# rmx-s-brain: decoding in real time to recognize

<< (..) scientists have decoded brain signals (representing images) at nearly the speed of perception for the first time— enabling the scientists to predict in real time which images of faces and houses the patients were viewing and when, and with better than 95 percent accuracy >>

http://www.kurzweilai.net/scientists-decode-brain-signals-to-recognize-images-in-real-time

<< Here we show that electrical potentials from the ventral temporal cortical surface in humans contain sufficient information for spontaneous and near-instantaneous identification of a subject’s perceptual state >>

Miller KJ, Schalk G, et al. Spontaneous Decoding of the Timing and Content of Human Object Perception from Cortical Surface Recordings Reveals Complementary Information in the Event-Related Potential and Broadband Spectral Change. PLoS Comput Biol 2016; 12(1): e1004660. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004660

http://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004660

# rmx-s-ai-gst: is singularity near?

<< Is the Singularity near? “Yes, depending on what you mean by ‘near’ … It may well be, within our lifetimes.” >>

Kurzweil Interviews Minsky: Is Singularity Near? January 27, 2016

http://www.kurzweilai.net/kurzweil-interviews-minsky-is-singularity-near

# rmx-e-bot: Gregg' "uncanny valley"

<< What’s uncanny is not that we can’t tell whether it’s human or AI, or in what proportion. We can’t tell what it’s been programmed to do to us. Is it trying to steal our identity or sell us a Snorg tee? >>

Gregg Murray, Am I bot or not? Deconstructing the "uncanny valley". January 27, 2016

http://www.kurzweilai.net/am-i-bot-or-not

# rmx-s-phyto: Dionaea muscipula, with precision

<< Carnivorous plants stir the imagination. You can find the results in science fiction novels (“The Day of the Triffids”), Broadway plays(“Little Shop of Horrors”) and in recent research that concludes that the Venus flytrap can count. Not out loud, of course. And no one is claiming that the plants are aware that they are counting. But even so, this is the first time someone has demonstrated counting in a plant >>

James Gorman. The Venus Flytrap, a Plant That Can Count. nyt-sciencetake, Feb. 1, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/02/science/the-venus-flytrap-a-plant-that-can-count.html

Sönke Scherzer, Elzbieta Krol, et al. The Venus Flytrap Dionaea muscipula Counts Prey-Induced Action Potentials to Induce Sodium Uptake. Current Biology. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.11.057

http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(15)01501-8

# s-gst: unaware chaoticity: the "long-range correlations" in narrative texts

<< James Joyce, Julio Cortazar, Marcel Proust, Henryk Sienkiewicz and Umberto Eco. Regardless of the language they were working in, some of the world's greatest writers appear to be, in some respects, constructing fractals. >>

The world's greatest literature reveals multifractals and cascades of consciousness. January 26, 2016

http://phys.org/news/2016-01-world-greatest-literature-reveals-multifractals.html

Stanisław Drożdż, Paweł Oświȩcimka, et al. Quantifying origin and character of long-range correlations in narrative texts
Information Sciences
20 February 2016, Vol.331:32–44, doi:10.1016/j.ins.2015.10.023

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0020025515007513

# s-gene: Yoshizumi Ishino, Francisco Mojica (et al) wave: SRSR - CRISPR interference

<< We were stunned, it was like the sun rose in the west rather than the east.>>  Ethan Bier

<< We’re  not about to do anything foolish. >>  Anthony James

Shelly Fanon. Gene Drives Could Wipe Out Insect-Borne Disease — But What’s the Price? Nov 29, 2015.

http://singularityhub.com/2015/11/29/gene-drives-can-eliminate-transmissible-diseases-for-good-but-whats-the-price

Yoshizumi Ishino and Francisco Mojica, in: CRISPR, Clustered regularly-interspaced short palindromic repeats.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRISPR

Eric S. Lander. The Heroes of CRISPR.
Cell. 14 January 2016, Vol.164(1):18–28, doi:10.1016/j.cell.2015.12.041

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867415017055

# p-trade: job cuts vs long-term firm implications

<< Barclays, Pearson and Virgin Media have all announced significant job cuts as part of a growing pressure to cut costs, adding up to more than 6,000 job cuts in total. Firms are increasingly turning to cost-reduction strategies as a coping mechanism for competitive and difficult economic conditions. But while these strategies help to reduce costs in the short-term, these cuts can have much bigger, and fundamentally important implications for the identity of the firm and their long-term competitiveness >>

Shelley Harrington. Job cuts save money but can hurt business in the long-run. January 22, 2016 4.55pm GMT

https://theconversation.com/job-cuts-save-money-but-can-hurt-business-in-the-long-run-53581

<< In today’s business environment, employee downsizing is a widespread strategy aimed at improving firm performance and competitiveness. The literature, however, highlights unequivocal findings that many downsizing initiatives fail to retain critical skills, capabilities, experience and knowledge. Employee downsizing may therefore lead to deteriorating quality, productivity and effectiveness >>

Achim Schmitt, Stefano Borzillo, Gilbert Probst. Don’t let knowledge walk away: Knowledge retention during employee downsizing. Management Learning, February 2012 vol. 43 no. 1 53-74 doi: 10.1177/1350507611411630

http://m.mlq.sagepub.com/content/43/1/53.abstract