Meta-knowledge and the Internet

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We all know what “Knowledge” is, but to ensure we are on the same page, it is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as

(i) expertise, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject;

(ii) what is known in a particular field or in total; facts and information; or

(iii) be absolutely certain or sure about something.

Of course, we can also sum it all up using Plato’s formulation of knowledge as “justified true belief.” So what is “Meta-Knowledge”? Well, think of it as knowledge about knowledge. To clarify, let me run an example by you, Mr Smith lives at No1 High Street – thats ‘data’. I can also step up a level and define the attributes of that data, as Name and Address – thats called “meta-data”, or to put it more simply, its data that describes the data. So Meta-Knowledge is simply knowledge that is knowledge about knowledge.

So why am I babbling on about all this? Well, because the University of Chicago has issued a press-release on the topic that starts out like this …

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Because the bible tells me so!!!

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The Guardian’s GrrlScientist blogger, one of their many science bloggers has a post (click here) about judgment day and also links to the Thinking Atheists video on the topic. She says …

Pastors, priests, apologists, ministers, religious philosophers and leaders of every kind, from every generation, have quoted from the books of Daniel and Revelation about the End of Days. Are their claims any less ridiculous? And should they be held any less accountable?

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Thomas Edison … did not invent the light bulb.

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As I clicked into Google today, I could not fail to notice that they are celebrating Thomas Edison’s 164th Birthday. You can see the image here, its chock full of many things that he invented such as the light bulb and other devices.

So I followed some links and did a bit of reading, and as a result made a rather surprising discovery – Edison did not invent the light bulb – well perhaps you knew, and I’m the only one. After being surprised like this, I did a quick straw poll asking “Who invented the light bulk?”. The answer from all was, “Edison”.

Now what really surprised me is that while he did not invent it,  he claimed that he did, but if it was not him, then who?. It was apparently a chap called Joseph Swan.

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Why Do We So Devotedly Insist On Believing In Nonsense?

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This is a complete cut and paste of a JREF article entitled – Why Do We So Devotedly Insist On Believing In Nonsense? – keep reading, I highly recommend it.

Written by James Randi

Thursday, 10 February 2011 15:55

A survey conducted this month by the Russian Center of Public Opinion Research of 1,600 Russians in different regions of that country has revealed that 32% of them believe that the Sun revolves around the Earth, four percent more than in 2007 when a similar survey was conducted. This fact was trumpeted just as President Medvedev called for national Lunar and deep space programs to be implemented, rather highlighting scientific misconceptions among Russians. That same survey also found 55% of Russians believe that radioactivity is a human invention, and 29% believe that humans lived in the era of dinosaurs. What a strange mixture between scientific ambitions and pure superstition! Right?

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e-devices coming in the next 20 years

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The just-released February issue of the Journal of the Society for Information Display contains the first-ever critical review of current and future prospects for electronic paper functions – in other words reviewing and critiquing the technologies that will bring us devices like

  • full-color, high-speed, low-power e-readers;
  • iPads that can be viewed in bright sunlight, or
  • e-readers and iPads so flexible that they can be rolled up and put in a pocket.

The University of Cincinnati’s Jason Heikenfeld, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and an internationally recognized researcher in the field of electrofluidics, is the lead author on the paper titled “A Critical Review of the Present and Future Prospects for Electronic Paper.” Others contributing to the article are industry researcher Paul Drzaic of Drzaic Consulting Services; research scientist Jong-Souk (John) Yeo of Hewlett-Packard’s Imaging and Printing Group; and research scientist Tim Koch, who currently manages Hewlett-Packard’s effort to develop flexible electronics.

The full paper is available at the journal’s site.

This Year

  • Color e-readers will be out in the consumer market by mid year in 2011. However, cautions Heikenfeld, the color will be muted as compared to what consumers are accustomed to, say, on an iPad. Researchers will continue to work toward next-generation (brighter) color in e-Readers as well as high-speed functionality that will eventually allow for point-and-click web browsing and video on devices like the Kindle.

Already in use but expansive adoption and breakthoughs imminent:

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