tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-398117239974416524.post5215999115541444194..comments2024-01-13T08:01:37.708+00:00Comments on Postcognitive Topics: Google X's neural networkPostCog Topicshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744695402349056096noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-398117239974416524.post-74016825929535089952013-02-24T01:23:05.019+00:002013-02-24T01:23:05.019+00:00Rumours have been floating about for a while about...Rumours have been floating about for a while about Google working with the CIA to improve their analysis of data which could be linked to terrorism or other forms of crime. One link I found talks about a company called which looks at trends in such a profound way that it can "predict the future". Google already reads my e-mails. So what will happen if I use the wrong combination of words in my e-mail and get police kicking down my front door? Slight exaggeration, but you get my meaning .<br />See link below and the video showing "recorded future" which is quite nice<br />http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/07/exclusive-google-cia/Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02006480327954362099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-398117239974416524.post-78350308538193890062013-02-20T20:46:55.840+00:002013-02-20T20:46:55.840+00:00Yes we'll still need to learn new languages......Yes we'll still need to learn new languages.... Like java, scheme and church etc! I've been using google translate for years now and since I started using it its come on in leaps and bounds, before I would only use it to confirm whether I was right about a particular word but now you can use it reliably enough to translate whole sentences, as long as none of the terms are overly ambiguous. I do think that translators will be pretty much redundant before too long, but they're always be as much a need for interpreters and for learning new languages as there is today unless google or someone else develops a babel fish<br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babel_fish_(The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy)#Babel_fishRuairí Henchyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10293410008880458546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-398117239974416524.post-73278615375889990032013-02-20T01:11:38.677+00:002013-02-20T01:11:38.677+00:00That’s really interesting. I didn’t realize voice ...That’s really interesting. I didn’t realize voice recognition software had reached such a level of sophistication with<br />simultaneous translation and interpreting. I watched the video about Rick Rachid, and although it is clear that the system still makes errors (it seems to be especially lousy at detecting whether the speaker is still on the same sentence or starting a new one), it made me wonder about the future of the translation and interpreting business. Will machine translation one day become so efficient as to render human translators and interpreters obsolete? I am particularly interested in how it will perform on translations with a more literary content like poetry.<br /><br />And what about language teachers, in a world where translating can be performed effortlessly by machines, will we still need to learn other languages? <br />As a first step in that direction, last summer, Will Powell, a UK-based inventor came up with a system that translates both sides of a conversation between English and Spanish speakers—if they are patient, and speak slowly. Each interlocutor wears a hands-free headset linked to a mobile phone, and wears special goggles that display the translated text like subtitles in a foreign film: <br /><br />http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/23/google-glass-inspired-specs-auto-translate_n_1695008.html<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-398117239974416524.post-26580309231026977682013-02-18T21:11:04.336+00:002013-02-18T21:11:04.336+00:00Here is a blog piece that I found that was posted ...Here is a blog piece that I found that was posted today entitled 'How Google Retooled Android With Help From Your Brain'. <br /><br />http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/02/android-neural-network/<br /><br />It is hard not to appreciate the work of Google, IBM and Microsoft in relation to neural networks as these advances are really contributing to how we interact and behave around technology. I am really interested in the whole speech recognition area. As it states in the blog post i linked to, "In October, Microsoft Chief Research Officer Rick Rashid showed a live demonstration of Microsoft’s neural network-based voice processing software in Tianjin, China. In the demo, Rashid spoke in English and paused after each phrase. To the audience’s delight, Microsoft’s software simultaneously translated what he was saying and then spoke it back to the audience in Chinese. The software even adjusted its intonation to make itself sound like Rashid’s voice". As the blog goes on, it states that this technology looks very promising and that in a few years we will be able to break down the language barriers between people. Some may say in a sense that the future is already here but with continued advances, it will be very interesting to see what this may mean for learning a new language or what it will mean for our linguistic lives! What will the consequences be when a reinvented Watson attains clear semantic understanding? Just some thoughts.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17645029313785029347noreply@blogger.com