Comments on: Unsolved Problems in Technology / Computers

By: Yuval

Yuval — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:39:43 +0000

Planning – Tripit – http://www.tripit.com – shows a nice planning system for international travel.

By: Boaz

Boaz — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:24:58 +0000

Last bullet – http://www.otobusim.com is worth mentioning (though not a perfect solution)…

By: ripper234

ripper234 — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:35:50 +0000

Naïve (not Native) AI – don’t you think it’s possible to develop “good enough” heuristics that don’t fully understand the sentance structure, but are able to extract enough meaning to be helpful to us? I see this as an essential first step, that can be done much before a fully fledged AI emerges.

Planning – great to hear that route-planning is starting to happen (/ has happened) in the US. Do we have solutions for other non-trivial planning problems? I’m unsure what interesting examples of planning besides route-planning exist, but I think we can find a few.

By: Eli

Eli — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:04:54 +0000

Native AI: I’m not sure that solving this problem will take us to a place much different from Terminator AI. That’s to say, it’s much more difficult than it appears. Developing efficient and feasible techniques for NLP, for instance, will go through a framework that will make more general AI feasible – I think that in the core all AI runs into the same problems.

Planning: this definitely exists in the US already. During my last USA visit, I’ve used Google Maps several times to successfully plan trips that involved walking, trains and subways. It also works great for planning road-trips. This hasn’t arrived to Israel yet, that’s all.

By: ripper234

ripper234 — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:21:38 +0000

True, the situation is complex and involves multiple disciplines, perhaps more than technology. But, a solution that combines business interests and technology can be achieved – the aforementioned internet radios are proof. Combination of lowered distribution costs, micro payments, and possibly increased revenues from targeted ads can together turn into a large enough business force, which can in fact solve the ethical problem. If the generated revenue margins are high enough, artists can be compensated for their work while consumers profit, and the problem will be truly solved.

By: Ofer Egozi

Ofer Egozi — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 19:50:08 +0000

Bullet #2 (video/audio play) is, in reality, not at all a technological issue. It is an issue of ethics, culture and legal reform. In this case, technology is not the solution, rather it is the trigger for the "problem", and to culture change. Lawrence Lessig describes this best, how inability to reform copyright law turns many of us into criminals, and his old but classic iconic presentation (flash here, transcript here) outlines a fascinating lesson in copyright history.