Moshe Sipper's Blog, page 2

Some Pros and Cons of Basic ML Algorithms, in 2 Minutes

2… 1…AI-generated image (craiyon)K-Nearest Neighbors

✅ Simple ✧ No training ✧ No assumption about data ✧ Easy to implement ✧ New data can be added seamlessly ✧ Only one hyperparameter

❌ Doesn’t work well in high dimensions ✧ Sensitive to noisy data, missing values, and outliers ✧ Doesn’t work well with large data sets — cost of calculating distance is high ✧ Needs feature scaling ✧ Doesn’t work well on imbalanced data ✧ Doesn’t deal well with missing values

Decision Tree

✅ Doesn’t require standardiz...

Pee Review: The Enshittification of Science?

A scatological ruminationAI-generated image (craiyon)

Enshittification is an interesting term recently coined by writer Cory Doctorow with respect to online platforms:

Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die.

I call this enshittification…

— Cory Doctorow, January 21, 2023

While Doctorow was aiming...

Fredric: A Collection of Flash Fiction

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073XQBHND/

“I’d like to buy a body,” said the man, his voice mingling with the chimes of several doorbells ...

Bob was a dragon. No, no, please don’t run away to seek cover. Bob was a very nice dragon ...

Fredric shouted gleefully as he was finally shot out of the cannon ...

The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door ...

A collection of short-short science fiction and fantasy, in the spirit of the master, Fredric Brown.

Walk in the Park

Walk in the ParkbyMoshe SipperWe were watching TV, My friend Billy and I, When Mommy came in With a hot apple pie.
She said, “Boys have a piece Of this hot apple pie, I’ve made it just now, Go ahead, don’t be shy.”
I ate one big piece, And Billy had two, My mommy makes pies Like no one we knew!
Then Mommy said, “Boys, Why sit in the dark? It’s so sunny outside, Go play in the park.”
So I looked at Billy And he looked at me, We knew that the park Was where he would be.
But Mommy would not Let us s...

Dumped

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Time and again

Time and AgainbyMoshe Sipper
The thing I hated most was when people told me I wasn’t to blame, because, after all, I was only seven years old when the 'unpleasantness' began. 
Read more...
(This story appeared in the journal Nature, 6 December 2012)

The Right Direction

The Right DirectionbyMoshe Sipper
Janet Cohen could tell the outcome as soon as she saw Dr. Barnaby Finch walk out the door. His ashen face spoke louder than words.“They rejected it, right?” she asked tremulously. “I’m so very sorry, Janet,” replied Dr. Finch in a broken voice. “I… It’s… If only —”Janet interjected softly, trying to put on a brave face. “Barnaby, it’s not your fault. We knew it was risky.” But then her composure dissipated like grains of sand in the wind and the tears started...

Granted

GrantedbyMoshe Sipper
Twenty-one minutes and thirty-two seconds.Professor Artie Mensch viewed the remaining time shown in large, bold numerals on the iWall and then he turned to his young colleague. “You know, this whole system is only ten years old.”“Is it now?” said Dr. Tommy Bing. “Well, ten years ago I was still an undergraduate.”“Ah, youth,” sighed Artie smilingly.“We’ll know soon enough whether we’ve nailed that grant,” said Tommy apprehensively. This was his third year as an untenured A...

Observatory

ObservatorybyMoshe Sipper
She was just too beautiful — and he, too shy. Would that he could work up the courage to ask her out. But, alas, affairs of the heart are never easy. Not by far.For hours and hours every day he would gaze upon her, observe her, study her. Every minute detail of her fine-boned visage he would scrutinize with unending yearning. How he craved to caress that magnificent shock of raven hair. How he longed to touch — ever so gently — that noble neck.In his dreams they were...

Publish and Perish

Publish and PerishbyMoshe Sipper
Dr. Marvel Sky was the greatest computer scientist of his day. He had but a slight problem with his career in that his unique greatness was uniquely recognized by himself alone. And so, at the age of forty-five, he was still but a lowly assistant professor. And untenured to boot. Indeed, he’d just exited what had proved to be his penultimate tenure hearing, and the words of Professor Jed Newman, Head of the Tenure Committee, still rang loudly in his head. “Dr....