Great talk by Tony DeRose. He shows how addition, multiplication, geometry and trigonometry are playing a role in Pixar movies.
Of course, this is just the surface. They use much further mathematics at Pixar, but being a 15 year old student, this makes sense why you have to learn these not so simple stuff in maths. You can find out more about how mathematics is used at Pixar in this artcle.
This is what kids need. People who show how mathematics (or any other subject) taught at schools can be used in real life. “Why do I have to learn this?” is the most common question we have to face. In the 19th century only royals and chosen ones were so lucky to be able to study. They didn’t ask these questions. They knew, what they get is something special.
Education today is mandatory for everyone. Kids rarely can choose what they are taught. If they can’t choose what they want, we have to be able to tell them why they need to do it. And if we are unable to do so, we need to rethink our attitude to teaching.
While I was writing this blog post, I found another great video that shows the beauty of mathematics.
Wow! 2 amazing innovations in one day! Let’s start what Microsoft did with Skype Translator. Google Translate has been around for quite a long time. It is great to get the sense of any written text in almost any language. But it isn’t really effective. I mean it translates, but it’s not always understandable.
Google Translate has some great features. It automagically recognises the language of the text, the machine can read out the words, etc. But it’s only working for written text. Understanding and translating written text is easier than the spoken one. I speak German and English (and of course Hungarian), so understanding languages as Swedish or Dutch when it’s written is not very difficult. It takes time, but it’s manageable. At the very moment someone starts to talk, I’m lost.
What Microsoft did with Skype Translator, sounds awesome.
Of course, because I speak German and English, too. I could understand both ends of the demo conversation in the video above.
And still the teacher and parent in me is asking questions like: Is Skype translator going to ruin foreign language courses? No need any more to learn a foreign language? Are we on the way to a new world where computers are going to translate everything for us?
Computers changed our world entirely. For example handwriting isn’t part of the curriculum in some states in the United States. The gap between our generation and our children is getting bigger and bigger.
As I saw the Skype Translator video above, I started to look for a link to get my hands on an early beta version asap. Every change has a downside, too. Ever since we have cars and great public transport, we sit and don’t walk as much as our body would need. Skype Translator, GPS, etc. great tools, but you have to be in control. Ever since we have great navigation tools around us, there is no need to know where you are heading. Just follow what’s on the screen.
You can do so, or you can look at the screen and compare it to the reality and use it as an advise. Skype Translator is the same. It is great to be able to have a tool, which helps me to speak a foreign language. But I’d like to be in control. I’d like to see/hear what it says to the other party in the call. If there is any misunderstanding, it won’t be Skype Translator’s fault. It’s mine.
Skype Translator is a great new innovation, but you still need to be in control.
Having the control. The other amazing news is Google’s self-driving car.
No steering wheel, no way to interact or control the car manually. I’m very much interested how this project is going to change the way we go from one place to the other. And I don’t mind my kids won’t learn how to drive a car, just pop up Google Maps and type in the address they are going to.
What do you think about the future? Scared or amazed?
Slides of the presentation I did today at BKF. Educacion vs and innovation.
Let’s use technology in education. Let’s use it the right way. Technology itself can’t change the way we teach. Teachers can change the education. We need innovative teachers, who become guides for the students in the jungle of technology.
You could face a similar problem I had recently running WordPress using Nginx + php-fpm. When a share button (not the original ones, but the ones made by Jetpack) is clicked, a smaller new window is opened with the post in it, but nothing is shared.
The solution is very easy, you have to replace the following in your Nginx config file.
Social Media is the place on the Internet, where people are should be social. Should be. Because many of them aren’t social at all. They don’t even bother with comments and responses coming from other people. They post selfies and use Twitter/Instagram or Facebook like how they use a mirror. Only looking at themselves.
The quote above is from the Wikipedia. Let’s see the definition of Social:
Attitudes, orientations, or behaviors which take the interests, intentions, or needs of other people into account (in contrast to anti-social behaviour) has played some role in defining the idea or the principle.
Social Media isn’t necessary social. In terms of take the interest or needs of other people. Social Media is a channel where you can improve your social skills and interact with many people easier than ever before. But Social Media with anti-social people is only a collection of selfies.
My jaw hit the floor. I can’t believe this is happening. We are living in an amazing world. What Stephen Wolfram shows in this video is unbelievable.
The Wolfram Language is awesome. Programming, mathematics, visualizing gets to the next level. What next? NextNextNext level.
I can’t wait to get my hands on this. I was lucky to get an early access to Wolfram|Alpha. At that time I thought that is the real thing. Doing mathematics made so easy. But the Wolfram language does much more. Simplifying programming, connecting to devices, and you get access to the enormous knowledge stored in the Wolfram Cloud.
