2014年6月9日 星期一

TURING TEST SUCCESS MARKS MILESTONE IN COMPUTING HISTORY


Programmers worldwide are preparing to welcome our new robot overlords, after the University of Reading reported on Sunday that a computer had passed the Turing test for the first time. But what is the test? And why could it spell doom for us all? (via Guardian Technology)
What is the Turing test? And are we all doomed now?
The Turing test has been passed by a robot named Eugene. So, asks Alex...
THE GUARDIAN|由 ALEX HERN 上傳




今天圖靈測試 2014 的舉辦方英國雷丁大學發布新聞稿，宣稱俄羅斯人弗拉基米爾·維西羅夫（Vladimir Veselov）創立的人工智慧軟體尤金•古斯特曼（Eugene Goostman）通過了圖靈測試。如果這一結論獲得確認，那麼這將是人工智慧乃至於電腦計算機史上的一個里程碑事件。
圖靈測試是由現代計算機科學之父英國人艾蘭•圖靈 65 年前提出的。圖靈測試會在測試人在與被測試者（一個人和一台機器）隔開的情況下，通過一些裝置（如鍵盤）向被測試者隨意提問。問過一些問題後，如果被測試者超過 30% 的答覆不能使測試人確認出哪個是人、哪個是機器的回答，那麼這台機器就通過了測試，並被認為具有人類智慧。
尤金•古斯特曼（Eugene Goostman）是由俄羅斯人 Vladimir Veselov（現居美國）開發的智慧型軟體，模仿的是一位 13 歲的男孩。在圖靈測試 2012 上，尤金就獲得了第一名，當時的成績是 29.2%，距離通過圖靈測試僅一步之遙。而在今年舉行的共有 5 台超級電腦參賽的圖靈測試競賽上，尤金設法讓測試人相信被測試者 33% 的答覆為人類所為。這意味著這台超級電腦通過了圖靈測試。
雷丁大學的客座教授 Kevin Warwick 說，盡管此前曾有人聲稱圖靈測試已經得到通過，但是相比之下，這次活動的標準是最為嚴格的，沒有對問題做任何預設。因此，他們自豪地宣布圖靈測試首次獲得通過。
此次配合測試的人類代表是英國經典科幻喜劇《紅矮星號》中機器人的扮演者 Robert Llewellyn，以及去年提議赦免圖靈的自民黨人 Lord Sharkey。

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2014年6月8日 星期日

Herbert Simon 教育實驗

談些數學教學故事 (斜面 vs 斜率 )

幾年前，耳聞臺大外文系打算放鬆學生入學成績中，對數學的"標準"之設定或要求。

也許同一時候，我聽中研院統計所的創所所長趙民德老師說，近十來年，台灣留學生日減，反過來，中國的留學生日多，表現不俗，頗有勢力。他甚至憂心說，將來可能無法從美歐學校，找到合格的台灣學者回國當統計所的所長。

近日，許多中研院的院士聯合呼籲，十二年國教要大刪高中數學學習的時數之作法，很不足取，很快對我國國力和人才素質造成大傷害。

這方面，像我這種人微言輕的人，原不敢發表意見，或多說話。不過，我今天讀到一本翻譯書，其中記著名的心理學家B. F. Skinner自敘如何作時間管理，很有意思。

.......我一坐下，就打開特別的桌燈，它會啟動時鐘，計算我坐在桌前的時間，累計到12小時，我就會在累計的曲線上畫個點，其斜面就顯示了我整體的生產力。.......
我沒原文，不過上文的"斜面" ，很可能是slope，專門術語稱為"斜率"。這一翻譯，也不算離譜。我相信譯者也知道斜率這詞，只是她可能沒讀過用英文寫的數學書而已。比較重要而有趣的問題是，譯者及讀者是否能了解作者說此段話的意思?

我似乎有點小題大做。或許我不甘寂寞，也想湊熱鬧談點數學而已。數學教學，老師可能很重要，可惜好的數學老師可能可遇不可求。

我十幾年前有位筆友叫 Herbert Simon，他雖是政治學的博士，不過勤自修高等數學，是個世界極的科學家。他相信數學或任何科目，都應該也都可以自修成功。中國還願意為他的學說編一套高中數學課本，在這系統，老師只是輔導員而已，教材才是真老師。他說，很幸運，全世界的教育體制都很保守，所以他的經驗和假說，根本只能冰藏，只有中國例，可做教育實驗。
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Organizations Past, Present, and Future: A View from Organizational Economics





Organizations Past, Present, and Future: A View from Organizational Economics

PART OF THE BOUNDARIES OF THE FIRM 
2013-2014 WORKSHOP SERIES

Wednesday, November 6
4:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Regenstein Library, Room 122
1100 East 57th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60637
The Working Group on Comparative Economics presents "Organizations Past, Present, and Future: A View from Organizational Economics," the first program of the Autumn Quarter series, ‘New Approaches in the Theory of the Firm’
Robert Gibbons (MIT)

with shorter presentations given by
Cam Hawkins (University of Chicago)
Gary Herrigel (University of Chicago)

I will begin with brief descriptions of the footprint of organizational economics (i.e., what topics does it study?) and its wellsprings (i.e., what questions animate the field, who posed them, and what basic answers have been analyzed?).  The overarching perspective will follow Arrow's (1974: 26-33) views that (a) "organizations are a means of achieving the benefits of collective action in situations where the price system fails" (thus including not only firms but also unions, legislatures, agencies, schools, churches, and social movements) and that (b) organizations thus share "the need for collective action and the allocation of resources through nonmarket methods" (where the latter include dictatorship, coalitions, committees, and much more).

The presentation will then largely skip 50 years of work by about 500 researchers to focus instead on my decade-long obsession with the question "What can an economist do to help a fixed set of people perform better together?" A sober treatment for economists can be found in my survey with Rebecca Henderson, "What Do Managers Do? Exploring Persistent Peformance Differences among Seemingly Similar Enterprises" (Chapter 17 in the Handbook of Organizational Economics, Princeton University Press, 2013).  I hope to engage the group in a broader discussion of what we might mean by "culture," how it can affect organizational performance, and whether it can be changed or managed.
 
This program was free and open to the public.
 

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE 2013-2014 SERIES AT >> THE BOUNDARIES OF THE FIRM

 

Robert Gibbons is Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management in MIT's Sloan School and Professor in MIT's Economics Department.  His research and teaching concern organizational economics -- i.e., "the use of economic logic and methods to understand the existence, nature, design, and performance of organizations, especially managed ones" (Gibbons and Roberts, 2013: 1).  In particular, Gibbons studies how "relational contracts" (informal agreements so rooted in the parties' circumstances that they cannot be adjudicated by courts) affect the performance of firms, of relationships between firms, and of organizations besides firms.
In 2003, Gibbons launched the doctoral course in organizational economics in MIT's Economics Department, which became a two-semester course sequence in 2009.  At the National Bureau of Economic Research, he is founder and director of the working group in organizational economics.  In 2013, he and John Roberts co-edited the Handbook of Organizational Economics (Princeton University Press).
For economists interested in organizational economics, Gibbons has written  "Four Formal(izable) Theories of the Firm?" (J. Econ. Beh. & Orgzn., 2005), "Inside Organizations: Pricing, Politics, and Path Dependence" (Ann. Rev. Econ., 2010), and "Transaction-Cost Economics: Past, Present, and Future?" (Scand. J. Econ., 2010).  For broader audiences, his writings include "Taking Coase Seriously" (Admin. Sci. Quart., 1999), "Team Theory, Garbage Cans, and Real Organizations" (Ind. & Corp. Change, 2003), and "What Is Economic Sociology and Should Any Economists Care?" (J. Econ. Persp., 2005).
Gibbons is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Econometric Society, and the Society of Labor Economists. He is a former board member at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and the Citicorp Behavioral Science Research Council.

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