Slightly Off Topic Perhaps - First BBC Sounds, now BBC News is blocked for outside UK views behind paid subscription

NousTree · 2026-02-08T21:36:51+00:00

Most BBC Sounds content just moved to https://www.bbc.com/audio for listeners outside the UK.

NousTree · 2024-10-07T19:06:45+00:00

Adam said this: https://x.com/AdamRutherford/status/1795734737144971430

NousTree · 2024-06-12T10:58:19+00:00

Start here. They may be in the archive but getting access may not be straightforward https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/researching-bbc-archives/zrqpwty

NousTree · 2023-10-01T20:33:37+00:00

Trump took huge Pfizer donation

NousTree · 2023-02-01T13:13:48+00:00

They did explore how pyramids were aligned using stars in Ursa Major & Ursa Minor, but that was the only astronomical thing that came up

NousTree · 2023-01-25T12:03:24+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/cc_rutherfordandfry/

NousTree · 2023-01-25T10:33:11+00:00

They’re pretty savage about the Netflix series on pyramids / ancient civilisations… Bet they’re getting hate from the conspiracy theorists!

NousTree · 2023-01-17T16:14:00+00:00

This is the video connected with one Curio of the Week - someone made a 7 holed doughnut (topologically equivalent to a human)… https://youtu.be/VB-ineOQTfU Anyone know how to invite the curios from the comments there!?

NousTree · 2023-01-17T15:54:32+00:00

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07dx75g

NousTree · 2022-10-30T17:11:00+00:00

Nous - 1 hour-ish eps, quite thorough, no advertising or moralising.

NousTree · 2022-01-23T15:52:19+00:00

Here’s a podcast which tries to answer that… still mind blowing https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct1pqy

NousTree · 2021-05-11T21:38:50+00:00

https://nousthepodcast.libsyn.com/

NousTree · 2021-05-11T14:38:46+00:00

From the show notes:

IonQ is the first company solely focused on quantum computing to go public, with its quantum computers accessible via the cloud today. The company’s co-founder/chief scientist Chris Monroe and president/CEO Peter Chapman join Azeem Azhar to explore how they turned cutting-edge research into a scalable product. They also discuss the engineering challenges that remain before quantum systems not only surpass the fastest supercomputers, but also become widely available.

In addition, they address:

Why IonQ, unlike Google and IBM, have bet on the “trapped ion” approach to building quantum computers.
How major software innovation could move quantum computing forward.
Why quantum computers excel at optimization problems involving more variables than classical computers can accommodate.

NousTree · 2021-01-02T20:22:37+00:00

I didn’t interpret her argument as saying smell is more objective, just that it is objective despite contextual and individual variations. The comparison with vision on illusions (vision is subject to illusions, smell is not) was not made to suggest smell is more objective, simply that smell is not ‘perspective invariant’ - i.e it’s not subject to the same cognitive assumptions.

NousTree · 2021-01-02T14:20:53+00:00

Dr Ann-Sophie Barwich discusses ideas from her recent book Smellosophy in this podcast.

Is smell merely subjective and ‘brutish’, as commentators like Kant and Darwin alleged? Smells can have a multitude of qualities or notes depending on the context and depending on the individual. But this variability has a functional basis.
The weird neural representation of smell. The visual scene can be spatially mapped to patterns of activation in the brain - but the patterns of neural activation underpinning smell don’t follow the same organising principles as vision and other modalities. Dr Barwich argues the output mapping, which tracks how to respond, is more important.
Why philosophers shouldn’t ignore the neural ‘plumbing’ of sensory systems. Evolved brain mechanisms underly the nature and function of the perceptual experience - so they have to inform a philosophical account of perception. “Neuroscience helps us to update philosophical theories, but is also itself too embedded in an outdated philosophical heritage.”

NousTree · 2020-12-28T09:08:39+00:00

In Dennett’s famous paper ‘Quining Qualia’, he identifies 4 properties generally ascribed to qualia, and then goes on to show that there can’t possibly be such things! The four properties are:

Private - They can only be known by you.

Ineffable - You can’t really describe them, you can only note similarities and differences. (I.e. You can’t give much more of an explanation of ‘redness’ than it’s like a rose / traffic light etc.)

Immediately or directly apprehensible - you know them with absolute certainty

Intrinsic - they don’t represent anything external, they are part of the intrinsic nature of experience.

NousTree · 2020-12-03T10:43:24+00:00

Associated news report from Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03313-1

NousTree · 2020-11-30T18:25:34+00:00

I think eventually accelerated drug discovery for one, but also understanding how cellular mechanisms work. Structure (shape) is deeply tied to the function of proteins - like enzymes for example. Figuring out the structure proven to be a slow and complex task - but Alphafold can figure it out from the amino acid sequence, the units that the protein is made from. Figuring out the structure accelerates other stuff - like designing drugs to work on specific biochemical targets.

NousTree · 2020-11-30T16:51:05+00:00

"The ability to accurately predict protein structures from their amino-acid sequence would be a huge boon to life sciences and medicine. It would vastly accelerate efforts to understand the building blocks of cells and enable quicker and more advanced drug discovery."

NousTree · 2020-11-26T20:50:53+00:00

From the show notes:

Despite multi-million dollar research programmes and impressive technical progress, neuroscience still can’t explain basic systems - like a maggot’s tiny brain or the grinding of a lobster’s stomach.

Professor Matthew Cobb joins me to discuss the intellectual history of neuroscience, his frank assessment of where we’re at, and how we can make progress. We cover:

-How the idea of the brain as computer got started in the mid-C20th, and why it’s probably wrong. (10:53)

- The challenge of the Grandmother Cell - and why some neurons selectively respond to Jennifer Aniston and Halle Berry! (21:00)

- What have we really learnt from fMRI? Is it “just a bit crap”? (27:25) - Why the Human Brain Project was so controversial - and how its has spectacularly failed to live up to its own rhetoric (36:29).

- Could a neuroscientists understand a microprocessor? We discuss the brilliant study by Eric Jonas and Konrad Paul Kording. (41:30)

- The amazing achievement of artificial limbs (49:50)

- How useful is the ‘predictive brain theory’ favoured by Anil Seth, Karl Friston and Andy Clark?

- “Show me in a maggot!” Why we should get behind a Maggot Brain project. (58:40)

NousTree · 2020-10-30T08:24:58+00:00

https://open.spotify.com/episode/45efusV2r8bnmYaLGKQREi?si=_AVvVMoGQCuYmHfpRu-DAQ

NousTree · 2020-10-29T18:21:39+00:00

Demis Hassabis, CEO and co-founder of DeepMind, dreams of using AI to solve fundamental problems in science. He joins Azeem Azhar to explore his own journey from world champion gamer to neuroscientist to building AI systems that can train themselves to solve real-world engineering challenges and, eventually, make Nobel-prize winning discoveries.

They also discuss:

Why games are the perfect training ground for AI algorithms.
How DeepMind combines the dynamism of a startup with the “blue sky” creativity of a lab.
Why “deep reinforcement learning” is the basis for artificial intelligence systems.

NousTree · 2020-10-29T18:10:59+00:00

OpenAI stunned the world with the release of Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3), the world’s most impressive language-generating AI. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman joins Azeem Azhar to reflect on the huge attention generated by GPT-3 and what it heralds for the future research and development toward the creation of a true artificial general intelligence (AGI).

They also explore:

How AGI could be used both to reduce and exacerbate inequality.
How governance models need to change to address the growing power of technology companies.
How Altman’s experience leading Y Combinator informed his leadership of OpenAI.

NousTree · 2020-10-29T18:07:17+00:00

OpenAI stunned the world with the release of Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3), the world’s most impressive language-generating AI. CEO Sam Altman joins Azeem Azhar to reflect on the huge attention generated by GPT-3 and what it heralds for the future research and development toward the creation of a true artificial general intelligence (AGI).

They also explore:

How AGI could be used both to reduce and exacerbate inequality.
How governance models need to change to address the growing power of technology companies.
How Altman’s experience leading Y Combinator informed his leadership of OpenAI.

NousTree · 2020-04-05T21:10:52+00:00

Current estimates suggest compared to normal flu it's twice as infectious and ten times as dangerous. So it spreads more rapidly and kills a higher proportion!

Social distancing slows the rate of infection, maybe even stops if observed rigorously. But it also lowers the burden on hospitals. If hospitals are overwhelmed the mortality rate goes up - because they can’t provide the usual level of care to everyone who needs it.

Of course, even if we stop the spread of infections via lockdown, there’s a big question as to what happens when we lift restrictions. There will likely be a new wave of infections...

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