The Cloud Is Coming For Your Children
March 19, 2010 12:47 PM Subscribe
The Body Snatchers look at a human and see a nice new home. The Visitors look at a human and see a yummy snack. The Smarter Planet people look at a human and see data. Our planet is alive with data. Yummy data.
1. Instrument thee world's systems
2. Interconnect them
3. Make them intelligent
4. Prepare to surrender to our new cybernetic masters
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:54 PM on March 19, 2010
2. Interconnect them
3. Make them intelligent
4. Prepare to surrender to our new cybernetic masters
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:54 PM on March 19, 2010
Oh, yeah, and "I for one..." and all that.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:55 PM on March 19, 2010
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:55 PM on March 19, 2010
And other instructors look at me weird when I tell them that I throw out a multiple choice question if 95% of my students get a question wrong, but only if 75% of them put the same wrong answer. At least, until I explain to them why I do that. Then they realize they should probably do it, too.
Human behaviors generate data. But only a human can make information out of data. So far, at least.
posted by strixus at 1:01 PM on March 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
Human behaviors generate data. But only a human can make information out of data. So far, at least.
posted by strixus at 1:01 PM on March 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
Oh, yeah, and "I for one..." and all that.
Don't worry, our cybernetic masters have the ability to edit posts. They understand what you were saying, and appreciate your sentiment.
But you're still no more than a delicious morsel (of data) to them.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:09 PM on March 19, 2010
Don't worry, our cybernetic masters have the ability to edit posts. They understand what you were saying, and appreciate your sentiment.
But you're still no more than a delicious morsel (of data) to them.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:09 PM on March 19, 2010
Human behaviors generate data. But only a human can make information out of data. So far, at least.
I hear that's the next Million Dollar Challenge from Google or Netflix. Maybe Google and Netflix. My computer won't clarify. I think it's already in cahoots. (I still have my olde-tymee jargon to baffle and befuddle the system. You see, computers are much like kids. They don't understand the old way. I can't say more, or I will give it away ... )
posted by filthy light thief at 1:12 PM on March 19, 2010
I hear that's the next Million Dollar Challenge from Google or Netflix. Maybe Google and Netflix. My computer won't clarify. I think it's already in cahoots. (I still have my olde-tymee jargon to baffle and befuddle the system. You see, computers are much like kids. They don't understand the old way. I can't say more, or I will give it away ... )
posted by filthy light thief at 1:12 PM on March 19, 2010
A new DSM disorder . . . Hive Mind Paranoia.
posted by bearwife at 1:14 PM on March 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by bearwife at 1:14 PM on March 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
The worst thing about that ad is the way they say every letter in Toronto. That really sets my teeth on edge for some reason.
posted by bonehead at 1:18 PM on March 19, 2010
posted by bonehead at 1:18 PM on March 19, 2010
But cross_impact, you forgot the final step. When the Smarter Planet people's machines look at a human body, all they will see is this.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 1:22 PM on March 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 1:22 PM on March 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
A true Lovecraftian horror would of course see all three.
posted by Artw at 1:28 PM on March 19, 2010
posted by Artw at 1:28 PM on March 19, 2010
And other instructors look at me weird when I tell them that I throw out a multiple choice question if 95% of my students get a question wrong, but only if 75% of them put the same wrong answer.
This is a derail, but could you explain your logic in this? A 95% wrong answer rate is significantly higher than what you would get from students randomly guessing, so it at least suggests that students favored other answers over the correct one for some reason. The 75% same wrong answer percentage would also suggest that one of the wrong answers was heavily favored over the correct one, but that's not the only way a question could be flawed. For example, if for some reason 95% of the students think that true statement X is definitely not true (through a miscommunication, typo, etc.) and the choices are W, X, Y, and Z, it would be completely reasonably for the wrong answers to be evenly distributed between the equally unappealing wrong answers W, Y, and Z.
posted by burnmp3s at 1:53 PM on March 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
This is a derail, but could you explain your logic in this? A 95% wrong answer rate is significantly higher than what you would get from students randomly guessing, so it at least suggests that students favored other answers over the correct one for some reason. The 75% same wrong answer percentage would also suggest that one of the wrong answers was heavily favored over the correct one, but that's not the only way a question could be flawed. For example, if for some reason 95% of the students think that true statement X is definitely not true (through a miscommunication, typo, etc.) and the choices are W, X, Y, and Z, it would be completely reasonably for the wrong answers to be evenly distributed between the equally unappealing wrong answers W, Y, and Z.
posted by burnmp3s at 1:53 PM on March 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
For the type of question I generally ask on multiple choice, there is generally one right answer, one answer that is a term they will recognize that might be right but isn't, one that is REALLY WRONG, and one that is totally unrelated. A question which 95% of my students get wrong tells me that something needs to be paid closer attention to (hell, 50% getting it wrong gets my attention). A question where 75% get it wrong the same way likely means I said something wrong in class and never caught myself, and or that it was wrong in the BOOK and I didn't catch it (which has happened).
I'll throw out questions for other reasons, but that is the one that is a universal rule for me. It means something is REALLY wrong, uniformly, and most likely not the students' fault.
posted by strixus at 2:03 PM on March 19, 2010
I'll throw out questions for other reasons, but that is the one that is a universal rule for me. It means something is REALLY wrong, uniformly, and most likely not the students' fault.
posted by strixus at 2:03 PM on March 19, 2010
And its not nearly as sadistic as the prof my husband had who used to give t/f tests, and said if you got 100% wrong, you got a 200 out of 100.
posted by strixus at 2:05 PM on March 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by strixus at 2:05 PM on March 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
Basically once IBM reaches the omega point it will travel backwards in time and consume your soul via a destructive physical scanning process, then recreate you in a simulation space and make pretty charts about every possible outcome your life could have had. Am I missing anything out?
posted by Artw at 2:25 PM on March 19, 2010
posted by Artw at 2:25 PM on March 19, 2010
If you're interested in a bit more info on this stuff, the smarter planet blog posts more in-depth info.
Disclaimer: I work for IBM, sometimes on this very theme (a team member did this video, which I really like).
Mods, feel free to delete this comment if it's too BigBlueBlue.
posted by smoke at 3:33 PM on March 19, 2010
Disclaimer: I work for IBM, sometimes on this very theme (a team member did this video, which I really like).
Mods, feel free to delete this comment if it's too BigBlueBlue.
posted by smoke at 3:33 PM on March 19, 2010
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posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:52 PM on March 19, 2010 [1 favorite]