Aliens talking with and about humans
Alien: “I’m sorry, what did you just say your comfortable temperature range is?”
Human: “Honestly we can tolerate anywhere from -40 to 50 Celcius, but we prefer the 0 to 30 range.”
Alien: “… I’m sorry, did you just list temperatures below freezing?”
Human: “Yeah, but most of us prefer to throw on scarves or jackets at those temperatures it can be a bit nippy.”
Other human: “Nah mate, I knew this guy in college who refused to wear anything past his knees and elbows until it was -20 at least.”
Human: “Heh. Yeah everybody knows someone like that.”
Alien: “… And did you also say 50 Celcius? As in, half way to boiling?”
Human: “Eugh. Yes. It sucks, we sweat everywhere, and god help you if you touch a seatbelt buckle, but yes.”
Alien: “And you say the poles of your world would get as low as negative one hundred with wind chill?”
Human: “Yup, with blizzards you cant see through every other day just about.”
Alien: “Amazing! when did you manage to send drones that could survive such temperatures?”
Human: “… well, actually… ”
Alien: “… what?”
Human: “… we kinda… sent… people. ”
Alien: “…”
Human: “…”
Alien: “what?”
Human: “we sent-”
Alien: “no yeah I heard you I just- what? You sent… HUMANS… to a place one hundred degrees below freezing?”
Human: “y-yeah”
Alien: “and they didn’t… die?”
Human: “Well the first few did”
Alien: “PEOPLE DIED OF THE COLD AND YOUR SOLUTION WAS TO SEND More PEOPLE???!?!?!?”
Alien: “You’re telling me that you have… settlements. On islands with active volcanism?”
Human: “Well, yeah. I’m not about to tell Iceland and Hawaii how to live their lives. Actually, it’s kind of a tourist attraction.”
Alien: “What, the molten rock?”
Human: “Well, yeah! It’s not every day you see a mountain spew out liquid rocks! The best one is Yellowstone, though. All these hot springs and geysers from the supervolcano–”
Alien: “You ACTIVELY SEEK OUT ACTIVE SUPERVOLCANOES?”
Human: “S**t, man, we swim in the groundwater near them.”
“Commander, we must update the code of conduct to include the humans.”
“Why? Are they more aggressive than we anticipated?”
“It seems to be the opposite Commander. Just this morning a crewman nearly lost their hand when attempting to stroke an unidentified feline on an unknown world. Their reaction to the attack was to call the creature a “mean kitty” and vow to win it over. Upon inquiry, it seems they bond so readily with creatures outside their species that they have the capacity to feel sympathy for an alien creature they have never seen before simply because it appears distressed. I hate to say this commander but we must install a rule to prevent them from endangering their own lives when interacting with the galaxy’s fauna.”
“I see what you mean. So be it, from now on no crewman is allowed to touch unknown animals without permission from a superior officer. And send a message to supplies about acquiring one of these “puppies” so that their desire to touch furred predators can be safely sated.
“So I hear that you’ve just recruited a human for your ship.”
“Yes, it’s the first time that I’ve worked with these species, but they come highly recommended. Say, you’ve worked with a few, what tips can you give me? I’d hate to have some kind of cultural misunderstanding if it’s avoidable.”
“The first rule of working with humans is to never leave them unsupervised.”
“Wait, what?”
“I’m serious. Don’t do it. Things. Happen.”
“But wait, I thought that I heard you highly recommended that every crew should have at least one on board?”
“Absolutely, and I stand by that. Humans are excellent innovators and are psychologically very resilient. If you have a crisis, then a human that has bonded with your crew properly can be invaluable. Treat your human well and you should get the best out of them as a crew member. Their ability to get on with almost any species is legendary.”
“But, didn’t you just say… ”
“The trouble is that they will potentially try to bond with anything. If you leave them unsupervised, you have no idea what kind of trouble they can get themselves into. It was sheer luck that the Fanzorians thought that it was funny that the human picked up the Crown Prince to coo at him.”
“Crown Prince Horram, Scourge of Pixia?”
“The very same. Surprisingly good sense of humor. But don’t even get me started on that one time with the Dunlip. Al-Human wanted to know if they could keep it. As a pet.”
“A Dunlip? You mean the 3-metre tall apex predators from Jowun?”
“Yup. Don’t leave your humans unsupervised.”
“I’ll uh, take that under advisement.”
“Seriously. Get a supply of safe animals for the humans to bond with or they will make their own. I mean, they will try to befriend anything they come across anyway, but without any permanent pets they can get… creative. Don’t even get me started on the time one of them taped a knife to one of our auto-cleaners and named it Stabby.
Three weeks in and when we finally caught the wretched thing, half the humans on crew tried to revolt about us “killing” Stabby by removing the knife.
“How… how did you resolve that sir?”
“Glaxcol made a toy knife out of insulation rubber and strapped that on instead. Quite a creative solution, I suppose.”
“And that sated the humans?
“Worse.”
“Worse?”
“They thought it was so funny they made a second one, strapped false eyes on springs to both and held mock battles. Then decided Stabby and Knifey were in love and now none of them will allow the others to stage fights between them any more.”
“So, if I supply my Humans with safe bonding pets they will behave better when on other planets? Where do I get safe bonding pets?”
“Realizing the havoc their species created with their bonding needs, Earth has been kind enough to create an intergalactic ‘pet’ shop as they call it, the order forms are on the bridge.”
“If they get a pet this should prevent any knife welding auto-cleaners?”
“Yes… ”
“You don’t sound very reassuring.”
“Well… You have to understand that some of what humans find attractive about their ‘pets’ is actually what makes them dangerous. Not all of what they consider ‘safe’ is what we would consider ‘safe’.”
“OK… I am getting a little nervous about this.”
“No, no, it’s fine, I’m just saying you should maybe keep an eye on what they order. Ask them to describe the creature before they get it. For example, the first time I had a human on board I let them order a pet without checking what it was.”
“What happened?”
Well, when it arrived it was a 25 pound fanged and clawed feline creature called a Savannah Cat. My entire crew was terrified of it, it was agile and could easily have seriously injured someone, but the human had no fear of it. They insisted on carrying it around like a child, and they would squeeze it’s ‘beans’ as they said, forcing the creatures claws out, and then they would show people it’s deadly claws while saying, and I quote, ‘look at its adorable claws, this is what it uses to kills things, isn’t it cute?’“
“Seriously?”
“I have also heard stories from other crews that their humans ordered canines that weigh as much or more then they do, and they sleep next to the giant creature.”
“You are not making me feel better with these stories.”
View from the meeting room
I did something I’d never done, today. I flew in and out of Amsterdam for a 4h meeting. We’re part of a European research grant, with collaborators in Spain, Switzerland and the Netherlands, and the kick off meeting was held at a conference center just off of the airport arrivals. Yay, carbon footprint!
Big planes, little owl
Schiphol airport has random bits of airplane scattered around its concourse. Bobble had fun.
Draw me like one of your French kittens
You iz interruptin mah sleepz
Pavel is trying to fully enjoy the newly-knitted blanket that Katy made for him.
This should to be fun
I have to make PowerPoint presentations that explain what we want to do so that our collaborators can use them when they hire our competitors to do the things we want to do, at higher cost, instead of being able to do the things we want to do in the first place.
Bad mental health day
Today is a bad mental health day, where everything seems bleak, with no obvious solution to problems that seem insurmontable. You wonder what’s the point, you ask yourself if it all matters. You want to stop caring, but you still worry about everything.
Then your cat comes to sit next to you, and you feel better for a bit.
And you hope tomorrow will be better.
Ben’s birthday bowling bash
We had a bowling/movie/pizza party for Ben this year. It was also mainly drama-free, shocking! Ben’s happy because he got a Nintendo switch, some games and was able to buy himself a bluetooth speaker with the money he got from his friends.
All pictures here: https://www.flubu.com/blog/pictures/ben_birthday_2018/
Web Summit 2018 conclusions
Web Summit is a technology conference held annually since 2009. The topic of the conference is centered on internet technology and attendees range from Fortune 500 companies to smaller tech companies. This contains a mix of CEOs and founders of tech start-ups together with a range of people from across the global technology industry, as well as related industries. The conference took place in the Altice Arena in Lisbon from November 5 – 8. Attendance was around 60,000 people from over 160 countries together.
Parallel tracks covered topics in AI/Machine Learning, medical & health tech, cutting-edge tech trends, software-as-a-service, sustainability, automotive technology & robotics, creative content, cryptocurrency and finance, music, gaming, sports, travel, fashion, software development, politics & policy-making.
In the sessions our group attended, machine learning, artificial intelligence, data-driven insights and services, health management, and trends were very hot topics.
Key messages:
- Reduced costs in computing and storage, combined with the increased volumes of data generated by Internet-of-thing-connected sensors and new technologies, mean that ML and AI have the potential to be disruptive across all sectors, including but not limited to business, manufacturing, transport, food and health.
- It is very important to know the limitations of ML/AI and to understand that they are not magic wands that can do everything. Several talks dealt with the ethical implications of the potential impact that ML/AI will have on the economy and the individual.
- The focus should aim to be on developing technology that will benefit the individual. Safeguarding individual rights and privacy are seen as key concerns, as are the increasing wealth divide and shifts in job sectors.
- Data is becoming the major growth and innovation driver within big corporations. The oil economy is being replaced by the data economy. Own your own data; don’t get it from 3rd party sources.
- Corporate innovation – the ones that will survive will be those who build platforms for common work with startups. In this age of rapid changes, the companies that can adapt the fastest and have the most contact with start-ups will be the most responsive and will thrive. The pace of innovation and change is also increasing. Companies that are mired in rigid processes will find it difficult to adapt.
- The impact of technology on health is seen as both positive and negative. On the positive side, cheaper and faster computing, cheaper sequencing (omics) and AI are seen as a heady mix that can solve health problems that will arise with an aging population and lead to truly personalized health care. On the negative side, technology and new work patterns are also responsible for continuous disruption, lack of focus, an under-diagnosed sleep crisis as well as stress and several lifestyle-related diseases. There are also issues with data privacy and data access, as well as inequalities of access to new technology due to geopolitics.