Technology & Innovation — December 6, 2011

Crowdsourcing Revives Use of Human Computers

Using lots of brains each doing small tasks to together complete major jobs is not new but is enjoying a renaissance. Examples include Mechanical Turk, CrowdForge, and CastingWords.

bigthinkeditor

What’s the Latest Development?

A new generation of human computers is doing tasks that computers can’t. They are employed in large numbers and organised into streamlined workflows. As was the case in the age before electronic computers, their output is combined to generate results that could not easily be produced in any other way. Mechanical Turk, CrowdForge, CastingWords are riding the resurge.

What’s the Big Idea?

Microsoft researcher Eric Horvitz envisages a future in which algorithms co-ordinate an army of human workers, physical sensors and conventional computers. Say a child goes missing, an algorithm might assign some volunteers to search duties and others to examine CCTV footage. The system would also trawl local news reports for similar cases and the element combined to create a cyborg detective.

A woman, embodying the archetype of a wounded healer, is sitting on a couch engrossed in reading a book.

Neuropsych

The Chiron effect: Are “wounded healers” better healers?

Sometimes you just want to hear, "I know what it's like."

Two hands making a pinky promise with a notification icon showing one like against a blue background.

Neuropsych

“Tend and befriend”: The simple relationship hack for burnout resilience

You really can get by with a little help from your friends — if you also look beyond your personal to-do list.

Ancient bust of a bearded man, believed to depict one of history's generous leaders, with detailed facial features, set against a plain turquoise background.

Business

Aristotle plus generosity: How to soften the hard-boiled leader

Tough and cutthroat leaders are celebrated in a results-driven culture — but there is another path to C-suite success.

Starts With A Bang

The unsurprising non-detection of intelligent aliens

Life arose on Earth very early on. After a few billion years, here we are: intelligent and technologically advanced. Where's everyone else?

A person in a dark robe wielding a glowing red lightsaber on a desert dune under a night sky with a large crescent moon and a visible planet.

High Culture

Does science fiction shape the future?

Six visionary science fiction authors on the social impact of their work.

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Surprising Science

The Price of Superfast Internet: Botnets, Hacking…

One of the world's most wired countries, South Korea, illustrates the downside of high speed internet and real name verification–an epidemic of hacking, data theft and botnets.