Latest news with #IsaacAsimov
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
R.I.P. Tom Lehrer, mathematician and musical satirist
Tom Lehrer, the renowned Cold War-era musical satirist whose jaunty and grim show tunes inspired generations, has died. Per Variety, Lehrer was found dead at his Cambridge, MA, home on July 26. He was 97. Lehrer infiltrated the world of music from the ivory tower of academia. Born in New York City in 1928, Lehrer was a math prodigy. He entered Harvard at the age of 15 and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in mathematics, magna cum laude, before his 20th birthday. He received his master's in 1947 and went on to teach math at MIT, Harvard, Wellesley, and UC Santa Cruz, where he remained for much of his career. After being drafted into the army in 1955, he served in the NSA. There, he made his first contribution to American society: The Jell-O shot. 'We were having a Christmas party on the naval base where I was working in Washington, D.C. The rules said no alcoholic beverages were allowed,' Lehrer told San Francisco Weekly. 'We wanted to have a little party, so this friend and I spent an evening experimenting with Jell-O. It wasn't a beverage.' Lehrer's unassuming rule-bending served him well as a satirist who couched a sardonic worldview in upbeat show tunes. After some time on the nightclub circuit, where he delighted Isaac Asimov with songs about venereal disease, Lehrer recorded his first album, Songs By Tom Lehrer, for $15 in 1953. Mocking his alma mater, the Boy Scouts, and Confederate nostalgia, Lehrer established himself as a bespectacled firebrand with a wry smile who didn't pull punches. He returned six years later with More Of Tom Lehrer, which included 'Poisoning Pigeons In The Park' and 'The Elements,' perhaps his most famous song. Parodying Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates Of Penzance tongue twister, 'Major-General's Song,' Lehrer's 'Elements' recounted all 102 chemical elements on the periodic table. It became a staple of elementary school science classes and popular culture. Yakko Warner used 'The Elements' as the basis for 'Yakko's World,' an Animaniacs fan favorite that has found currency in social media memes. Daniel Radcliffe said a recitation of 'The Elements' landed him the role of 'Weird Al' in Weird. Lehrer's political engagement extended beyond the United States. While touring New Zealand in 1960, he criticized Prime Minister Walter Nash and the New Zealand Rugby Football Union for its racist exclusion of Māori players from a tour of apartheid South Africa. 'When the team goes to South Africa, we all must act politely,' Lehrer sings in 'Oh, Mr. Nash. 'So to all their local problems, let's be mute. It might be a friendly gesture as a token of affection if we brought along some Blacks for them to shoot.' Saying he was banned and threatened with arrest for his satire, Lehrer stopped touring in the early '60s. He found work on the satirical news programs That Was The Week That Was and the BBC's The Frost Report. Later, Lehrer wrote songs for The Electric Company. Though he retired from music, his legend grew, influencing Dr. Demento, 'Weird Al' Yankovic, Randy Newman, and Steely Dan's Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. In 2012, his parody of 'The Old Lamplighter,' entitled 'The Old Dope Peddler,' was sampled by 2 Chainz for the track 'Dope Peddler.' When asked permission to use the song, Lehrer reportedly responded, 'I grant you motherfuckers permission to do this. Please give my regards to Mr. Chainz, or may I call him 2?' In 2020, Lehrer put all his songs and lyrics in the public domain before relinquishing the copyrights to his songbook two years later. Though he retired from music, Lehrer remained a keen observer of the political world. In 2000, responding to questions about his musical retirement, he told The New York Times, 'Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.' More from A.V. Club The biggest news (so far) from San Diego Comic-Con 2025 What's on TV this week—Chief Of War and Eyes Of Wakanda R.I.P. Tom Lehrer, mathematician and musical satirist Solve the daily Crossword
Daily Maverick
2 days ago
- Science
- Daily Maverick
Crossed Wires: The robots are coming, the robots are here
Robots are quickly colonising every arena of human endeavour that requires physical labour or dexterity, and the convergence of new generative AI models and robotics is going to supercharge the industry. Science fiction fans will remember Isaac Asimov's prescient 1950 short story collection, 'I, Robot'. The stories in this iconic collection revolve around the memories of robopsychologist Dr Susan Calvin, 75 years old in 2057. There are many ethical themes in his stories that mirror the hot-button technology debates raging today, but Asimov's futuristic vision appears to have been a couple of decades off. The robots aren't coming some time in the future. They're already here. It is sometimes difficult to pin down why a particular subject bubbles to the top of the news cycle. AI, of course, has taken hold of the headlines and won't let go; its grip is fierce. But robotics has been around for a very long time, since the first commercial industrial robot was developed in 1961 (the 'Unimate' at General Motors), and it's been around even longer in the human imagination. The first point of interest is that there is a profound change happening in some sectors of robot production. The original robots, most of them built for industrial manufacturing, were essentially a collection of servo motors, spherical joints, pincers, cutters, drillers, welders and the like, all operating under very precise instructions, repeating the same physical actions ad infinitum — or until their instructions were modified in line with changing production requirements. This description somewhat simplifies the intelligence built into these robots, but the key point is that the instructions for physical actions over time were predetermined and cast in silicon, driven by hardened computer code. As the technologies of vision, touch, movement, location awareness and proprioception have advanced, so have the robots undertaken more ambitious (and sometimes audacious) jobs, such as critical surgery in an operating theatre. All with increasingly exquisite sensitivity of both fine and gross motor control. This brings us to the question of which countries are currently on the robotics playing field. The US, having outsourced nearly all its manufacturing requirements during the heady days of globalisation, didn't even try to take a leadership role in robotics. Surprisingly, China is not leading either — it became serious about robotics rather too late (around 2015). Until recently, the top 10 robot manufacturers have been Japanese (8) and German (2). In a remarkably unChinese move, a company called Midea Group, based in Guangdong province, acquired the German company Kuka in 2017, clearly taking note of the capitalist tactic of buying one's way into technology leadership rather than doing the hard work of building and competing. They're doing everything What are the latest machines doing? Increasingly, everything. Manufacturing, obviously, both heavy and light. Add medical robots doing everything from brain to spinal surgery; nano-robots of less than 100nm in size for targeted drug delivery (in pre-clinical development); agricultural robots for planting, harvesting, plant healthcare and packing; and military robots with a bewildering and sometimes scary array of offensive and defensive capabilities (see below — a rather alarming picture of Ghost Robotics' robodog Spot mounted with an automatic weapon). In short, robots are quickly colonising every arena of human endeavour that requires physical labour or dexterity. This leads to the question of how the robots are performing. Are they more productive? Are they taking jobs? The data are startling. Dispiriting for some and exciting for others, depending on what you do to earn your living. As with all transformative technologies, it's a mixed bag of pain and pleasure for those caught in its net. Here are some statistics: A 40× increase in global robot stock since 2000; A 15× increase in robots per worker since 2000; A 30% increase in productivity compared to human labour by 2030 (McKinsey); A 90% reduction in manufacturing defects (Foxconn iPhone production); A 3× decrease in the return on investment period since 2000 (down from 10 years to about three years); A 35% increase in crop yields (forecast); and A total of 85 million jobs lost by 2035, and only 20 million created (World Economic Forum). There is more, but the picture is clear. There is no stopping this train. To return to the profound change mentioned earlier in this column, the convergence of new generative AI models and robotics is going to supercharge the industry. The core foundation of robots following a precise set of instructions (albeit often complex) is being reshaped. Robots are now being built that can learn autonomously and continuously from their environments (sight, audio, touch, 'smell', heat, humidity). They can be addressed via vernacular human speech, learn from their mistakes, communicate to solve problems with other robots and access vast stores of knowledge now available from companies like OpenAI. (For anyone looking for a glimpse of the future, watch this 2.5-minute video; take note of how the robots communicate with each other.) At this point, the ghost of Isaac Asimov might raise its head. We are already on the edge of AI systems that can set their own goals. We have already seen indications of deceptive behaviour by these systems, in both controlled and uncontrolled experiments. Bad behaviour and misinformation (such as Grok's racist outbursts) are now part of the AI landscape. Asimov's famous three laws of robotics come to mind: protect humans, obey humans, protect yourselves. They were followed by his 'Zeroth Law', which updated and replaced the others: A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm. It's a nice thought, but I am not sure we know how to build that into the great robot revolution. And, even if we did, it is probably too late. DM (For an in-depth but concise look at the robotics industry, check out this article.) Steven Boykey Sidley is a professor of practice at JBS, University of Johannesburg, a partner at Bridge Capital and a columnist-at-large at Daily Maverick. His new book, 'It's Mine: How the Crypto Industry is Redefining Ownership', is published by Maverick451 in SA and Legend Times Group in the UK/EU, available now.
The Guardian
20-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Dr Karl Kruszelnicki: ‘I took my hands off the artery – blood squirted up and hit the ceiling'
You're about to give a series of talks on the history and explosion of AI. Who is your favourite fictional robot? I guess the robots in general from Isaac Asimov. He came up with the three laws of robotics, which are basically that a robot has to obey a human, it can't harm itself, and it can't harm another human. My favourite robot is one [from Asimov's The Bicentennial Man] that served a family for many, many years – in fact, generations – and eventually became human. If you could change the size of any animal to keep as a pet, what would it be? To put a downer on it, we're full of children and nieces and nephews and grandkids, so we don't want pets. But I do see the value of a pet. It's tricky. In Australia, cats kill a million birds a day. Dogs are nice, but when I was a doctor in a kids hospital, once I realised that dogs would rip the faces off 15,000 kids every year, I kind of fell out of love with big dogs. So I reckon dogs. Shrink them down. A border collie, they're the smartest dog. What do you do when you can't get to sleep? Get up, work for a bit, then go to sleep again when I feel tired. If I'm awake enough to do stuff, I'll do stuff. I love reading. My job is to read the scientific literature and turn it into stuff that people can understand. I've been reading articles about how we've got this history of human diseases over the last 37,000 years, and how many diseases have actually invaded our DNA, or how some frogs will fake death to avoid sex, or how the French in the early 1800s had the great moustache wars, or the TV viewing habits of dogs. Or the word 'cool' – where did it come from, and what's the concept behind it? Or the amount of energy used from AI to make a single picture, as opposed to a human, or why you get traffic jams in the middle of nowhere, or how you use earwax as a diagnostic tool. Or, if you get a shark and turn it upside down, about half the species will just stop moving. And that's just today's reading! What is your most controversial scientific opinion? The two big ones would have to be climate change and vaccination, and the controversy behind them is just pointless. You know how insurance companies are making it more expensive in certain areas to insure because of extreme events caused by climate change? OK, so when do you think the insurance companies started doing that? 1973! [It wasn't until 1980 that] fossil fuel companies, with a budget of up to a billion dollars a year, started denying climate change. And that's why I've got this so-called controversy. What is the oldest thing you own, and why do you still have it? I've got a bit of rock from a mining site that was dated to 1bn years old. I've also a meteor that my father saw land in our front garden when I was a kid, and the next morning, we went out to dig it up. I reckon that'd be a couple of billion years old. It's about the size of a golf ball. It's now on the display shelf halfway up the stairs. Would you rather die at the bottom of the ocean or out in space? Probably space. But it depends how it happens. One thing I learned as a medical doctor is that everybody has to die, but you should have a good death. We had one patient who had cancer of the everything, and she was really going to die. We made it our personal project that she'd have a good death. We ended up cranking her morphine from 5mg a day to 30,000 – that's a big jump, isn't it? Her legs were the diameter of your wrist by the time she died, but she didn't die in pain. So that convinced me, I want to have a good death. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning If you're in, say, a submarine, and then the pressure overcomes the structural integrity of the vessel's walls, then you're dead in about a tenth of a second, a hundredth of a second – whereas in space, it might take a while to die, maybe a few minutes. So whichever one was quicker. But the view's nicer in space. What is the strangest job you've ever had? I started working at the steelworks at Wollongong when I was about 19. I ran a little aluminium boat measuring the acidity or alkalinity of the water in this little creek inside the steelworks. Depending on whether it was green or orange, it varied between incredibly acid and incredibly alkaline. And either way, it would eat through the skin of the aluminium boat in about six months. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion Back then, I was taught 'the solution to pollution is dilution' – chuck it in the ocean, nobody will ever notice. It was pretty bad back then, and hasn't got much better since. What is the most chaotic thing that's ever happened to you at work? I was in an operating theatre. I was assisting. I was really tired. I'd done an incredibly long number of shifts, dozens of hours in a row, and I was instructed to lean on an artery. I started to fall asleep standing up, and the surgeon said, 'Hey, wake up, Karl!' I stood up with a jerk and took my hands off the artery – blood squirted up and hit the ceiling. If you had to add any colour to the rainbow, what would it be? Around the world, the number of colours that people see in the rainbow varies between four and 16. The reason we have seven colours in our rainbow is because of Isaac Newton. Besides being one of the true geniuses, he also spent more time on Bible studies than he did on science. And all the way through the Bible the number seven comes up all the time. Based on him following the work of some Muslim scientists, he did an experiment with a prism – like the Dark Side of Moon album cover, which, by the way, is wrong from a physics point of view. Anyway, he sees these colours. Six colours. But he loves the Bible, and the Bible has seven everywhere, so he sticks in stupid fucking indigo. What sort of colour is indigo? It's just blue! So I refuse to add another colour to the rainbow. I'll go the other way; I'll remove indigo and get back to six colours. Lastly, please settle this debate for us once and for all, scientifically: should tomato sauce be kept in the fridge or the cupboard? The problem that you want to avoid is bacterial or fungal infection of the tomato sauce. Now, the tomato sauce, I imagine, would be mostly water, and then it's got some varying mix of fat, protein and carbohydrate, which would be foods for bacteria and yeast. If you stick it in the fridge, you really lengthen the time before the bacterial or fungal overgrowth gets dangerous. But you end up in the terrible situation that you shake and shake and shake the bottle and first none will come, and then the lot will because it's been frozen to a solid lump. So the argument for not putting in the fridge is that it'll pour more easily. In that case, you need to actually observe, and if you start to see the first hint of bacterial or fungal contamination, feed it to the compost and get another bottle. It sounds like you're pro-cupboard, pro-observation. Well, life's complicated. Nothing's simple. I'm sorry. I'm probably overcomplicating life. Dr Karl will appear at three events at Tasmania's Beaker Street festival, 12-24 August
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Lee Pace: Brother Day disillusioned with the Empire in 'Foundation' S3
NEW YORK, July 18 (UPI) -- The Hobbit and Guardians of the Galaxy actor Lee Pace says Season 3 of Foundation has a different feel than the previous two chapters of the critically acclaimed sci-fi drama. New episodes of the adaptation of Isaac Asimov's book series air Fridays on Apple TV+. The show follows a group of scientists who try to save humanity by rebuilding civilization on a remote planet amid the fall of the Galactic Empire, which is ruled by a genetic dynasty of three clones -- Pace's Brother Day, Terrence Mann's Brother Dusk and Cassian Milton's Brother Dawn. "He doesn't want any relationship with any of them. He's very disillusioned with the entire idea of Empire, that he's an emperor and he wants to get as far away from the jerks in the palace as he possibly can," Pace, 46, told UPI about Brother Day in a recent Zoom interview. "He wants to hang out in the garden and get stoned and eat and just be fat and happy," Pace explained. Answer the call. A new episode of #Foundation is now streaming. Apple TV (@AppleTV) July 18, 2025 "He doesn't want to sit there and play politics on the throne anymore and he hates the people who think that they can. He's not someone who thinks that it's worth trying to control anything. You can't do it. Not even the robot can do it. ... Might as well just relax. If things are going to fall apart, they're going to fall apart. There's no saving them." The Crow alum Laura Birn, 44, plays Demerzel, a humanoid robot and the trio's most trusted adviser. "I'm excited to explore the relationship between Demerzel and Day. I just find it endlessly interesting and surprising and disturbing this year," Birn said. "It's the part that I always wait most for when I get the new scripts, like, 'What's happening between them and this weird little dysfunctional family?'" Pace agreed. "i always find that really interesting and we have a great time working together, too, so it's such a fun dynamic to see: 'Well, what hands do we have this season? How is this game going to play out?'" he said. Season 3 sees the introduction of The Mule (Pilou Asbæk), a villain who uses mind control on his foes, but Pace said Brother Day doesn't even really know he exists. "He's too far away and insignificant," the actor added. "The Mule is the big instigator of the season and a very huge disruptor, but one of the things that's so interesting to me about Foundation is that it's not a story about battles. You might think that's the case from the beginning of this season where you've got a great, big, powerful Foundation and you've got a great, big, powerful Empire. You think they're going to clash in some way." But that's not actually where the story goes, Pace emphasized. "It's about the center falling out and then this crumbling over here and then that group kind of having a different opinion and eating each other," he said. "It's like the disintegration from lots of places. That's what chaos does to order," Pace added. "That's what The Mule is. He is the invention of chaos." Demerzel -- on the other hand -- thrives on mayhem. "The chaos and the destruction that he brings is kind of like another crisis to attack, to solve, but, at the same time, there's this weird possibility of freedom or something new or something unexpected for her," Birn noted. "She doesn't have clear answers," the actress added. "She's insecure of which direction is the right direction. Is her programming sending one direction or could it be this and that? And what happens? Her mind exploding for all these options is part of what The Mule offers for her. It is like the possibility to see things differently, so it definitely changes her course." So, is Foundation a cautionary tale for viewers in 2025? "I wouldn't want to tell anyone how to watch the show," Pace said. "The show is such a feast," he added. "You can pick and choose and think about things that resonate with you." The fact that the brilliant Hari Seldon (Jared Harris) has devised a way to protect and store all human knowledge on a safe planet is a positive message to impart to audiences. "At the center of the show is this idea of hope that Hari Selden proposes that there is a mathematical likelihood that we will survive this," Pace said. "It's not a zero chance that we will," he added. "There's a hope inside the show that I really appreciate. There's a sense of, 'You can bet on humans' ability to continue to travel on.'" Birn said she thinks her character's existence also makes the show relevant to people grappling with real-life issues connected to artificial intelligence. "We've created AI. We've taught AI everything it knows. But not even the ones who are creating it now have an idea where it will evolve and what happens if, suddenly, there's another species that's equal to us or even dominant," she added. "It's more than being afraid of AI, but more being a little bit afraid of how we will treat that other species, if it evolves." The cast also includes Lou Llobell, Cherry Jones, Brandon P. Bell, Synnøve Karlsen, Cody Fern, Tómas Lemarquis, Alexander Siddig and Troy Kotsur.
Gizmodo
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
Influencers Have Arrived on ‘Foundation,' and Somehow You Can't Hate Them
Foundation is generally a pretty serious show. Season three in particular is charting humanity's march toward certain doom—unless those with the power to reshape the future can figure out an alternative path before it's too late. But levity creeps into the Apple TV+ Isaac Asimov adaptation when you least expect it, with season three continuing the humorous legacy of a character we said good-bye to back in season dearly departed character is Hober Mallow, of course—the heroic scoundrel who used his con artist skills to aid the Foundation in its explosive standoff with Empire. He was the first Foundation player that came close to being comic relief, and he injected a shot of energy into the show's heavier themes of power, destiny, and complex mathematics. He didn't survive the events of season two; we're still laughing/crying over his fiery farewell scene opposite his unlikely ally General Riose, involving a well-meaning toast made with some repugnant wine. But even if he'd made it to New Terminus with the rest of the Foundation, he'd be dead by the time season three picks up 152 years later. His legacy lives on in another form: his descendants, including Randu Mallow, head of the Alliance of Traders—a rebellious faction within Foundation that's been accepting weapons from Empire ahead of a brewing civil war. Randu is missing an arm but hasn't let that hold him back; in the season three premiere, 'A Song for the End of Everything,' he battles Pritcher, the Foundation's top intelligence operative, to keep ahold of his clandestinely acquired firepower. Having been brought into the story in a memorable way, Randu doesn't appear in episode two, 'Shadows in the Math.' But we do meet two other Mallow relations: Toran and Bayta Mallow. Their status as newlyweds is a novelty in Foundation's world; marriage is no longer a traditional practice, though if anyone can bring it back into fashion, it's these two. When we meet them, they're vacationing on Kalgen, a 'pleasure planet' where the amusements have been dampened by the villainous Mule's recent arrival. Still, that's seemingly no concern of Toran and Bayta; despite Toran's family ties (Randu is his uncle), he's not interested in the traders' dispute with the Foundation. He doesn't even care about Empire. He's fabulously rich, and Bayta just wanna… be cute and decadent and show off on social media. Yes! Foundation has influencers. Instead of TikTok, Toran and Bayta make 'scatters,' a very similar idea except instead of an iPhone, they use small cameras that fly around to capture their best angles. Foundation is a show that knows how to introduce new characters, and these two are no different: we first see them sunbathing on their terrace, sipping drinks, when the Mule's ship, the Blacktongue, drifts in overhead and blocks the rays. 'The pirate stole our sunshine,' Bayta groans, as Toran motions over an attendant and asks him if he can tell the hovering ship to get out of the way. The hired man chooses his words carefully: perhaps it would be easier if the couple just shifted their lounge spot? At this, Bayta sweetly asks him for help moving her towel because (dramatic sigh) 'it has a heavy weave.' While we're trying to figure out if Toran and Bayta are as awful as they appear to be, the attendant notices he's being filmed. It's a scatter! It's a fun little prank! Everyone chuckles, and the couple heads inside their luxurious spaceship, where the AI, who Bayta has named 'Sweetheart,' greets them by asking, 'Should I make drinks?' (The answer is obviously yes.) While Toran and Bayta are aware of the Mule's activities, they've taken a lighthearted attitude toward everything. 'The coup is the place to be seen, apparently,' Toran says as he watches the views ratchet up on their scatter post. 'Frisk, yet dire,' Bayta agrees. Their cocktails and smooches—interspersed with a bit of backstory hinting that Toran and his uncle don't get along, and Bayta insisting she doesn't care about politics—are interrupted by a visitor. It's Pritcher, who's on the outs with his boss at the Foundation. Nobody on New Terminus believes the Mule is a serious threat, but Pritcher is certain of it, and he's taken matters into his own hands. First things first, he wants to get eyes on the Mule himself. But he'll need help accessing an exclusive party the Mule is hosting at one of Kalgen's glittery clubs. And who better to help him infiltrate such an event than… a pair of famous influencers? As he recruits their help, we get flashes that Toran and Bayta (delightfully portrayed by Cody Fern and Synnøve Karlsen) aren't as vapid as they appear to be. Toran picks up on the idea that helping Pritcher will be perfect cover for the Foundation, since if a Mallow is involved, everyone will assume he's being backed by the traders instead. It's a risky proposition, and they hesitate. But when Pritcher scoffs that they're 'too rich to really be scared… too callow, too complicit,' he touches a nerve. The super-rich may be untouchable in most circumstances, it's true, but these two aren't heartless. One of Foundation's many strengths is its layered characters, so we can expect that Toran and Bayta, whose love for each other is absolutely genuine, will become even more complex as we get to know them better. Just like Hober, whose rakish charm masked a surprisingly robust moral compass, they could fill a similar role of being outsiders to the conflict who end up throwing their weight behind the good guys. Or, they could completely surprise us in some other way. It's only episode two, after all! We don't get to the party in this week's episode, but it's definitely coming soon—inevitably bringing the Mule, who hungers for love as part of his fiendish quest for power, into the orbit of two characters who're already adored across the galaxy. What combustion will that bring, and more importantly, how will Bayta and Toran be dressed for the occasion? New episodes of Foundation arrive Fridays on Apple TV+. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
