Monday, November 29, 2010

Wendell Wallach blasts killer robots in the New York Times

Wendell Wallach, of Yale's Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics, is quoted in an article in yesterday's New York Times, expressing fear about the moral hazards posed by weaponized robots. Wendell joined us last April for a discussion of his book on the topic, Moral Machines.

I for one welcome our new gun-toting robotic overlords.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Speak geek: the world of made-up language

Caleb Cox, in an article in reghardware.com called "Speak geek: the world of made-up language," discusses invented languages and linguist Arika Okrent's recent book, The Land of Invented Languages. Mentioned in the article are languages such as Elvish, Klingon, John Wilkins' Analytical Language, James Cook Brown's Loglan, Esperanto, and Blissymbolics. GR, a friend of IS, says, "BTW, I have a soft spot for Wilkins; his is the only orthography based purely on semantics. Unfortunately the only fluent writer was Robert Hooke. News of his discovery of the universal joint was delayed for many years because he chose to write the original description in Wilkins' script!" Speaking of obscure languages, GR also suggests Complete Babylonian: A Teach Yourself Guide by Martin Worthington, saying "it is truly excellent and remarkably modern both in appearance and conception -- a must have for your bookshelf."