Search Results for: Ender

Switching from linux to mac

So, I caved. I crumbled like a biscuit in a blender. I am now the smug owner of a MacBook Air, and it really is wonderful. I went 10 days without rebooting before needing a firmware upgrade, and both sleep and wireless work flawlessly. Here are the bells and whistles that make my brain and […]

The Turing tournament – a proposal for a reformulation of the Turing Test

Introduction Describing the Turing Tournament Comparing the Turing Test and the Turing Tournament Devising new rules, and non-linguistic competitors But is it intelligent? MH: Are you a computer? Dell: Nope. MH: You’d be surprised how many fall for that one. Dell: Not me. —— MH: What’s fifty-six times thirty-three? Dell: One thousand eight hundred forty-eight. […]

House MD

House MD is the finest show on TV. And Batman Begins was really good. I loved Ender’s Game and Speaker for the dead even more, but this article about his views reminded me that he’s a troublesome man and it’s a strange book. It’s weird, because I loved the books, and yet now I have […]

The Open Manifesto

I don’t like the word ‘player’. Instead, I think I’d almost rather be called a ‘slut’. Except, like player, it has very gender-specific connotations, and so simplifications – but opposite ones. While a player is active, wilful, manipulative, objectifying, a slut is passive, a manipulated object lacking the will to guide his/her own behaviour. So, […]