million Dollar Man, which ran from 1973 to 1978. In 2001, a book titled Cyborg: Digital Destiny and Human Possibility in the Age of the Wearable computer was published by Doubleday. Some of the ideas in the book were incorporated into the documentary film Cyberman that same year. == Cyborg tissues in engineering == Cyborg tissues structured with carbon nanotubes and plan

  Read more →
• 

  The Great Automatic Grammatizator

  The Great Automatic Grammatizator (published in the U.S. as The Umbrella Man and Other Stories) is a posthumous 1998 collection of thirteen short stories written by British author Roald Dahl. The stories were selected for teenagers from Dahl's adult works. All the stories included were published elsewhere originally; their sources are noted below. The stories, with the exception of the war story "Katina", possess a deadpan, ironic, bizarre, or even macabre sense of humor. They generally end with unexpected plot twists. == Stories == "The Great Automatic Grammatizator" (from Someone Like You): A mechanically-minded man reasons that the rules of grammar are fixed by certain, almost mathematical principles. By exploiting this idea, he is able to create a mammoth machine that can write a prize-winning novel in roughly fifteen minutes. The story ends on a fearful note, as more and more of the world's writers are forced into licensing their names—and all hope of human creativity—to the machine. "Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat" (from Kiss Kiss): Mrs. Bixby cheats on her dentist husband with a rich, dashing colonel. When their relationship breaks off, the colonel offers Mrs. Bixby a gorgeous and expensive mink coat. In an attempt to explain the coat away, Mrs. Bixby sets up an elaborate trick with the help of a pawn shop—but her husband learns of the ruse and manages to turn the tables. "The Butler" (from More Tales of the Unexpected): An obnoxious and newly wealthy couple employs a butler and chef to impress dinner guests. The butler recommends that the husband buy expensive wines to please his guests, and the man slavishly follows the idea. The butler and the chef reap the rewards of this idea, while making fools of the "fashionable" couple. "Man from the South" (from Someone Like You): At a seaside resort in Jamaica, a strange old man makes a bet with an American man in his late teens. If the young man's cigarette lighter can spark ten times without fail, the American will win a brand-new Cadillac car—but failure means losing the little finger of his right hand. The high-tension wager ensues, and with only a few sparks left, a woman—who knows only too well the cost of the old man's bets—appears and stops the madness. "The Landlady" (from Kiss Kiss): A young man traveling to London on business stops at a bed and breakfast along the way, where a strange and slightly dotty landlady eagerly welcomes him. The eccentric nature of the house, and the news that only two other young men have ever stayed there, confuse and frighten the young man. In the end, the landlady—who indulges in the hobby of taxidermy—and the boy share a drink of tea that tastes of bitter almonds, and the landlady softly smiles at what may be her latest stuffing project. "Parson's Pleasure" (from Kiss Kiss): A man discovers an extremely rare piece of Chippendale furniture at the farm of some boorish ranchers. He desperately attempts to buy the piece cheap, in the hope of selling it at auction to earn a huge profit. He manages to buy the piece "for firewood", only for the ranchers to destroy it in an attempt to make it fit into his car. "The Umbrella Man" (from More Tales of the Unexpected): On a rainy day, a mother and daughter meet a gentlemanly old man on a street corner, who offers them a beautiful silk umbrella in exchange for a pound note. They trade, and the daughter notices that the "feeble" old man suddenly seems much sprier. They follow him, and discover that the gentleman is a con artist who visits various pubs, has a drink, and then steals another umbrella to continue the cycle. "Katina" (from Over to You: Ten Stories of Flyers and Flying): A group of RAF pilots stationed in Greece during World War II discover a hauntingly beautiful young girl, whose "family is beneath the rubble." She becomes their squadron's unofficial "mascot". In the end, her fragile life is taken as she stands defiantly against a rain of bullets from Nazi aircraft, shaking her fists at the heavens. "The Way Up to Heaven" (from Kiss Kiss): Mrs. Foster suffers from a chronic phobia of being late for appointments. Her husband enjoys the cruel sport of purposely delaying their activities, just to rile his wife. On the day when Mrs. Foster is due to fly to Paris to visit her grandchildren, her husband engages in his usual tricks. But as Mrs. Foster rushes from their taxi to the house to find him, she hears a strange noise—and turns triumphantly toward her cab. It is only when she returns, and calls a man to "repair the lift" that was stuck between floors in the house, that readers guess Mr. Foster's fate. "Royal Jelly" (from Kiss Kiss): New parents fear for the life of their little girl, who is sickly and dangerously underweight. The husband, a beekeeper, remembers hearing of the miraculous royal jelly used by bees to transform one particular larva into a queen. He adds the mixture to his daughter's bottles, and she puts on weight at an astonishing rate. The mother senses that something is amiss, and the husband confesses his actions—along with the fact that he himself swallowed buckets of the jelly for months in an attempt to cure his impotence. The royal jelly did the trick—but the strange side-effects include a disturbing metamorphosis for both father and daughter. "Vengeance is Mine Inc." (from More Tales of the Unexpected): Two brothers who are short of cash bemoan their fate over breakfast while reading the society column of a newspaper. They hit upon a scheme to take revenge on cruel tabloid writers in exchange for money from wealthy patrons. The unconventional plan works, and the brothers line their pockets with the spoils of their plans. "Taste" (from Someone Like You): A rich man with a beautiful young daughter hosts a dinner party, inviting a famous connoisseur of fine wines. When the rich man boasts that he has a wine that the expert cannot identify, the stakes become frighteningly high: if he can guess the name and vintage of the wine, he will win his daughter's hand. After an elaborate show, the expert guesses correctly; however, the family's maid appears and inadvertently exposes the guest as a cheat, thus saving the girl. "Neck" (from Someone Like You): A newspaper heir finds himself suddenly engaged to the voluptuous and controlling Lady Tutton. He loses all control of his life, and only his trusted butler and friends realize how broken he is by her control. A weekend trip to their estate, however, proves the perfect opportunity for Lord Tutton to engage in revenge against his wicked wife: her head is trapped in a valuable piece of wooden sculpture, and he must decide whether to use a saw or an axe to cut her free. == Publication details == Dahl, Roald (19 January 2004). The Umbrella Man and Other Stories. Speak. ISBN 9780142400876. == Reception == Groff Conklin in 1954 called the short story "The Great Automatic Grammatizator" "an awe-inspiring fantasy-satire ... an unforgettable bit of biting nonsense".

  Read more →
• 

  WebCrow

  The WebCrow is a research project carried out at the Information Engineering Department of the University of Siena with the purpose of automatically solving crosswords. == The Project == The scientific relevance of the project can be understood considering that cracking crosswords requires human-level knowledge. Unlike chess and related games and there is no closed world configuration space. A first nucleus of technology, such as search engines, information retrieval, and machine learning techniques enable computers to enfold with semantics real-life concepts. The project is based on a software system whose major assumption is to attack crosswords making use of the Web as its primary source of knowledge. WebCrow is very fast and often thrashes human challengers in competitions, especially on multi language crossword schemes. A distinct feature of the WebCrow software system is to combine properly natural language processing (NLP) techniques, the Google web search engine, and constraint satisfaction algorithms from artificial intelligence to acquire knowledge and to fill the schema. The most important component of WebCrow is the Web Search Module (WSM), which implements a domain specific web based question answering algorithm. The way WebCrow approaches crosswords solving is quite different with respect to humans: Whereas we tend to first answer clues we are sure of and then proceed filling the schema by exploiting the already answered clues as hints, WebCrow uses two clearly distinct stages. In the first one, it processes all the clues and tries to answer them all: For each clue it finds many possible candidates and sorts them according to complex ranking models mainly based on a probability criteria. In the second stage, WebCrow uses constraint satisfaction algorithms to fill the grid with the overall most likely combination of clue answers. In order to interact with Google, first of all, WebCrow needs to compose queries on the basis of the given clues. This is done by query expansion, whose purpose is to convert the clue into a query expressed by a simplified and more appropriate language for Google. The retrieved documents are parsed so as to extract a list of word candidates that are congruent with the crossword length constraints. Crosswords can hardly be faced by using encyclopedic knowledge only, since many clues are wordplays or are otherwise purposefully very ambiguous. This enigmatic component of crosswords is faced by a massive use of database of solved crosswords, and by automatic reasoning on a properly organized knowledge base of wired rules. Last but not the least, the final constraint satisfaction step is very effective to fill the correct candidate, even though, unlike humans, the system can not rely on very high confidence on the correctness of the answer. == Competitions == WebCrow speed and effectiveness has been tested many times in man-machine competitions on Italian, English and multi-language crosswords The outcome of the tests is that WebCrow can successfully compete with average human players on single language schemes and reaches expert level performance in multi-language crosswords. However, WebCrow has not reached expert level in single-language crosswords, yet. === ECAI-06 Competition === On August 30, 2006, at the European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ECAI2006), 25 conference attendees and 53 internet connected crosswords lovers, competed with WebCrow in an official challenge organized within the conference program. The challenge consisted in 5 different crosswords (2 in Italian, 2 in English and one multi-language in Italian and English) and 15 minutes were assigned for each crossword. WebCrow ranked 21 out of 74 participants in the Italian competition, and won both the bilingual and English competitions. === Other Competitions === Several competitions have been held in Florence, Italy within the Creativity Festival in December 2006, and another official conference competition took place in Hyderabad, India in January 2007, within the International Conference of Artificial Intelligence, where it ranked second out of 25 participants.

  Read more →