Contemporaneous definition of human intelligence

	Old definition: with the minimum of knowledge you obtain maximum of efficiency. In other words, I would say do all you can with the things you learned. So we have: intelligence + knowledge => solutions + innovations
This was so true 200 year ago when Lord Isaac Newton discovered g while resting in his garden and watching the apples falling. The thing is the knowledge of man kind is growing and growing. People are requested to do things on the run… knowing nothing about them. They simply are able to get the necessary information during the development phase and make there the improvements, find the solutions and yes, invent. Classically, it all should be clear at design time but... the projects are larger and larger. It became somehow utopian to have the entire solutions from the start.This was the case of the world's biggest-ever passenger plane, the Airbus A380. They had two limitations: the time and the resources.
	So nowadays the equation becomes: Time + intelligence + resources = solutions + innovations. We have economical plans, we have budget, so we have deadlines.The resources are limited either by the budget either by simply the real world limits.
The ultimate intelligence would be to use at maximum the resources that we have. Look at the picture! Two PET bottles transformed ingenuously into slippers. All the nowadays intelligence signs: limited budged, limited resources, fast implementation and a great solution. Yes, the picture is very funny... but beyond this…I find it brilliant...I think this is the contemporaneous definition of the intelligence.

Mars HOAX Aug 2005

I was so happy... when I heard on the local radio from Bucharest this "news": "Earth is catching up with Mars [for] the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history." "On August 27th … Mars will look as large as the full moon."

As large as the full moon? Is this possible? Oh, but they said on the radio. I was very excited and talked about it with everyone arround. Everyone knew about it. Greate event! So... let’s go the observatory from Bucharest, to see more. I enterd on the observatory web page, To see all the details like the visit hours, what is to see and everything...
I looked very curios on the calendar , then on the map. And... surprise surprise... there was not written there anyhing like „closest approach between the two planets in recorded history”: X-(
Ok, maybe they have a problem... But guess what... the problem, was mine:
Mars hoax sais NASA and space.com. :((
Hey... „Mars closest to Earth” was indeed but on 27 aug 2003.

Yes, I remember very clear the bright orange-pinky star on the sky in 2003. Oh...
On the beginning of November, Mars will get close to Earth once more. Not as close as 2 years ago: „As noted previously the Martian disk will appear only about 1/90 the apparent size of the Full Moon when near the 2005 November opposition. (Mars appeared about 1/75 as large as the lunar disk at the 2003 August opposition.” (http://www.floridastars.org/marsdisk.html)
Let’s see the size difference for this year as it looks on floridastars.org:

What can I say... verry funny! Let’s take „news” from any Internet source and publish them on the local radio. Isn’t it cool? It is such a sad situation to end up loosing my trust in mass-media not only when is about politics.

Is US loosing Europe?

Well... here there are my opinions regarding this article.
The subject is really hot and interensting for me. Because is about global... and about lookin forward ;)

Source: http://www.conference-board.org/articles/atb_article.cfm?id=308

I think the most remarkable quotation of the article is this:

Finally, at the national and international level, there are signs that the U.S. model of globalization is losing popularity and momentum. The American corporate approach, based on turning iconic U.S. brands into global brands, is under attack; and the recent scandals have sapped the credibility of U.S. management principles -- the same ones that dominated the first phase of globalization.

The article gives a nice overview of the phenomenon: the Europeans do not like to do business with USA any more. Some time ago America was an economic model for the entire world… but not anymore. Now there is a strong European Union. Euro proved to be able to compete with the dollar. The entire idea that Europe can be united economically and get stronger made everyone view things from a different angle and behave differently. The article itself gives a very relevant quotation: "Attitudes have changed," confirms Marjorie Thompson, an American management consultant who has been based in Europe for twenty-two years. "I came here when Ronald Reagan was president, but at that time, people separated the administration from Americans here on business. Now, there is a sense that we are held responsible."

I agree that the scene of the global market changed a lot once the European Union became stronger. But… the article seems to me is not making a big effort to be exhaustive in giving reasons. Why the Europeans changed their direction? Why they are not pleased anymore to make business with the American big corporations? The article emphasizes excessively the political aspects. Is seems indeed that the European business community is disappointed by the US political context: does not like the USA president, and strongly disagrees the Iraq war. But this is not enough for businessmen to do this:

It's brought out the worst in many French and Europeans. In short, just about anyone now feels they can tell you what they think of America right to your face, whether they know you or not. We're all guilty by association for being American, and we're learning what it's like to be on the receiving end of bigotry.

Further, in my opinion the article is very optimistic when giving such conclusions:

Is this anti-Americanism significant? I'm not so sure. We have so much trade and so much influence that it would really take a cultural tsunami -- even more hostility – to

significantly affect how we're perceived and how we prosper in Europe.

I think the Americans image is affected significantly in the European business community. I do not see a global market still dominated by the big American corporations in the future. It is not “bigotry” the one that changed the European business men attitude. I think is all about the consumer behavior. The Europeans do not want to hear any more about the “Americanization of Europe”. They consider that the united Europe provides enough cosmopolite, trendy and healthy life-style and values than USA.

The Europeans step by step are giving up to the unhealthy American Fast-foods, cola... In the hi-tech area, I see rather global market dominated by Asian corporations in the future. Bill Gates position sustains the last affirmation:

"If you look at the trend 10 years ago, the U.S. and China were not that different in terms of the number of engineers graduated," Gates said. "Now we have one-quarter the number of engineers, and the trend is continuing, with the U.S. number going down, and China going up quite a bit...We need to improve our own game, to make sure own slice of the pie stays very large." Gates is among a handful of technology executives who have issued periodic warnings that the United States is in danger of losing its mantle as high-tech center of the world as the skills of other countries catch up or even surpass those of American workers.

Gates: Get U.S. schools in order

The article brings a quotation that suggests that the Middle East might be a bridge that could improve the American image.

Wittes' recommendation to Hughes: "Work with Congress to increase spending on rebuilding American libraries and cultural centers. It may be impossible to make people happy with your foreign policy, but at least you can still create a broader opportunity for people in the Middle East to learn about America."

But…the authors forget to say also about the fact that UE is with some steps in front: European scholarships like Erasmus or Mary Currie are bringing thousands of Middle East students to the best European universities. Why would they turn suddenly to America, where the entire industry seems to start a smooth but still visible decline?

From here to loosing the “high-tech center of the world” position is not more than a step

I think the article ends in a very optimistic grace-note, considering my previous affirmations:

A lot of the time, the people who seem the most anti-American are in fact, deep down inside, hugely admiring of America, what it stands for, in the finest sense. As the French say, Qui aime bien, chatie bien --who loves well punishes well. So if you happen to be the type of person who is readily going to agree with any criticism that's leveled at the United States and join in on dumping on your country, that's not going to elicit much respect from your opponent. You have to stick to your guns without drawing them.

From a business perspective, I think the serious effects will be that we as Americans will be forced to be ever more innovative, ever more competitive. Which is as it should be. We Americans thrive on competition, and now we have some.

Energie alternativa

Super imbucurator articolul despre
ETANOLUL= ALTERNATIVA VIABILA LA BENZINE?

Ah.. ce ma bucur... Chiar se poate renunta la benzina! Mult timp oamenii au crezut ca nu pot sa zboare. Apoi ca nu pot ajunge pe luna. Chestia asta cu combustibilii mi se pare o incercare modesta. Totusi... merge greu researchul. Nu sunt fonduri pt cercetare? Sunt companiile de petrol asa puternice incat sa influenteze directia vantului? Acum un an-doi am eram detul de optimista incat sa fac un calcul cam asa: voi avea bani sa imi cumpar masina exact atunci cand vor trece pe energie alternativa si nu vor mai fi la stadiul de prototip. O masinuta mica, pt o persoana, hai fie 2... cu poluare ZERO. Dar timpul trece... si stirile ca cea de azi sunt rare...

Early Universe Liquid-Like

Washington, April 18 (Reuters): Scientists using a giant atom smasher said today they have created a new state of matter — a hot, dense liquid made out of basic atomic particles — and said it shows what the early universe looked like for a very, very brief time.

“We think we are looking at a phenomenon ... in the universe 13 billion years ago when free quarks and gluons ... cooled down to the particles that we know today,” Aronson said.

The quark-gluon plasma was made in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider — a powerful atom smasher at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York. Unexpectedly, the quark gluon plasma behaved like a perfect liquid of quarks, instead of a gas. For their experiment, the researchers smashed two gold ions together at extremely high speeds, very close to the speed of light. The collision was so intense that the strong force that usually binds quarks into protons and neutrons weakened, allowing the quarks to roam freely.

Great news! Big discovery…


Remember from physics what the quarks are?
Quark:
Any of a group of six elementary particles having electric charges of a magnitude one-third or two-thirds that of the electron, regarded as constituents of all hadrons.

Hadron
Any of a class of subatomic particles that are composed of quarks and take part in the strong interaction.

Baryon
Any of a family of subatomic particles, including the nucleon and hyperon multiplets, that participate in strong interactions, are composed of three quarks, and are generally more massive than mesons. Also called heavy particle.

Meson
Any of a family of subatomic particles that participate in strong interactions, are composed of a quark and an antiquark, and have masses generally intermediate between leptons and baryons.

Gluon
A hypothetical massless, neutral elementary particle believed to mediate the strong interaction that binds quarks together.

Interesting definitions! Interesting world! Are we getting the grasp of the state of matters possible in this universe? Are we close to know them all? Probably there no one would think that. Is the quark the smallest electrical charge? Oh… one day… possible someone will prove something else. I think the more physics discovers in the area the more questions appear. So we try to answer and make a step forward, but not very far. It is not possible to look beyond although everyone wishes that.

Terri Schiavo: deschidratation death decided by her husband against her parent's will

If you want some resume about the case there is a nice one here What You Need to Know about Terri Schiavo
What is my problem? I think this entire story in simply disgusting. I cannot believe that this really really happened: U.S. Supreme Court rejects latest plea by Terri Schindler (Schiavo)'s parents

Since when and why a husband has priority in front of the parents? Two actors: the unfaithful husband and the parents. If they could agree upon the death then ok… perhaps this decision could be somehow stated by a court. But this it is not the case! The parents waned to take care of her with their own resources and leave the trust fund awarded for Terri’s care to the husband.

The Terri’s mother, Mary Schindler: “Yes, I've received hundreds of letters from people who have, yes - recovered! And some of them, in their letters, were worse than Terri.” In a few words, the parents had resources, there were specialist saying that they can try to cure Terri, but the husband’s “ethical” will is more powerful that anything else on this world! More powerfull than the proof that: Terri Schindler (Schiavo) is Cognitively Able

I hate what THEY dare to call “justice”.

How about certification?

What can I say? Certification is now kind of “U must do it”. What for? The employer is sure that you know that thing. Also you make sure yourself that you do know that thing. Further, the client will be sure that the respective product/ service is made well.
Ok, but this is theory. How close are the current certification tests to this? I am in the stage of leaning for my Sun Java Certified Programmer exam. I like the book. I see lot of things I did not know until now… but still I was able to program… some code… I think certification is a personal self- confidence act. And ok, gives confidence in you to everyone.
I think this kind of stuff will become more and more a routine in all possible jobs. It already is… but not exactly in creative or unusual jobs… How would it sound: “Hello I am a certified painter. Trust me your walls will be wonderful decorated”. But things move closer and closer.
To come with a diploma saying that you know to generally tailor, design and sew clothes is one thing and to guarantee that you know everything about gloves is another. Perhaps you need a certificate to prove this ;))
And here I am.
What is the danger? Everyone learns of course standard stuff. Only that I am affraid that gloves will become more and more alike. I am affraind that the glove designers might loose their inspiration. Nothing more. For the rest... well all the gloves will have quality. And guess what? About the same quality. High or low... depends on what was requested to learn to get the certificate.

Person authentication

What I see as being the future in person authentication … is... Parameterized Authentication
"Parameterized Authentication moves beyond the traditional approach to security by acknowledging that identity verification cannot always produce perfect results. Our model addresses such inherent imperfections by introducing a metric, the Authentication Parameter, that captures the overall quality of authentication. We define authentication quality in terms of sensor trustworthiness and the accuracy of sensor measurements."

I shell split things in two directions:

1. Authentication in a non-computer based system. (ATM, entrances)
   I assume that nobody can imagine that something else then “Biometric readers” will survive over the time. Using only fingerprints, maybe it can fail. Using faces, the same. But doing a combination of face, iris, fingertips and let’s say voice… I think is strong enough. I cannot imagine a way to gather and imitate somehow all this information. Ok: maybe having a clone of the same age. (Oh yes, the voice has a harmonics that can be found beyond how the speaker intonates. Remember the Fourier transform?) Ok, this works perfectly for ATM, for entrances, etc.
   
   Only when you say biometrics… you say a lot of methods…
   Of course all these can be done in the Parameterized Authentication terms.
   


2. Authentication in a computer based system.
   What about the computer authentication? The password can be stolen. Secure connections? Maybe, for a while this will be the way to go.
   
   Want to go further? Ok, unique identifiers, or perhaps chips will be provided. PIN? Yes of course.
   Password hardening based on keystroke dynamics?
   
   Why not?
   
   Or perhaps ... graphical password or… signature written with mouse?
   We can add also some fingerprints recognition embedded in the keyboard... If you want strong authentication I think the answer is combine in a smart way the basic stuff that we have already.
   
   Oh yes… do again Parameterized Authentication.
   
   It is clear to me that year by year people get tired of making all kind of accounts and remember all kind of passwords. So, web-sites might give you the possibility to authenticate using some third-party internationally certified methods. This third party can send to the portal some basic information like… a customized username, decided by the user, at the first entrance-time.
   
   So, if your account can be accessed only using this third party that is doing sophisticated stuff like
   Password hardening based on keystroke dynamics combined with finger prints recognition then you can be sure that nobody ever will be able to still your password…
   
   As a final conclusion, I can say that the password issue is much solvable than the software cracking issue… Any suggestions?
   If you want to see a non exhaustive list of the main authentication methods you can visit Password Replacements
   article written by…  a gooood friend of mine ;)
   

First words...

Hi everyone.
This blogger has as main topic looking as forward as our mind can.
I think is essential to do this. And natural. If you are not currious about what it shell be tomorrow then what would it be your purpose?

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Gina Miller writes "Guardian Unlimited Observer has a commentary, We should look forward to the future (30 June 2002) by Charles Leadbeater. The author discusses the fears of future technologies, how it is provoked by certain publications, and how with previous advances there was also fear of those things that now seem mundane. In summary he says: "Science may bring new genetic risks but also new energy sources, cures for disease, ways of growing food, opportunities for communication, cultural expression and democratic debate. The future will be messy and complex, disappointing and surprising, but we should not fear it so much that we seek, Canute-like, to keep it forever at bay."
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