A magnificent concept, the idea of many units operating as one single entity. It would make such things as databases and computing much simpler, by splitting the load amongst the individual members of a collective consciousness.
Well, I might eventually make a post on this concept. But the main point of this particular rambling is to bring you akinator. A fantastic example of a collective consciousness.
It guesses any character you have in mind, given that you answer its questions truthfully. He'll guess within 20 questions any character, and if he's wrong, should you deign to give him chances, akinator will guess again within 30, then 40 questions. It's essentially a huge database of characters, questions and character traits, much like the old punchcard system for computers. A punchcard computer for akinator would probably be recognisable only as a sea of paper, given its sheer volume.
One thing in mind: it's frightfully accurate at guessing within 30 questions. 20 if the character is distinctive enough. If it can't get it within 30, it'll probably fail at 40, but its final trick is to pull a HUGE list of characters after getting it wrong the last time. Akinator is sneaky. Yet, even with its apparent psychic powers, it is amazingly fallible.
For the record, it guessed some (not so) obscure characters I pulled: Bazett Fraga McRemitz, Samurai Jack, Aku and Emiya Kiritsugu. For popular people and searches like Obama, Luffy, Kim Jong-Il and Nanoha, it'll usually get it within 20 questions, so forget beating akinator with those.
It does have its weaknesses. It took the whole 40 questions to guess Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. (WUT) V from V for Vendetta was initially thought to be Anonymous (HERESY) and even Archer from Fate/stay night was completely unguessable for it (WUT WUT WUT). In fact:
- Caster, Archer, Rider from F/sn it failed, yet it got Lancer, Hasan and Assassin also from F/sn.
- Ilya, Irisviel, Kotomine and Kiritsugu from Fate/Zero it got, but failed hard at Rider, Caster and Lancer from the same.
- Pulling out all the stops, I went for Miyu Edelfelt from Fate/kaleid liner (bloody obscure, and she only appears in that one series and its sequel.) As expected, akinator failed.
- Damn, turns out I'm a Fate (Nasuverse) fan. Damn.
The collective consciousness seems to like anime, though. Akinator got the characters Shana (Shakugan no Shana), Hayate, Hinagiku (Hayate no Gotoku!), Sanji, Luffy (One Piece!), and about half of the F/sn cast (aside from those mentioned, it took 2 guesses to get Kuzuki Souichirou). Admittedly I'm quite lousy when it comes to characters, but I'm sure someone else would be able to really put akinator through its paces.
Good luck stumping it!
Friday, November 27, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Odds and ends.
Just finished Endless Eight. FINISHED. DONE.
For the uninitiated, Endless Eight is a reputedly very aggravating series of 8 episodes in the 2009 airing of The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi (涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱) that is essentially nothing other than a series of events repeated, with minor variations, 7 times. Well, I didn't read the light novel (not that volume, at least) so it's hard to say how less annoying it could have been.
It really wasn't that bad. As for those who watched it over eight weeks, it must've been a question of self-restraint to not hammer down the door of Kyoto Animation. What made it more bearable was:
- It was watched over a couple of days. Instead of 56.
- It was only 8 episodes. Instead of 15532 as they could have gleefully attempted.
- There were minor variations. The first and last episodes were different. The wardrobes changed each episode. And there were several different punchlines across the episodes.
- Bad press online prepped me for this set of episodes.
Well, goodbye, endless summer. At least this doesn't happen in real life... does it.
Next, some random complaints.
Haven't been able to slack off and play comp games as often as hoped. Reason being? Too damned lazy to. Yep, lazy. Hey, comp games need motivation, OK?
After all, faced with the alternative of sleeping, comp games can't hold a candle to my interests. It's much easier to do nothing than grind in comp games.
Another grouse. What the HELL kind of maths book that claims to prep people for maths competitions, has not one, not two, but three and probably more very serious typos. At that, it's preparation for British (my guess) maths competitions. No offence to anyone here, but I think that China and Russia are way ahead on this front. Even the SMO is harder than some of the questions in the book. After all, stuff like trigo formulae, identities and, heavens above, probability are already part of the normal syllabus in schools here.
The typos happen to be of the following sorts.
1. secx = 1/sinx. Seriously. Even another reference table printed in the same damn chapter contradicts this falsehood.
2. x + 1/x = 1, and the solution for this is phi (1.618yadda.) Pray tell how this equation has any real solutions. And earlier in the book, the inequality x + 1/x >= 2 for all real x was proven.
3. Factorisation of 120 (was it this number?) into 2 factors. 1x120, 2x60, 4x30, 5x24, 6x20, 8x15, 10x12 and their reverses, giving 14 ways as the answer to a question. Waitaminute, isn't 3x40 also a factorisation?
Before doing anything. DOUBLECHECK. Yeek.
For the uninitiated, Endless Eight is a reputedly very aggravating series of 8 episodes in the 2009 airing of The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi (涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱) that is essentially nothing other than a series of events repeated, with minor variations, 7 times. Well, I didn't read the light novel (not that volume, at least) so it's hard to say how less annoying it could have been.
It really wasn't that bad. As for those who watched it over eight weeks, it must've been a question of self-restraint to not hammer down the door of Kyoto Animation. What made it more bearable was:
- It was watched over a couple of days. Instead of 56.
- It was only 8 episodes. Instead of 15532 as they could have gleefully attempted.
- There were minor variations. The first and last episodes were different. The wardrobes changed each episode. And there were several different punchlines across the episodes.
- Bad press online prepped me for this set of episodes.
Well, goodbye, endless summer. At least this doesn't happen in real life... does it.
Next, some random complaints.
Haven't been able to slack off and play comp games as often as hoped. Reason being? Too damned lazy to. Yep, lazy. Hey, comp games need motivation, OK?
After all, faced with the alternative of sleeping, comp games can't hold a candle to my interests. It's much easier to do nothing than grind in comp games.
Another grouse. What the HELL kind of maths book that claims to prep people for maths competitions, has not one, not two, but three and probably more very serious typos. At that, it's preparation for British (my guess) maths competitions. No offence to anyone here, but I think that China and Russia are way ahead on this front. Even the SMO is harder than some of the questions in the book. After all, stuff like trigo formulae, identities and, heavens above, probability are already part of the normal syllabus in schools here.
The typos happen to be of the following sorts.
1. secx = 1/sinx. Seriously. Even another reference table printed in the same damn chapter contradicts this falsehood.
2. x + 1/x = 1, and the solution for this is phi (1.618yadda.) Pray tell how this equation has any real solutions. And earlier in the book, the inequality x + 1/x >= 2 for all real x was proven.
3. Factorisation of 120 (was it this number?) into 2 factors. 1x120, 2x60, 4x30, 5x24, 6x20, 8x15, 10x12 and their reverses, giving 14 ways as the answer to a question. Waitaminute, isn't 3x40 also a factorisation?
Before doing anything. DOUBLECHECK. Yeek.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
On Language.
Language, a communication medium, a barrier and a bridge between people. Enlightening and masking at the same time, it divides the world into a those who understand each other and everyone else. Of course, these are entirely arbitrary groupings. Anyone could be in the first group; it just depends on who you pick to start with.
People complain about language. Whether it should be learnt by rote or roleplay, which and how many languages to teach in schools, the evolution of a language, the low standards of language in society.
By its very nature, language divides the world into small portions, setting up walls of incomprehension between different zones of the world, between different languages. One can run away from this fact; for instance, if one only knows English, one can take relief that English is a remarkably oft-spoken language in the world, and that major countries such as the U.S. have it as their main/working/official language. Online, too, there are pockets of communities of different tongues; one could live their whole life being a monolingual and not be any the worse for it.
All the same, multilingualism is an advantage. Just as language carves trenches between people, knowing more than one language bridges the chasms. It multiplies your realm of knowledge, pushes your horizons further, and opens up new experiences on Earth. It is entirely worth it to be versed in more than one tongue.
...even if it is hell to learn more than 2 languages.
One language? Better excel in it, or you'll have serious problems.
Two languages? Excelling in one, comprehending the other. That's the bare minimum of aptitude.
Three languages? Again, you'd better be great in at least one.
Language has 4 main aspects to it:
- Reading (to be literate. To understand printed material.) [passive, visual]
- Writing (to create printed works.) [active, visual]
- Listening (to understand the spoken word.) [passive, aural]
- Speaking (to be able to communicate verbally) [active, verbal]
To understand a language, one merely needs to be skilled in reading and listening (still no mean feat, though.) To truly know the language, one must also know how to speak the lingo and write up a storm. In other words, all 4 aspects.
Then there's the choice of which language to study. Personally:
- English (compulsory; besides, it's a useful language, both on the interwebs and in general.)
- Mandarin (compulsory (erk) but useful. Useful for work/future, and useful for...)
- Japanese (it was this or French. French may have been easier/better, but Japanese has upsides...)
Namely, ANIME AND MANGA. Reading and listening to Japanese is simpler than speaking and writing. Mandarin (Chinese) is also incredibly helpful in learning the characters, and comprehending them.
One last thing: 3 languages = reduced reliance on any one language as a source. For research, for example. For online games, as another example. As a third example, if a particular sub/scanlation isn't out in English, Chinese would be the second choice. If all else fails, raw Japanese. :--D
Learn languages. They are useful. Fun. Or rather, the things produced in that language are fun.
People complain about language. Whether it should be learnt by rote or roleplay, which and how many languages to teach in schools, the evolution of a language, the low standards of language in society.
By its very nature, language divides the world into small portions, setting up walls of incomprehension between different zones of the world, between different languages. One can run away from this fact; for instance, if one only knows English, one can take relief that English is a remarkably oft-spoken language in the world, and that major countries such as the U.S. have it as their main/working/official language. Online, too, there are pockets of communities of different tongues; one could live their whole life being a monolingual and not be any the worse for it.
All the same, multilingualism is an advantage. Just as language carves trenches between people, knowing more than one language bridges the chasms. It multiplies your realm of knowledge, pushes your horizons further, and opens up new experiences on Earth. It is entirely worth it to be versed in more than one tongue.
...even if it is hell to learn more than 2 languages.
One language? Better excel in it, or you'll have serious problems.
Two languages? Excelling in one, comprehending the other. That's the bare minimum of aptitude.
Three languages? Again, you'd better be great in at least one.
Language has 4 main aspects to it:
- Reading (to be literate. To understand printed material.) [passive, visual]
- Writing (to create printed works.) [active, visual]
- Listening (to understand the spoken word.) [passive, aural]
- Speaking (to be able to communicate verbally) [active, verbal]
To understand a language, one merely needs to be skilled in reading and listening (still no mean feat, though.) To truly know the language, one must also know how to speak the lingo and write up a storm. In other words, all 4 aspects.
Then there's the choice of which language to study. Personally:
- English (compulsory; besides, it's a useful language, both on the interwebs and in general.)
- Mandarin (compulsory (erk) but useful. Useful for work/future, and useful for...)
- Japanese (it was this or French. French may have been easier/better, but Japanese has upsides...)
Namely, ANIME AND MANGA. Reading and listening to Japanese is simpler than speaking and writing. Mandarin (Chinese) is also incredibly helpful in learning the characters, and comprehending them.
One last thing: 3 languages = reduced reliance on any one language as a source. For research, for example. For online games, as another example. As a third example, if a particular sub/scanlation isn't out in English, Chinese would be the second choice. If all else fails, raw Japanese. :--D
Learn languages. They are useful. Fun. Or rather, the things produced in that language are fun.
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