Comments for Smart Journalism. Real Solutions. | Miller-McCune Online Magazine

Comment on Poor Deer Season Spurs Chemical Concerns by srisotto

srisotto — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:26:32 +0000

To be clear, phthalates have not been linked to less masculine play in boys. While a study published last year attempted to make such a link, the study had significant flaws. Phthalates, moreover, are not used in food packaging. There is a large body of scientific evidence that supports the continued safe use of phthalates. For more information visit http://www.phthalates.org, a site sponsored by the American Chemistry Council, which I represent.

Comment on Where Terror Suspects Should Be Tried by verigo2100

verigo2100 — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:48:28 +0000

Diane, no. The United States will detain Afghan insurgents and turn them over to the government of Afghanistan for prosecution under Afghanistan’s newly founded constitution.

International terrorists (those involved in the planning or execution of transnational attacks on civilians) will be handled differently, but this a very small percentage of insurgency.

The same rules would apply to Iraq.

Comment on Innocent Until Reported Guilty by sherry59

sherry59 — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:13:09 +0000

my son is sitting in prison,on just heresay,no evidence, something has to be done,this is pure injustice,here in cleveland ohio.

Comment on Triumph of the Cyborg Composer by Ed Porter

Ed Porter — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:54:32 +0000

Whether we want it or not — barring a major setback to civilization — within 5 to 25 years, computers will be able to perform all useful functions of the human mind better than humans — in many cases thousands or millions of times faster or better.

Cope’s work is an important preview of this.

One of life’s greatest mercies is that most of us grow old slowly, making it more easy to emotionally accept the growing limitations of our bodies as we age. Similarly, we should take note of the gradual advances in machine intelligence — as shown by Cope’s work — to prepare our minds to emotionally accept and embrace the machine intelligence that will soon surpass human mental capabilities in all fields.

The task for humans is to not only emotionally embrace the power of machine intelligence, but to learn how to best use it — and our increasing understanding of our brains and minds — to create the best possible future for ourselves and our descendants. This includes learning how to use machines to make us more intelligent and wise — both as individuals — and, collectively, as families, cities, nations, and the world.

Comment on Quality Doesn’t Ensure Success for ‘Best New Magazines’ by Steve Black

Steve Black — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:29:13 +0000

Thanks for this, well done. 1 thing: link to Saint Rose is going to our music dept., much better to just link to http://www.strose.edu.

Editor: Thanks. Change has been made.

Comment on Triumph of the Cyborg Composer by stimpy77

stimpy77 — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:35:54 +0000

The music is beautiful. One comment, though… From the article, “If a machine could write a Mozart sonata every bit as good as the originals, then what was so special about Mozart? And was there really any soul behind the great works, or were Beethoven and his ilk just clever mathematical manipulators of notes? Cope’s answers, ‘not much, and yes,’ made some people very angry.” As a computer programmer myself, I have to say that this is an unfair assessment of what really happened here between Mozart and software. The story and related stories indicate that this software’s algorithms were derivative, literally, from the processing of notation from various songs by Beethoven and the like. So well then when I was a kid I used to play with an A.I. software program called Eliza. Back then, this A.I. was pretty stupid, and the smartest variation of it probably still is, but the fact is sometimes it was programmed to make me laugh by telling a joke or make me feel ashamed by scolding me (“That was rude.”) My point is that if you take real human expressions and apply them in patterns that makes sense they are still human expressions, even if they were sampled and reorganized by computer software. In other words, if you can put the expression of soul in a musical idea into an algorithm, the algorithm is still soulful, as it still originated from a human being. The algorithm means nothing to a dog or a cat, and won’t help anyone in any practical ways like calculating finances. You’ve only repackaged a human expression, and there’s nothing anti-soul about that any more than recording a vocalist and listening to him/her on a high-bitrate MP3 is soulless.

Comment on Music Education Improves Literacy of Second-Graders by Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:21:38 +0000

Is there an explanation as to WHY music education helps literacy? What occurs in the brain while learning music?

Comment on A Ray of Sunshine by Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:59:42 +0000

Cass Sustain is nothing more than another Marxist, like his boss, Obama. If it was up to him, animals would have human rights (he confuses animal welfare with animal rights. These parasites want to regulate us to death and control our lives through their oligarchy, which is what Washington has become. This country needs a new revolution. and the sooner, the better.

Comment on Triumph of the Cyborg Composer by Jmath

Jmath — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:48:44 +0000

I would be more impressive to me if the computer wrote a good pop tune or folk tune with lyrics. I would quit trying if that happened. Computers writing classical music is like a computer navigating a flat road with bright yellow lines and nobody breaking the traffic laws. For a machine to write a tune like “Bar Room Girls” from Gillian Welch (also from Santa Cruz) that would break my heart.

Comment on Admire Her Body, Hamper Her Brain? by Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:50:34 +0000

Does this mean that people who constantly try to see themselves (and their actions and comments) from the point of view of others are also at risk of decreased cognitive development? Would it be reasonable to say that people who are sympathetic to their surroundings suffer from divided focus and lack abilities at higher levels of difficulty?