Listen. Billy Pilgrim done got unstuck in time.

Kurt Vonnegut never resorts to wannabe pseudo-poetry to couch his otherwordly ideas. That's why he's the best.

I believe the villain Largo in THUNDERBALL gives OO7 the malocchio after he accuses Bond of trying to "give him the evil eye, eh?" at a baccarat table. I never understood what he was doing with his hand until now. I used to think maybe he was using his ring as a kind of shield.

'by not getting the basics across (mainly: 1. how radical a process natural selection is 2. the timescope - millions of years is an *incredible* lot) evolution-misunderstanding is absolutely the norm in most circles. i'm somewhat surprised this aspect isn't noticed/stigmatised more often.'

It's true. Even avowed "anti-creationist" people usually don't understand the mechanics of evolution.

Part of the problem is that no biologist makes mistakes about the word "adapt"-- it's simply short-hand to refer to the population changes that result from selection. But when the word 'adapt' gets used offhand in publicity material, along with the personifications, it just hurts the greater discourse. In the same way, 'crazy' is a kind of short-hand for "i marvel at the dialectics that we find in the natural world".

With regards to "why haven't ants been given some counter-advantage", the answer seems to be: 1) We're only at a single point in time; give it time 2) Like the Dodo, some species lose. When the fat lady sings it could be the ants or the germy worms.

"Nature's choice", in specific reference to two interacting species, is simply a poetic way of saying "well, right now in the grand scheme of things, X is really taking Y for a ride, not the other way around." Anyway for all we know in a few generations the worm could be extinct.

Jeff: "Natural selection" isn't the 'only' answer to anything. Nobody claims that. It's only one component of evolution as currently understood. Natural selection wouldn't exist if there wasn't inherent pre-existing variation and re-variation for it to operate on. The issue of what happened at "the beginning" is totally irrelevant-- we have evidence of, and can see for ourselves, processes that have taken place in local time. Only mystical ignoramuses claim to know what happened "before this universe"-- not scientists. It's not a practical question so intelligent practically-minded people don't bother with it.

'During the game, the AI agent must make decisions on which way to go, which are governed by ruled-based policies. When the agent has to make a decision, she checks her rule list, starting with the rules with highest priority.'

How does a programmed set of prioritized rules amount to "AI learns to play ms pac-man" ? ? ?

It looks more like a study in strategy and rule-ranking. The different definitions of AI: "imitation of intelligence" and "manufactured intelligence" seem confused in this post. The article itself seems confused about whether the programmers "taught" Ms. Pac-Man or if Ms. Pac-man taught herself.

"AI agents who learned with the most successful policy [...]". The terms 'learned with' here seems to simply mean "were given" yet the article notes that "[ghost-luring] strategy didn't evolve in the AI experiments. "

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The most telling part of the story is:

"She will serve as a unique goodwill ambassador for her country and bring greater [bla bla]"

Yes a great and unique goodwill ambassador, millions of years dead, unspeaking and unseeing.

I believe The West has reached a new level of sincerity concerning African diplomacy.

The wiki for "The Library of Babel" says:

"
Borges speculates on the existence of the "Crimson Hexagon", containing a book that contains the log of all the other books; the librarian who reads it is akin to God.
"

And obviously thousands of librarians who think they've read it but haven't actually read it become akin to your regular religious psycho.

Oh and the same for those who read the book that most strongly advocates destroying the library of babel and the heathens within.

I've only read The Total Library by Borges, the precursor to babel. Your average big library is much more useful than THE BABEL/TOTAL Library. Secondly, the internet is akin to a real actual wordly library+public forum, not to the total library.