sau Teorema de incompletitudine (Kurt Godel)

Mai pe scurt: Niciodată nu vom ştii totul folosindu-ne de raţiune, de logică.

Din moment ce computerul este o maşină logică, întotdeauna vor fi probleme pe care care el (computerul) nu le va putea rezolva (despre Alan Turing):

Despre intuiţie:

“Gödel essentially constructed a formula that claims that it is unprovable in a given formal system. If it were provable, it would be false, which contradicts the fact that in a consistent system, provable statements are always true. Thus there will always be at least one true but unprovable statement.“

“Gödel’s theorem shows that, in theories that include a small portion of number theory, a complete and consistent finite list of axioms can never be created, nor even an infinite list that can be enumerated by a computer program. Each time a new statement is added as an axiom, there are other true statements that still cannot be proved, even with the new axiom. If an axiom is ever added that makes the system complete, it does so at the cost of making the system inconsistent.

It is possible to have a complete and consistent list of axioms that cannot be enumerated by a computer program. For example, one might take all true statements about the natural numbers to be axioms (and no false statements). But then there is no mechanical way to decide, given a statement about the natural numbers, whether it is an axiom or not, and thus no effective way to verify a formal proof in this theory.” (sursa: Wikipedia)

Oggi è la giornata mondiale della violenza sulle donne così seguivo i dibattiti televisivi in merito alla questione. Ovviamente incentrati sul fatto che chi subisce un sopruso di questo tipo dovrebbe se non altro avere la certezza che chi commette una simile ingiustizia venga punito. E’ vero conta sapere che c’è un’entità che tutela, che cerca di fare da deterrente rispetto a chi non si fa problemi a prevaricare gli altri commettendo reati ma è anche vero che nulla ti può restituire quello che hai perso nel momento in cui vivi un’esperienza del genere. Mentre navigavo su internet guardando i vari modi con cui i diversi stati sanzionano un reato del genere ho cercato di conoscere meglio il procedimento di castrazione chimica che è un tipo di castrazione provocata dall’assunzione di farmaci a base di ormoni e l’occhio mi è caduto sul nome Alan Turing. Era un matematico, logico e crittanalista britannico, uno dei padri dell’informatca. Era un omosessuale che si suicidò nel 1954 ingerendo una mela avvelenata con cianuro di potassio per la continua e gravissima persecuzione omofobica condotta nei suoi confronti. Infatti nel 1952 fu arrestato per omosessualità e condotto in giudizio. La pena fu durissima e fu probabilmente un ulteriore motivo che lo portò a togliersi la vita: fu sottoposto a castrazione chimica che lo rese impotente e gli comportò lo sviluppo del seno.
Solo il 10 settembre 2009 in seguito ad una campagna Internet e ad una petizione, il primo ministro britannico Gordon Brown formulò una dichiarazione di scuse ufficiali che cita:« Per quelli fra noi che sono nati dopo il 1945, in un’Europa unita, democratica e in pace, è difficile immaginare che il nostro continente fu un tempo teatro del momento più buio dell’umanità. È difficile credere che in tempi ancora alla portata della memoria di chi è ancora vivo oggi, la gente potesse essere così consumata dall’odio – dall’antisemitismo, dall’omofobia, dalla xenofobia e da altri pregiudizi assassini – da far sì che le camere a gas e i crematori diventassero parte del paesaggio europeo tanto quanto le gallerie d’arte e le università e le sale da concerto che avevano contraddistinto la civiltà europea per secoli. [...] Così, per conto del governo britannico, e di tutti coloro che vivono liberi grazie al lavoro di Alan, sono orgoglioso di dire: ci dispiace, avresti meritato di meglio.»
Meglio tardi che mai? Non è una verità assoluta e Alan che avrebbe meritato di meglio intanto è morto ma per cosa? Neanche che il suo dolore sia servito a distogliere i più dalle discriminazioni.
E così ho pensato che in realtà non sono le pene, non sono le regole, non sono le leggi, è la consapevolezza reale che le nostre azioni hanno continue e pesanti ripercussioni su chi le subisce. E così a maggior ragione vedere con quanta facilità ci si aggrappa ai pregiudizi solo per tutelare se stessi, per non rischiare di mettersi in discussione mi fa paura. Mi chiedo quando si smetterà di usare solo la prima persona e si comincerà a riflettere sulla reale rilevanza che tutti questi preconcetti hanno. E questa è solo una storia come tante altre che addirittura per ironia della sorte finisce come una fiaba come Biancaneve senza risveglio, con una ben diversa strega cattiva e con l’impossibilità di avere un principe azzurro. Chi è socialmente identificato come diverso è costretto causa forza maggiore a subire. La sua voce crea scompiglio nelle convizioni dei ben pensanti. A me più che la sua voce crea scompiglio la sua sofferenza.

Giulia Bertellotti

For computers to become more human they have to exhibit a lot more intelligence than the technologies we have in place here at the end of the first decade of this 21^st century. When Deep Blue, the IBM supercomputer defeated Garry Kasparov in 1997 the intelligence built into the computer’s ability to analyze 200 million positions per second represented artificial knowledge specific to the one task, playing chess. But to be truly human future computers must be multi-tasking.

Back in the 1990s when I was working for a large software company, they had developed neural agents. These were bits of code that could be added to a device or a network and sense patterns in the data flow or in the operation of the equipment. As the neural agents learned the “normal” patterns and became aware of what was normal, they could also be used to alert if abnormal patterns occurred. When abnormal happened the neural agents would send messages to human observers through a computer display or would engage other neural agents specifically designed to compensate for the abnormal and restore normal operations. This type of pattern intelligence is not the same as human intelligence but nonetheless it is intelligence.

When we think about our intelligence versus what I have described in the previous paragraph, what are the differences? Humans as well as many other animals exhibit many intelligence traits:

–        the ability to reason

–        the ability to acquire knowledge and retain it for later use

–        the ability to solve problems

–        the ability to plan

–        the ability to communicate through vocalization and understand vocalizations from third parties

–        the means, through mind to limb interaction, to manipulate objects.

These are key traits that define our intelligence.

Deep Blue fulfills the first trait of intelligence – the ability to reason. In part, Deep Blue also fulfills the second trait, the ability to acquire knowledge. But the knowledge that Deep Blue acquired is specific to the multivariable moves within the game of chess. Deep Blue, therefore, only meets a minimal standard when one is talking about creating a computer that is human even though this computer could outplay the World’s number one chess master.

If you think of the way we as humans gather knowledge, we do it through observation, interaction with other humans, reading, and trial and error. Sometimes we learn something in one task that we then can apply to another with very different circumstances.

As much as we can give a computer access to all of the content of the Internet in which to acquire knowledge, how do we give it the ability to apply that knowledge using computational intelligence? The field of computational intelligence focuses on developing computers that use fuzzy logic to solve problems. When we talked about quantum and biological computing in earlier parts of this multi-part article we described the attributes of these types of systems with their abilities to go beyond the logic of silicon-based computers. Programmers working in the field of artificial intelligence talk about algorithms that embrace techniques such as swarm intelligence, fractals, and chaos theory. Computational intelligence approaching our way of assimilating knowledge involves the creation of programs that combine learning and adaptation.

How close are we today to creating human-like intelligence in our computer systems? Ray Kurzweil, and David Gelernter, both noted authors and futurists, describe computing technology’s future and the rise of conscious, creative, volitional and even spiritual machines in a debate that occurred in December 2006 at MIT. The event was held on the 70^th anniversary of a paper published by Alan Turing, the inventor of the Turing Machine and Ultra, the latter, the machine that broke the Nazi Enigma code in the Second World War.  Turing is a key individual in the foundation of modern computing. In 1948 he published “Intelligent Machinery,” a paper that first described artificial intelligence in similar terms to what I have written here.

Kurzweil describes computing technology that has mastered human emotion and subjectivity. Remember Star Trek’s Data and his discovery of emotion. To Kurzweil emotion defines the most intelligent aspect of being human. Subjectivity or consciousness gives an artificial intelligence the means to learn from experience and relate the experience to self. For Kurzweil the technology to achieve this is just around the corner, a mere twenty years from now. Where Kurzweil sees consciousness as achievable in artificial intelligence, Gelernter does not. He argues that no software can be built to create consciousness and self-awareness. Kurzweil backs up his prediction by describing the acceleration of information technology and its exponential growth. He points out current experimentation by IBM in modeling the human cerebral cortex and discounts Gelernter’s definition of software based on what we see today.

An artificial intelligence would mimic our brains which when we brake them down, are massive parallel processors featuring over 100 trillion connections all simultaneously computing. Can we model and simulate a neuron? We are already well on our way. Can we design a machine with 100 trillion parallel processes? We have already seen in Parts 2 and 3 of this discussion the evolution of quantum and biological computing with the potential to approach if not exceed the capacity of our human brain.

una cena con Wittgenstein e Turing..?

John L.Casti – i cinque di Cambridge

Questo libro non parla di Apple ma parla della filosofia del pensiero e siccome questa è alla base della visione Apple, ho pensato che fosse interessante..

Che cosa significa reamente pensare, parla, vivere e comunicare..? Se lo chiedono cinque tra i più brillanti pensatori liberi e folli del XX secolo nel corso una cena immaginaria offerta da Charles Percy Snow, fisico e romanziere, che per cercare di colmare la mancanza di comunicazione tra la cultura umanistica e quella scientifica organizza una serata di buona cucina e buona cultura in una conveniente cornice i cui convitati sono:

Ludwig Wittgenstein filosofo e logico austriaco i cui contributi nella filosofia del linguaggio avevano fornito indicazioni significative nonostante abbia elaborato due interpretazioni in contrasto tra di loro in due diversi momenti della sua vita rivendicando la libertà di evoluzione del proprio pensiero..

Alan Turing matematico, logico e crittanalista inglese considerato uno dei padri dell’informatica.. Genio e visionario, Turing fu determinante per l’esito della seconda guerra mondiale con la sua opera di decrittazione dei codici segreti nazisti e la creazione di codici sicuri per le comunicazioni alleate.. Alan Turing morì suicida nel 1954 imitando la favola di Biancaneve e mangiando una Mela da lui stesso avvelenata con cianuro di potassio..

Erwin Schrödinger fisico e matematico austriaco pioniere della meccanica quantistica a cui portò contrinuti tali da vincere il Premio Nobel per la Fisica nel 1933..

John Burdon Haldane, biologo e genetista inglese ed inventore di un metodo di studio delle popolazioni attraverso la statistica..

La discussione verte sulla possibilità di costruire una macchina che sia in grado di pensare come l’uomo ma a questo punto occorre dare una definizione di cosa significhi “pensare” e le eleganti esposizioni dei commensali si dipanano tra una portata e l’altra…

Prima di poter ipotizzare una intelligenza artificiale è necessario fissare il concetto stesso di intelligenza, ma se uomini tanto brillanti devono prodursi in acrobazie logiche, sarà poi possibile l’esistenza di una macchina che possa pensare come un uomo senza avere interagito con la società nel suo complesso..?

Le risposte sono molte, almeno più degli interrogativi quindi non vi resta che leggere il libro e cercare di dare la vostra insieme a questi campioni del Think Different..

I cinque di Cambridge
Casti John L.
Prezzo € 15,00
Dati 1998, 166 p.
Traduttore Zoletto D.
Editore Cortina Raffaello (collana Scienza e idee)

Il Libro è in vendita su Internet Bookshop Italia

No recordo si havia sentit mai a parlar d’Alan Turing abans de llegir al Bloc de la Biblioteca de Matemàtiques la notícia de la petició en línia perquè el govern anglès rehabilités el matemàtic que, entre d’altres coses, fou un dels científics que posà les bases que portaren al desenvolupament dels ordinadors i tingué un paper important durant la Segona Guerra Mundial en aconseguir desxifrar el codi de la màquina de xifratge que utilitzaven els alemanys per xifrar les seves comunicacions, l’Enigma. El nom em sonava, però ves a saber per què. La història, però, em cridà l’atenció: un científic brillant, una tasca heroica… i una condemna a seguir un tractament de repressió de la libido que li va provocar forts efectes secundaris i que fou, probablement, la causa que se suïcidés. Quin havia estat el seu «crim»? Ser homosexual.

Em recordava força el cas d’Oscar Wilde. I gràcies a la recomanació d’en Josep, vaig dedicar una dies a la lectura d’El hombre que sabía demasiado. Alan Turing y la invención de la computadora. Leavitt dedica la major de la biografia a situar Turing en el context científic en què va viure i les seves teories en relació amb les teories anteriors i contemporànies per mostrar-ne la singularitat i el camí que el portà a posar les bases del que en el futur serien els ordinadors i a descobrir el funcionament de la màquina Enigma. Hi intercala, això sí, la descripció de l’actitud que Turing tenia respecte de l’homosexualitat i aventura que la seva situació podria haver influït en el desenvolupament de les seves teories. No sembla que Turing fos conscient de les amenaces que assetjaven un homosexual reconegut en la societat en què vivia —«Turing era ingenuo, distraído y vivía completamente de espaldas a las fuerzas que lo amenazaban» (p. 12)—, possiblement perquè no creia que hi hagués res de dolent en ser homosexual (p. 13). Curiosament, dedica ben poques pàgines als fets que portaren a la detenció i judici de Turing, si més no en comparació amb les que dedica a la trajectòria científica i tenint en compte que aquests fets foren tan transcendentals en la vida del matemàtic, però la brevetat del descripció d’aquest fets potser els fan més punyents: un dia que havia anat al cinema, lliga amb un home jove que es prostituïa i que li roba diners. Turing denuncia el robatori però és ell qui acaba detingut i acusat d’indecència greu i perversió sexual (com Wilde anys abans). És condemnat i només pot evitar la presó acceptant sotmetre’s a un tractament de reducció de la libido mitjançant estrògens, tractament que li provocarà forts efectes secundaris. Només dos anys després, Turing se suïcidà i fou pràcticament oblidat, i algunes des les seves teories foren atribuïdes a altres matemàtics:

La secuela de su detención y de su suicidio fue que durante años su contribución al desarrollo de la computadora moderna fue minimizado y en algunas ocasiones obviada por completo, atribuyéndose a John von Neumann, su profesor en Princeton, la paternidad de ideas que en realidad tenían su origen en Turing. [p. 14]

He de reconèixer que aquesta lectura se m’ha fet una mica feixuga, sobretot alhora de seguir les argumentacions filosòfiques i matemàtiques de les teories de Turing i d’altres protagonistes de la seva història; no crec ni que n’hagi entès la meitat, sincerament. No obstant això, queda clara la singularitat de la figura de Turing d’una banda, i la seva pertinença —per anomenar-ho d’alguna manera— al context científic en què va viure. Singularitat i èxits que, en canvi, no el salvaren de ser enviat a la picota per una societat força hipòcrita que només tolerava determinats comportaments i orientacions si es vivien en secret.

El llibre:

• David Leavitt. El hombre que sabía demasiado. Alan Turing y la invención de la computadora. Barcelona: Antoni Bosch, 2007. 304 p. ISBN 978-84-95348-30-2.

Enllaços relacionats:

• «Petició en línia per a la rehabilitació d’Alan Turing» [en línia]. Bloc de la Biblioteca de Matemàtiques, 10 setembre 2009. <http://blocmat.ub.edu/2009/09/10/peticio-en-linia-per-a-la-rehabilitacio-dalan-turing/>.
• «Gordon Brown es disculpa pel procés a Alan Turing» [en línia]. Bloc de la Biblioteca de Matemàtiques, 14 setembre 2009. <http://blocmat.ub.edu/2009/09/14/gordon-brown-es-disculpa-pel-proces-a-alan-turing/>.

A Inteligência Artificial oficialmente nasceu na conferência de verão de 1956 em Dartmouth College, NH, USA. Sabendo que o verão do hemisfério norte começa em 21 de junho, com certeza a IA não foi fruto de um amor de carnaval tipicamente carioca.

Da direita para a esquerda: Jonh McCarthy, Oliver Selfridge, Marvin Minsky, Trenchard More e Ray Solomonoff

Na proposta dessa conferência, escrita por McCarthy (Dartmouth), Marvin Minsky (Hardward), Nathaniel Rochester (IBM) e Claude Shannon (Bell Laboratories) e submetida à fundação Rockfeller, consta a intenção dos autores de realizar “um estudo durante dois meses, por dez homens, sobre o tópico inteligência artificial”. Ao que tudo indica, esta parece ser a primeira menção oficial à expressão “Inteligência Artificial”.

O QUE É INTELIGÊNCIA?

Binet Binet: “Inteligência é julgar bem, compreender bem;

Tearman Tearman: ” A capacidade de conceituar e de compreender oeu significado”;

Helm Helm:“A atividade inteligente consiste na compreensão doessencial de uma situação e numa resposta reflexa essencial de uma situação e numa resposta reflexa propriada”;

Piaget Piaget: “Adaptação ao ambiente físico e social”;

O QUE É INTELIGÊNCIA ARTIFICIAL (IA)?

• “É a propriedade de um artefato de poder resolver problemas que se fossem resolvidos por um seu vivo problemas ele seria considerado inteligente.” (Barreto)

• Assim como existe medidas de inteligência para humanos é possível ter medidas de inteligência é possível ter medidas de inteligência para máquinas.

• Eliane Rich: “IA é o estudo de como fazer os computadores realizarem coisas que, hoje em dia são feitas melhores pelas pessoas”.

• Winston: IA é o estudo das idéias que permitem aos computadores serem inteligentes”.

• Charniak and McDermott: IA é o estudo das faculdades mentais através da utilização de modelos computacionais”.

• Bellman Bellman: “IA é o estudo e simulação de atividades que normalmente assumimos que requerem inteligência”.

• Russell and Norvig: “IA é o estudo e implementação de agentes racionais”.

fonte: http://www.inf.ufsc.br/~falqueto/aGraduacao/INE5633Sist_Intel/IA_Geral/IA_Introd_Historia.PDF

“There is a remarkably close parallel between the problems of the physicist and those of the cryptographer. The system on which a message is enciphered corresponds to the laws of the universe, the intercepted messages to the evidence available, the keys for a day or a message to important constants which have yet to be determined. The correspondence is very close, but the subject matter of cryptography is very easily dealt with by discrete machinery, physics not so easily.”

“There is a remarkably close parallel between the problems of the physicist and those of the cryptographer. The system on which a message is enciphered corresponds to the laws of the universe, the intercepted messages to the evidence available, the keys for a day or a message to important constants which have yet to be determined. The correspondence is very close, but the subject matter of cryptography is very easily dealt with by discrete machinery, physics not so easily.”

“There is a remarkably close parallel between the problems of the physicist and those of the cryptographer. The system on which a message is enciphered corresponds to the laws of the universe, the intercepted messages to the evidence available, the keys for a day or a message to important constants which have yet to be determined. The correspondence is very close, but the subject matter of cryptography is very easily dealt with by discrete machinery, physics not so easily.”

“There is a remarkably close parallel between the problems of the physicist and those of the cryptographer. The system on which a message is enciphered corresponds to the laws of the universe, the intercepted messages to the evidence available, the keys for a day or a message to important constants which have yet to be determined. The correspondence is very close, but the subject matter of cryptography is very easily dealt with by discrete machinery, physics not so easily.”

“There is a remarkably close parallel between the problems of the physicist and those of the cryptographer. The system on which a message is enciphered corresponds to the laws of the universe, the intercepted messages to the evidence available, the keys for a day or a message to important constants which have yet to be determined. The correspondence is very close, but the subject matter of cryptography is very easily dealt with by discrete machinery, physics not so easily.”

“There is a remarkably close parallel between the problems of the physicist and those of the cryptographer. The system on which a message is enciphered corresponds to the laws of the universe, the intercepted messages to the evidence available, the keys for a day or a message to important constants which have yet to be determined. The correspondence is very close, but the subject matter of cryptography is very easily dealt with by discrete machinery, physics not so easily.”

“There is a remarkably close parallel between the problems of the physicist and those of the cryptographer. The system on which a message is enciphered corresponds to the laws of the universe, the intercepted messages to the evidence available, the keys for a day or a message to important constants which have yet to be determined. The correspondence is very close, but the subject matter of cryptography is very easily dealt with by discrete machinery, physics not so easily.”

“There is a remarkably close parallel between the problems of the physicist and those of the cryptographer. The system on which a message is enciphered corresponds to the laws of the universe, the intercepted messages to the evidence available, the keys for a day or a message to important constants which have yet to be determined. The correspondence is very close, but the subject matter of cryptography is very easily dealt with by discrete machinery, physics not so easily.”

“There is a remarkably close parallel between the problems of the physicist and those of the cryptographer. The system on which a message is enciphered corresponds to the laws of the universe, the intercepted messages to the evidence available, the keys for a day or a message to important constants which have yet to be determined. The correspondence is very close, but the subject matter of cryptography is very easily dealt with by discrete machinery, physics not so easily.”

“There is a remarkably close parallel between the problems of the physicist and those of the cryptographer. The system on which a message is enciphered corresponds to the laws of the universe, the intercepted messages to the evidence available, the keys for a day or a message to important constants which have yet to be determined. The correspondence is very close, but the subject matter of cryptography is very easily dealt with by discrete machinery, physics not so easily.”

“There is a remarkably close parallel between the problems of the physicist and those of the cryptographer. The system on which a message is enciphered corresponds to the laws of the universe, the intercepted messages to the evidence available, the keys for a day or a message to important constants which have yet to be determined. The correspondence is very close, but the subject matter of cryptography is very easily dealt with by discrete machinery, physics not so easily.”

Das letzte Wochenende waren wir mal wieder unterwegs. Diesmal zog es uns ins englische Ausland nach Manchester. Anlass der Reise war ein Konzert von Marc Almond, ehemals Frontmann von Soft Cell, die den meisten durch die 80er-Hymne “Tainted Love” ein Begriff sein dürften. Marc selbst hat mit Songs wie “Tears Run Rings” und dem Gene-Pitney-Cover “Something’s Gotten Hold of My Heart” durchaus auch einige Solo-Erfolge in seiner fast 30-jährigen Karriere feiern können. Aber wer länger mit mir zu tun hatte, wird vermutlich eh wissen, wer Marc Almond eigentlich ist .

Marc ist nun mal wieder auf Tour durch Großbritannien, und Manchester war der von Glasgow aus nächste Ort. Beim Konzert in der Manchester Academy hörte man neben Marcs eigenen Songs (sogar ein paar aus seinem im nächsten Jahr erscheinenden neuen Album, sowie einige sehr alte Klassiker) wie gewohnt einige Coverversionen, z.B. von David Bowie, Marc Bolan und Jacques Brel, die Marc alle zu seinen eigenen Idolen zählt. Da Marc in letzter Zeit einige traditionelle russische Lieder neu interpretiert hat, durften einige von ihnen natürlich auch nicht fehlen. Alles in allem eine sehr gelungene Show, die allerdings an Highlights wie dem Konzert zu Marcs 50. Geburtstag vor zwei Jahren nicht ranreichen konnte – aber jenes Konzert ist auch sehr schwer zu toppen, wenn das überhaupt möglich ist.

Marc Almond

Da das Konzert abends stattfand, blieben wir bis zum nächsten Tag in Manchester. Neben ein wenig Stadtbummel war auch Geocaching angesagt, was uns unter anderem zum Turing-Denkmal in den Sackville-Park führte. Alan Turing, dessen Leben viel zu früh ein trauriges Ende nahm, war im 2. Weltkrieg maßgeblich an der Entschlüsselung der deutschen Enigma beteiligt, gilt als einer der Gründerväter der Informatik und lehrte an der University of Manchester.

Turing-Denkmal in Manchester

Später haben wir uns noch ein wenig die Innenstadt angeschaut, bevor es dann mit dem Überlandbus wieder auf die fast fünfstündige (aber dafür äußerst günstige) Rückfahrt nach Glasgow ging.

On Sunday 1st November I will be leading a guided walk with a difference as part of Manchester Science Festival. The walk will be brought to life by actors playing the parts of the luminaries of the past, Ernest Rutherford and Alan Turing.

One of the great things about being a tour guide in Manchester is that our history is so often world history.

"Lord Rutherford, I presume" Ernest Rutherford debunking the plum pudding theory of the nature of the atom.

Ernest Rutherford is the father of nuclear physics. His pioneering work in Manchester, between 1907 and 1919 led to the modern interpretation of the nature of the atom. Rutherford will be demonstrating this himself on Sunday with the aid of a plum pudding and a golf driver!

Alan Turing is the father of modern computing. He did not build the first electronic stored-memory program computer, but it would not have happened without him. The computer was built in Manchester and first operated successfully in 1948.

Turing came to Manchester soon afterwards and worked on theories such as the computerised brain / artificial intelligence. He developed a test to see if we could distinguish between a machine and a human being. Take the test with Alan Turing this Sunday.

What: On the Shoulders of Giants – a guided walk with a difference
When: Sunday 1st November at 11.00 a.m. (duration one hour)
Where: Manchester Museum, Coupland Street entrance (off Oxford Rd)
Cost: £5 for working adults, £2 for young people, children and other concessions
Suitable for: Anybody, but especially teenagers and adults

Of course, Rutherford and Turing have both been in the news recently for different reasons.

Rutherford was being blamed for conducting experiments that led to high levels of cancer-causing radiation in one of the university buildings – now called the Rutherford Building. A recent report gives the building a clean bill of health, but on the walk we will stay outside – just to be on the safe side. Ironically, Hans Geiger (who gave his name to the Geiger counter) also used to work with Rutherford in the building.

Turing has received an official apology from Gordon Brown for the way that he was treated in the early 1950s for being gay. Homosexuality was considered a crime and Turing was forced to take oestrogen, in an experimental form of chemical castration, by the courts. The man behind the breaking of the WWII German Enigma code also had his security privileges removed, meaning he could not continue to work for the UK Government on leading edge research. He committed suicide at his home in Wilmslow in 1954.

My intention in devising the walk was to outline what the University of Manchester’s giants of the past have contributed but also to discover what the pioneers of today are doing to shape the world we live in. Hence the title for the walk “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants”.

I intend to help Rutherford find out about the amazing experiments that are being developed at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN by particle physicists from Manchester’s High Energy Physics group (not to be confused with the Hi-NRG Physics group).

Alan Turing meets Prof. Steve Furber in front of the Alan Turing Building at the University of Manchester. Steve Furber is showing Alan Turing an example of what today passes for a "baby" computer. In Alan Turing's day the computer called BABY weighed one ton and filled a whole room.

I will also update Turing on the mind-boggling work that is being done at the School of Computer Science to see how far technology can go in creating a computerised brain. I will also show him the new university mathematics building that bears his name.

You don’t need to be a scientist or technologist to join the walk. The walk is suitable for generalists and anyone interested in the pioneering achievements that have taken place in the city.   There is no need to book, just turn-up and go.  See you there.

Chris

Actors supplied by the organisers of the 24:7 theatre festival with the support of Corridor Manchester

Photographs by Chris Foster Photography with the support of Manchester Science Festival

Ever since the dawn of man – there will be some who prefer one method, over another. I know during my earliest sexual encounters as a burgeoning teenager, many of my partners preferred to go for the rather straightforward practice of the missionary position, whereas I was always more interested in exploring things from the rear.

Not so dissimilar, is the decision, when it comes to your choice of home computer. As a professor and teacher of science, and also a regular internet blogger, my laptop computer is an essential part of my daily life. With that in mind – as many of you I am sure aware – these type of things fall into two distinct camps. Mac & PC. That’s Apple Macintosh and Personal Computer for those not familiar with some of the more technological terminology I am using here.

For a number of years I have always been a fervent PC owner. My issue with the Mac has always been not unlike my distaste for sports cars. I own and drive a vintage red 2003 Suzuki Swift. It is small, compact, unfussy. It may be lacking in a basic aesthetic grace but I find it performs its given task in a perfectly acceptable, if somewhat functional manner, much like my ex-wife did in the bed. Sports cars are loud, needlessly flashy and prohibitively expensive, and that it a totally unreasonable prejudice I have carried over to my perception of Mac’s.

My loyalty of PC’s however has been tested this week – due to irritation at the constant barrage of windows updates that Bill Gates insists on sending to my computer at the most inconvenient of times. Having recently crossed over to the superiority of Windows Vista as a system, the continual updates I readily accepted came to breaking point only a number of days ago when I went to shut down my laptop and take it with me to the lab, only to have to wait for a number of ‘essential’ updates to download to my computer before I could unplug it.

Of course as a HUMAN – I am not about to let any mere machine be the better of me – no matter how technologically advanced. Although I might add as a SCIENTIST I am more than prepared to eventually make way for our inevitable A.I masters. The one advantage I had over my little laptop friend who now held my time to ransom, was I knew exactly where his button was. All I had to do was hold it for a few seconds and he was helpless not to shut down immediately. (I might add at this point had the computer likewise plied me with Malt Whiskey the effect tends to be much the same).

So I continued about my day – content in my small victory, and happy that whenever I had any kind of technical malfunction, the on/off button always appeared to prove a valuable life raft. This was however until I tried to turn my laptop back on again and the little blighter spat back as me various lines of code and something about needing to CHKDSK – and now there were a number of unreadable files. I was incensed – unable now to update my facebook status, the computer had seemingly won.

I am told by the ‘man in the shop’ that I shouldn’t have turned my computer ‘off’ before it had finished installing the updates – and had subsequently corrupted the hard drive. How could Vista have let me down like this? I would have fired off quite a stern e-mail to that moron Gates had I actually had a computer with which to do so. similar I was going to hand write a letter but now find there is a postal strike on.

So it is Gates gets to sit on his micro-chip throne, continuing to infect our computers with his so called ‘updates’ and we are all held to ransom, all because we chose a PC over a Mac. Well sir I am done. Short of a new improved Windows system appearing, you can call it Windows 7 if you like (best copyright that before someone else comes up with it) me and PC’s are through. I am to embrace the cool, sleek surfaces of the Mac – Alan Turing forgive me….

On a topic quite different to what I’ve mainly been posting here, I have always wondered whether there was some kind of inspiration for the Apple Logo that we see absolutely everywhere nowadays, [especially with nearly everyone owning an ipod of some sort now]. I found out not long ago that there indeed is; more than one actually:

The first logo was this:

Sir Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree:

source: wikipedia

Imagine if that logo was stuck onto all the Apple appliances we have today, I reckon it would be pretty savvy looking, no? : )

Then, later it was changed to this:

Rob Janoff’s Rainbow Apple logo during the late 1970’s. It is believed that the Rainbow Apple is the company’s tribute to Isaac Newton’s discoveries on gravity and light prisms. **

source: wikipedia

I liked this very much- the colourfulness of it and just how the shape of the apple turned out.

And now we have this:

source: wikipedia

Me thinks this has a more ‘pro’ look to it, and it’s more sleek and cool, but I think I still like the colourful apple over this [maybe it's because I'm a girl and the colorful appeals to me?]

** It is with the colourful apple that my post mainly focuses on. The Rainbow Apple is generally accepted to have referred to Isaac Newton, however, another explanation for this bitten apple is that it is paying homage to Alan Turing. Alan Turning is considered one of he founding fathers of the computer. So you and I have him to thank that we are sitting here, typing away on a keyboard. Mr. Turing committed suicide from poisoning of cyanide; when his body was discovered, there was also an apple which lay half-eaten beside his bed and although the apple was not tested for cyanide, there is a belief held that the apple contained the lethal dose of cyanide. And what about the rainbow colours? The idea is that the rainbow is a reference to the rainbow flag, as a homage to Turing’s homosexuality.

There you have it. : ) Choose to believe it or not, the choice is yours. Rob Janoff stated in an interview that the alternate theories are all wonderful urban legends, but, unfortunately, “B.S.” The Apple logo was designed with a bite for scale, so that people would recognise that it was an apple, not a cherry, and the rainbow color was not a coded reference to homosexuality or prism light, but was conceived to make the logo more accessible and represent the fact the monitor could reproduce images in color.

but you know what I think? It does makes sense, and I think it would be one of the most meaningful homages to someone so clever, but someone who was also shunned by others, forced to change, his brilliance overlooked just because of his sexuality. Why not incorporate this homage as part of the symbol for Apple? Is it something to be ashamed of?! Even if it really wasn’t the original idea, can the homage be granted now?  For him, who designed something that so many people in the world use today, it would more than nice for people to know how this came about, and for him to be represented no less on a logo that is one of the most recognised in the world.

Some of the most influential people in history were homosexual:

Socrates and Aristotle, Alexander the Great, King Richard the Lion-Hearted, Leonardo da Vinci, Tsar Peter the Great, Hans Chrisitian Andersen, Walt Whitman [one of my favourite poets!!, as you can see in my 'About' section ^^], Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky [a favourite composer ^^] OSCAR WILDE [I adore this man's wit, even on his death bed he was witty], Tennessee Williams [if he hadn't written Streetcar, then Marlon Brando wouldn't have become have been cast as Stanley Kowalski...Kowlski brutness aside, now that would have been quite tragic], and we also have David Bowie and Elton John. Homosexual and totally awesome yeah!