TechRepublic have published an interview with Hugh Loebner, originator of the Loebner Prize competition, in which he discusses the prize and the future of thinking machines.
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Campaign to disregard Turing’s conviction
A report on the MK [Milton Keynes] NEWS website offers support for the campaign of Iain Stewart MP “in his efforts to have Alan Turing’s conviction for homosexuality quashed”.
In a piece for Travels in a Mathematical World I wrote about the Turing pardon and the prospect of a new piece of legislation which, according to John Graham-Cumming, “specifically allows for the disregarding of convictions under the old law that was used against Turing”. The new development in the MK News piece refers to this legislation:
The recently-passed Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 allows a person who has been convicted or received a caution for an offence under sections 12 or 13 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956 to apply to have this ‘disregarded’.
These are the same offences for which Turing was convicted and Mr Stewart wants this disregard to be applied posthumously.
So the focus seems to have moved from a pardon, which the Government refused to do, to having the conviction posthumously disregarded under chapter four of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (which, if I’m reading it correctly, seems to allow for the person convicted to apply themselves to have their conviction disregarded).
Source: Add your voice to clear a war hero.
Marcus du Sautoy interview; Marcus supports the Telegraph’s numeracy campaign
Marcus du Sautoy has lent his weight to The Telegraph’s numeracy campaign, Make Britain Count. In an interview covering maths and music, patterns and abstraction and a little about his and his children’s mathematics education, he also talks about how maths teaching in schools could be improved, stating that
in this country there’s an honour in saying you’re bad at maths, whereas in places such as India and China, mathematics is valued by the community. Parents there know that if their kids understand this language, they will be empowered. Sadly, this message hasn’t got across in many European countries yet… It’s got to be something that the whole society takes responsibility for and that is why I’m supporting the Telegraph’s Make Britain Count campaign. We’re not brave enough in our maths education these days. Kids get so bored at school from 11 to 14. They’re not exposed to the really interesting stuff.
Source: Make Britain Count: Marcus du Sautoy joins our campaign.
Tony Mann on Atiyah and Villani at Tate Modern
Tony Mann attended the Atiyah/Villani(/Stewart) event at Tate Modern yesterday and wrote a review of this for his blog. He discusses several interesting ideas from the discussions – “a few that resonated with me” – including on problem solving, history and the practice of doing mathematics in relation to art, barriers and the place of blackboards.
Tony notes that the event was being recorded so we might look forward to a recording that can be viewed later.
Read Tony’s review: Atiyah and Villani at Tate Modern – the value of blackboards.
Markov Chains avoid buses arriving in threes
The CNN reports on research which uses a Markov Chain model to avoid buses bunching, a phenomenon that’s a cliché of observational comedy and “happens when buses are thrown off schedule because of traffic, weather or too many passengers at one stop”.
Math/Maths Podcast 100th episode: What’s your current project?
Samuel Hansen and I recorded our first episode of the Math/Maths Podcast on 6th June 2010 and it was released the following day. This means a week from now will be our second anniversary and, coincidentally, our 100th episode.
On the podcast we regularly ask people to write in telling us what’s happening in their mathematical week. It’s a fun way to get a sense of some of the varied things our listeners are involved with (though, admittedly, more submissions would be great).
For our 100th episode spectacular we have decided to invite submissions of 1-2 minutes of audio answering the question ‘What’s your current project?’ This could be an interesting piece of research, an outreach project, or anything else that’s currently taking your time that you’re excited about.
Perhaps you could email us at mathmaths@acmescience.com with what you plan to send us. Or just send audio to that address; however we reserve the right to not use what you send in – the show has a limited length, after all!
When it’s released, the episode will be available via the Pulse-Project website, as an RSS feed or via iTunes.
Has schoolboy genius solved problems that baffled mathematicians for centuries?
The Daily Mail reports that a “schoolboy ‘genius'” has solved “puzzles” “posed by” Issac Newton that have “baffled mathematicians for 350 years”. There are many nonsense warning signs but also hints that something interesting is going on.
