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Justin and Jason discuss Justin’s experiments with intermittent fasting, the latest on AnyFu, Justin’s call for an open Twitter, how to be a math or science rockstar, why the singularity is not coming, sci-fi predictions from 1987, storing 700 terabytes of data in a single gram of DNA, Jason’s thoughts on learning synthetic biology and the GenoCon competition, Jason’s teaching strategy for Catalyst and why he thinks Python will be a better learning language than Chipmunk Basic, Justin’s new Galaxy Nexus 7, how Google’s self-driving car is going to change everything, why WebRTC wil change the web, TrapWire and the new totalitarianism of surveillance technology, and the efficacy of using loss aversion to improve teacher performance.
The Catalyst program sounds fantastic. I would have loved something like that growing up. I taught myself a lot of those things over the years, but it would’ve been so much better with a group of like-minded kids.
On the topic of self driving cars and obsolescence: There’s a huge group of people of which you couldn’t pry them out of their cars. My wife would be one of them. She owns a ’68 Chevelle. Even if gas were $20/gallon and insurance was $1000/month, she’d still drive that thing. But that car isn’t her daily driver. We would still probably own a self-driving car for the day-to-day necessities.
Regarding the Singularity:
The title of that blog post is misleading. All this guy argues is that science isn’t growing exponentially, but linearly. Which means it won’t get there as fast as we’d like to. Ergo: it will get there eventually.
It’s also worth asking, how do we imagine Singularity will happen? I agree that the progress on general AI is not impressive. And I reject the idea that a super-intelligence will somehow emerge by itself from the interconnected sea of information we have created.
But none of this is necessary, because the most obvious way is copying a human mind into a digital machine (i.e. “mind uploading”). And for that you need three basic things:
a) A device to take an instant snapshot of all our nerve cells – and their states. (electrical, chemical)
b) A computer powerful enough to emulate billions of nerve cells and their interactions.
c) An understanding of nerve cell biology sufficiently detailed and precise to be able to replicate their behavior.
Note: once we have a) and b), we’ll quickly learn c).
Then answer to b) is, obviously, Moore’s law. Or more precisely – it’s generalization beyond integrated circuits. (Can’t remember now, but it has a name too.) Sure, we’re running close to the physical limits of current semiconductor technology, but we’ll get pass that. Just like we once dealt with the limits of relays, then vacuum tubes, then vanilla transistors – we’ll get past current tech too.
And it’s not much different with scanning technology. Just like megapixels increase on cameras every year, I’m pretty sure MRIs and things of that sort improve all the time. We’ll probably need at least one significant scientific breakthrough in scanning tech – much like with computing – but we’ll get there.
… Of course, I don’t need to explain how important it is to educate and inspire kids to become brilliant and audacious scientists to get there faster.
So Jason, I’m really counting on you here – that your science club will produce the genius who’ll invent the mind upload tech that will make me immortal… 😉
@Matt Gorecki – Thanks, I hope the Catalyst experiment goes as well as I think it will. 😉
Also, I agree that some people will prefer to drive because I’m definitely one of them! 😉
@Aleksander – Yep, I think you’re right on about a, b and c. While I believe there might be multiple paths to a general AI, replicating the human brain structure in-silica is a very likely option.
You guys make a good match on this podcast because Jason is like a loose (yet powerful) gun that shoots everywhere with ideas. And Justin has the patience to stop and aim. So you two guys could do real damage if combined cleverly.
@Jason Do you have any plans to open source the curriculum and materials for the course? My wife and I thought it might be fun to run this program locally.
@Ignacio – Wow, thanks! I like that analogy. 😉
Yeah, I think Justin and I make a pretty good team. Now that he’s moved just down the street (well inside the buffer zone BTW), who knows what might happen. 😉
@Matt Gorecki – That’s a really good idea. I already reserved CatalystAcademy.org with the thought that the kids could blog about their projects, but I think the idea of describing the curriculum in detail is a good one. I’ll definitely try to do that.
I really like the Catalyst Academy idea, and an open sourced curriculum would allow for it’s propagation in USA and abroad.
If you need any help on the CatalystAcademy.org site just contact me, i would gladly help out.
@Joao Da Silva – Thanks so much for the positive feedback and the friendly offer. 😉
Open twitter? Try rstatus https://rstat.us/ .It’s built around the ides of openess.
@Jason – your plan for teaching programming by controlling a person is exactly like this guys: http://drtechniko.com/2012/04/09/how-to-train-your-robot/ Seems like a feeling good method of doing things.
@Justin – I hope my comments on the last episode were not too depressing for you. Just wanted to offer an additional data point, hope you find success in whatever plan you try!
Jason & Justin, you guys watched any twit.tv lately?
In today’s TWiG there’s been a LOT of talk on recent Twitter changes for developers… And it doesn’t seem that bad after all.
On last week’s TWiG the guy from App.net was a guest at the beginning of the episode and it turns out App.net isn’t really a Twitter competitor.
And now I’m watching Tim O’Reilly on Triangulation and he’s got a DARPA grant to start some Maker spaces and mentoring in hundreds of high schools!
Kind of links to recent TZ shows. 😉
@Matt S – That’s funny. The “How to Train Your Robot” class is very similar to what I was planning on doing. Thanks for the link.
@Aleksander – Hopefully, Justin will have some time to listen to the show before this weekend’s podcast so we can get his take on hit. I’d be interested in hearing his take.
The DARPA grant to start Maker spaces is very cool. Also, I’ll have to check out that Triangulation podcast.
Regaring programming games, I recommend RoboRally.
The concept: You are a robot (with a LAZER!) and you are in a warehouse. You need to get from your current location to a flag(s). If you get to the last flag, you win.
Gameplay: Everyone starts at a specific area. Each player gets 9 cards. A card has a single simple instruction, either “Turn Left”, “Turn Right”, “Move One”, “Move Two”, “Move Three” or “Rotate.” The player then decides which 5 cards he/she wants to play. These cards are placed on the 5 places on your personal “computer”. The cards are placed in the order that you wish them to execute, and face-down.
Once everyone has programmed their robots, the chaos begins! Everyone turns around their first card and in order of importance (value on card) the robots move.
Sounds simple, until someone bumps you, or you accidentally mistake a left and right turn!
A round lasts for the duration of the 5 cards. Then everyone hands in their cards and gets new ones. Repeat.
Note that you are not allowed to change your cards while the round is active. You are forced to execute your moves, even if it means happily walking into a wall for 5 rounds, or standing in a lazer, or falling off the board (death).
To add even more chaos, for each point of damage, you get one less card. When you have taken 5 points of damage, your 5th register gets locked and you can’t change that card. On 6 damage your 4th gets locked, etc. At 9 you die.
This game might scare non-programmers intially, but I have my mom and my sister both loving the game, and we often have family get-togethers just to play a few rounds of RoboRally.
I would recommend the game to anyone, and it is a fun way to teach people that programming is not the start here then end there, programming is every little thing that happens inbetween.
Thanks for the podcasts!
Regards
Jaco
@Jaco Hamilton-Attwell – Very cool! Yeah, I think that’s pretty much what Justin was proposing, except that we wouldn’t have to invent it. 😉 Thanks so much for the link and the explanation.
Jason I’m very curious to follow along with your self-taught electronics. Especially which books or kits you’d recommend. Also are you thinking about sharing the CatalystAcademy lessons online? If it caught on you might even be able to find some outside funding.
@John Humphrey – As I mentioned in the last segment of episode 202, I’m a little disappointed in the efficiency of the electronics books I’ve encountered, but here are the ones I like:
First off, take a look at the website All About Circuits
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com
It’s basically six complete volumes on the subject available as HTML or as downloadable PDFs. It’s all free, comprehensive, and very well written, but it’s a little frustrating for someone like myself who’d much prefer a book, and especially since the volumes are like 500 pages each and way too long to print out. Then again maybe this problem will be solved once I get an iPad. 😉 Another shortcoming, however, is that there are no practice problems, which I think are absolutely required for learning a technical subject. I mean, imagine trying to teach yourself calculus without ever doing a problem. It’s just not going to work.
The good news is that the book Complete Electronics Self-Teaching Guide with Projects is fantastic in this regard.
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Electronics-Self-Teaching-Guide-Projects/dp/1118217322/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346015655&sr=1-1&keywords=complete+electronics+self-teaching+guide+with+projects
It’s extremely clear and efficient and about every couple of pages there are a set of simple questions or problems (with answers) geared to helping you master the material. The only shortcoming of the book is that it expects you to already know about 75% of what’s contained in the first volume of the All About Circuits series:
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/index.html
So, you’ll probably need to work through that first.
Another book I really like is Make: Electronics
http://www.amazon.com/Make-Electronics-Discovery-Charles-Platt/dp/0596153740
It’s very well-done, but compared to the previous two books, it’s much more hobbyist in nature. What I mean by that is that it’s much more project oriented and less focused on equations and circuit analysis. That said, it does provide explanations of the fundamental concepts and the projects are good for getting you into actually doing something with your hands, which is important if you ever want to be able to DO anything with this knowledge.
Finally, Electronics for Dummies is pretty good as well.
http://www.amazon.com/Electronics-Dummies-Cathleen-Shamieh/dp/0470286970/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346016561&sr=1-1&keywords=electronics+for+dummies
There’s a lot of overlap with the Make: Electronics book, but at only $15, why not grab it. Even if it only helps you to understand a handful of things that the Make book didn’t explain very well, then it’s well worth it in my opinion.
DISCLAIMER: So far, I’ve only worked through about two-thirds of Volume 1- DC, the first few chapters of Complete Electronics, about the first third of Make: Electronics, and have only paged through Electronics for Dummies, so take my reviews and recommendations with a grain of salt.
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I have every intention of putting the Catalyst Academy lessons online, it’s just going to be a matter of following through with it. 😉 But I think you’re right that putting all of that online would help us to gain attention, legitimacy and possibly even outside funding. I just can’t wait to get started on it!
Wow Jason, great links and insights! If GoFlow http://flowstateengaged.com/ don’t follow through with their tDCS device (their Kickstarter campaign was denied, and they’re currently researching FDA issues) I’ll be building my own (or at least I’m going to want to know exactly how a kit is working). Hence my reborn interest in electronics. Thank You!
@John Humphrey – Sure, no problem. 😉 Keep me posted on your progress.