Guest Thinkers — February 16, 2011

First … Then … Now … Next

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

I’m a judge for Dan Meyer’s 4 Slides contest (entries are due Friday!). But here’s what I’d submit if I wasn’t… [click on each slide to see a larger version]

[photo credits: http://tinyurl.com/yo23zm and http://tinyurl.com/yonwnv]

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Starts With A Bang

Ask Ethan: Why is the Big Bang shown as a tube?

The most common visual depictions of the history of the Universe show the Big Bang as a growing tube with an “ignition” point. Why is that?

Starts With A Bang

Ask Ethan: Could we determine if UAPs/UFOs are aliens?

Although a great many unidentified sights have been seen in the skies, none have conclusively demonstrated the presence of aliens. So far.

A person is lying down in the dark and looking at a smartphone held above their face.

The Present

Potato chips or heroin? The debate on social media and mental health

What are we supposed to do when experts look at the same data yet reach starkly different conclusions?

An open processor is connected by circuit lines to a black chess piece, with binary code in the background, symbolizing the intersection of technology and strategy, where every move could deceive even the sharpest minds.

The Future

AI can strategically lie to humans. Are we in trouble?

“If you’re training an AI to optimize for a task, and deception is a good way for it to complete the task, then there’s a good chance that it will use deception.”

Black and white sketch of a bald man with a long beard, wearing a suit and bow tie, looking to his left.

Starts With A Bang

The cosmic redemption of astronomer John Couch Adams

Adams was infamously scooped when Neptune was discovered in 1846. His failure wasn’t the end, but a prelude to a world-changing discovery.

Up Next

Guest Thinkers

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