Category: Geek stuff

If it involves physics, math, computer science, electronics or has general geek cachet, this is the place for it.

The metric system and estimation

Perhaps the best thing about the metric system (more formally, the International System of Units) is the way in which it allows for the easy estimation of many practical problems, and takes advantage of the intuitive connections people can make.

For instance, one millilitre (mL) of volume occupies a space of 1 centimetre (cm) by 1 cm by 1 cm. It is easy to imagine a cube that is 1 cm to a side, so it is easy to imagine what 1 mL of liquid would look like. Similarly, knowing that 1 litre (L) of water (a very familiar quantity of matter) has a mass of 1 kilogram (kg) allows a person to pretty easily consider what the weight of something in kilograms might be. A volume of 1000 L of water weighs one metric tonne, and occupies a space of one cubic metre.

The metric connections extend to other elements of science and everyday life. The metric temperature scale is well suited to a planet where water is exceptionally important. While calories are not strictly a metric unit, they do tie usefully into the common theme of water, with one calorie being the amount of energy required to heat 1 cubic centimetre (equivalent to 1 gram, and to 1 mL) of water by 1˚C. Note that ‘calories’ as expressed in relation to food are usually kilocalories: the amount of energy required to heat 1 L of water by 1˚C.

All very useful!

An alternative Turing Test

During a recent discussion with Tristan, the subject of the Turing Test arose. For those who are unfamiliar, the test is intended as a way to determine if a machine has intelligence. You set it up so that it can converse with a human being – for instance, through a text-based instant message type conversation – and if the person thinks they are talking with another human, it can be taken as evidence that the machine is intelligent.

Setting aside the question of how good an intelligence test this really is (a computer could pretty easily trawl a database of human conversations to produce convincing conversation), it seems like there is another sort of test that would be demonstrative of a different kind of intelligence. Namely, it would be when a machine or a computer program first becomes aware of itself as being a machine or computer program.

It is possible that no machine made by humans will ever develop that level of self awareness. Perhaps it is impossible to replicate whatever trick our brains use to turn flesh into consciousness. If it did happen, however, it seems like it could help to illuminate what self-understanding means, and what sort of mechanisms it requires.

The Wordy Shipmates

I was first exposed to Sarah Vowell through her entertaining contributions to This American Life and The Daily Show. In addition to being rather charming, she comes across as expressive and very nerdy. Those qualities are also evident in her short and engaging book on Puritan settlers in North America in the 17th century.

Vowell is an American patriot who is nonetheless acutely aware of the injustices in America’s history, from the earliest days of European contact to the present. Thrown in with the discussion of the founding of Rhode Island is a sophisticated conceptual criticism of Ronald Reagan and a moving expression of pure disgust about Abu Ghraib and the use of torture by the Bush administration. She is also delighted to celebrate the achievements of people she admires, and skilled at showing why what they did was important and people in the present should care.

While the book is written in an entertaining and informal style, the subject matter is serious. Vowell pokes some fun at the theological quirks of the Puritans, but she takes their disagreements and positions seriously. Even I found myself caring about the disputes of 17th century theologians. The book is also forthright about the brutality involved in European colonization – from smallpox epidemics that killed 90% of some native tribes to massacres in which men, women, and children are burned alive.

Vowell colours her work in with anecdotes and personal asides. The final result reminds me a bit of Monty Python – clever, funny work that demonstrates a real interest and knowledge about the sometimes-obscure subject matter behind it and a willingness to engage with challenging and controversial topics. One passage of analysis on a speech by Martin Luther King Jr. struck me as illustrative of her way of writing:

I happen to be with King in proclaiming the Sermon on the Mount’s call for love to be at the heart of Christian behaviour, and one of us got a Ph.D. in systematic theology.

I suspect Vowell is one of those authors whose entire canon I will eventually read.

Steve Jobs

I was sorry to hear this morning that Steve Jobs has died. I think he is a man who changed the world significantly, particularly in terms of how human beings and computers interact. Most of what has gotten better about computers since 1980 or so has been the ease and intuitiveness of using them, and Apple is responsible for a lot of that. Apple makes elegant machines that are pleasant to use and allow you to do good work on them. The iPod also substantially changed how people experience music, and brought a great deal of enjoyment to millions of people.

I hope computers and electronics in general continue to develop in that direction, though perhaps with less of the obsessive controlling quality that has also been part of the Apple philosophy.

I know very little about Steve Jobs as a man, but I appreciate the work he did and regret that he died so young.

No iPhone 5, reduced gadget envy

Apple shareholders and gadget geeks are lamenting how an iPhone 5 was not announced.

One thing that occurs to me is that owners of the iPhone 4 probably benefit. Nobody is going to feel left out or insecure because they have an iPhone 4 rather than the marginally improved 4S. A real iPhone 5, however, would have made a lot of people feel inadequate for having the ‘old’ model.

Of course, it is exactly that pattern of new gadget envy that has allowed Apple to charge such premium prices for their gear and derive such substantial profits.

Lens rental fun

All weekend I am going to have Canon’s 50mm f/1.2L lens at my disposal. It should be good for the concerts on Friday and Saturday as  well as my cousin’s wedding on Sunday.

It lets you do more with ambient light than is possible with the 50 1.8 and it is reasonably affordable to rent (not to buy). It’s also a big brute of a lens – not the sort of thing you want in your travel photography kit.

Cross-platform crypto

The world really needs a secure, free, easy-to-use, cross-platform encryption system. At the most basic, it would allow you to have a USB drive with encrypted contents and be able to access those contents using a passphrase from any computer – Mac, PC, Linux, etc – you happen to use.

Big bonus points if you can run the software without administrative privileges. That’s important, since so many work, public, and borrowed computers will not allow you to install software that requires an admin password.

I pleaded for such a thing back in 2008, but I still don’t think it exists.

Gravity without air resistance

I am glad someone actually went out and did this:

Among other things, it shows how our intuitions are often based on the limited range of conditions experienced by our ancestors on Earth, and thus reflective of only a subset of what is true about the universe generally. We expect air resistance to exist everywhere, despite the airless character of many stellar bodies.

Of course, science fiction authors seem to expect all moons and planets to not only have atmospheres, but have atmospheres that Kirk and company can breathe unaided, but that is a different misplaced assumption.

Constancy

There is a real sense in which this site has been the most constant part of my life since 2005. During that time, I moved from Vancouver to Oxford to Ottawa to Toronto. The group of people who I spent time with shifted several times. I moved from school to employment – from shooting using a Canon A510 point and shoot digital camera to using a 5D Mk II – from exploring the British isles by minibus to exploring North America by Greyhound.

The content has shifted somewhat, the banners have changed, but this is still basically the same thing it was six years ago – a way to stay in touch with friends around the world, discuss ideas, and generally think things through by writing them down.