Curating the Internet: Science and technology digest for April 19, 2020

remlaps (75)in SteemSTEM • 5 years ago (edited)

Two Steem discussion posts about the future of artificial intelligence; An argument for schools to start teaching Computational Teamwork; A biographical discussion of Maruice Hilleman, a virologist who reduced the severity of a 1957 H2N2 flu pandemic; NASA announces plans to send astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) on May 27; and an article about underground coal fires that burn around the globe

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First posted on my Steem blog: SteemIt, SteemPeak^*, SteemSTEM.

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Steem @mojubare and @cmp2020: What Do You Say About Technological Singularity and [Discussion Post] At what point (if at all) should an AI have natural rights?- In the first post, @mojubare describes positive and negative results of reaching a so-called, singularity, or a point where "when the intellectual capacity of the artificial intelligence surpasses that of the human brain". On the positive side, the post suggests that people may live longer, healthier lives, with the assistance of machines. On the negative side, however, the concern is that machines could just decide to eliminate humans. In the second post, @cmp2020 asks readers to engage in discussion about the rights of artificial intelligence (AI) systems. To encourage discussion, @cmp2020 has reserved liquid rewards from the post for tipping of insightful and relevant comments. Please click through to one or both of the posts, and join the discussion. (10% beneficiary settings have been applied to this post for @mojubare and @cmp2020.)

Computational Thinking or Computational Teamwork? - In this article, Jeremy Roschelle argues that schools should teach "computational teamwork" (CT) as a sort of Computer Science^plus. The essay opens by talking about the need for teaching computation outside of the traditional Computer Science curriculum, and says that most schools address this need with coursework on Computational Thinking, which is compared to a sort of Computer Science^minus. This is followed by the suggestion that teaching Computational Teamwork might be a better way to satisfy the need. The term is defined as follows: "CT is the art of designing processes that enable hybrid teams of people and machines to work effectively, efficiently, and ethically together." The crux of the argument may be summarized in this paragraph:
In the future, all highly paid work will involve teams of people working in partnership with distributed computing processes to create new value. To be prepared for the future of work, students need to understand how processes can be distributed across people and machines—and how to do so effectively, efficiently, and safely.
Discussion Question: What would effective Computatational Teamwork look like on the Steem blockchain?

The Man Who Beat the 1957 Flu Pandemic - Subtitle: Pioneering virologist Maurice Hilleman, little remembered today also helped develop nine of 14 children’s vaccines recommended today - This article tells us about Maurice Hilleman, a virologist who overcame childhood diptheria and the poverty associated with the Great Depression in order to earn a PhD and become a leading virologist. In 1957, when working as the chief of respiratory disease at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Hilleman became aware of large numbers of flu cases in Hong Kong, effecting 10% of that city's population. Through informal military channels, he was able to get a sample of the virus and begin his research. In May of that year, he predicted that the comping pandemic would arrive in the US during September, when the children were returning to school. As a result, he went into high gear working on a vaccination, and was able to develop one for use in an unprecedented 4 month time period. The vaccine started to be administered in July, and 40 million doses were administered, so when the virus arrived in September - as predicted - the severity of the pandemic was reduced, and many lives were saved. During the course of his career, Hilleman participated in the creation of 40 different vaccines, and he has been credited with "saving more lives than any other scientist in the 20th century."

NASA, SpaceX pick May 27 to resume astronaut launches in US - Weather permitting, on May 27 at 4:32 (US/Eastern), NASA will launch astronauts into space on an American craft for the first time in 9 years. The astronauts, "Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken" will launch in a crew capsule on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The crew capsule technology was first tested a year ago, when SpaceX sent a capsule to the International Space Station (ISS) and back. Since the first launch in 1961, only three countries have sent people into orbit. Those are the United States, Russia, and China. SpaceX would be the first private company to accomplish it. -h/t RealClear Science

The Underground Fires That Can Burn for Thousands of Years - Burning Mountain, Mount Wingen in New South Wales, Australia, is the location of the oldest known underground coal fire. It has been burning for at least 6,000 years. Naturally occurring underground coal fires have been occurring for millions of years. They can be caused by lightning strikes, wildfire, or even just jostling of the top-soil in a way that permits oxygen to reach the superheated coal underground. Since the industrial revolution, the phenomenon has become even more common, so much so that in 2010, it was estimated that 3% of worldwide CO₂ emissions come from underground coal fires. The best known of the man-made coal fires is almost certainly the one in Centralia, PA, which was previously covered in Interesting Links: April 21, 2019 and Curating the Internet: Science and technology digest for March 9, 2020.

Here is a video embed with a documentary about Centralia from the March 9 post

And here is a discussion topic, which I also raised in the previous posts about Centralia.

Discussion Question: What would it take to harness the underground coal fires in order to provide low-cost energy to data centers that specialize in mining cryptocurrencies or providing cloud computing services?

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