Yacapaca

My thanks to the software team for looking after me in Kharkov so well last week. I was there to lay the groundwork for some really exciting new features we have planned for Yacapaca; not stuff I can talk about yet.

What I can talk about is the beautiful Pokrovsky Cathedral (photo); largely restored since my last visit. I was fortunate to have a flat with a great view of both Pokrovsky and Kharkov’s other two cathedrals, Blagoveschensky and Uspensky. Click on the photo for a few more pics.

I alluded to this idea last December, and it seems Larry Page has been thinking along the same lines – unsurprisingly, as Google is his company. I’m sticking with my prediction of 2013, but he seems to be hinting he thinks it will be sooner than that.

To paraphrase my previous post:

So far, you’ve seen computers in schools as things for kids to do spreadsheets or, gawdhelpus, Powerpoint presentations on. A combined typewriter and adding machine. But in fact, you already use one supercomputer regularly; it’s called Google. In future you will use many more without even thinking about it. And just how super do I mean? According to futurologist Ray Kurzweil, we can expect computer intelligence to match our own by 2013 (see graph) – just six years from now.

Try this thought-experiment. Thinks of fairly complex web search, the sort where you are not confident Google would give you the answers you need. Now imagine that Google gets a program that would allow it to write back to you and ask questions about your search, to understand it better. Plausible? Good. Now imagine that over four or five years, Google refine this program to the point where you can’t really tell whether it’s the program asking you questions, or another human being. Still plausible? Well guess what, your imaginary Google has just passed the Turing Test, the best-established benchmark for human-like intelligence in computers.

My takeaway from Larry’s presentation:

…there is less information in your DNA (about 600 MB) than in a modern operating system.

I suspect that is debatable as we still know very little about how DNA compresses information, but it is still a great start point for thinking about the issue.

If, like me, you keep thinking you’ve ‘got’ the web, only to then realise that its essence still eludes you, this little video essay is well worth four minutes of your time. It is a very witty introduction to the idea that the web is about conversation, not the static presentation of information. Everyone is spouting that these days, but Michael Wesch makes the concept really accessible.

Oh, and if you teach ICT, why not download the hi-res version and share it with your students?

(via John Battele, who also has an interview with the author)

I had the great privilege to spend Sunday with my friends at La Fiesta Escènica with the Circo Deros, currently touring South West Spain with their show Provoke in Venezia.

It struck me what a fantastic education the circus is for the young performers there. It’s full of excitement, adventure and romance – but at the same time absolute dedication, discipline and hard work are demanded of every member of the team.

Are we really doing the right thing pushing 90% of our youngsters down a route that is academic in form, even if not in content? Just as a thought-experiment, flip this on its head. Imagine, if you will, that after GCSEs 90% of students went into the circus for two years. Only the most introverted would be allowed the ‘second rate’ option of book learning.

What sort of society would that create? Submit your answer as a live performance of no less than 10 minutes, with video for the moderator to review later.

And speaking of video, here are my impressions of the performance itself.