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Law Of Accelerating Returns
In futures studies and the history of technology, accelerating change is the observed exponential nature of the rate of technological change in recent history, which may suggest faster and more profound change in the future and may or may not be accompanied by equally profound social and cultural change. Early observations Writing in 1904, Henry Brooks Adams outlined a " law of acceleration." Progress is accelerating including military progress. As coal-output of the world doubles every ten years, so will be the world output of bombs both in force and number. The bomb passage follows the "revolutionary" discovery of radium--an ore of uranium--and states that power leaps from every atom. Resistance to the law of acceleration is futile and progress might outpace the mind. "If science were to go on doubling or quadrupling its complexities every ten years, even mathematics would soon succumb. An average mind had succumbed already in 1850; it could no longer understand the problem i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Futures Studies
Futures studies, futures research or futurology is the systematic, interdisciplinary and holistic study of social and technological advancement, and other environmental trends, often for the purpose of exploring how people will live and work in the future. Predictive techniques, such as forecasting, can be applied, but contemporary futures studies scholars emphasize the importance of systematically exploring alternatives. In general, it can be considered as a branch of the social sciences and an extension to the field of history. Futures studies (colloquially called "futures" by many of the field's practitioners) seeks to understand what is likely to continue and what could plausibly change. Part of the discipline thus seeks a systematic and pattern-based understanding of past and present, and to explore the possibility of future events and trends. Unlike the physical sciences where a narrower, more specified system is studied, futurology concerns a much bigger and more comp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stanislaw Ulam
Stanislav and variants may refer to: People *Stanislav (given name), a Slavic given name with many spelling variations (Stanislaus, Stanislas, Stanisław, etc.) Places * Stanislav, Kherson Oblast, a coastal village in Ukraine * Stanislaus County, California * Stanislaus River, California * Stanislaus National Forest, California * Place Stanislas, a square in Nancy, France, World Heritage Site of UNESCO * Saint-Stanislas, Mauricie, Quebec, a Canadian municipality * Stanizlav, a fictional train depot in the game '' TimeSplitters: Future Perfect'' * Stanislau, German name of Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine Schools * St. Stanislaus High School, an institution in Bandra, Mumbai, India * St. Stanislaus High School (Detroit) * Collège Stanislas de Paris, an institution in Paris, France * California State University, Stanislaus, a public university in Turlock, CA * St Stanislaus College (Bathurst) St Stanislaus' College is an Australian independent Roman Catholic secondary day and boar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paradigms
In science and philosophy, a paradigm ( ) is a distinct set of concepts or thought patterns, including theories, research methods, postulates, and standards for what constitute legitimate contributions to a field. The word ''paradigm'' is Greek in origin, meaning "pattern". Etymology ''Paradigm'' comes from Greek παράδειγμα (''paradeigma''); "pattern, example, sample"; from the verb παραδείκνυμι (''paradeiknumi''); "exhibit, represent, expose"; and that from παρά (''para''); "beside, beyond"; and δείκνυμι (''deiknumi''); "to show, to point out". In classical (Greek-based) rhetoric, a paradeigma aims to provide an audience with an illustration of a similar occurrence. This illustration is not meant to take the audience to a conclusion; however, it is used to help guide them to get there. One way of how a ''paradeigma'' is meant to guide an audience would be exemplified by the role of a personal accountant. It is not the job of a personal acco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gerald Hawkins
Gerald Stanley Hawkins (20 April 1928– 26 May 2003) was a British-born American astronomer and author noted for his work in the field of archaeoastronomy. A professor and chair of the astronomy department at Boston University in the United States, he published in 1963 an analysis of Stonehenge in which he was the first to propose that it was an ancient astronomical observatory used to predict movements of the sun and moon, and that it was used as a computer. Archaeologists and other scholars have since demonstrated such sophisticated, complex planning and construction at other prehistoric earthwork sites, such as Cahokia in the U.S. Early life and education Gerald Hawkins was born in Great Yarmouth, England and studied physics and mathematics at the University of Nottingham. In 1952 he took a PhD in radio astronomy, studying under Sir Bernard Lovell at the University of Manchester. Career In 1957 Hawkins became professor of astronomy and chairman of the department a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Burke (science Historian)
James Burke (born 22 December 1936) is a broadcaster, science historian, author, and television producer. He was one of the main presenters of the BBC1 science series '' Tomorrow's World'' from 1965 to 1971 and created and presented the television series '' Connections'' (1978), and its more philosophical sequel '' The Day the Universe Changed'' (1985), about the history of science and technology. ''The Washington Post'' has called him "one of the most intriguing minds in the Western world". Early life Burke was born in Derry, Northern Ireland. During World War II he was evacuated to Downhill, County Londonderry where he lived between the ages of 4 and 9. When his father returned home after the war, the family moved to Kent, England, where James Burke attended Maidstone Grammar School. He then served in the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1955 to 1957 before being accepted at Jesus College, Oxford, where he studied Middle English, obtaining BA and MA degrees. Personal life B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Connections (British Documentary)
''Connections'' is a science education television series created, written, and presented by British science historian James Burke. The series was produced and directed by Mick Jackson of the BBC Science and Features Department and first aired in 1978 (UK) and 1979 (US). It took an interdisciplinary approach to the history of science and invention, and demonstrated how various discoveries, scientific achievements, and historical world events were built from one another successively in an interconnected way to bring about particular aspects of modern technology. The series was noted for Burke's crisp and enthusiastic presentation (and dry humour), historical re-enactments, and intricate working models. The popular success of the series led to the production of '' The Day the Universe Changed'' (1985), a similar programme, but showing a more linear history of several important scientific developments and their more philosophic impact on Western civilisation. Years later, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intelligence Explosion
The technological singularity—or simply the singularity—is a hypothetical point in time at which technological growth becomes uncontrollable and irreversible, resulting in unforeseeable consequences for human civilization. According to the most popular version of the singularity hypothesis, I. J. Good's #Intelligence explosion, intelligence explosion model of 1965, an upgradable intelligent agent could eventually enter a positive feedback loop of successive Recursive self-improvement, self-improvement cycles; more intelligent generations would appear more and more rapidly, causing a rapid increase ("explosion") in intelligence that culminates in a powerful superintelligence, far surpassing all human intelligence.Vinge, Vernor"The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era", in ''Vision-21: Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in the Era of Cyberspace'', G. A. Landis, ed., NASA Publication CP-10129, pp. 11–22, 1993. - "There may be developed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Superintelligence
A superintelligence is a hypothetical intelligent agent, agent that possesses intelligence surpassing that of the brightest and most intellectual giftedness, gifted human minds. "Superintelligence" may also refer to a property of advanced problem-solving systems that narrow AI, excel in specific areas (e.g., superintelligent Neural machine translation, language translators or engineering assistants). Nevertheless, a general purpose superintelligence remains hypothetical and its creation may or may not be triggered by an Technological singularity#Intelligence explosion, intelligence explosion or a technological singularity. University of Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom defines ''superintelligence'' as "any intellect that greatly exceeds the cognitive performance of humans in virtually all domains of interest". The program Fritz (chess), Fritz falls short of this conception of superintelligence—even though it is much better than humans at chess—because Fritz cannot outperform hum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Integrated Circuit
An integrated circuit (IC), also known as a microchip or simply chip, is a set of electronic circuits, consisting of various electronic components (such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors) and their interconnections. These components are etched onto a small, flat piece ("chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Integrated circuits are used in a wide range of electronic devices, including computers, smartphones, and televisions, to perform various functions such as processing and storing information. They have greatly impacted the field of electronics by enabling device miniaturization and enhanced functionality. Integrated circuits are orders of magnitude smaller, faster, and less expensive than those constructed of discrete components, allowing a large transistor count. The IC's mass production capability, reliability, and building-block approach to integrated circuit design have ensured the rapid adoption of standardized ICs in place of designs using discre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robot Intelligence
Cognitive Robotics or Cognitive Technology is a subfield of robotics concerned with endowing a robot with intelligent behavior by providing it with a processing architecture that will allow it to learn and reason about how to behave in response to complex goals in a complex world. Cognitive robotics may be considered the engineering branch of embodied cognitive science and embodied embedded cognition, consisting of Robotic Process Automation, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Optical Character Recognition, Image Processing, Process Mining, Analytics, Software Development and System Integration. Core issues While traditional cognitive modeling approaches have assumed symbolic coding schemes as a means for depicting the world, translating the world into these kinds of symbolic representations has proven to be problematic if not untenable. Perception and action and the notion of symbolic representation are therefore core issues to be addressed in cognitive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exponential Growth
Exponential growth occurs when a quantity grows as an exponential function of time. The quantity grows at a rate directly proportional to its present size. For example, when it is 3 times as big as it is now, it will be growing 3 times as fast as it is now. In more technical language, its instantaneous rate of change (that is, the derivative) of a quantity with respect to an independent variable is proportional to the quantity itself. Often the independent variable is time. Described as a function, a quantity undergoing exponential growth is an exponential function of time, that is, the variable representing time is the exponent (in contrast to other types of growth, such as quadratic growth). Exponential growth is the inverse of logarithmic growth. Not all cases of growth at an always increasing rate are instances of exponential growth. For example the function f(x) = x^3 grows at an ever increasing rate, but is much slower than growing exponentially. For example, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artificial Life
Artificial life (ALife or A-Life) is a field of study wherein researchers examine systems related to natural life, its processes, and its evolution, through the use of simulations with computer models, robotics, and biochemistry. The discipline was named by Christopher Langton, an American computer scientist, in 1986. In 1987, Langton organized the first conference on the field, in Los Alamos, New Mexico. There are three main kinds of alife, named for their approaches: ''soft'', from software; ''hard'', from computer hardware, hardware; and ''wet artificial life, wet'', from biochemistry. Artificial life researchers study traditional biology by trying to recreate aspects of biological phenomena. Overview Artificial life studies the fundamental processes of living systems in artificial environments in order to gain a deeper understanding of the complex information processing that define such systems. These topics are broad, but often include Evolutionary algorithm, evolutionar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
