Chris Hudak

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Take your latest CGI of an improbably-hued accretion disk and shove it. I wanted to watch future or other-world parents ragging on their conflicted, rebellious teenaged offspring;

Resources:

Caprica DVD
http://www.capricadvd.com/
Jane Espenson
http://www.janeespenson.com/

[From Down To Earth: An interview with Caprica Executive Producer Jane Espenson]

I’ve seen the first few episodes of this now, and it’s very good. Good enough that cancellation is inevitable I fear

What Do the Experts Say?

Ben Goertzel, Seth Baum, Ted Goertzel

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When will human-level AIs finally arrive? We don’t mean the narrow-AI software that already runs our trading systems, video games, battlebots and fraud detection systems. [From How Long Till Human-Level AI?]

It’s been RSN for a long time

“For the eleventh time, Inkwell rings in the New Year with a visit from Bruce Sterling, to address the State of the World and Things Various and Sundry…” Always good fun. [From Bruce Sterling’s State Of The World 2010]

Dr Peter Watts, a PhD biologist and a hell of a science fiction writer, talks about what it means that a bunch of climate scientists

Science doesn’t work despite scientists being asses. Science works, to at least some extent, because scientists are asses. Bickering and backstabbing are essential elements of the process. Haven’t any of these guys ever heard of “peer review”?

There’s this myth in wide circulation: rational, emotionless Vulcans in white coats, plumbing the secrets of the universe, their Scientific Methods unsullied by bias or emotionalism. Most people know it’s a myth, of course; they subscribe to a more nuanced view in which scientists are as petty and vain and human as anyone (and as egotistical as any therapist or financier), people who use scientific methodology to tamp down their human imperfections and manage some approximation of objectivity.

But that’s a myth too. The fact is, we are all humans; and humans come with dogma as standard equipment. We can no more shake off our biases than Liz Cheney could pay a compliment to Barack Obama. The best we can do– the best science can do– is make sure that at least, we get to choose among competing biases.

That’s how science works. It’s not a hippie love-in; it’s rugby. Every time you put out a paper, the guy you pissed off at last year’s Houston conference is gonna be laying in wait. Every time you think you’ve made a breakthrough, that asshole supervisor who told you you needed more data will be standing ready to shoot it down. You want to know how the Human Genome Project finished so far ahead of schedule? Because it was the Human Genome projects, two competing teams locked in bitter rivalry, one led by J. Craig Venter, one by Francis Collins — and from what I hear, those guys did not like each other at all.

Because As We All Know, The Green Party Runs the World.

(via Charlie Stross)

Previously:Hacked climate scientists’ emails in context – Boing Boing
More Insight on Those Leaked Climate Change Emails – Boing Boing

[From Scientist explains why climate scientists talk trash]

It’s not a surprise that the people attacking climate science don’t understand how science works.