November Book Club Meeting: Super Freakonomics

Join the Flint River Book Club this month in reading Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner's book Super Freakonomics!

These two authors made a huge splash with their first collaboration - you guessed it, Freakonomics - a book which dissected social issues from an economist's perspective.  They expand their reach in this sequel, tackling questions such as:

*Which is more dangerous: driving drunk or walking drunk?
*How can eating a kangaroo help save the planet?
*How effective are car seats?
*Are people naturally selfish or naturally selfless?

Each chapter tackles a different unexpected question - from an economist's perspective.  As someone who wouldn't know what to do with money if you threw it at her, I highly recommend this book as a super-interesting, super-readable introduction to the economist mindset.

We will discuss this book in the Flint River Library at 4.00 PM on Thursday, December 1st.

Technology Tuesday: Conversations with Robots

Honda's ASIMO robot: http://www.fotopedia.com/items/flickr-3543338099 

Pop culture is filled with talking robots - from Star Wars' C-3P0 to Haley Joel Osment in A.I.  But while these chatty robots may seem like total science fiction, they may be closer to becoming reality than you'd think.  Some robotics software is so advanced, it tricks people into thinking it's human.

Meet Cleverbot, the software that talks back.  When visiting the Cleverbot website, you'll find an empty text field inviting you to chat.  You can enter a comment or question to start the conversation.

IMing Cleverbot can feel surreal, as the program 'learns' from past conversations and builds up knowledge. For example, check out this conversation I had with Cleverbot about Lady Gaga:

Cleverbot: I love music! 

User: What kind of music? 

Cleverbot: Pop/electro/dance. 

User: Like Lady Gaga? 

Cleverbot: Exactly like Lady Gaga. 

User: What's your favorite Gaga song? 

Cleverbot: Poker face. 

User: Good choice. 

This ability to 'learn' and adapt sets Cleverbot apart, and gives the program its human-like quality.  In fact, Cleverbot is so clever that it's passed the Turing Test, which was developed to identify humans from robots.  In a test in India, more than half of the test's participants thought they were speaking to a human when they were actually talking to a machine!

What do you think - would you have been fooled?  Drop by the Cleverbot website for a conversation to decide for yourself.