Luis M. Rocha @lmrocha@social.cleverlibre.org

What a surprise that the high priests of American rock and roll are sexist and racist. Why do you think #Bowie sent Madonna to receive his induction to the rock and roll Hall of Fame? Anyone into #disco, urban and club music knows this and ignores rolling stone magazine.

Jann Wenner Removed From Rock Hall Board After Times Interview https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/16/arts/music/jann-wenner-removed-rock-hall.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

In US I pay 4X more for telecom/internet/TV than in Portugal, while getting 1/4 speed, 1/10 quality (in Portugal price includes HBO, MAX, Prime, dvr), and 100x abuse from "customer service" https://youtu.be/V5DeDLI8_IM?si=dEzBC6kHFo1wCtuw #spectrum

O que #Portugal precisa nem é da epopeia mítica e protonacionalista de Camões, nem do reverso da mesma medalha paroquial e umbiguista que é o velho de Restelo. O que precisa é de mais Damiões de Góis, que abraçam o mundo como ele é, diverso, multicultural, miscegenado, em movimento, sem vacas sagradas e muito para além da prainha do Restelo. Não seja tão ludista JPP ! Já parece o Sr. Águia dos Marretas. Imagino que Damião de Góis se fosse vivo adoraria a tertúlia global do Twitter.

https://www.publico.pt/2023/09/09/opiniao/opiniao/apologia-velho-restelo-2062723

I am fascinated by the recent evidence showing that Polyplody may grant evolutionary advantages in the presence of drastic fitness changes (e.g. cataclysms):
https://www.science.org/content/article/cells-extra-genomes-may-help-tissues-respond-injuries-species-survive-cataclysms.

One option is that extra chromosomes may increase connectivity of gene regulatory networks--- fascinating work from van de Peer on that note: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.04.28.538696, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0220257.

The results are similar to ours a long time ago with RNA Editing , where we experimented with drastic fitness changes (simulated cataclysms) and emergence of memory: https://doi.org/10.1162/evco.2007.15.3.253, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-74913-4_7.

RNA Editing, we started arguing long ago, also adds additional regulatory variety and proves advantageous in drastic fitness changes---though RNA editing works by adding more variants, not greater number of regulatory possibilities (network connectivity) as it is hypothesized for polyploidy. Maybe this explains why the latter is maladaptive in stable fitness landscapes, whereas RNA Editing often isn't?

#Evolution #EvolutionarySystems #Polyploidy #Fitness #GenomeComplexity #Gemome

@manlius I agree words are difficult here. But a UTM is not just about converting finite states to other finite states. That is the machine (the head) part of the UTM. The magic is the addition of the external tape, which depends on an arbitrary code (agreed upon by users). It can be written onto or mutated independently, thus you cannot predict its future states, unless you'd know the states of everything that can alter it. Tape is also as large as you can make it, or infinite in the formal version.

I agree with Von Neumann, Pattee, Sydney Brenner that this separate tape is what makes living systems a form of general purpose computers (a.k.a. open ended evolution.) The code is pretty much the same for all life as we know it.

Regarding game of life and the like. Per se, it models the mechanistic finite state transitions of matter. One can implement a UTM on it, but that requires establishing an external arbitrary code (consensually agreed by all readers) between finite states of its artificial "matter" (stable dynamical patterns like gliders) and logical truth values (a minimum of true and false and basic logic gates). In other words, specific patterns of the game of life "matter" are used to encode logical expressions---that are modular in the sense that can be arranged as building blocks for infinite logic trees . But this is precisely what we do with physical computers since Babbage&Lovelace: encode modular logic in bistable metal cog wheels, vacuum tubes, or semi-conductors, etc.

The genetic code does not encode mathematical logic, like all our computers do, but rather the "logic" of aminoacid sequences. These are highly modular too and can be used to build molecular switches and much more. But not really (rate-independent) logic, rather rate-dependent biochemistry. Still, the code itself is just an arbitrary (we believe) translation of 64 possible codons to 20 aminoacids, a simple machine. It is the separate, effectively infinite tape that gives life its open-endedness since new machines can always be encoded, varied, and selected.

I suppose all this just to say that Turing machines are not (just) machines but we can make them from machines :) as Von Neumann said, machines that can increase in complexity (which simple machines can't.)

@manlius @PessoaBrain @tiago @thilo @kordinglab @NicoleCRust @hirokisayama @WiringtheBrain *before->behavior

@manlius @PessoaBrain @tiago @thilo @kordinglab @NicoleCRust @hirokisayama @WiringtheBrain

Formally, I think of machine as a (cybernetic) mechanism. That is, when before is state-determined, with (relatively small) finite time memory dependency---in other words, behavior depends on a few time steps. Forest fires, hurricanes and the like can be modeled by mechanisms.

In this view, a Turing machine is not a machine, as it has infinite memory and its (complex) behavior depends on an arbitrary code between memory and instructions, with conditional branching and unpredictable changes/mutations to tape. To see this difference it is useful for me to compare Babbage's difference engine (a machine) with Babbage/Lovelace 's analytical engine (a general-purpose computer). As Babbage said, the "snake eating its own tail" is a completely different device :)

When people tell you it makes no difference who you vote for, and
Bernie Sanders, AOC, and colleagues are just window dressing, don't forget none of this would happen without their pressure.
https://theintercept.com/2023/08/29/insulin-medicare-drug-price-negotiation/

A visão sobre o que deve ser ensino superior em Portugal é mesmo muito pouco ambiciosa. Era bom lembrar que a nossa constituição é suposto garantir acesso ao ensino superior para todos, não só para aqueles que têm "talento, capacidade e garra." O numerus clausus em si nunca é posto em causa, quando é à partida uma exclusão por uma medida que não está de todo provada medir qualquer capacidade ou talento. Vários países da OCDE não têm numerus clausus (e.g. Bélgica), muito menos de fasquia tão elevada. Finalmente, assume-se que a universidade catalisa talento, mas a universidade portuguesa tende a ser onde vai morrer a criatividade e respeito pela individualidade e capacidade dos alunos. Baseada como é na exclusão por numerus clausus, está amarrada a uma cultura de autoridade, descarregamento passivo de matéria e notas para quem baixa a bolinha. É tudo menos um ambiente para quem tem imaginação e "garra". #ensino #EnsinoSuperior

https://www.publico.pt/2023/08/26/opiniao/editorial/ensino-superior-estado-nao-vender-ilusoes-2061349

Very well done. Uses only US data, but I wish people in other places would be more careful passing along these accepted wisdom myths. #pandemic #COVID #mentalhealth #schoolclosures

https://youtu.be/-h5xyGdVfvo?si=wjvBIlUeG7UFmlvL

I have not read the details, just the abstract, but I will note that my undergraduate training was in robotics, automation, and AI, and it checks :)
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2304748120

#The link between climate change and #infectiousdisease should raise a call to action for scientists and governments to evaluate the risks of the inevitable effects of climate change on #epidemics and #pandemics. Emergency response to climate disasters should automatically include public health actions to mitigate outbreaks. In addition, health systems should adapt to changing disease transmission patterns and the global mobility of people, animals, and goods. "
https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.adk4500

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/24/lockdowns-face-masks-unequivocally-cut-spread-covid-study-finds?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

@manlius @johncarlosbaez @j_bertolotti @lamaral @thilo @c4computation @tchambers so true....

@manlius

An off-center, conceptual treatment of biological senescence (as a system-level transition) by Rosen Congress to mind:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304020808712258

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02461066

More generally, the Rosen view is that in complex systems, model failure is a signal that the system is undergoing a transition---i.e. when past data suddenly does not work well to predict the present (think the failure of Google flu). But precise measures of model failure before it happens are not around, besides what you mention (e.g. à la Marten Scheffer).

@johncarlosbaez @j_bertolotti @lamaral @thilo @c4computation @tchambers

https://www.publico.pt/2023/08/21/opiniao/opiniao/maleficios-vacina-covid19-2060703 #vacinas #COVID19

Do you see power lines (or cable tv or internet fiber) hanging above ground in Europe? No, they are buried, especially near human populations and where there is fire risk. Only high voltage transmission towers near production facilities are seen above ground. But those are designed to withstand high winds, earthquakes, and such---unlike the ancient "technology" of wooden poles barely lifting old cables used by American utilities. It is only the insularity of the USA, including reporting in media such as this article, that prevents the population from understanding that other countries have fixed this problem. It just takes investment from the utility companies to bury the cable and avoid such unnecessary and recurrent tragedy.

Experts Scrutinize Hawaiian Electric as They Search for the Maui Wildfire Cause https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/14/us/hawaiian-electric-maui-wildfire.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

"History of water" is one of the best books I've ever read. A complex view of the world was there all along for Europeans, but control of narrative brought eurocentrism (devouring Europe with religious, national and racial identitism). #history #humanism #identity #XVICentury

https://www.edwardwilsonlee.com/historyofwater

P.S. A tradução portuguesa está muito cuidada.
https://expresso.pt/revista/culturas/livros/2022-11-20-As-viagens-de-Camoes-e-Damiao-de-Gois-um-livro-fascinante-de-Edward-Wilson-Lee-3e1b5dfe

Why an Unremarkable Racist Enjoyed the Backing of Billionaires https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/12/opinion/richard-hanania-eugenics-billionaires.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

@pholme yes, we are mostly or entirely in agreement, I think :) Though I never spoke against mechanistic validation. I'm just saying that a pandemic, per the best models we have of them, are complex systems in the way we have discussed: they include several irreducible levels as constituents. A reduction to molecular or to social does not do as good a predictive job as modeling several levels. (BTW, I disagree there are only 3 levels in those models, with the transportation or technological layers involved, but that is a minor disagreement :) to be clear, I think complex systems are and should be amenable to (multi-layered) mechanistic modeling---emergence in this sense (necessity of different models for different levels of experience) is not magic. As a parallel, consider that complementarity in wave-particle duality did not preclude the mechanistic prediction that either explanation affords; indeed, that was the whole point.