Sunny.Molini » Academia

Math Curiosities – 0.99… = 1

Sunny — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 14:50:56 +0000

I have at least one friend who, despite his extensive math abilities, adamantly refuses to accept this. Even when faced with the following proof.

1/9 = 0.111…

9*(1/9)= 9/9 = 1

9*0.111… = 0.999…

Therefore:

0.999… = 1

For more information on this, see any of the following:

Purplemath.com

Wikipedia.org

Jstor.org (academic paper)

Any questions?

ISP Competition

Sunny — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:00:18 +0000

It’s my guess that the debate on Network Neutrality has just gotten started. This will continue to be an issue for decades, unless we find a better way to sell Internet access.
Net Neutrality gets mostly contentious on the question of how much control Telecom companies can exert over the traffic that travels over their infrastructure. My gut pushes me to defend the telecom’s right to do what they want with the systems they’ve built or bought, that’s what a world of strong property rights would do. The fact remains though that the level of competition in the ISP market is incredibly low.
Customer choice typically lies in the choice between ‘fast’ cable or ‘less fast’ dsl. Or in some cases the same company that offers the ‘less fast’ dsl also offers the ‘faster’ fiber. The ‘fast’ company has little incentive to reduce rates or increase speed because there is no ‘faster’ option that they can hope to draw market share from.
Net Neutrality seems like nothing more than a new spin on the age old question of monopoly regulation. When you resolve the symptoms of monopoly the debate usually fizzles because there is no longer any need for it. It’s hard to ask for a better accountability master than a working market. That’s what I’m now looking for.

Robot Laboratory Assistants

Sunny — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 19:22:41 +0000

Sounds like some brits figured out how to make a robot use AI to guide an automated trial and error process. Sort of like giving Igore an full graveyard and telling him to keep trying to electrocute bodies until something cool happens.

The computer would still need monitoring, after all, if he finds something that he wasn’t looking for, but is amazing anyway, the computer would probably throw it away. A lot of discoveries are made by people looking for something different than what they find.

The robotic system, dubbed Adam, hypothesizes about which genes in yeast code for the enzymes responsible for catalyzing certain biochemical reactions. It then carries out experiments designed to prove its hypotheses right or wrong.

Memory Alteration ‘Advance’

Sunny — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 09:24:43 +0000

Some researchers in Brooklyn have found some chemical that alters the memory storage processes of the brain.

Theoretically, it could be used to someday cure addiction, which is a learned behavior.

It could also be used to turn people into dolls that get rented out for the purposes of paying clients. I so love Joss Whedon.

So if an addiction is re-formed after being ‘cured,’ could it become so firmly engrained in the brain that it again becomes uncurable? Might this already be the case in people that have been smokers their entire lives? Sounds like we’ll need another billion or so for more research.

If it is later discovered that homosexuality is, in fact, learned, might it become illegal to try to ‘cure’ it?

Bankruptcy, Not Bailout

Sunny — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:22:00 +0000

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/29/miron.bailout/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

I have been sent this link by 2 friends that do not know each other, but know me very well. Jeffrey Miron makes some amazing points.

The implicit backing of the federal government for Freddie and Fannie encouraged them to take on far more risk than a free market would have allowed.
“Worse, beginning in 1977 and even more in the 1990s and the early part of this century, Congress pushed mortgage lenders and Fannie/Freddie to expand subprime lending.”
“The fact that government bears such a huge responsibility for the current mess means any response should eliminate the conditions that created this situation in the first place, not attempt to fix bad government with more government.”
“If financial institutions cannot make productive loans, a profit opportunity exists for someone else. This might not happen instantly, but it will happen.”
“Further, the current credit freeze is likely due to Wall Street’s hope of a bailout; bankers will not sell their lousy assets for 20 cents on the dollar if the government might pay 30, 50, or 80 cents.”

Read the article. He makes many more points that fill in the blanks, but I figured 5 was a good synopsis.

Math Joke

Sunny — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:22:00 +0000

The ark lands after The Flood. Noah lets all the animals out and says, “Go and multiply.”

Several months pass. Noah decides to check up on the animals. All are doing fine except a pair of snakes.

“What’s the problem?” says Noah.
“Cut down some trees and let us live there”, say the snakes.

Noah follows their advice. Several more weeks pass. Noah checks on the snakes again. Lots of little snakes, everybody is happy.

Noah asks, “Want to tell me how the trees helped?”
“Certainly”, say the snakes. “We’re adders, and we need logs to multiply.”

Rat brain powered robot

Sunny — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:20:00 +0000

http://technology.newscientist.com/channel/tech/mg19926696.100-rise-of-the-ratbrained-robots.html

A disembodied rat brain interfaced to a computer chip, interfaced to a robot, which moves around the lab.

‘As they do so, the disembodied neurons are communicating, sending electrical signals to one another just as they do in a living creature. We know this because the network of neurons is connected at the base of the pot to 80 electrodes, and the voltages sparked by the neurons are displayed on a computer screen.’

This is strongly in territory of ‘unknown’ of the same sort that can be scary. But I can’t think of any specific ethical issues that I have with this line of research.

HT to Timothy at Slashdot.

Philosophy of Liberty

Sunny — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:48:00 +0000

This was posted 2 years ago, and I just now found it. I have now seen it 3 times, examining it closely for any idea that I even in part disagree with. The only point I have found is a minor one that can wait until you’ve seen the clip.

Back to that point, When the author says that people should stop asking their governments to initiate force on their behalf, it assumes democratic governments. Dictators pursue ownership of the life and liberty of their subjects as an objective for their own life. And may cause global atrocities without the deliberate consent of their people.