Flights of the butterfly

  • STONEHENGE

                Turns out the Scots built Stonehenge. Or at least part of it. The altar stone, apparently, did not originate in either England or Wales, but came from Scotland. It had been assumed that this stone, like the bluestones, came from Wales. But its new provenance is now being used to support claims that the…

  • The Onion

    The universe is like an onion. Well, not exactly, but there are aspects of it that are definitely onionesque. I am referring to the solving of problems. From this point of view there is a property of the universe that seems like an onion. Trying to solve the mysteries of the universe, from our first…

  • Facts

    Ah, facts. Don’t we just love ‘em? Here’s a fun fact: there aren’t any. Well, not in Realworld anyway. The other day, a young man, nice but arrogant, told me something. He said it was a fact. He said it more than once and said it emphatically. Facts do exist, but only in somewhere like…

  • Newspeak

  • AI and Babies

    I am told that AI is developing at an astonishing rate and will soon threaten all humanity. First, if AI is truly developing as well as accelerating, then by the time it is in a position to exterminate us it will have realised that exterminating any species has never been a good idea and will…

  • Intelligent, clever, or wise

    There are three bits to think about. Intelligence        is the ability to review a data set, deduce an underlying algorithm and use the algorithm to reveal a new point on the data set. Cleverness        is the ability to review a data  set, deduce an underlying algorithm and then manipulate it to show that a…

  • Langton’s ant

    This is Langton’s ant. He lives on a plain sheet of paper, preferably white, with squares on it. His name is possibly Cyril. But, it could be Rodney. It’s difficult to tell. •           Cyril, or possibly Rodney, likes an uncomplicated life. He lives by just two rules. •           And two pots of paint. THE RULES…

  • How big is infinity?

    This seems a silly question. You would think the answer is “bigger than that.” But take a look at this: All of these sequences go on “forever” (we’ll get back to that later) So they are all infinite series. But, logically, the lower rows seem to have fewer numbers than the “all” row. These are…

  • And so it began

    Throughout my childhood and my schooldays, I was told I had a Butterfly Mind. This was a Bad Thing and I must not have one. This is tricky, because you don’t choose it, it chooses you. This has dogged me all my life. Until now. Suddenly, I realise that, far from being a handicap and…