We live in an age where the rise of the machines is imminent.
Gizmodo reports that Springer Nature, a prominent publisher for the research community, has published its first book generated by a machine learning algorithm.
Lithium-Ion Batteries: A Machine-Generated Summary of Current Research is a compilation of extensive research on the widely used power source for phones, watches, and electric cars. Over 53,000 papers and articles about lithium-ion battery technology have been published in the last three years, so it’s no surprise that the subject has become a popular study. However, the book does not contain any characters, banter, epic plotlines, or personality.
Image via Amazon
The publication instead condenses the collected research, using a machine learning algorithm that includes texts based on academic approval, relevance, and review. Article summaries are then automatically generated for each chapter, which can include hyper-linked passages that direct you to the original research papers (Digital download copy here for those interested).
Lithium-Ion Batteries can be compared to a Reader’s Digest for scientists and researchers, delivering one-hundred-eighty pages of abridged research, as opposed to hundreds of thousands of documents.
Each week, Bookstr scans bestseller lists across the Internet to learn what people are reading, buying, gifting, and talking about most — just so we can ensure consistent, high-quality recommendations. This week's nonfiction picks range from the origins of humanity to the fine print of computer programming. Looking for a different genre? Check back next week for new picks, or send us your ideas and we'll do our best to curate hot titles.
Ultron was a dick. Hal 9000 was a liability. Wintermute + Neuromancer= bad. The eternal struggle of man vs. machine has inspired a plethora of literature regarding the topic. If there is one thing we have learned from the cautionary tales of science fiction—it’s that artificial intelligence is probably not a good thing. Worst case scenario, human beings create self-aware machines that ultimately rebel and replace us as the dominant species.
IMAGE VIA GIPHY.COM
The sometimes swift and other times comfortingly slow (if the predictions that exist in popular fiction are any indication) advancement of artificial intelligence has startled some of the greatest minds in history. People who rely on technology. Stephen Hawking wasn’t pleased, Bill Gates has expressed fear and Elon Musk once urged people at the highest levels of government to slow the f down. Still, no group of people has been able to better articulate the growing concern of artificial intelligence than writers. Stan Lee, Samuel Butler, William Gibson, Frank Herbert, H.G Wells, Arthur C. Clarke, Orson Scott Card, Ann Leckie, Martha Wells, and Mary Shelly; all of these writers and MANY more played with themes of technology and the danger of playing God.
IMAGE VIA SMITHSONIANMAG.COM
Ironically, things have now come full circle. Writers are needed to aid with the development of Siri—the “chick” is a dial tone (I’m going to put every pronoun in quotes because she’s technically not a she). Apparently, the female-voiced ominous agent of societal collapse lacks relatability. In an article published on Thinknum Media‘s website, it was reported that Apple is looking to hire teams of writers and editors to help improve the way their virtual assistant, Siri, communicates. The goal is to make Apple’s low-key mischievious “madame” more engaging. Siri’s popularity is in peril as she lacks the amount of sports knowledge, anecdotes and incidental information necessary to succeed as an A.I. I guess people are just doing things themselves due to a lack of interest in Siri’s narrative? God/secular tyrants built by us forbid. The adjectives “witty” and “funny” were used to describe the way in which they would like “her” to be improved.
Thinknum Media has tracked hiring data over the past few months and found job posts that revolve around making the digital assistant more entertaining. Various job listings aim to recruit engineers with a deep knowledge of and appreciate for particular subjects; however, the top postings are of the literary variety—-a Siri Editorial Manager and an International Creative Writer, as seen above.
Siri, along with her cohorts Alexa and Google, have helped us play our favorite songs, schedule various appointments, and order food (for which we are forever grateful)…It’s worth mentioning that I am more of a Droid fan and have no idea what Siri is capable of…Should the literary community lend “her” a pinch of the quirkiness that is invaluable and unique to human beings? Maybe we owe it to “her.” I for one think that this particular form of magic should not be lent to a potential threat. The kind of magic that is often a beautiful result of chance or sometimes something that took hours of hair pulling, chain-smoking, and rewriting to lend to a fictional character conceived in our mind.
So I implore writers and editors reading this to harbor their wit. Don’t apply to those available positions. Save it for your friends, family members, and star-struck groupies who follow you on your book tour when you inevitability publish the next great cautionary tale of scientific corruption. Save it for the page.
…but if you are unemployed and REALLY need some income…I guess go for it. I mean I did apply; although this article probably offsets any good my brown-nosing cover letter did.
Featured Image Via Apple.com/Images Via Media.thinknum.com
Equal rights activists, artists, and married couple Gillie and Marc Schattner are bringing gender-balanced public art to global cities with their new initiative, “Statues for Equality,” which aims to introduce statues of living women to cities that favor statues of male figures (so, most cities). New York will be the first city to display 10 of the artist-couple’s statues, all of which will pay tribute to living women. Authors among these women will include renowned public figures Oprah Winfrey (author of What I Know for Sure) and Jane Goodall (author of In the Shadow of Man).
According to the couple’s website, fewer than 3% of public statues in New York depict women, and even fewer depict historical women who made or are making significant contributions to society—as opposed to children’s book characters. Writers, world leaders, researchers, and more will debut at 1285 Avenue of the Americas on August 26th, 2019.
A statue of Eleanor Roosevelt sits at West 72nd Street and Riverside Park. Image Via Wikipedia Commons.
Gillie and Marc are perhaps best known for their widely popular sculpture The Last Three, a massive work featuring three life-sized northern white rhinos stacked precariously on top of one another that was installed at Astor Place and which was intended to immortalize the three remaining northern white rhinos in the world. (Since the statue’s debut, the last male northern white rhino has died while two females are still alive; all three are depicted in the sculpture.) The statue is now located at the San Antonio Zoo in Texas. According to their website, Gillie and Marc have nicknamed themselves “the world’s most loving artists” due to their tendency to focus on humanitarian causes in their work.
Gillie and Marc’s Astor Place installation ‘The Last Three.’ Image courtesy of Gillie and Marc Schattner.
In addition to Goodall and Winfrey, the summer installation will also feature Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman, P!nk, Tererai Trent, Janet Mock, Tracy Dyson, Cheryl Strayed, and Gabby Douglas. You may recognize Harriet Tubman (St. Nicholas Avenue and West 122nd Street) and Joan of Arc (West 93rd Street in Riverside Park) as two of the existing five statues of historical women figures in the city—sculptures depicting fictional figures include Alice from Alice in Wonderlandand Fearless Girl.
There are no plans for the statues to remain permanently at 1285 Avenue of the Americas after the exhibition closes, but the team’s website emphasizes that Statues for Equality is a global initiative, and the sculptures will likely travel. Gillie and Marc will expand their initiative to other cities after the New York launch and are still accepting nominations from the public for future statues.
The nighttime can be the best time for reading. It’s calm, quiet, and you can leave the stress of the day behind as you flip through the pages of your favorite book. But reading at night can also be a pain! You want to lay in bed and get ready for sleep, but the room is too cold, the lighting isn’t right, and all in all you just cannot relax!
These products will help you with any of your late night reading needs. Just don’t count on them helping you get any sleep.
With these glasses, you can finally read while laying down without the strain on your neck or eyes! Just put them on, lay back, and the reflective mirrors will do the rest.
For those extremely cold nights, or for anyone who likes a warm comfort while they read. Set the temperature to the right heat level for you, and then relax the night away!
Sold by Biddford via Target
Cost: 59.99 USD (currently on sale for 44.99 US Dollars)
Sometimes you want to set the mood with your favorite read and turn the lights down. This light up magnifying glass will help you to see in the dimmest of settings.
Sold by MagniPros via Amazon
Cost: 39.99 US Dollars (currently on sale for 26.95 US Dollars)
With this cushion, your book will be held up for reading. No hands required, except for page flipping of course. It also comes with a long tasseled rope sewn to the cushion to be used as a bookmark. When you need to answer the door for some midnight pizza, this will definitely come in handy!
We’ve all been there. We have a fantastic book in our hand that’s so entertaining we forget about everything else around us, including our late night drink. By the time we come to, it’s already room temperature and not to our taste. Blech! At last a solution has been found!
This mug has Bluetooth and syncs up to an app on your phone. From there you can set the temperature of your drink and enjoy that relaxing lavender tea, sweet delightful cocoa, or energizing latte for however long you want. Or for at least as long as the battery lasts.
For anyone who wants to shed a little light in their library. This little book shaped light reveals its light when you pull it out of the casing it comes in.
It can also lie on its side to provide a little light wherever you are at home (or even away from home), or you can have it tucked away in your bookcase so you can see any other books you might want to read.
Doubling as a dim light and the perfect place to have your book rest. This is the ideal book nerd nightlight!
This is awesome if you’re the type who cannot sleep unless there’s some light in the room. It’s also great for seeing at night, so you don’t knock your shin into the corner of the bed for the hundredth time in a row.
The cute house shape is also good for holding your place in your book.
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