, 3 min read
We have been hearing reports that China is planning to use genetic engineering to make its population smarter. In fact, there are claims that China has been practicing eugenics for quite some time. (Others think that this is rubbish.) In any case, the idea is on the table. Should we pursue…
, 2 min read
Daylight saving time (DST) is this insane practice whereas twice a year, clocks are moved forward or backward by an hour. It is still widespread throughout North America and Europe. As a kid, I was told that this was meant to help farmers. But farmers have traditionally opposed daylight saving time…
, 3 min read
The relational model, and by extension, the language SQL supports the notion of NULL marker. It is commonly used to indicate that some attribute is unknown or non applicable. NULL markers are a bit strange because they are not values per se. Hence, the predicate 1 = NULL is neither true nor false.…
, 3 min read
Several authors, scientists and entrepreneurs have lamented our poor ability to innovate. It seems that industry is recruiting few people to work on hard problems, except maybe when they are supported by the government: Private businesses seem remarkably uninterested in tackling serious problems…
, 5 min read
In most developed countries, government massively funds through academic grants, government laboratories, tax credits and research contracts: government R&D alone can often reach 1% of the GDP. In Canada, the government loves tax credits. In the US, the government spends about 60% of all its…
, 3 min read
Almost all scientists ask their peers to review their work outside of the formal process offered by journals and conferences. Young scientists are routinely told to take their manuscripts to a senior scientist and ask for a review. With some success, I have even used my blog as a peer review…
, 2 min read
The politician. He will get people to collaborate on joint projects. How to recognize: He knows everyone! Pro: He makes things happen irrespective of the available funding! Con: Sends you emails on a Saturday. The manager. His job is primarily to seek funding and recruit students. He supervises…
, 1 min read
We are publishing a lot more! How will we cope?
, 2 min read
The number of research articles published each year grows exponentially. We often estimate the rate of growth to between 4% to 6% a year. We are publishing a lot more in Computer Science. Editors must work a lot harder than they used to. According to Sakr and Alomari, the size of the database…
, 4 min read
One of my clients once got upset. Indeed, the running time of our image processing algorithm grew by a factor of four when he doubled the resolution of an image. No programmer would be surprised by this observation. (Hint: doubling the resolution multiplies the number of pixels by four.) Indeed,…
, 3 min read
When programming in Java or C++, your arrays have fixed sizes. So if you have an array of 32 integers and you need an array with 33 integers, you may need to create a whole new array. It is inconvenient. Thus, both Java and C++ provide dynamic arrays. In C++, people most commonly use the STL vector…
, 3 min read
We often require all students to learn things they may never need like latin, calculus, advanced trigonometry and classical literature. The implicit assumption is that learning difficult things is intrinsically good. It trains your brain. It makes you smarter. True? Or false? I worked on this…
, 6 min read
As I reported elsewhere, I technically failed kindergarten. For example, one of the test we had to pass was the memorization of our home phone number. I refused to learn it. My mother, a teacher, was embarrassed. We also had to learn to count up to 10. I was 5 so I decided to it was more reasonable…
, 3 min read
One of my colleagues is teaching an artificial intelligence class. In his class, he uses old videos where experts from the early eighties make predictions about where AI is going. These experts come from the best schools such as Stanford. These videos were not meant as a joke. When you watch them…
, 2 min read
Socialists accuse me of being a libertarian. Libertarians accuse me of being a socialist. I am actually a pragmatist: I believe that we should set things up to maximize our collective well being. Government regulations are complicated. In Canada, our tax code is so complex that I doubt anyone ever…
, 3 min read
The famous scifi author (and self-described libertarian) David Brin tells a fascinating tale about how he contributed to getting the lead out of gasoline. He explains that an evil corporation (Ethyl Corporation) promoted leaded fuel. He explains that he helped organize a clean-car race where…
, 4 min read
We learned recently that one of the leading opponents to genetically modified organisms (GMOs), Mark Lynas, decided that he had it all wrong. GMOs save the Earth by reducing the need for pesticides, getting poor farmers out of misery, freeing land for wild life and generally keeping human beings…
, 2 min read
A CAPTCHA is a small test used to distinguish human users from robots. They are popular as an anti-spam tool. Until a few months ago, I had an annoying CAPTCHA on this blog. I have since removed it and I will not go back. What happened? The long-term problem with CAPTCHAs is that computers are…
, 7 min read
The new year (2013) is here. So, it is time to reflect on what I have done and seen in 2012. As a researcher, one of the most interesting innovations in 2012 has been the emergence of the Google Scholar profiles. They are pages where Google aggregates the work of a given researcher. I have long…
, 3 min read
Universities require their professors to publish research papers. Yet publishing your research has little to do with most of the teaching that goes on in universities. And with online teaching, we can almost completely separate teaching from research. Yet we are typically happy to dismiss these…