Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Artic Sea Ice for 2019 Tied 2nd Lowest Extent on Record

This link will take you to the NASA web site's very recent article about the extent of Arctic Sea Ice for 2019. The information is depressing, but not surprising.

Arctic sea ice is very effective at reflecting solar radiation back into space, and hence limiting global warming. The open ocean left behind, where the ice used to be, is very absorbent to solar radiation, and hence promotes global warming.

NASA is a great resource for current climate data...https://climate.nasa.gov/

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

What is Geoengineering?

This link will take you to the Oxford University web site about Geoengineering.

And this link will take you to the Harvard University web site about geoengineering.

Harvard also has a very informative Technology Factsheet about Solar Geoengineering.

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

The Limits of AI Being Human-like

The New York Times just published a very eye-opening article about where AI is and what it may or may NOT be capable of in reference to being conscious, caring, sensitive and other human qualities. As a sensitive human, I really relate to this article. We of course will discuss it, probably in class 5.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/05/opinion/artificial-intelligence-machine-learning.html

Books About AI

The following books have been used by Paul Collins and me to provide current information about Artificial Intelligence. Each book has a different focus, and I rate all at least 4 to 5 stars. All are available on Amazon....if you want to support an AI focused company.....and of course there you can find reviews of these books.

LIFE 3.0   Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence   by Max Tegmark

THE FOURTH AGE   Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity
   by Byron Reese

MACHINES THAT THINK   The Future of Artificial Intelligence   by Toby Walsh

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE   101 things you must know today about our future
   by Lasse Rouhiainen

Sunday, October 28, 2018

Video Links from AI Class #2 on Robots

Each Line below is a link to the related video, or in the last case, a web site.

Robot Summary - the Top Ten AI Robots

The Dangers of AI Robots

5 Advanced Military Robots

Autonomous AI Weapons....Slaughterbots
(Video made by the Future of Life Institute to encourage all countries to ban lethal autonomous weapons.)

AI Class #1 Video links

Paul Collins and I will try to get all the video Links from our AI class posted on this blog. We will also post some of the presentation text, but not all of it. This post covers videos from Class #1.
Each line below is a link to the related video.

Microsoft simple explanation of AI

Max Tegmark's perspective on AI

Sam Harris TED talk on AI concerns

Deep Learning via Neural Networks
 Google’s AlphaGo that beat Lee Sedol



Thursday, April 19, 2018

Saving New Orleans from Sea Level Rise

The latest plan appears to be diverting nutrients and sand coming down the Mississippi River off into wetlands being invaded by salty water and sea level rise. To do this as effectively as possible, they have created a basketball court sized model of the lower Mississippi River to better study the anticipated results of their options.  So check out Mississippi Delta.

Sunday, April 15, 2018

Teens vs Trump Admin re Climate Change

The following link is to a very moving article in Mother Jones about  21 plaintiffs 22 and younger suing the US Government


“We the people are ready to leave,” sang a small choir of climate activists in downtown San Francisco, “’cause the White House makin’ it hard to breathe.” 

That was the rallying cry in support of the 21 plaintiffs, ages 22 and younger, who are suing the federal government for causing climate change damages and thereby violating their constitutional rights.

Friday, March 30, 2018

Concerns on sea-level rise, but some 'good news'?....video from Yale Climate Connections

"The video can serve as a valuable instructional tool for those wanting to better explain or understand global sea-level rise trends and prospects. There are some painful, and even dire, concerns expressed about the potential that Greenland ice sheets could be “entirely lost” if emissions continue at a business-as-usual pace; about the rate of sea-level rise increasing “faster and faster with time”; and about the planet’s ice sheets likely becoming “more active” over coming decades than they have been over recent decades.

But scientist Eric Rignot, PhD, of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, whose research about three years ago pointed to bleak long-term glacier melt prospects for the western Antarctica, says he holds out hope for some “pretty good news.” "

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Great Wall of Louisiana Video

The link to the above video is HERE. This morning in the Oceans and Climate Change Class we watched it to about minute 6:45


Thursday, March 15, 2018

Largest Glacial Calving Event Ever Recorded on Camera

Following is the You Tube link to the video I showed in our OLLI Oceans and Climate Change class on March 13, 2018:

Short segment from Chasing Ice

GREENLAND - Will probably be the focus of near term sea level rise

Greenland is almost all covered by a very thick glacial ice cap. If all of Greenland's ice either melted or slid into the oceans, sea le...