Computer says: oops
Computer says: oopsTwo studies, one on neuroscience and one on palaeoclimatology, cast doubt on established results. First, neuroscience and the reliability of brain scanning NOBODY knows how the brain works. But researchers are trying to find out. One of the most eye-catching weapons in their arsenal is functional magnetic-resonance imaging (fMRI). In this, MRI scanners normally employed for diag
Answering the machinery question
THE ORIGINAL MACHINERY question, which had seemed so vital and urgent, eventually resolved itself. Despite the fears expressed by David Ricardo, among others, that “substitution of machinery for human labour…may render the population redundant”, the overall effect of mechanisation turned out to be job creation on an unprecedented scale. Machines allowed individual workers to produce more, reducing
Master plan
LAST year Japan lowered the voting age from 20 to 18. But Minami, a high-schooler from Tokyo, does not plan to vote in an election for the upper house of the Diet, or parliament, on July 10th. Like many Japanese, she finds politics dull. The upcoming election will probably not change their views. The government, led by Shinzo Abe, is likely to trounce the floundering opposition. Mr Abe’s poll rati
Frankenstein’s paperclips
Frankenstein’s paperclipsTechies do not believe that artificial intelligence will run out of control, but there are other ethical worries AS DOOMSDAY SCENARIOS go, it does not sound terribly frightening. The “paperclip maximiser” is a thought experiment proposed by Nick Bostrom, a philosopher at Oxford University. Imagine an artificial intelligence, he says, which decides to amass as many papercli
Re-educating Rita
Re-educating RitaArtificial intelligence will have implications for policymakers in education, welfare and geopolitics IN JULY 2011 Sebastian Thrun, who among other things is a professor at Stanford, posted a short video on YouTube, announcing that he and a colleague, Peter Norvig, were making their “Introduction to Artificial Intelligence” course available free online. By the time the course bega
Automation and anxiety
SITTING IN AN office in San Francisco, Igor Barani calls up some medical scans on his screen. He is the chief executive of Enlitic, one of a host of startups applying deep learning to medicine, starting with the analysis of images such as X-rays and CT scans. It is an obvious use of the technology. Deep learning is renowned for its superhuman prowess at certain forms of image recognition; there ar
The return of the machinery question
The return of the machinery questionAfter many false starts, artificial intelligence has taken off. Will it cause mass unemployment or even destroy mankind? History can provide some helpful clues, says Tom Standage THERE IS SOMETHING familiar about fears that new machines will take everyone’s jobs, benefiting only a select few and upending society. Such concerns sparked furious arguments two centu
March of the machines
March of the machinesWhat history tells us about the future of artificial intelligence—and how society should respond EXPERTS warn that “the substitution of machinery for human labour” may “render the population redundant”. They worry that “the discovery of this mighty power” has come “before we knew how to employ it rightly”. Such fears are expressed today by those who worry that advances in arti
A tragic split
A tragic splitHow to minimise the damage of Britain’s senseless, self-inflicted blow HOW quickly the unthinkable became the irreversible. A year ago few people imagined that the legions of Britons who love to whinge about the European Union—silly regulations, bloated budgets and pompous bureaucrats—would actually vote to leave the club of countries that buy nearly half of Britain’s exports. Yet, b
Reweaving the web
TIM BERNERS-LEE ends “Weaving the Web”, a book written in the late 1990s, on an optimistic note: “The experience of seeing the web take off by the grassroots effort of thousands gives me tremendous hope that…we can collectively make our world what we want.” Nearly two decades later the inventor of the web no longer sounds as cheerful. “The problem is the dominance of one search engine, one big soc
Showdown
ShowdownWin or lose, a computer program’s contest against a professional Go player is another milestone in AI UPDATE Mar 12th 2016: AlphaGo has won the third game against Lee Sedol, and has thus won the five-game match. TWO : NIL to the computer. That was the score, as The Economist went to press, in the latest round of the battle between artificial intelligence (AI) and the naturally evolved sort
The future of computing
The future of computingThe era of predictable improvement in computer hardware is ending. What comes next? IN 1971 the fastest car in the world was the Ferrari Daytona, capable of 280kph (174mph). The world’s tallest buildings were New York’s twin towers, at 415 metres (1,362 feet). In November that year Intel launched the first commercial microprocessor chip, the 4004, containing 2,300 tiny trans
The trust machine
BITCOIN has a bad reputation. The decentralised digital cryptocurrency, powered by a vast computer network, is notorious for the wild fluctuations in its value, the zeal of its supporters and its degenerate uses, such as extortion, buying drugs and hiring hitmen in the online bazaars of the “dark net”. This is unfair. The value of a bitcoin has been pretty stable, at around $250, for most of this
Cretaceous insects
Amber is wonderful for preserving fossils. Not quite as good as Michael Crichton suggested in “Jurassic Park”, but impressive nonetheless. This particular specimen, from northern Myanmar, is a scale insect that lived 100m years ago, during the Cretaceous period, when dinosaurs flourished. It is by far the earliest evidence of “brood care”: the creature is carrying about 60 eggs in a waxy sac on he
Flatlining
FOR years, it seemed like carbon-dioxide emissions rose relentlessly, whatever the world’s level of economic activity and however much countries spent on no- or low-carbon energy. Now, though, that depressing fact may be changing. The International Energy Agency (IEA), made up mostly of energy-consuming rich countries, reckons worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide in 2014 were the same as in 2013.
The caliphate cracks
The caliphate cracksThough Islamic State is still spreading terror, its weaknesses are becoming apparent WHEN the jihadists of Islamic State (IS) seized Mosul and the Iraqi army fled last June, they became the world’s most dangerous terrorist organisation. Sweeping out of Syria and north-western Iraq, they stormed southward, and came close to taking Baghdad. They murdered male prisoners in gory vi
No entry
No entryAs the world’s refugee problem grows, Japan pulls up the drawbridge AROUND 9m people have fled their homes in Syria. Over 3m have taken refuge in neighbouring countries. But thousands more have fanned out across the world, some to as far away as Japan. There, they have found the drawbridge up. The world’s third-largest economy has yet to grant asylum to a single Syrian. The treatment meted
Made in China?
Made in China?Asia’s dominance in manufacturing will endure. That will make development harder for others BY MAKING things and selling them to foreigners, China has transformed itself—and the world economy with it. In 1990 it produced less than 3% of global manufacturing output by value; its share now is nearly a quarter. China produces about 80% of the world’s air-conditioners, 70% of its mobile
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Right turn: Japan’s cabinet
From not working to neural networking