The "To Keep Up" Wiki

These are a record of the chats that were passed during these meetings. They have been edited to a small extent.
This is not a complete list.
To find chats for a given day, for example September 6, 2023, search for datecode 20230906.

10:29:58 From tedpk to Everyone:
	Will Douglas Heaven
	Senior Editor for AI
	MIT Technology Review
	Will Douglas Heaven is the senior editor for AI at MIT Technology Review, where he covers emerging trends and the people behind the tech. Previously, he was founding editor at the BBC tech-meets-geopolitics website Future Now and chief technology editor at New Scientist magazine. He has a PhD in computer science from Imperial College London and knows what it's like to work with robots.
10:33:53 From tedpk to Everyone:
	Making Robots Smarter, in Both Mind and Making Robots Smarter, in Both Mind and Body
	There is a symbiosis between robotics and AI where robotics allows AI to explore and experiment in tangible ways, providing an invaluable feedback loop that improves both technologies. We take an inside look at the commercial applications as well as R&D that can lead to new capabilities for robotics and AI.
	
	Marc Raibert
	Founder & Executive Director, Boston Dynamics AI InstituteBody
	There is a symbiosis between robotics and AI where robotics allows AI to explore and experiment in tangible ways, providing an invaluable feedback loop that improves both technologies. We take an inside look at the commercial applications as well as R&D that can lead to new capabilities for robotics and AI.
	
	Marc Raibert
	  Founder & Executive Director, Boston Dynamics AI Institute

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11:05:54 From Steve Isenberg To Everyone:
	First idea for Space Elevator comes from 1895 by Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.
11:14:08 From Bob Primak To Everyone:
	Part of the problem with troubleshooting errors made by AI bots (Peter A.) is that the AI "learning" process is not transparent -- it's like a "black box". Users don't get clues about how the triggers were tripped. (This is itself a safeguard against end-users learning how to "game" the AI.)
11:21:01 From Bob Primak To Everyone:
	Regarding Scientology, it is said that L. Ron Hubbard started the religion of Scientology as a joke.

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09:55:04 From Drew King To Everyone:
	https://tinyurl.com/VoicemeeterZoom
09:55:29 From Barry Kort To Everyone:
	https://www.evernote.com/shard/s561/client/snv?isnewsnv=true&noteGuid=ccd400b9-6bab-d34a-bb74-dbe376efbd61&noteKey=db4ccb46c499bedafb4e840b602dca24&sn=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.evernote.com%2Fshard%2Fs561%2Fsh%2Fccd400b9-6bab-d34a-bb74-dbe376efbd61%2Fdb4ccb46c499bedafb4e840b602dca24&title=Voicemeeter%2Bfor%2BZoom
10:46:32 From Karin Y To Everyone:
	I beleive that the free Chat isn't trained on current information.
10:46:49 From Adam Broun To Everyone:
	Reacted to "I beleive that the f..." with 👍
10:48:05 From Bob Primak To Everyone:
	Chat GPT only runs through 2021.
10:50:13 From Adam Broun To Everyone:
	Pretty good article published today that talks about how ChatGPT evolved to its current state https://arstechnica.com/ai/2023/08/how-chatgpt-turned-generative-ai-into-an-anything-tool/
10:50:39 From Judy & Mike Alexander To Everyone:
	The original question is flawed because it asked a binary question.   If two people contributed, the answer could not attribute percentages of contributions.
10:53:15 From Drew King To Everyone:
	bing chat is based on chat gpt 4 and also uses bing to provide current information. There is an app too. You need to sign up for free. I use both for different purposes. I have accounts on all three big chat engines Google Bard microsoft Bing chat and chat gpt. it's very interesting using the very same text . To look at the different answers.
10:53:51 From Judy & Mike Alexander To Everyone:
	A cynical former boss of mine once told me that it's mor important to be lucky than to be good.
10:57:36 From Drew King To Everyone:
	Here is realtext file sent to you via chat.
	
	You can add files from Google Drive, or your PC.
11:33:15 From Steve Isenberg To Everyone:
	For info on LastPass and KeePass (my preference) and why to use complex passwords, see https://wiki.toku.us/doku.php?id=security_presentation
11:33:55 From Barry Kort To Everyone:
	When I’m asleep in bed, I have very imaginative and creative dreams.

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10:15:30 From Bob Primak To Everyone:
	The modeling tools include creating a "point-cloud". I once did a talk about how this was done with Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris before the fire.
10:35:46 From Bob Primak To Everyone:
	Ted's video has frozen, visually.
10:55:48 From tedpk To Everyone:
	https://youtu.be/EQn2u9KFf8s
10:56:21 From tedpk To Everyone:
	https://youtu.be/wNSvDvNf1SA
11:00:17 From Bob Primak To Everyone:
	Peru's Amazon region has also been studied. A lot of new sites have been identified there and in Brazil.
11:02:12 From John Rudy To Everyone:
	there are many thousand unexploded bombs in Vietnam and the mid-east.  Can LIDAR pick up these bombs, at least those that are made of metal?
11:07:54 From Barry Kort To Everyone:
	That was Hank Green on the Sci Show.
11:08:32 From Barry Kort To Everyone:
	Hank and his brother, John Green are known as the VlogBrothers.
11:09:19 From tedpk To Everyone:
	https://youtu.be/LsIjwvM65zk
11:09:52 From Barry Kort To Everyone:
	Hank Green hosted a number of educational series on PBS Digital.
11:11:50 From tedpk To Everyone:
	https://youtu.be/LsIjwvM65zk
11:26:55 From Jerome Slate To Everyone:
	Were I in the military, I would want a quick-strike lidar capability to map any conflict area quickly. Thoughts?
11:28:00 From Bob Primak To Everyone:
	LiDAR is used by militaries and armed forces for a broad range of defense applications, such as battlefield mapping, determining line of sight, aiding in mine countermeasures and the autonomous navigation of military vehicles. https://www.defenseadvancement.com/suppliers/military-lidar/#:~:text=LiDAR%20is%20used%20by%20militaries,Target%20Tracking%20%26%20Detection
11:32:45 From Bob Primak To Everyone:
	Pompeii Still Has Buried Secrets https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/11/29/pompeii-still-has-buried-secrets

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10:11:28 From Steve Isenberg to Everyone:
	You can follow along with the power-toys. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/
10:35:18 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	Syncthing data usage stats: https://data.syncthing.net/
11:15:10 From Steve Isenberg to Everyone:
	Rclone: https://rclone.org/

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10:29:58 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	How AI is trained can influence what it puts out. 
	
	Can artificial intelligence be racist?
	Experts say AI tools lack transparency and could cause disparities at an unprecedented level.
	https://www.yahoo.com/news/can-artificial-intelligence-be-racist-172952795.html
	
	Just noticed, and possibly relevant here.
10:43:11 From Steve Isenberg to Everyone:
	What if the object is a helium-filled balloon
10:45:43 From Judy & Mike Alexander to Everyone:
	Chomsky inadvertantly *defined* "thinking" in his example.
10:56:48 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	The human brain is not operating the way this guy claims it operates.
10:58:51 From Steve Isenberg to Everyone:
	Is it too simplistic a view he has?
11:04:50 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	Yes, in terms of how the human brain actually works. It's much more complex than AI developers like to believe. There are no actual electrical circuits in the brain, for starters.
11:05:08 From Judy & Mike Alexander to Everyone:
	Imagine that Putin's people were able to "train" the Russian "Chat".  Or DeSantis's people training computers on American history.  The possibilities are troubling (to say the least).
11:05:28 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	I like some of Ted K.'s remarks.
11:12:32 From Barry Kort to Everyone:
	If there is no gravity, then there is no atmosphere, either.  The gasses all drift away.
11:16:51 From Don Cooke 523 to Everyone:
	what would happen if I let go of a helium-filled balloon
	
	ChatGPT
	If you let go of a helium-filled balloon, it would behave quite differently than dropping an apple due to the physics of buoyancy and the properties of helium. Here's what would happen:
	
	Buoyancy: Helium is a gas that is lighter than air, which means it has a lower density than the surrounding air. When you release the helium-filled balloon, it experiences an upward force called buoyancy, which opposes the force of gravity.
	
	Ascending Motion: As a result of buoyancy, the helium-filled balloon would start to rise into the air. It will continue to ascend until the upward buoyant force is balanced by the downward force of gravity. During this ascent, the balloon may move vertically and might also drift horizontally due to wind currents.
	
	Constant Speed: Once the balloon reaches a certain altitude where the density of the surrounding air matches the density of the helium-filled balloon, it will stop accelerating and reach a point of constant speed.
11:19:22 From Barry Kort to Everyone:
	Summary: Model-Based Reasoning is as good as the precision and detail of the model one is relying on.
11:21:46 From Steve Isenberg to Everyone:
	Very nice, Don
11:25:32 From Barry Kort to Everyone:
	Inflection Pi has a very interesting personality.

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10:09:29 From Carl Lazarus to Everyone:
	Is LI7 radioactive?
10:11:03 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	Stable. https://www.americanelements.com/lithium-7-metal-isotope-13982-05-3#:~:text=Lithium%207%20Metal%20(Lithium%2D7,target%20materials%20and%20other%20applications.
10:51:17 From John Rudy to Everyone:
	Is there much pushback from anti-nuclear groups
10:54:00 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	Why even environmentalists are supporting nuclear power today
	August 30, 2022 NPR https://www.npr.org/2022/08/30/1119904819/nuclear-power-environmentalists-california-germany-japan
10:54:33 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	So not nearly as much as one might suppose. Far less opposition than nuclear fission is still sparking.
10:57:00 From Judy & Mike Alexander to Everyone:
	The amount and "seriousness" of radioactive species in fusion are much smaller than in fission reactors.  In principle, much less of a waste problem than for fission reactors.

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10:21:01 From Jerome Slate to Everyone:
	Does AI require clear, defined goals?  e.g., a sixteen year-old asks "what college should I apply to?"
10:27:58 From Judy & Mike Alexander to Everyone:
	Can computers distinguish between coyotes/wolves and dogs (German Shepherds, e.g.)?
10:30:06 From tedpk to Everyone:
	There has to be a distinction made between "abstract" and "real" types of "object" -- in the former the boundaries are defined by well defined rules, in the latter the "Platonic Dialogue of the Cave is central"
10:33:08 From Judy & Mike Alexander to Everyone:
	the hiring example probable contravenes diversity in hiring.  Non-ideologically, it will miss "different" candidates who can bring something new to the organization.
10:45:37 From Judy & Mike Alexander to Everyone:
	Was Zillow's debacle a GIGO problem?
10:47:13 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	No. the data were not flawed or inappropriate.
10:47:41 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	It was COVID which was an unpredictable monkey-wrench thrown into the model.
10:48:46 From Judy & Mike Alexander to Everyone:
	… which is one form of GIGO
10:49:48 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	GIGO as I understand it relates to the data set not being appropriate. Maybe there's something about changing conditions making the data into garbage? I don't get that.
10:53:03 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	Both creative "geniuses" and AI algorithms can be fatally flawed, so neither paradigm is a good, sustainable business model. "Celebrity Designers" have a very uneven track record in the fashion industry.
11:11:46 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	Who gets reported as a child abuser is also a function of which communities are willing to do the reporting.
11:15:39 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	Automating a biased process only reinforces the bias.
11:15:55 From Judy & Mike Alexander to Everyone:
	The Allegheny case is one of asking the *wrong* question, not just "bias".
11:16:28 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	They had all the answers, it was the questions they got wrong.
11:17:07 From Judy & Mike Alexander to Everyone:
	That is, I\Allegheny County assumed that the number of calls would reflect the occurrence or severity of child abuse.
11:19:21 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	ChatGPT gave a computer user group an interesting experience with ChatGPT. IT told us that our organization disbanded in 2012!
11:19:30 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	It, not IT.
11:33:50 From Adam Broun to Everyone:
	https://jaykmody.com/blog/gpt-from-scratch/

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10:10:01 From tedpk to Everyone:
	anything about Parker Solar Probe?
10:12:05 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	It is true that the Apollo Engineering Drawings were lost or discarded.
10:15:48 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	Correction -- NOT true. There was hardware not preserved, but the blueprints are still available online. https://www.quora.com/Did-NASA-lose-the-blueprint-plans-for-the-Apollo-spacecraft-How-and-why-What-about-some-of-the-the-videos-or-photos-of-the-Apollo-missions-Again-how-or-why
10:17:34 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	Also, some of the backup recorded tapes were not preserved. Today's video enhancement technology might have been able to extract useful images from these backup tapes, but they are gone.
10:23:57 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	Those were more than video. They were 14-track tape, which included telemetry data. Most likely they were erased and reused. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/not-unsolved-mysteries-the-lost-apollo-11-tapes
11:05:29 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	SpaceX pricing and performance (speed) have been severely criticized by people who have tried the system so far.
11:07:13 From Judy & Mike Alexander to Everyone:
	The large number of satellites "up there" have, apparently, brightened the night sky, messing, among other things, with terrestrial astronomy.
11:09:39 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	Not to mention contributing to overcrowding of LEO where Starlink is filling up available orbits.
11:10:33 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	Early tests of Starlink latency have not been very impressive. But there is great potential in the system
11:16:28 From Larry Wittig to Everyone:
	Hollow core fiber optic cables transmit at very close to the speed of light.
11:27:08 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	UAP -- Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.
11:27:55 From Carl Lazarus to Everyone:
	Maybe they are Chinese balloons.
11:28:33 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	That farmer's photo is a known fake.
11:40:07 From Umesh Shelat to Everyone:
	Was his George’s father named Noah?

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10:08:03 From Barry Kort to Everyone:
	Here is the blog post on Crypto-Currencies that I posted nearly a decade ago ~ http://moultonlava.blogspot.com/2013/11/mathematically-defined-crypto-currencies.html
10:11:14 From tedpk to Everyone:
	can you distinguish Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc from the Stable Coins such as DST, etc.
10:11:55 From Judy & Mike Alexander to Everyone:
	…… not beholden to government" :  Sounds like banking before the Federal Reserve system was created, Depression-era banking laws, ...
10:17:45 From Jerome Slate to Everyone:
	What is the purpose of mining coins for the cryptocurrency itself? Is it like the Federal Reserve printing money?
10:19:22 From Steve Isenberg to Everyone:
	Re: mining Bitcoin.  Yes. You are printing money (if you are lucky and are the first to “find a solution”)
10:19:56 From tedpk to Everyone:
	can you distinguish open and closed blockchain [e.g. IBM]
10:20:18 From Jerome Slate to Everyone:
	I understand how it helps the miner. How does it help the currency. When the Fed prints money, it debases the currency.
10:21:24 From Steve Isenberg to Everyone:
	Earning bitcoin by a successful “solution” is a reward for finding that solution.  This is not an issue for now, as the limit on number of bitcoin has not been reached.
10:22:16 From Steve Isenberg to Everyone:
	My stepson owns bitcoin that he earned from the efforts of his mining computers.
10:23:01 From Jerome Slate to Everyone:
	Does not answer my question. The question is on the benefit to the cryptocurrency, NOT the miner.
10:24:24 From Steve Isenberg to Everyone:
	When he earns bitcoin, it has no effect on the price of the bitcoin currency.
10:31:16 From Larry Wittig to Everyone:
	Now folks that lost bitcoin value are suing celebrities who recommended buying them.
10:36:28 From Larry Wittig to Everyone:
	Paul krugman (nyt economist) callls bitcoins a self occurring ponzi scheme with no useful purpose except to launder money.
10:37:23 From tedpk to Everyone:
	if you put $1,000 into Amazon about 20 years ago ==> you are a millionaire today
10:47:14 From Steve Isenberg to Everyone:
	To explore Bitcoin Blockchain (and also other cryptos) visit https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/assets/btc — this is what Bob was showing earlier.
10:51:29 From tedpk to Everyone:
	Trust, but verify (Russian: Доверяй, но проверяй, tr. Doveryay, no proveryay, IPA: [dəvʲɪˈrʲæj no prəvʲɪˈrʲæj])
10:51:29 From Larry Wittig to Everyone:
	Please comment on if taxes are due on crypo earnings.
10:55:25 From Steve Isenberg to Everyone:
	There is a machine (like a candy machine) in Burlington Mall that you can buy/sell Bitcoin.
11:05:16 From tedpk to Everyone:
	These things can happen on the Alberta Exchange for Junior Capital Pools -- originally used to fund mining or drilling
11:12:35 From tedpk to Everyone:
	you miss ID'd the SNP & Coins
11:15:53 From Judy & Mike Alexander to Everyone:
	If you want to make an analogy for Bitcoin et al., it might be "investing" in real currencies (dollars,pounds, etc.)
11:25:30 From Jerome Slate to Everyone:
	Old expression: "A fool and his money are soon parted."      Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.

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10:27:32 From Jerome Slate to Everyone:
	Will gravity pull light that is approaching, thus increasing its speed?
10:33:14 From Larry Wittig to Everyone:
	Are thercase where a black hole causes the lensings and you get a ring without the bright center?
10:48:55 From Adam Broun to Everyone:
	Does gravitational lensing produce any chromatic dispersion? (i.e. different effective refraction for different light wavelengths)?
11:01:31 From tedpk:
	“Morphology of gravitationally lensed galaxies”, 
	J. A. Tyson, G. Kochanski, I. Dell’Antonio; 
	The UV Universe at Low and High Redshift, October 1997, AIP press.
11:21:33 From Jerome Slate to Everyone:
	Name:  Einstein Ring, Hon.
11:24:25 From Tony Galaitsis to Everyone:
	Question about separated source-lens objects…
11:25:58 From Ken Cutter to Everyone:
	can a "normal" image of the source be constructed from the rings?

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07:19:37 From tedpk to Everyone:
	Do you have a 'Hall of Fame"?  for your historical figures
07:20:11 From tedpk to Everyone:
	Where is Marie Curie?
07:22:01 From tedpk to Everyone:
	She had to overcome more than most anyone ever to get where she got and then --  she got to the very top
07:25:02 From tedpk to Everyone:
	What is the distribution between Theory and  Experiment?
07:32:22 From tedpk to Everyone:
	Ada
07:32:37 From Barry Kort to Everyone:
	Yes. Ada Lovelace.
07:32:45 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	Ada Lovelace, to be exact.
07:35:18 From Judy & Mike Alexander to Everyone:
	IBM-style punch cards came long after the Analytical Engine.  See Hollerith.
07:37:42 From Carl Lazarus to Everyone:
	Ada had the insight that numbers in a computer could be used to represent any kind of non-numeric information, such as text or music.
07:40:08 From tedpk to Everyone:
	Jaquard Weaving Engine  -- was the source of the use of cards?
07:40:36 From Carl Lazarus to Everyone:
	I believe so.
07:43:17 From Bob Primak to Everyone:
	The Jacquard Looms used belts made of leather, with holes punched in them to create patterns in the weaving. This differs form programming more general=purpose computers, and it was not a direct source of modern computer punch cards.
07:45:43 From tedpk to Everyone:
	A number of years ago I wrote an editorial for the IEEE Boston Section -- There seems to be a bias to "lack of hands-on"
07:47:34 From tedpk to Everyone:
	Somewhat later I travelled to India presenting a workshop on Computer Engineering using PSOC tech -- there were many women but almost all had never handled a piece of computer hardware
07:52:02 From Dan Silber to Everyone:
	In 1969, I had a summer job supporting a computer programming group for a major insurance company in New York City. I was surprised to find it was mostly women, but I figured it was because it was a new field, unencumbered with the traditions of civil or mechanical engineering.
07:54:07 From Harry Forsdick to Everyone:
	Please confine your comments and questions to the chat.  We will make sure they get asked if they are relevant.
08:01:02 From Judy & Mike Alexander to Everyone:
	Science of cooking actually is a rather old idea.  My mother-in-law was a home ec major at Simmons College (graduated around 1941).  Her course of study had quite a lot of emphasis on the chemistry that occurs during cooking.
08:24:36 From Harry Forsdick to Everyone:
	To those who arrived after the meeting began please realize that the video projector that belongs to the LexCC is not working today.  Since we can’t control the computers all of the equipment that picks up sound is not working today.
08:25:59 From tedpk to Everyone:
	Karen Paneta @ Tufts?
08:29:42 From Barry Kort to Everyone:
	Also, have you done anything with Rosalind Picard (Affective Computing) at the MIT Media Lab?

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