This category contains posts that cover technology.
As we look out on the world, trying to understand it, we structure our knowledge of the information collected, across several dimensions. Spatial, temporal, static, dynamic, and reflect the organization of the information in our theories and experiments. We aim to make them reliable and reproducible, to serve as a firm basis for the implementation […]
Dimensions of Knowledge Read More »
We are each day learning more and more, by necessity, about epidemiology, virology, behavioral science, and all the other complex issues surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Our collective intelligence evolves, both at the level of the individual, as well as on the level of our businesses and larger communities, the policies that are being put in
Collective Intelligence Read More »
For a long time now technology made it possible for teams whose members are not physically together to collaborate effectively. There are multi billion dollar companies with over a thousand employees, and no offices. With the effectiveness of the social distancing measures due to the COVD-19 pandemic, we are seeing a much wider interest about
Culture of Remote Teams Read More »
The efficiency of a system is its ability to produce a certain amount of output per unit of input. Its resilience is its ability to withstand extreme variations in the conditions under which it must function. These two parameters are in a dynamic relationship, often requiring a tradeoff: maximizing the efficiency results in a brittle
Efficiency and Resilience Read More »
Between 2012 and 2018 the power of the infrastructure available for applications in artificial intelligence increased over three hundred thousand times. If it followed Moore’s law, it would have been much less, around 7 times or so. Stanford University in its 2019 report on AI, and in a blog post OpenAI analyzed and illustrated this
What is the cosmic origin of the elements in the human body? We know we are made of stars. But what kind of stars? You are made of elements that have been forged in exploding massive stars, in slowly dying low-mass stars, but also exploding white dwarfs, and merging neutron stars. On top of all
Our Cosmic Origins Read More »
Data visualization improves our ability to tell powerful stories about our understanding of the world. Modern tools become platforms for dynamic exploration, allowing anybody to ask novel questions. The best, like Gapminder or Our World In Data, support a strong argument of how fundamentally the human condition has improved worldwide, and effectively counter the daily
Data Visualization Read More »
The data we create in our activities, online and offline, constitutes a digital wealth, which we own and which we must preserve. Backing up this data is essential, and being able to use it after restoring it. Online services are now legally obliged to allow you to download your data, and many, like Facebook, Google,
Backup and Restore Read More »
Just like organisms preserve their identity and attack the other, organizations have an immune system as well. Especially successful ones, which can devote even more resources to confirm that what they do is right. But in rapidly changing times, when uncertainty rules, this can prevent necessary experiments that discover what will define success in the
Organizational Immune Reactions Read More »
Social networks are connecting over two billion people, soon hopefully all eight billion, and have changed the way we interact. We like to complain about them, but our positions are contradictory. We want connection limits to be lifted, but pretend that all the connections should be meaningful. Algorithmic newsfeeds appear arbitrary to us, but we
Social Network Paradoxes Read More »
