Brutkey

Vassil Nikolov | Васил Николов
@vnikolov@ieji.de

History is an excellent teacher,
except
she examines first
and teaches her lessons later.

(I don't know who said it or when.)

#HistoriaMagistraVitae

Vassil Nikolov | Васил Николов
@vnikolov@ieji.de

For the record,
something the Bulgarian communists said shortly after the communist regime in Bulgaria ended in 1989:

"We spilled blood to take power,
it will take spilling blood for us to relinquish power."¹

Might be a history's lesson in it for the US.
_________
¹ Original Bulgarian:
"Тази власт с кръв сме я взимали,
с кръв ще я дадем."

#HistoryIsATeacherOfLife
#PoliticalViolence
#Politics
#Totalitarianism

Vassil Nikolov | Васил Николов
@vnikolov@ieji.de

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary faith, whether or not they require extraordinary proof.

#Metascience
#ScientificProof

Vassil Nikolov | Васил Николов
@vnikolov@ieji.de

If artificial intelligence is so intelligent, why do I hear about it being applied only to software engineering?

Does nobody apply AI to
bioengineering,
civil engineering,
electrical and electronics engineering,
mechanical engineering,
etc.?

#AI
#ArtificialIntelligence

Vassil Nikolov | Васил Николов
@vnikolov@ieji.de

I suspect that some of the flaws of today's artificial intelligence, including the so-called hallucinations, are related to an absence of metainformation, never mind metaknowledge.

#AI
#ArtificialIntelligence

Vassil Nikolov | Васил Николов
@vnikolov@ieji.de

Gerrymandering seems a feature of
majoritarian elections (i.e. not proportional)
in single-member districts
(it is affected by multiple factors, of course).
And it is an example of one of the many positive-feedback loops in politics:
if one side does it, the other will as well.

Remember the rotten boroughs in Great Britain?
It took serious legislation to abolish them.
(The Reform Act of 1832.)

#Elections
#Gerrymandering
#Politics
#VotingSystems

Vassil Nikolov | Васил Николов
@vnikolov@ieji.de

Yes, Machine Messiah
(1980; live, 2009)

"Cables that carry the life to the cities we build
Threads that link diamonds of light to the satanic mills
...
Escape to freedom, I need to be there
Waiting and watching, the tables are turning
...
Machine, machine messiah
The mindless search for a higher controller"

https://youtu.be/qHDvZ-yRC1k

#FridayMusic
#ProgressiveRock
#ProgRock

Vassil Nikolov | Васил Николов
@vnikolov@ieji.de

Allegedly, artificial intelligence is now at a Ph.D. level.
Would that be maximum, mean, median, minimum, maybe?

(Level of intelligence, or of hype?)
_________
Let's not get distracted by the devaluation of Ph.D. degrees during quite a few recent decades...

#AI
#ArtificialIntelligence

Vassil Nikolov | Васил Николов
@vnikolov@ieji.de

TIR: Today I Realized
that
Leaving It in the Lap of the Gods
fits software engineering just fine.
And is Actual Practice.

Remember how Freddie Mercury used to sing:
"It's so easy, but I can't do it,
So risky, but I gotta chance it..."

If not,
https://youtu.be/YNVjf506H6s?t=30
is a concert performance from 50 (fifty) years ago.

Ha ha only serious.
("So funny, there's nothing to laugh about.")

#SoftwareEngineering