- “Much like how computers play chess, reducing the algorithm into “crunchable” elements can simulate the way humans do things in the result even though the computer’s method is entirely different. If the result—the chess move, the Jeopardy answer—is all that matters, it’s a success. If how the result is achieved matters more, I’m not so sure. For example, Deep Blue had no real impact on chess or science despite the hype surrounding its sporting achievement in defeating me. If Watson’s skills can be translated into something useful, something groundbreaking, that is the test. If all it can do is beat humans on a game show Watson is just a passing entertainment akin to the wind-up automata of the 18th century.” —Garry Kasparov, the Russian chess champion who sparred with IBM’s Deep Blue in 1997, ponders last week’s Jeopardy! contest between IBM’s Deep Blue and champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. (Source: theatlantic)
- Tolstoy’s big rule for living: Have a goal for your whole life, a goal for one section of your life, a goal for a shorter period and a goal for the year; a goal for every month, a goal for every week, a goal for every day, a goal for every hour and for every minute, and sacrifice the lesser goal to the greater. (Source: onwork)
- Actor Lambert Wilson talks about preparing for his role in the French film Of Gods and Men: “We spent a few days observing the monks, eating in silence with the other people who were going on the retreat, and then we started singing. And that was really the best preparation. We learned Gregorian chanting. We learned liturgical singing as a group. This is really what got this group of French actors together.”
- An Interview with Tim Keller in The Atlantic: The Atlantic interviews Timothy Keller about his new book The King’s Cross, which comes out this week, as well as his writing process and his work in New York City.
- Responding to Anti-Christian Rhetoric: Our friends at IVCF’s Emerging Scholars Network ask, “How do you respond?”
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