TED Talk Thursday – How algorithms shape our world by Kevin Slavin

by | Mar 1, 2018 | Algorithms, physics, TED, TED Talks

According to TED.com : “We live in a world run by algorithms, computer programs that make decisions or solve problems for us. In this riveting, funny talk, Kevin Slavin shows how modern algorithms determine stock prices, espionage tactics, even the movies you watch. But, he asks: If we depend on complex algorithms to manage our daily decisions — when do we start to lose control?”

“Are you addicted to the dead-simple numbers game Drop 7 or Facebook’s Parking Wars? Blame Kevin Slavin and the game development company he co-founded in 2005, Area/Code, which makes clever game entertainments that enter the fabric of reality.”

“All this fun is powered by algorithms — as, increasingly, is our daily life. From the Google algorithms to the algos that give you “recommendations” online to those that automatically play the stock markets (and sometimes crash them): we may not realize it, but we live in the algoworld.”

“He says: “The quickest way to find out what the boundaries of reality are is to figure where they break.”‘

How algorithms shape our world by Kevin Slavin

 

For those of you not familiar with TED Talks here is a brief summery from www.ted.com: “TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences — the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK each summer — TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Project and Open TV Project, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize”

And here a brief summery of TEDx programs: “TEDx is an international community that organizes TED-style events anywhere and everywhere — celebrating locally-driven ideas and elevating them to a global stage. TEDx events are produced independently of TED conferences, each event curates speakers on their own, but based on TED’s format and rules.”

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I look forward to your thoughts and comments!

TED Talk Thursday – The fascinating physics of everyday life by Helen Czerski

by | Oct 26, 2017 | Inspiration, physics, TED, TED Talks

According to TED.com : “Physics doesn’t just happen in a fancy lab — it happens when you push a piece of buttered toast off the table or drop a couple of raisins in a fizzy drink or watch a coffee spill dry. Become a more interesting dinner guest as physicist Helen Czerski presents various concepts in physics you can become familiar with using everyday things found in your kitchen.”

 “This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxManchester, an independent event. TED editors featured it among our selections on the home page.”
“Dr. Helen Czerski has studied bubbles at sea and in the lab, has presented many highly-regarded BBC science documentaries and has told the stories of science (and especially of physics) on stage and in print.

Czerski’s academic home is the department of mechanical engineering at University College London in the UK. Her first book, Storm in a Teacup, was published in 2016 (2017 in the US) and shows how the biggest ideas in physics come to life in the world around us — and how the most mundane quirks of the everyday world open the door to the physics that every citizen needs to know.”

Enjoy!

The fascinating physics of everyday life by Helen Czerski

 

 

For those of you not familiar with TED Talks here is a brief summery from www.ted.com: “TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences — the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK each summer — TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Project and Open TV Project, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize”

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I look forward to your thoughts and comments!