By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Did these researchers just create an autistic computer program?
Graham Templeton, ExtremeTech, 2015/08/10
I don't understand autism thoroughly, but this seems right: "one theory of autism claims that many of the disorder’s most characteristic symptoms could be the result of just a single, chemically induced modification: autistic brains may simply be too noisy." More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. LIMITS '15: First workshop on computing within limits
Various authors, First Monday, 2015/08/10
An interesting issue of First Monday just published, its theme devoted to the study of limits - mostly, but not exclusively, software limits. It's relevant at a time where we're contemplating the end of Moore's Law. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Web Feels Fine to Me
Alan Levine, CogDogBlog, 2015/08/10
Alan Levine says the web feels fine to him. He cits a pretty impressive list of doom and gloom predictions: " It’s lost. It’s dead. No the same folks say it’s not dead. We have to save it. It’s boring. It’s lost that loving feeling. It needs to be made fun again." And he writes, "I think they are looking at the wrong end of the web donkey. Does anyone not remember the Long Tail? All of the lamenting, hand wringing, crying to the moon is focused completely on the head of the curve. The bag of gold is in the tail." Good point. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. National Post View: Helping students, without burdening everyone else
Editorial, National Post, 2015/08/08
"There’s little doubt," write the editors of the National Post, "that students with some skin in the game — i.e., some financial stake in their own education — will be more apt to ensure they stay the course and complete their degrees." More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Windows 10 is spying on almost everything you do
Zach Epstein, BGR.com, 2015/08/08
Why is Windows 10 free? Well, here's one reason: "we will access, disclose and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails, other private communications or files in private folders), when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary." More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Teach yourself — or be poor
Joanne Jacobs, 2015/08/08
I basically never agree with either Tyler Cowan or Joanne Jacobs. But there's a core of truth in this message. Not the explicit threat of poverty, which should be unacceptable in a developed country (but which is fair retribution according to these two authors, which makes them detestable). More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Drawing Energy: Exploring perceptions of the invisible
Flora Bowden, Dan Lockton, Rama Gheerawo, Clare Brass, 2015/08/08
So good. "The drawings clearly show diverse interpretations of energy and most are vastly different from the ways in which energy is regularly communicated by energy companies through the media and the energy infrastructure. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Art is a Verb
Colleen Rose, Northern Art Teacher, 2015/08/08
Short post that accurately captures the value of artistic endeavours: "The purpose of art is not to produce a product. The purpose of art is to produce thinking. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Ethereum Launched
kliuless, Matafilter, 2015/08/08
First, the background: A blockchain is like a place where you store any data semi-publicly in a linear container space (the block). More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. How to do a learning (r)evolution: perspective from Finland
Teemu Leinonen, 2015/08/08
Education has to do more than adapt to change, write the authors of the SITRA’s New Education Forum (20 page PDF). We insist that education must not settle for adapting to change, but also act as a driver. More...
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