To beat spam, turn its own weapons against it
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Researchers have now come up with a system that deciphers the templates a botnet is using to create spam. These templates are then used to teach spam filters what to look for. |
| Each message is generated from a template that specifies the message content and how it should be varied. The team reasoned that analysing such messages could reveal the template that created them |
| the team installed a previously captured software bot onto a machine. After analysing 1000 emails generated by this compromised machine - less than 10 minutes’ work for most bots - the researchers were able to reverse-engineer the template |
| The new system did not produce a single false positive when tested against more than a million genuine messages |
| botnets have grown so large that even a 1-minute delay in cracking the template would be “long enough for a very substantial spam campaignRead more at www.newscientist.com |
Even very simple creatures like viruses may display intelligence, not only in their mutations, but in their behavior. It’s a good example to have in mind when considering the question of what is in fact intelligence. The finding has plausible applications for vaccines too. | Viruses use ‘hive intelligence’ to focus their attack |
The video catches viruses only a few hundred nanometres in size in the act of hopping over cells that are already infected. This allows them to concentrate their energies on previously uninfected cells, accelerating the spread of infection fivefold. |
| They found, to their amazement, that a virus leaving a cell would travel to another cell and merely bounce off it if it already contained the virus |
| two viral proteins which are presented on the surface of the infected cell effectively tell the virus not to bother reinfecting that cell |
| it suggests that viruses can function with a sort of primitive ‘hive mentality’ to ensure efficient use of host cell resources |
| Finding ways to block the cell surface proteins might provide new antiviral drugs |
| the theory might not apply to all viruses |
| severely handicapped people who cannot contract even one leg or arm muscle now can independently compose and send e-mails and operate a TV in their homes. They are using only their thoughts to execute these actions |
| Thanks to the rapid pace of research on the BMI, one day these and other individuals may be able to feed themselves with a robotic arm and hand that moves according to their mental commands |
| In previous studies, this lab developed the technology to tap a macaque monkey’s motor cortical neural activity making it possible for the animal to use its thoughts to control a robotic arm to reach for food targets presented in 3D space |
| also opened and closed the robotic arm’s hand, or gripper |
| The monkey’s own arm and hand did not move while it manipulated the two-finger gripper at the end of the robotic arm |
| these devices will help amputees and paralyzed patients to perform everyday tasks |
| “THE age of melancholy” is how psychologist Daniel Goleman describes our era. People today experience more depression than previous generations, despite the technological wonders that help us every day. It might be because of them. |
| people who place a high value on material goals are unhappier than those who are less materialistic |
| which is why we are allowing laptop computers and mobile phones to blur the separation between work and home |
| three vital elements of healthy personal development and functioning |
| autonomy - the feeling that our activities are self-chosen and self-endorsed |
| competence, a belief that our actions are effective |
| relatedness: our need to feel close to other people |
| would add a fourth factor, too: critical thinking |
“El hombre es el único animal que tropieza dos veces con la misma piedra.” or “The human is the only animal that trips twice over the same stone.”
Since some stones seem to be part of the human nature it may be the case that tripping over them is the norm, on innumerable occasions, even if you know about the stone, check Hofstadter’s law, for instance. | people reach the level of their own incompetence |
| work expands to fill the time available for its completion |
| the amount of time an organisation spends discussing an issue is inversely proportional to its importance |
| in any dispute, the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the stakes at issue |
| apply yourself to a task only at the last possible moment before the deadline |
| planning fallacy: the tendency for people to underestimate how long it will take to do something |
| It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s law |
| 80 per cent of events are triggered by just 20 per cent of the causes |
I don’t know why the image isn’t resized so click the link to see it. :$
PS: If you think the title of this post is stupid either you didn’t understand the reference or you exactly did. Previous statement makes sense. | In 2005 I was working for a “telemarketing” firm somewhere on the east coast. Morale was so bad at the company, management went to great lengths to keep people that actually worked hard. One of the ways they did this was a short lived but highly entertaining award for “Employee of the Month”. The employee was treated to answering calls from a “special” desk with a “42″ monitor.
Here is the first and last employee of the month winner. The next months’ winner could not go more than two days with the XL monitor stating his “retinas were getting burned out by the the screen”. |
I don’t think so. And some people seem to expect more from the web, not to say from computers. However, it may be the case that the changes that are to come are greater and harder than those that have been seen so far. So I will just leave this here and let you draw the conclusions. | the computer age culminated in the internet, the internet culminated in social networks |
| you have to go back to the science fiction of the 1950s for what’s next |
| Mobile internet is the next major computing cycle |
| everyone is now present with their real identities and relationships |
| Future innovation will involve using the information people put into them |
| We’re all generating massive amounts of data that will generate interesting applications |
| You may get recommendations of who you should meet professionally, or which career path you should take |
| When people are more open, they’re more engaged, and they tend to be more empathetic. They become more of a global citizen |
| developing AI is much more safe than not |
| One element of understanding AI safety seems to be understanding what an AI could do |
| we should think of an AI as simply having much more ability to research, control, and manipulate large systems, all within the constraints of known physics |
| The general problem is related to the wish problem: How do you specify a wish in a manner so that it can’t be misinterpreted? A cheap trick here is to add “… in a manner that I would consider acceptable” |
| we make many AIs programmed to behave well either via laws or wish tricks, with an additional element of aggressively enforcing this behavior in other AIs. Then, if any AI is corrupted, the other AIs, with substantially more aggregate resources, will discover and deal with the problem |
| AIs are programmed to not harm or cause harm to humans, enforcing that behavior in other AIs |
| how can a “smart” person act foolishly? |
| IQ scores have long been criticised as poor indicators of an individual’s all-round intelligence |
| As an illustration of how rational-thinking ability differs from intelligence, consider this puzzle: if it takes five machines 5 minutes to make five widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets? Most people instinctively jump to the wrong answer that “feels” right - 100 |
| we often get them wrong, probably because our brains use two different systems to process information |
| One is intuitive and spontaneous; the other is deliberative and reasoned |
| The problem with IQ tests is that while they are effective at assessing our deliberative skills, which involve reason and the use of working memory, they are unable to assess our inclination to use them when the situation demands |
| the correlation between intelligence and successful decision-making is weak |
There is a strong identification with avatars used in games, which is for sure enhanced with avatar customizability.
There isn’t much to say, so I’ll throw a question:
Which is the meaning of life and how real do you need it to be to make sense? Brain scans of avid players of the hugely popular online fantasy world World of Warcraft reveal that areas of the brain involved in self-reflection and judgement seem to behave similarly when someone is thinking about their virtual self as when they think about their real one. |
When Caudle’s looked for brain areas that were more active when volunteers thought about themselves and their avatars compared with real and virtual others, two regions stood out: the medial prefrontal cortex and the posterior cingulate cortex. That makes sense as prior research has linked the medial prefrontal cortex to self-reflection and judgement. |
| also noticed key differences between how people thought about the virtual and real worlds, which must be a necessity for preserving your sense of reality |
| the precuneus, implicated in imagination |
It could be that people whose brain activity is more similar when thinking of themselves and their avatars are likelier to end up hooked, she says. Read more at www.newscientist.com |
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