Last week I was in Sardinia at the annual Capo Caccia Cognitive Neuromorphic Engineering Workshop organized by the University of Zurich. This was my third time at the workshop, so I now know many of the participants and it was good to get an update on their research and personal
Understanding the brain means being able to replicate some of its functions. A one page description, or a hundred pages will not do. Current technologies, that allow us to emulate the brain, are all based in a way or another on Turing's work. Modern processors are different from Turing machines,
It is finally becoming mainstream. Economists are slowly appreciating the fact that the current technological progress is so fast and runs so deep into the fabric of our world that it does not allow for a smooth adjustment, but it is actually a revolution that is affecting the economy, society
In a paper by Kozma, I found an interesting citation from The Computer and the Brain, the book that John Von Neumann was writing when he died: It is only proper to realize that language is largely a historical accident. The basic human languages are traditionally transmitted to us in
Check out this video produced by Harvard University. It is an amazing shot at trying to convey how complex a cell is. What you see is just a simplification of the actual inner workings because, in reality, the elements within the cell are all packed together in a way that
Today I took sometime off to read a classical paper from Weaver: Science and Complexity. The paper was published in 1948, many years before computers were first available at Universities, then on every desk and finally in every pocket. It was also published before DNA was discovered and then sequenced.
The two weeks I spent in Capocaccia were worth the trip. The Cognitive Neuromorphic Engineering workshop, organized by the University of Zurich, is an interesting mix of engineering, science, math and biology. I was there four years ago, when the main topic was the design of the Neuromorphic chips that
This is a rather cryptic post, so bare with me. I just want to remember where I am and maybe get some feedback. Let's get started: 1. Artificial Intelligence and mathematics are about solving problems that have been framed by a programmer or a mathematician. Can an automatic system frame
It looks like it is decision time for Italy. The markets will not allow more debt, so it is now about time to take Italy into the current century by restructuring the whole political and economic system. The current economic and political leadership has been resisting change for more than
What you work on affects your ability to see the world. I haven't had time to write a structured post in a while, mostly because I have been looking into some new technology involving lots of programming. It seems to me that the "programming" state of mind is very different
More than one type of re-balancing needed. One of the recurring themes of the current economic crisis is the idea of re-balancing the global economy. But where are the imbalances? Most would think about the West vs. East, or developed vs. developing countries. It is certainly true that those imbalances
I spent the Christmas Holidays in Naples with my parents. A few days after the traditional family meetings were over, I organized a lunch with friends (and friends of friends) with backgrounds in Engineering, Computer Science and Complex Systems. Some of them are teaching in Italy and the US, others
Do you ever have the feeling that you can see technology changing around you – and you see it accelerating? You see the impact on society of this or that new gadget, of a new framework or new model before others can see it and everything is just SO interesting, SO
Once upon a time there were few outlets for information. The world was explained to us by a handful of journalists who mostly got the inspiration from each other (shall we say copy?). We had a limited menu of views of the world, a leftist, a liberal and a right-wing.
The debate about how technology is changing education is gaining strength. I just spent a few weeks in NYC and now I am back to Milan. NYC was a part-time vacation, let's call it this way. It was mostly about education, so I had some discussions about it too. Education,
Back in 1994, Sir James Goldsmith had a clear vision of the implications of globalization on advanced economies. Now, 16 years later, his predictions have been confirmed: the middle class in the advanced economies has seen a constant lowering of its living standards, and without change in direction, it will