tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3312391248557070802024-03-05T06:11:55.593+01:00The SmartS Club*S*ience *m*eets *art* and *S*ocial sciencesCarsten Huchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861377889894216646noreply@blogger.comBlogger114125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-331239124855707080.post-73540483928902353752024-01-08T15:11:00.004+01:002024-01-08T15:11:34.685+01:00We should never approve of Plagiarism Light<p>Plagiarism is The thing these days. Powerful software sifts through scientific work of everybody (who has some visibility), it seems. And the software finds huge chunks of copied/re-used text and discovered quite a few rascals in the community and many examples of shady behavior. And there are consequences for the authors of many a scientific thesis. This is good.</p><p>Now there are voices promoting some exception from scrutiny when writing a PhD thesis. They call it 'modular writing'. It would allow you to re-use existing text (from textbooks, published papers, news-articles...) in, e.g., the introduction, the paragraph on scientific background, etc. The argument is that those parts aren't scientifically original anyway, english isn't the native language for many PhD students and requiring them to wirte original text supposedly puts some unneccessary burden on them. </p><p>Well. No. </p><p>A PhD-thesis is *not* just another certificate you frame and hang over the TV to have something to brag about. You get your PhD for having successfully entered the scientific community as a responsible, independent scientist. The door is open for you to contribute to scientific journals, conferences, debates. The language for this is (broken) english. And the currency is reputation. You rightfully lose that if you plagiarize. You are no scientist if you don't respect the work of peers.<br /></p><p>(there is, however, a big difference in the value of text and the meaning of plagiarism if we compare hard sciences and soft sciences - but this is another story)<br /></p>Carsten Huchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861377889894216646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-331239124855707080.post-20877519015220317112024-01-02T12:39:00.002+01:002024-01-02T12:53:00.409+01:00AI is biased - well, that's the whole point!<p>Artificial Intelligence is a misnomer.</p><p>Does anybody have an idea of what human intelligence (the non-artificial one) is? Over here in Germany Intelligenz is absolutely not the same thing as intelligence represented with a capital I in CIA, for example. That CIA-one was most probably the intelligence that was meant to be artificially emulated in the 50s, 60s, 70s... And quite successfully so.</p><p>Today, AI is widely perceived to be an imitation, a parallel realization, or even a substitute of the human intelligence that suposedly sets us apart from every other rock. Remember the times when your science-inclined parents explained to you how the behavior of snails is nothing more than the output of a hardwired machine? Same for the canary, the turtle under you bed, and the dog. (It was hard to believe how the malevolent fits of my cat were hardwired and not real, genuine evil. But it was.) Intelligence was nicely reserved for us humans. That appears to get questioned. The definition of intelligence was usually a list of things unintelligent conversation-equipment would not be able of doing. This nicely excluded everything that didn't talk. Fish were out. Insects, obviously! too. But on closer inspection it didn't really hold. And it becomes every more clear that a real definition of intelligence - the human one with a 'z' in german - is sorely lacking.</p><p></p><p>Let's briefly dip into the hotly debated problem of bias in Large Language Models - which blew us laypeople away when they popped out of nothing earlier last year. We all played with the most popular AI-Apps and they are truly impressive (some users lamented the lack of accuracy when answering content-related questions. But that is not what those systems are built for, anyway.).</p><p>There sure enough is a widely documented problem when using those tools to sift through CVs or when asking for a suggestion of what to look for in a perfect candidate for an engineering position. The results unsurprisingly perpetuate clichées and stereotypes as the data-base is a western-centered a pile from a male-dominated past (past we hope) and it is filled with the everyday patterns of prejudice.</p><p>It is important to remain aware of this, but it is not at all surprising let alone malevolent. The AI we amateurs tinker with is a system trained to find - and repeat - patterns. It is probably best compared to our 'intuition' or, yes, bias we as humans are endowed with. The pattern of driving a car is - prejudice, bias... somehow. We repeat patterns we were trained to recognize without using our reasoning brain, which is too slow and too close to consciousness. You realize that best when you apply this competence in the wrong environment. I emember the headaches after the first day of driving on streets in the UK. The trained patterns have to be overriden by reason, by inellect - maybe 'intelligence'. Or to call Daniel Kahnemann to help - the software we today know as AI (or large language models) emulates quite nicely the fast part of thinking, not the slow part. So while we are 'thinking fast and slow' we have to stay aware of the fact that the AI-apps of 2023 are pattern-reproducing devices, they are bias-repeaters, they are thinking fast but there is no reasoning.</p><p>Reasoning, the slow part of thinking, is left to us.</p><p>For now.</p><p><br /></p>Carsten Huchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861377889894216646noreply@blogger.com0Berlin, Germany52.520006599999988 13.40495424.209772763821142 -21.751296 80.830240436178826 48.561204000000004tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-331239124855707080.post-67234716368728757082021-03-13T19:31:00.006+01:002021-03-13T19:36:04.356+01:00Driven by rotten Dinosaurs<p>My son is 15 years old. He asked me what a FAX-machine was. He get's the strange concept of CDs because there is a rack full with them next to the bookshelf, which contains tons of paper bound together in colorful bundles, called 'books'. He still accepts that some screens don't react to you punching your fingers on them. He repeatedly asks why my 'car' (he speaks the quotation marks) is powered by 'rotten dinosaurs'. At the same time he writes an email to Elon Musks<a href="https://neuralink.com/" target="_blank"> Neuralink</a> asking for an apprenticeship and sets up <a href="https://discord.com/" target="_blank">discord-servers </a>for don't-ask-me-what. And slowly I am learning that it is a very good thing to be detached from historic technology, as you don't try to preserve an outdated concept while aiming to innovate. The optimized light-bulb would be an a wee bit more efficient, tiny light-bulb. But not a LED. An optimized FAX would probably handle paper differently - it would not be a file-transfer-system. Hyper-modern CDs might have tenfold capacity and would use x-rays to read and write. It would not be a streaming service.</p><p>How astonishingly revolutionary did the<a href="https://www.smarts-club.com/2012/01/while-some-are-wondering-why-scientists.html" target="_blank"> crowd-sourcing of twitter </a>look less than a decade ago, because it was not an extension of an existing concept modernized; and how normal is it today?! Almost unbelievable <a href="https://www.smarts-club.com/2010/04/you-dont-want-i-pad-you-are-getting-old.html" target="_blank">what a shakeup the iPad was</a>; look at the pitying smile of my son when he looks at my iPad-1 (which was only called iPad then and is now referred to as 'the old iPad') - 'hide it when my friends come over!'</p><p>Obviously this must be part of modern education: don't dig into the concepts of today as a given to be adapted but rather look how they are embedded in today's thinking and try to understand their limits. Let an amazing goal search for its concept rather than tweaking existing concepts to somehow, one day, maybe reach a new goal. </p><p>Drive an idea by the sun of audacity rather than by rotten dinosaurs.</p>Carsten Huchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861377889894216646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-331239124855707080.post-24667616980829662982020-11-02T12:37:00.007+01:002020-11-02T12:44:35.700+01:00Malignant narcissists feed off your brain<p>Whoever has been there knows it: every day you try harder to understand what a malignant narcissist is doing to you. And then you try all night, too. You warp your brain, wrench your soul. You fail. </p><p>Why?</p><p>Because you can't. There is no way to understand morally corrupt people which have the whole universe centered around their defective ego.</p><p>This trying to do so at some point consumes all of your brain-power and it hurts, it starts consuming you.<br /></p><p>But once you got rid of them there is an enormous freedom and a new love for the good that is in most people. The windows swing open, fresh air comes in, you see the sun or smell the warm rain. The whole world appears to smile.<br /></p><p>One malignant narcissist will start to lose his grip on us.</p><p>Tomorrow.<br /></p>Carsten Huchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861377889894216646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-331239124855707080.post-72219937720290361052020-05-22T18:44:00.003+02:002020-05-22T18:44:54.247+02:00They talk!<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 35.4px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The air is clear and warm. No artificial lights anywhere. The moon is lingering lazily in the trees lining the river. Some fireflies are having a good time, switching their glow on and off rather randomly - in one group they seem to synchronize but then it is random again. It reappears: a few bugs are flashing simultaneously at first, then more of them join in, and then even more until a huge cloud of insects is flashing in tune.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 35.4px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Are they doing this on purpose? Do they even know that they are glowing? Do they have a will to turn their light on and off? Obviously they do communicate. But why? How do they do it? </span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 35.4px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Or don’t they? </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></div>
Carsten Huchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861377889894216646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-331239124855707080.post-13272056832485336102020-05-18T21:03:00.005+02:002020-05-18T21:05:29.086+02:00Of Comets, Clouds and Bees<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 35.4px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">On a wonderful summer night you lie in the grass - gaze into the dark sky, and let your thoughts wander - that shiny thing over there is an airplane, this a distant star, ISS disappears in the earth’s shadow - what a tiny box to be in! - where are the planets, how far can I see? You observe falling stars that are whizzing through the atmosphere at a delightfully high rate. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 35.4px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 35.4px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Why are there so many of them that night? Why do comets return? When? What is this strange thing called infinity. And why does infinity only go one way - infinitely into the future, but not infinitely into the past; infinitely far away, but not infinitely close, infinitely hot, but not infinitely cold, infinitely loud, but not infinitely silent? Why do things never end but did start at a certain point? </span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 35.4px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Why?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 35.4px; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;">
<br />
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 35.4px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The air is clear and warm. No artificial lights anywhere. The moon is lingering lazily in the trees lining the river. Some fireflies are having a good time, switching their glow on and off rather randomly - in one group they seem to synchronize but then it is random again. It reappears: a few bugs are flashing simultaneously at first, then more of them join in, and then even more until a huge cloud of insects is flashing in tune.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 35.4px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Are they doing this on purpose? Do they even know that they are glowing? Do they have a will to turn their light on and off? Obviously they do communicate. But why? How do they do it? </span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 35.4px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Or don’t they? </span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 35.4px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 35.4px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">A field of clouds is passing the pale silhouette of the moon. Why is the moon so big tonight? Do you see the ripples in the cloud-structure? A very regular hatching. What amazing regularities! How do the clouds know how to organize? Obviously the droplets communicate. But how? </span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 35.4px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Or don’t they?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 35.4px; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 35.4px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The delight of looking at the world in utter amazement is followed by a strong emotion when something appears to be not completely random or even decidedly regular. In those satisfying moments there appears to be a driver, a concept, a big hidden meaning of it all.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 35.4px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Is there?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 35.4px; min-height: 14px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 35.4px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">The interaction between the individual and the world is sensual at first. Some sight, some sound, the summer-heat. It is the vegetative reaction. With those sensations - clearly located in the deep archaic parts of our brain - we don’t differ much from our early ancestors. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 35.4px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">
</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 35.4px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">Or do we?</span></div>
Carsten Huchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861377889894216646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-331239124855707080.post-16378532555903053312019-05-13T22:18:00.002+02:002019-05-13T22:56:31.575+02:00The Talking Skyscraper<div style="text-align: justify;">
Have you ever been at the construction-site of a high-rise and experienced the sound-cocktail of machines, colliding materials, the blasting boom-boxes, shouting workers? And have you then returned to the same place years later; when the building is finished? Where are the echoes of these past sounds while you wait at the reception? What do you experience during an awkward elevator-ride? People with blank stares, no talking, maybe some music... but nothing, absolutely nothing audible from the past. Now have a closer look. See the scratches at the wall, maybe a sneaky footprint in the concrete behind an emergency-exit, a chipped wooden frame? Static traces from the past. Petrified life.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And now imagine a new construction-technique being introduced. Let some walls be written by massive 3D-printers, 'writing' threads of concrete layer by layer in quick scanning motion with preprogrammed perfection. All neat, all nice. And then modify the 3D-printer. You pick up the sound of the environment and send it to the nozzle of the printer. The sound acoustically modulates the thickness of the concrete-threads. The barely visible high-frequency modulation is similar to the modulated grooves in your beloved vinyl-records at home. Maybe a bit more pronounced. These ripples in the wall will persist once the concrete is dry and you could play back the record of past life with an appropriate scanner moving line by line across the wall and reading out the acoustic imprint.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Let's do it.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
We will live in talking skyscrapers.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
(inspired by exchanges with <a href="https://www.udk-berlin.de/personen/detailansicht/person/show/norbert-palz/" target="_blank">Norbert Palz</a> about artistic experiments of <a href="http://www.new-territories.com/blog/?p=2161" target="_blank">Francoise Roche</a>)</div>
Carsten Huchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861377889894216646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-331239124855707080.post-10616513303451336922018-12-14T11:59:00.002+01:002019-05-13T16:38:28.482+02:00Go get them in the subway!<div style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: small;">Science-festivals are booming, open house events are packed and it looks like every science-institution of class has to have an artist in residence program. </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: small;">At the same time ‚alternative facts‘ are part of a populist surge that globally shakes societies.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">What are we doing wrong?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">Conventional communication addresses those who are already interested in science. We are preaching to the converted. But if scientific knowledge is to show an effect for society ‚everybody‘ has to be reached - especially those who skip the science-part in the newspaper or wouldn’t lose sleep for a science-night.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">In order to reach those ‚non-believers‘ Paul-Drude-Institut has brought MTL (a concept developed by the greek organization SciCo) to Berlin, presenting science of nine Leibniz-institutes and DLR in 5 subway stations. This experiment during Berlin Science Week was new to everybody involved. Mercedes Reischel (transfer-manager at PDI) found a wonderful partner in Berlins BVG, the Science Week put MTL on the podium of the press-conference with the Major and all Leibniz-institutes showed enormous tolerance to the little hiccups such an experimental approach brings along.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">Nobody had a clue: how do school-kids react to water fleas under a microscope? What touches the senior citizen who is confronted with wildlife research? What does the streetmusician ask the ultrasound-physicist?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">The experience for all sides is enormous. This format is a small but important step to find new science-friends. And yes, we did help with physics homework…</span></div>
<div style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">(this appeared in <a href="http://www.fv-berlin.de/oeffentlichkeitsarbeit/verbundjournal-1/pdfs/verbund111.pdf" target="_blank">VerbundJournal</a> of Forschungsverbund Berlin)</span></div>
Carsten Huchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861377889894216646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-331239124855707080.post-34929869241463662242018-11-04T17:13:00.000+01:002018-11-05T08:52:02.632+01:00How Does Knowledge Get Into Society? A fly-by-artist-in-residence and a Dialogue<span style="font-family: "din next w01 medium";"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnP5jO15aEJkTgYP4b_i8ahUqnfqbnG4U_MiSm4Izh8zsCYaMEXyMF32DbNzAUtjQmMailXIhJ92ogY771ysDBo-4kX23UKQl1DFvD0lYD9C5ULfFdO8TeBYOZs9pz1r6rgiFA5OVqoa2K/s1600/Brain-Scoiety.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="448" data-original-width="720" height="123" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnP5jO15aEJkTgYP4b_i8ahUqnfqbnG4U_MiSm4Izh8zsCYaMEXyMF32DbNzAUtjQmMailXIhJ92ogY771ysDBo-4kX23UKQl1DFvD0lYD9C5ULfFdO8TeBYOZs9pz1r6rgiFA5OVqoa2K/s200/Brain-Scoiety.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
The artist Sadie Weis was shadowing some of the scientists at Paul-Drude-Institut (a research-institute for nanomaterials) for eight weeks, observing the way they work, how scientists communicate with eachother, how they explain stuff to an outsider. The result of this dialogue is a light-installation and - maybe more important for the scientists involved - a reflection of the scientists and of the artist on the languages they use. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
T<span lang="EN-US">his project of an artist in a fly-by-residency will be wrapped up on Saturday, November 10th with a p</span>resentation by the artist Sadie Weis and a panel discussion on differences and similarities in the way artists and scientists communicate with the outside world</div>
<br />
<span lang="EN-US"> </span>November 10, 2018 from 14-18<br />
Paul-Drude-Institut für Festkörperelektronik<br />
<span lang="EN-US">Hausvogteiplatz 5–7, Berlin-Mitte</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"> Germany</span><br />
<div class="bodytext" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: "DIN Next W01 Regular", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="bodytext" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: "DIN Next W01 Regular", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "din next w01 medium";"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #990000;">For <i>the Dialogue,</i> please register at</span></span><span style="font-family: "din next w01 medium";"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "din next w01 medium";"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="mailto:exhibition@pdi-berlin.de" style="color: #004489; text-decoration: none;">exhibition@pdi-berlin.de</a></span></span><span style="font-family: "din next w01 medium";"><span lang="EN-US">.</span></span> </div>
<br />
Der Dialog wird auf Deutsch stattfinden<br />
<span style="font-family: "din next w01 medium";">"Wie kommt das Wissen in die Gesellschaft?"</span><br />
<div class="indent" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: "DIN Next W01 Regular", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<div class="indent">
<div class="bodytext" style="padding: 0px;">
Sadie Weis, Künstlerin</div>
Prof. Dr. Liane G. Benning, GFZ Potsdam<br />
Prof. Dr. Norbert Palz, Vizepräsident der Universität der Künste, Berlin<br />
Josef Zens, Leiter Medien und Kommunikation, GFZ Potsdam<br />
Moderation: Dr. Carsten Hucho, Transfer, Paul-Drude-Institut, Berlin</div>
<div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: "DIN Next W01 Regular", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
</div>
<div class="bodytext" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: "DIN Next W01 Regular", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; padding: 0px;">
<span lang="EN-US">More information on: <span style="font-family: "din next w01 medium";"><a class="external-link-new-window" href="http://www.sadieweis.com/" style="color: #004489; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">www.sadieweis.com</a></span></span>, <span style="font-family: "din next w01 medium";"><a class="external-link-new-window" href="http://grafox.pdi-berlin.de/" style="color: #004489; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">grafox.pdi-berlin.de</a></span>, <span style="font-family: "din next w01 medium";"><a href="http://www.berlinscienceweek.com/" style="color: #004489; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">www.berlinscienceweek.com</a></span></div>
<div class="bodytext" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: "DIN Next W01 Regular", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; padding: 0px;">
<span lang="EN-US"></span></div>
<div class="bodytext" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: "DIN Next W01 Regular", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />Carsten Huchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861377889894216646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-331239124855707080.post-17398314727400945512018-10-21T18:23:00.000+02:002018-10-21T18:27:48.461+02:00How can your research have an impact, if you don't care about knowledge-transfer?<h3>
Research can be relevant but ineffective</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
One important difference between basic research and applied research is the time it takes for the generated knowledge to become effective in society. This effectiveness is generally measured in economic terms but is certainly much wider in scope. While it is obvious that application-driven research shows an effect in society much faster than fundamental research, the consequences of fundamental studies can be vastly bigger. The effects of application-oriented or application driven research tend to be rather incremental, while basic research has the potential to be truly disruptive.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But then -</div>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
The potential has to be 'activated' by knowledge transfer</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
No matter on which end of the scientific scale your research is located - and definitely independent of your personal preferences - the <i>potential</i> societal impact of research can be extremely high but a real impact being totally absent. Obviously, the knowledge gained has to be actively transferred into society. And this is another big difference between basic and applied research: application oriented science has the process for knowledge-transfer embedded in its strategy. Knowledge-transfer (here often referred to as technology-transfer) is already part of its fabric while for fundamental research it is generally not.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But only with adequate knowledge-transfer activities does knowledge have a chance to reach its target-audience. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This transfer comprises of the audience-specific <i>translation</i> of research-based knowledge, which makes it usable. And only with adequate motivation and enabling of the potential recipient to understand the offer does the scientific knowledge that was so admirably transferred get absorbed and can be 'used'.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
There simply is no impact of 'relevant' research without these complex transfer-activities.</div>
<br />Carsten Huchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861377889894216646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-331239124855707080.post-12719472591325934992018-04-12T22:48:00.001+02:002018-04-12T22:51:26.489+02:00How can you do knowledge transfer if you have no knowledge?<div style="text-align: justify;">
I just had to endure another few minutes of Michio Kaku rambling about something he does not even start to understand: free will. Physics, he says, puts an <a href="http://bigthink.com/videos/why-physics-ends-the-free-will-debate" target="_blank">end to the debate about free will</a>. His reasoning? After lots of 'Einstein' and 'Heisenberg' iconography ('god does not play dice', 'there is uncertainty'), repeating the simple and wrong 'an electron is everywhere at the same time' he arrives at the oh-so mind-numbing and wrong banality that we have a free will because there is uncertainty dominating physics. This makes the act of a murderer unpredictable and really evil (as compared to the Newton-driven murderer whos actions are predisposed by Newtons laws. Everything would be deterministic from the beginning of time - everything could be calculated, nothing would be left to chance ... hey, Michio, there is more to the world than crude mechanics .... and therefore that fella would be guilt-free (talking of the physics-laws-driven killer, not Michio, who, of course is guilty as hell. Guilty of oversimplifying).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So non-determinism equals free will. Yes? Got it right? All memebers of the Heisenberg-family (electrons, small particles...), who's position is 'everywhere at the same time' (according to 'theoretical physicist' Michio Kaku) have free will. sure.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
f§$k no!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
non-determinism is not free will!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Popularizing science the way this guy does is popularizing ignorance.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
hey.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I did not have to watch him.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But I did.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Proving that I have no free will. At all.</div>
Carsten Huchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861377889894216646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-331239124855707080.post-82891612303312248592018-01-08T13:33:00.000+01:002018-01-08T13:33:41.013+01:00dumbing down<div style="text-align: justify;">
One of my fellow smart_'sses just published a book! 😀</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In german 😢</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So, this is the moment to learn one of the less accessible languages on the planet.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Or have your german-speaking friend make this book a huge success and it will be translated to any language you understand. Or english.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Since the essays are a lot about dumbing-down mankind by drowning us in ubiquituous babbling, let me keep it short:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Congratulations Daniel Rapoport, <a href="http://www.eulenspiegel.com/verlage/das-neue-berlin/titel/anteil-des-redens-an-der-affenwerdung-des-menschen.html" target="_blank">it's a book!</a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />Carsten Huchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861377889894216646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-331239124855707080.post-50613031415483160812017-06-19T11:37:00.000+02:002017-06-19T11:45:06.562+02:00Money does not solve all your problems<div style="text-align: justify;">
Yeah right. People without money hear that all the time. Don't touch my sportscar!<br />
James Altucher got that straight by completing the phrase. "Money does not solve all your problems - but it solves your money-problems"<br />
Which is a lot.<br />
And a driving force behind his extremely successful blog, <a href="http://www.jamesaltucher.com/" target="_blank">Altucher Confidential.</a><br />
<br />
And he is part of the the '10 easy steps to...', '10 things to take when you go to Mars' - advice columns that infest the net. I once wrote so - mildly critical - spotting the now legendary (and then half-legendary) guy close to this bunch of click-baiters <a href="http://www.smarts-club.com/2011/12/3-things-you-should-never-forget.html" target="_blank">(here)</a>. He was personally offended and posted quite a nice reply - he saw himself as actually helping people (what he did). Got close to Yoga (through personal experience). And his writing was really fast and great.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It just sometimes smelled like there was a business-idea somewhere in the machine-room. And indeed, we now get these never-ending videos where you are strung along ('wait, I will tell you my biggest secret at the end...' - I never waited. And I am still working for money).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
James Altucher is entertaining. A quick mind. And I am sure he would not comment the same way he did in those old days. No allergic reactions to '10 easy steps to...' - except that The World at large has reacted:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Now '9 (NINE) steps to...'-lists have become fashionable.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Yay! </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
(I am not sure they have understood my point)</div>
<br />Carsten Huchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861377889894216646noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-331239124855707080.post-3895188933417783072017-03-07T15:57:00.000+01:002017-03-07T15:57:19.825+01:00Against Empathy<div style="text-align: justify;">
It is magic.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Every day at 1 pm straight Smart-S gets hit by a little click-storm. Nothing dangerous - far from a DOS attack. It actually warms my heart to know that somebody has made some code crawl this little-known dusty corner of the net to see what has been deposited there. Some empathetic robot silently weeping when things get rough in the world of the smart-ss's (does it ever?) and chuckling about the shallow jokes (are there any?). Cute.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
After observing this for a few months, though, I start to wonder whether that little lump of bytes couldn't be extended a bit so it is able to leave some, umm, comments? Maybe? Hello?!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Some feedback (supportive, controversial or otherwise) would be nice for once!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
What good is a silent empathetic reader, ultimately - be it a machine or humanoid?</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It is like that ever-loving mother who listens to the crap you do in your childhood, the annoying stuff you call freedom while growing up, your self-pity when you fail just another relationship and run away from the n-th marriage. She stays empathetic, keeps nodding, back-patting even when your self-love explodes to become narcissism, when you sacrifice everything and everyone just to make yourself shine... empathy, 'support', hugs - an eternal flow of destructive 'yes'es. Empathy, the goodhearted, naive little sister of the hideous teenager called pity.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
When I was wondering what silent empathy is good for I came across a review of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Against-Empathy-Case-Rational-Compassion/dp/0062339338" style="background-color: #fafafa; box-sizing: border-box; color: #d85819; font-family: "Gotham Narrow SSm A", "Gotham Narrow SSm B"; font-size: 14px; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none;"><i style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion</i></a><span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #263238; font-family: "gotham narrow ssm a" , "gotham narrow ssm b"; font-size: 14px;"> by Paul Bloom <a href="http://bigthink.com/videos/paul-bloom-explains-why-empathy-is-bad?utm_source=Big+Think+Weekly+Newsletter+Subscribers&utm_campaign=045306df7a-WeeklyNewsletter012617&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6d098f42ff-045306df7a-38590390" target="_blank">(here)</a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
He goes beyond the pure semantics: While Empathy can lead to mind-blurring commiserations which essentially amplify and stabilize problems rather than attacking them, compassion wakes up the rage, it fires up dissent and outrage and strives to get up and actually change things. Empathy is for the self-pitying willing to sink ever deeper, Compassion is less cozy, more engaging and it has the potential to change the world.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So, come on, you little badly-programmed web-crawlers can you please move on?! Get your tear-stained sappy code out of here and leave this site alone.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Thanx.</div>
Carsten Huchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861377889894216646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-331239124855707080.post-40535233611758687722017-01-28T18:16:00.000+01:002017-02-07T20:34:12.206+01:00He tore out the heart<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">What made America greater than this:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">With conquering limbs astride from land to land</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">„Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!“ cries she</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">With silent lips. „Give me your tired, your poor,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,</span><i style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I lift my lamp beside the golden door.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Emma Lazarus, 1883 </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Statue of Liberty</span>Carsten Huchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861377889894216646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-331239124855707080.post-7268146239612986012017-01-02T16:27:00.002+01:002017-01-02T16:27:22.987+01:00Dead, right?Sometimes you are alive. Sometimes you are dead.<br />
Well, you feel like it.<br />
Which is strange. Because, I suppose, when you are dead - how does it feel? Deadish? I thought the whole concept of being dead is that all that conscious stuff - and very much so the 'feeling'-thingy - vanishes.<br />
Exactly what you sometimes yearn for.<br />
When you are too destroyed to get up, for example. New-Years' morning, when you feel like you are dead. Well.<br />
We talked about it.<br />
So.<br />
My blog was dead.<br />
When I had to renew my payment-details I got trapped in some super-smart login loop, that always told me to renew my payment-details before I could log-in to go to... you got the idea.<br />
Now I got some reanimation done and there we go again.<br />
Life looks much better now.<br />
Even though some things look very non-ok.<br />
But let's not talk politics.<br />
Or emotional, private stuff.<br />
thanx.Carsten Huchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861377889894216646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-331239124855707080.post-30113644729944554232016-07-12T13:54:00.000+02:002016-07-12T13:54:00.033+02:00Dave and Bea<div style="text-align: justify;">
Every now and then a memory from my early coding-years pops up in my mind.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
When I had acquired my Atari 1040F (1MB RAM, 100MB external harddrive), I was of course hex-dumping the OS and as the programmers obviously never had worked with that much space before (I believe my first Apple ][ had 8kB) they just bumbled around wasting Bits - in the middle of all the tech-stuff there was the line "Dave Staugas loves Bea Habling". Just so. In the ROM.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It never got out of my brain again.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And it popped up again right now. I believe I can only lay it at rest if I know:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
... did they eventually get together? </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Can you please tell me?</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
(thanks)</div>
Carsten Huchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861377889894216646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-331239124855707080.post-5699938000102800512016-06-27T15:38:00.001+02:002016-06-27T15:38:35.480+02:00Indicators of scientific excellence - where are they?<div style="text-align: justify;">
The discussion about reputation-metrics in science is dragging on. By now everybody knows the standard indicators (publications, impact-factor, citations,...), everybody uses them, everybody criticises them - and everybody ignores them if necessary. It has become a ritual to do metrics-bashing (while boasting about the own Hirsch-factor). Something has to happen. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Now. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
(It won't.)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
While researching new metrics can earn you a living, the output, quite frankly, can bore you to tears. The same folks that were unable to show how scientific excellence maps onto numbers, now open the floodgates. They spread their concept of 'excellence by Excel' from research to knowledge-transfer to impact on society - expanding the food-chain to be tagged. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Get real! </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
What societal impact does a scientific result have? The discovery of superconductivity? Research on linguistics of micro-languages? Any result: societal impact? Good luck!</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The science-community is feeling the grip of the bureaucrats while science-funding is following the mirage of 'efficiency'. It looks as if everybody is fooled into submission.You know the line: 'I believe it is crap but since everybody is doing it, so should we' - which is heard from scientists and bureaucrats alike. So they all play those 'boredgames'.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The science-bureaucrats are the ones who need some computable numbers to rank, judge, praise or dismiss science and scientists - because<i> they so deeply mistrust the concept of science and the peer-review-system</i>, it seems. How could they understand the predominant working principle of curiosity-driven self-exploitation that powers any real scientist?</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Since many of them can't distinguish potatoes from horse-droppings, they need the science-landscape mapped to a score-sheet to create their impressive set of poo-charts - umm, pie-charts.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This age-old approach to reputation-metrics looks so impressingly objective. But it must not be mistaken: no matter what numbers they compile, the best ones are the fallout of a peer's opinion:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
publications? - Referrees have seen the paper and commented on it</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
citations? - Scientists quote what they learned to be important and trustworthy </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
PhD-theses? - a number of scientists were involved over years</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Reputation-metrics as we know them - the compilation of indicators - is nothing but the condensate of peer-review that scientists justifiably rely on and that bureaucrats are so scared of. 'Objectivity' is a sweet deception and honesty about that would be a good thing for a start.</div>
<br />Carsten Huchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861377889894216646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-331239124855707080.post-18594719293831119832016-03-03T12:18:00.002+01:002016-03-07T09:54:36.955+01:00Treehuggers stole my headline!<div style="text-align: justify;">
Last weekend I was reading about microbial fuel-cells that are able to convert sewage-waste to electrical energy (<a href="http://www.nature.com/articles/srep20941" target="_blank">Nature)</a>. The authors' carefully phrased result ('Mutually complementary substrates may take advantage of substrate
interaction in the cell metabolism, and generate a total effect greater
than the sum of the individual contribution of single substrate for
electricity generation.') will definitely be more streamlined for the 'dumb public' to 'make it more accessible' leading to something like 'energy-problem solved by using synergy'.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Want to bet? It will happen.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The researchers found that two different processes for the generation of electrical energy by microbial fuel-cells can interact synergetically - enhancing the efficiency (in terms of total Coulombs as well as conversion rate) above the added efficiency of both individual processes (as interesting as it is, I am always a bit nervous when looking at the error-bars. But that is only one of the cultural differences between physicists and fellows in life-sciences).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The guys at treehugger.com were so kind to condense the findings not only in a <a href="http://www.treehugger.com/renewable-energy/power-poo-breakthrough-could-lead-sustainable-electricity-sewage.html" target="_blank">speed-readable text-snippet</a> (which bears exactly the title I would have chosen for the work: 'Power from poo') but also in a video:</div>
<div class="ytp-html5-clipboard" style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/yh-67zu-kx4/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yh-67zu-kx4?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="ytp-html5-clipboard" style="text-align: justify;">
It is worth watching. </div>
Carsten Huchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861377889894216646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-331239124855707080.post-67707407291311163322016-02-20T22:39:00.002+01:002016-02-23T11:31:57.710+01:00Feeling home is about locking doors<div style="text-align: justify;">
I don't do dinners - it would scare my last remaining friends away. I learned that it is only me who strongly believes in my cooking-skills (but hey, I think it's great food!).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
How lucky I felt to be invited to a lovely get-together involving professionally prepared food recently. The host carefully arranged his guests at a number of tables, making sure that nobody sat close to anybody they knew. As he is really great with people it worked wonderfully and nobody froze in desperate silence with a featherbrained smile on her face.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Clamped between a huge greek-embassy-woman and a romantically active bundle consisting of an artist and her Argentinian Tango-wife I stared straight ahead and so got to listen to an architect I would have never met otherwise. He was as passionate about his job as the girls were about 'Tango' in its amazingly varied physical representations. It was clear that he was not interested in making money by simply arranging concrete around people.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
He cared about the concept of 'feeling home' in a very general way. Central to 'home', he said, is the certainty of having protected spaces. When you build a house you build walls not only to support the roof, but to create quiet corners and private spots. A cellar, a workshop in the basement, some hidden reading-space in the attic, the safe-haven behind the fridge (for your cat, not you, silly!). That is why some of the amazing modern lofts look breathtakingly good on paper but you would never want to move in (and if you do, you get a speed-divorce).<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
In a house the protected spaces are marked by walls made of solid matter. But in a home there are additional lines and boundaries non-verbally negotiated between the residents. In an understanding environment they are lines of respect (my sofa, your armchair, her sunny spot in the living-room, his pile of newspapers on the floor...); in a hostile environment they are lines of fear. Some of those lines and boundaries can change frequently while others are rock steady. The better the social sensing of the partners the smoother and more natural the adaptation to the flow of the lines, their acceptance and allowed transgressions.<br />
It is the sensing and quiet accepting of borders and closed or even locked spaces that is the big sign of trust and understanding that makes your house your home.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
As if to prove the point this eery couple that kept an eye on one-another the whole evening, walked by, smiling their rehearsed smiles. Earlier they had proudly proclaimed that they were so close they even share one email-address. The architect would shiver at this screaming sign of mistrust.<br />
I just stopped short of asking them if they had glas-walls around the loo. Maybe no. But I am sure there is no key.<br />
They have no home.<br />
<br /></div>
Carsten Huchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861377889894216646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-331239124855707080.post-49680977218703928902016-01-24T17:40:00.001+01:002016-02-23T11:36:17.717+01:00The rude mechanic and the cat<div style="text-align: justify;">
I have a cat that is extremely catlike. Cuddly (whenever she wants to be), scratchy (whenever the world has been mean to her), smart (always), in need to be left alone (except when she needs not to be left alone).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
When a dustball crosses her path in the wrong moment she gets totally flustered and scared and runs for cover. I know, there ought not to be any dustballs where she is. I should keep the place tidy anyway. Problem is: a vacuum-cleaner is worse than dustballs.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Life is not always easy.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So my friend hid behind the big fridge for over a week, only coming out at night to get some food and then disappearing again through that small gap between fridge and washing-machine. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I started to get worried and tried to coerce her out of there. Great food didn't help. Sweet-talking led to nothing. Turning the lights off - or turning them on. Futile. She seemed to blame me for the dustball-scare. She was totally unforgiving and made me feel terrible.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
One evening I talked with a colleague. He suggested to withhold food altogether. No water, no dead animals, no nothing. She would come out eventually. When I said that this sounded too cruel and would certainly ruin all trust of that little fur-ball and - knowing the cat - she would rather starve than give in, he just said: I am a neuro-scientist - I know what I am talking about! Those critters are a bunch of hard-wired neurons, they function like robots.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Well.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
My cat certainly didn't. And, actually, robots don't.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
There is this big not-understood mess of bio-matter which my brain-mechanic might allude to as 'hard-wired neurons'. But then there is the software that controls all that. It certainly is not as easily separable as in your chunky iPad-one (commonly known as 'the old iPad', thanks), it is an agglomerate of neurons, synapses, connections, currents, chemistry - you name it. But it is certainly wrong to claim that since the parts of the brain can be labelled, listed, and charted the whole system is understood or even that its function is superbly deterministic.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
(How boring the world would be! Those scientists claiming to understand the world by reducing it to their latest model are probably simply too scared themselves to face reality. It is full of ill-understood stuff that might sometimes resemble dustballs.)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Does my Brain-Mechanic accept that his laptop has software running on it? If the word-document doesn't open properly, would he plug in the soldering-iron? If the cat does not behave as desired that means what? Call a neurosurgeon?</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I tried cat-psychology.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It is tricky. But it worked. My cat got out from behind the fridge and we both cursed dustballs at length. What a wonderfully complex world we live in!</div>
Carsten Huchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861377889894216646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-331239124855707080.post-74900975456329495062016-01-04T16:40:00.001+01:002016-01-10T21:35:03.770+01:00How to kill creativity<div style="text-align: justify;">
I promised not to click on bigthink.com anymore. But, ooops! it happened again!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"We need to teach kids creative thinking. And we're teaching them the opposite" - "...the basis of education is not answers, but questions" (this specific quote is by <a href="http://bigthink.com/videos/the-common-core" target="_blank">Lawrence Krauss on Big Think</a> but could come from anybody with a brain mushy enough to devour the latest coelhoisms on that site).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Guys. No. Go borrow the 3 to 10 year old kids from your neighbours (your neighbours will love you!). Pack them into your car and drive a few miles. Once they overcome shyness and see that you might look funny but you are a possible source of information, they will bombard you with questions. Rapid fire questions. Relentlessly. Kids <i>are</i> asking questions! </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The task is not to <i>teach</i> those critters creative thinking (what should that be? show them a conventional textbook way to be unconventional?) - the task is to give them access to as much knowledge and as diverse answers as possible so that their very own creativity can play and blossom. What turns this curiosity and creativity (or
even strangeness) into a real power is: knowledge, information,
understanding.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Just resist to try to streamline everything. And don't touch creativity! It will selfdestruct. </div>
Carsten Huchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861377889894216646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-331239124855707080.post-55575067699777197502015-12-26T18:40:00.002+01:002015-12-26T18:50:04.633+01:00I am right<div style="text-align: justify;">
Some friends carry a significant bundle of brain between their ears. And they know how to use it. It is scary - because after I talk to them for five minutes I am not sure anymore if I am smart enough to cross a street. Sometimes then even breathing seems like an overly complex intellectual task - and if you start focusing on that, you start coughing and then you die.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But then again I am flying. All the weight of the the past laden weeks that pulled me to the ground is gone; the bleakness of a long, sleepless winter-night disappears and gives way to a smile - a ray of sun that illuminates the whole world.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
People like that should know of their recharging-power. Never forget to tell them. Somehow. Even if it makes them blush.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Years ago I thought I shouldn't.<br />
And the next day he was gone.<br />
And so was his whole world.<br />
<br />
I was wrong.<br />
<br />
<br />Carsten Huchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861377889894216646noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-331239124855707080.post-2293229200007595092015-09-04T09:56:00.002+02:002015-09-04T10:15:49.410+02:0010 Ways to Beat Your Boss<div style="text-align: justify;">
Somebody told me: 'start every blog-post with blood!'. I do, sometimes. They get twice as many clicks as the others. Or mention sex. Five times as many clicks.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A combination of both <a href="http://www.smarts-club.com/2015/09/blood-sex-science.html" target="_blank">(last post)</a>? One seems to annihilate the other or was it the mention of 'science'?</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Some years ago, when everybody claimed that GooglePlus was the Big Thing and Facebook was evil, clicks were still the most important reputation-currency in the virtual world. Shady companies sold 'likes', 'friends' and simple clicks to bolster your ego-metrics.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And in those days I wrote <a href="http://www.smarts-club.com/2012/08/altruistic-egoism.html" target="_blank">a little snippet</a> about one of the then upcoming blog-sites, which I hated and adored. It stood out in the deluge of self-help sites which babbled about 'ten ways to beat your boss' (and they did not mean physically). This guy essentially wrote about 'ten ways to beat your boss' - and he meant it. Physically.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It was amazing how <a href="http://www.jamesaltucher.com/" target="_blank">he</a> built a reputation by an incredibly honest and direct style of writing. He gives away his books for free, he tells you everything about e-publishing, he does not hide. He got thousands of clicks a day then, it must be close to a million a day now. He now sold probably hundreds of thousands of books, has podcasts, lectures, gives speeches, is back to financial advise, interacts wildly on twitter. It is an empire.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I dared to write slightly critical about his blog years ago.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And he contacted me.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
He thought I was injust. My blog had about 30 clicks a day - 21 from myself and five from my mother. Still, this huge communication genius seemed genuinely hurt by *one* person on the other side of the atlantic possibly not loving him. And for this and the fact that he told me so, I admire him even more.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I thought I'd tell you.</div>
<br />Carsten Huchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861377889894216646noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-331239124855707080.post-83810212461564287872015-09-02T12:03:00.002+02:002015-09-02T12:04:05.043+02:00blood, sex, science<div style="text-align: justify;">
Not too long ago journalists were absolutely clear about what scientists have to deliver to get their science-stuff into the magazine: catch-phrases, blood, sex, pictures. They were bossing everybody around. Obey or go away.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
They called it science-journalism but it was annoying, damaging crap. The public was fed a shale derivative of science. It never really went away because it takes some time to deflate the Ego of those know-alls. But then it got worse. A new breed of smart-*sses was angrily demanding: <a href="http://www.smarts-club.com/2012/02/academics-should-be-blogging-no.html" target="_blank">Every scientist should be blogging! </a>Yeah, right. Those autistic geniusses from the basement of the engineering-department were supposed to chatter about their passions? Oh, and Twitter! Use Twitter! 140 characters are enough! And let the public devise your next research project; they must be involved - being tax-payers, lalala... That has gone by. Finally we are told that professional science-communicators are hip.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Now we are talking.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It took them only about 25 years to discover that. </div>
<br />Carsten Huchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08861377889894216646noreply@blogger.com1