How do we know? A few things we've learned from science.

[Kenny]

My latest book:

How do we know? A few things we've learned from science.

How do we know? A few things we've learned from science.

Is now available from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/know-things-lea...

UK link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/know-things-l...


This has been a labor of love for many months now so I'm glad to finally make it available. Unfortunately it is not poetry but I do hope it is poetic and speaks to those interested in science. It covers a variety of scientific topics from the formation of our galaxy to human consciousness all written in a manner accessible to the average person. References and links are provided on each topic for those interested in digging deeper.

Please see the Amazon link above for additional information. Or feel free to post your questions here or contact me directly.

Thanks

[Betsy, co-mod]

Doesn't seem to be on Goodreads yet. If I can help with that, let me know.

[Kenny]

Thanks Betsy. I just added it to Goodreads. :)

[Kane]

Congrats, Kenny.

[Kenny]

Thanks Kane.

[Kane]

You're welcome. I have kind of a full dance card right now with a writing contest pending but your book sounds interesting.

[Kenny]

An excerpt from the book is on my Bleeding Edge Blog:

Hotspots Calderas and All That:

http://kennyachaffin.blogspot.com/201...

[Leonardo]

I checked out your author page, Kenny -- wow, you're very accomplished. Best wishes with the book. It looks like a good read and I'll have to check it out if I ever manage to find free time from my multiple lines of employment :-)

Leo

[Kenny]

Thank Leonardo. Just trying to make a go of this writing thing. :)

Much appreciated.

[Kenny]

Where is technology and in particular Artificial Intelligence taking us? I explore this in "Artificial Intelligence" one of the essays in How do we know?

How do we know? A few things we've learned from science.

From: Artificial Intelligence

The first Alien Intelligence we meet may not be from another planet, but from our own computer labs. Many of us walk around with a computer in our pocket capable of listening, parsing, and responding – sometimes even correctly – to our voice. We Google for information by typing in phrases, sentences or disconnected words and the artificial intelligence in Google’s search engine almost always comes back with what we are looking for. These dedicated applications are on the verge of intelligent behavior and could certainly in their domain be called intelligent. Other systems are even more so and in some cases demonstrate more generic intelligence such as the Watson system from IBM that recently defeated the all-time Jeopardy! champions. So how soon until we get to meet these Alien Intelligences of our own creation? We could see them perhaps within the century and almost certainly (provided we don’t kill ourselves off or get whacked with an asteroid) by next century. A Watson-like system is being rolled out by IBM to assist in medical diagnosis. Google, Google Voice, and Siri will continue to improve. New research into machine learning, user interfaces and the human brain are being brought from the lab into practice. It’s been a long and bumpy road, at least by technological progress measurement since that first Dartmouth conference on machine learning in 1956 when Marvin Minsky boldly predicted that "within a generation ... the problem of creating 'artificial intelligence' will substantially be solved."


....



Available from Amazon:
US Link: http://www.amazon.com/know-things-lea...

UK link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/know-things-l...

[Kenny]

New Evidence from research supports the Massive Impact theory of the Moon's formation which I wrote about in chapter 2 of this book. I've not posted it as a blog entry (like some others) but you can actually read it as part of the sample at Amazon. Enjoy.

BBC article on the new research results here:
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-envir...