BBC News reports that some genetic scientists have run up against a problem when using the Excel spreadsheet, which would "helpfully", automatically, and presumably without notification alter the data within a column. For example: "Gene symbols like SEPT2 (Septin 2) were found to be altered to "September 2".
One of the main sources of excitement at a Summer Olympics is watching sprinters break Olympic and world records. In this respect, the 2016 Rio Games was a bit of a bust. The only such record to be broken was by Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa in the Men's 400m final.
Jevons' Paradox concerns how increases in efficiency can lead to increases—rather than decreases—in consumption of resources. Designers expend a great deal of brainpower and passion on increasing the efficiency of their designs. The goal is often to decrease consumption of a resource, as a way of improving overall sustainability. In brief, the reasoning is that if a given task can be completed with fewer resources, then those resources will be conserved.
The slogan "form follows function" has long been associated with a minimalist view of good design. On the positive side, it has been used to mean that designs should be configured to fulfil their intended goals. On the negative side, it has been used to limit those goals to so-called basic needs only, to the exclusion of social goals.
A recent posting pointed to some lack of clarity about what a computer is. Is a computer anything that carries out automated, logical or arithmetical operations? Or, is it a particular kind of good, e.g., a PC and not an iPad?
Cameron has written about some of the problems with defining a computer today, but as some people remember computers used to be people. In fact, that is is the earliest definition: "A person who makes calculations or computations", from the earliest 17th century (thank you OED). It was only in the mid 20th century that the word included electronic devices.
What is a computer? Wikipedia currently gives the following definition:
A computer is a device that can be instructed to carry out an arbitrary set of arithmetic or logical operations automatically.
This definition is one that might be expected from a computer scientist. It is very broad and entirely functional, that is, it describes a computer strictly in terms of what it does.
To follow-up on some of the recent Olympics related blog posts, I'd like to direct your attention to an ad from Samsung, one of the sponsors of the 2016 Olympic. You may have seen it already, perhaps in an abbreviated, edited-for-TV version.
Known as "The Anthem", it shows people around the world singing each other's national anthems, particularly the lines that emphasize unity, humanity and progress. "One World One Anthem" it says, before wrapping up with by pointing out that Samsung is a
A recent edition of The Economist has two articles that make mention of drones. Semi-autonomous vehicles will certainly change things. But, will they change everything that their promoters claim?
One of the most salient technology-society issues in Olympic sport is that of enhancement. Consider my recent post on gene doping, for example. In general, the question is: When is the use of technology in a sport appropriate or acceptable?