Although the Obama administration has not admitted it, there is very strong evidence that they deployed the flame virus that attacked Iranian nuclear facilities, in addition to other Middle Eastern targets.

I don't know why people seem so hesitant to delete their facebook profiles. I got rid of mine two years ago (in the wake of one of their numerous privacy scandals) and haven't looked back since. I've found that I feel less stress without it, and I really don't miss it. If people want to tell me something they seek me out. I can do without the inane details of people I went to summer camp with four years ago.

Looks like the article got removed. I'd be interested in seeing what it was though... I don't suppose anyone has a copy cached? Or perhaps someone would provide a synopsis?

For what it's worth, I can provide a translation of the Arabic.

1. Egypt 2. Mohamad Ali Bashaa - An historic Egyptian leader 3. Omar bin Khataab - Historic Muslim caliph 4. Suleiman the Magnificent - Historic leader of the Ottman Empire 5. Mohammad Morsi 6. Muhammad (The Prophet) 7. The United States 8. YouTube 9. Algeria 10. Saudi Arabia

This is a great idea! I hope you guys like tf2.

Yeah, I had pretty high expectations for the film and they were certainly met. I especially loved the soundtrack, it was really well put together.

What's the name of this song?

Here's a link to the original video, just so the creator gets credited.

I picked up this book a few days ago. I'm still working on it (not quite halfway through it) and my feelings so far are mixed. There's some really great stuff in there; the beginning covers how cognition occurs in a hierarchical, fractal-like pattern, which is mirrored by the physical structure of the brain. Kurzweil posits that the neocortex is made up of repeated units of interconnected, recursively structured "pattern recognizers," which are essentially the basic units responsible for thought. I enjoyed that part quite a bit, but I admit I've lost some interest since then. That seems to really be the crux of this book, he doesn't really posit that many new ideas. Although he does mention how these cognition strategies have been used to program 'intelligent' software like the framework for Siri, I'm really hoping he'll go into greater detail later. The New York Times had a really great, albeit very critical, review of the book. I can't seem to find it now, but it's worth a read. According to the reviewer, Kurzweil's theory about the hierarchy of the neocortex has been around since the 50s and 60s. What he's really arguing is really just a meager addition to what Jeff Hawkins posits in his book On Intelligence. I haven't read that book so I can't say, but I definitely plan to read it later. The reviewer also criticized Kurzweil for not backing up many of his points with research. I'd have to agree on this one, it definitely seems like Kurzweil asserts a lot of 'facts' without adequately supporting them. Then again, there are other times where he does show how his theory is well documented. I just wish he would be more consistent. Anyway, the book is interesting and I would recommend it, but I would encourage the reader to use a bit of skepticism and bear in mind that a lot of what Kurzweil discusses is not groundbreaking (although I am by no means an expert in this field so I am taking the New York Times review at its word). This is the first book I've read by Kurzweil, but it's intrigued me enough that I think I'll explore his other work in the future.

Do you believe it's possible to effectively plan for the consequences of machine intelligence? After all, the ramifications would be so huge it's difficult to know exactly what the practical implications for society would be. Moreover, we're talking about a technology that doesn't even exist yet. We don't know what the limitations (or unforeseen possibilities) are implicit within an intelligent machine. How can we prepare ourselves for something we won't be able to understand until we build it?

I believe that the consequences of machine intelligence are in some ways irrelevant, because I see machine intelligence as inevitable. I believe it is human nature to always seek for ways to do things faster, more efficiently, and with less effort. We can attribute this drive to virtually every human accomplishment. It is what brought us out of the caves, made civilization possible, capitalism, the industrial revolution, you name it. This drive is so powerful it means that if machine intelligence is possible, it is unavoidable. We will build it regardless of the consequences because we must increase production, and machine intelligence offers us a way to automate and optimize nearly any task.

Out of curiosity... how much info were you able to get?