Our Fascination, Hopes, and Fears. :: Artificial Intelligence Aliens Science Essays

Our Fascination, Hopes, and Fears. Introduction: What is Artificial Intelligence (AI) ? Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer science which deals with helping machines find solutions to complex problems in a more human-like fashion. [1] What does it mean to say that a machine might be intelligent? This is the goal of the field of AI, yet it is not an easy goal to define. AI researchers express their goals differently, but they all share an interest in creating, through the hardware and software of a computer, an entity that is in some way recognized as intelligent and that shares some aspects of the distinctly human conditions. Thus, AI can be viewed as the attempt to create a machine that is in some way created in the image of the human person, an image loosely defined using the term intelligence. [3] One of the most challenging approaches facing experts is building systems that mimic the behavior of the human brain, made up of billions of neurons, and arguably the most complex matter in the universe. Alan Turing, a British computer scientist, stated that a computer would deserves to be called intelligent if it could deceive a human into believing that it was human. This generally involves borrowing characteristics from human intelligence, and applying them as algorithms in a computer friendly way. [1] "Strong AI" approach claims that modeling the human mind is necessary for creating some form of computer-based AI that can truly reason and solve problems. A strong form of AI is said to be sentient (self-aware). In contrast, "weak AI" approach focus instead on simulating intelligence (attempting to create machines which will be perceived as intelligent by their users) rather than trying to create it through a model of the mind. The field of Artificial Intelligence has split into several different approaches based on the opinions about the most promising methods and theories. These rivaling theories have lead researchers in one of two basic approaches: bottom-up approach (which believe the best way to achieve artificial intelligence is to build electronic replicas of the human brain's complex network of neuronsand) and top-down (which attempts to mimic the brain's behavior with computer programs). [4] Many articles showed a desire to allay fears that computers truly are intelligent, or worse, that human might soon be supplanted by machines. [3] Intelligent computers, robots, androids, and cyborgs have come to be staple characters in science fiction stories and films.

What Should Coca Cola Have Done?

What should have occurred? What should occur in future situations? It would be a logical inference to suggest that Coca-Cola’s decision to change its formula and market â€Å"New Coke† to the American population was nothing short of a complete failure. â€Å"On 23 April 1985 New Coke was introduced and a few days later the production of original Coke was stopped. This joint decision has since been referred to as ‘the biggest marketing blunder of all time’† (Bhasin, 2010).But to completely dismiss the fact that Coca-Cola was losing market share to Pepsi-Cola, as well as other products that they themselves were producing (Diet Coke), would not fairly give justice to the decisions behind Coca-Cola’s marketing blunder. Coca-Cola was in a dilemma. They were going through an identity crisis, and that crisis seemed to lead them to make their one major costly decision. That crisis was quite simple. Coca-Cola had forgotten who they were and grasping fo r market share, instead of focusing on branding lead them in an ominous direction.In order to avoid an identity crisis, Coca-Cola should have understood that â€Å"a brand is far more than just a logo. Instead, it’s comprised of a complete set of attributes and tools, or â€Å"identity elements,† that give the brand a unique identity† (Forward). The simple fact is that all the time, money, and skill poured into consumer research on the new Coca-Cola could not measure or reveal the deep and abiding emotional attachment to the original Coca-Cola, felt by so many people. The passion for original Coca-Cola was something that caught executives at Coca-Cola by surprise.It was a mystery, an American enigma, and one cannot measure it any more than one can measure love, pride, or patriotism (Bhasin, 2010). Of all of the consumer research and data analyzing Coca-Cola and its executives claim to have performed, it’s a mystery that they forgot one simple rule; ask yo ur customers first! â€Å"Sam Craig, professor of marketing and international business at the Stern School of Business at New York University, pointed to what he and other industry observers have long considered a fatal mistake on Coca-Cola's part. â€Å"They didn't ask the critical question of Coke users: Do you want a new Coke?By failing to ask that critical question, they had to backpedal very quickly† (Ross, 2005). Coca-cola should have concentrated on the brands perception. â€Å"Marketing is a battle of perceptions, not products† (Bhasin, 2010). If Coca-Cola had concentrated on brand perception and less on trying to clone or compete with another company’s product, they would have never made the fatal mistake. What Coca-cola learned was to not be afraid to make a mistake. Yet, most importantly they learned to admit those mistakes and not be afraid to â€Å"make a u-turn†.Through the brand failure of New Coke loyalty to ‘the real thing’ intensified. Coca-Cola assimilated that â€Å"by going back on its decision to scrap original Coke, the company ended up creating an even stronger bond between the product and the consumer† (Bhasin, 2010). Consumers began realizing that coke was more than a drink. It was an experience – an enigma. The question then arises: Coca-Cola has recently decided, along with Pepsi-Cola, to change its recipe in order to avoid putting a cancer warning on their cans. Will Coca-Cola have learned anything from â€Å"the biggest marketing blunder of all time†?Bhasin, H. (2010, January 1). Coca Cola Brand Failure. Retrieved April 2012, 26, from Marketing91: http://www. marketing91. com/coca-cola-brand-failure/ Forward, J. (n. d. ). How to Build Your Brand and Avoid an Identity Crisis. Retrieved April 26, 2012, from Beneath The Brand: http://www. talentzoo. com/beneath-the-brand/blog_news. php? articleID=8478 Ross, M. E. (2005, April 22). It seemed like a good idea at the time . Retrieved April 26, 2012, from MSNBC: http://www. msnbc. msn. com/id/7209828/ns/us_news/t/it-seemed-good-idea-time/#. T5mkCuweSSA

President Roosevelt and the New Deal

In the 1920's or the ‘Roaring Twenties' as they were then referred to, there was a great deal of money, crime and corruption floating around in the American economy and stock market. A lot of people were buying on credit and getting out loans to invest on the stock market. This was encouraged by President Hoover and his Republican government. The reason for their doing of this was partly to gain a lot of money for themselves and to make America look good for any visitors. It was a time of conservatism, it was a time great social change. From the world of fashion to the world to politics, forces clashed to produce the most explosive decade of the century. In music, the sound of the age was jazz. The Jazz Age came about with artist like Bessie Smith and Duke Ellington. Youth ruled everything. From the young styles of dress to the latest celebrities. If it was young, it was the thing. The new age ladies of this time were young ladies who would go out wearing loose clothing and loads of make up (flappers) and this was unseen before in the States. It was the age of prohibition, it was the age of prosperity, and it was the age of downfall. The Government encouraged the people to buy lots of goods and to invest in the stock market. The poorer people looked at the rich people and thought that they could be as rich as them if they took out a loan, but the bank manager would see these people as unreliable in the terms of the people paying back the money. The bank managers therefore charged the poorer person maybe 15% interest where as if a person with a nice car and a large house came in to take out a loan then the manager would think that they are more likely to pay back the money so they would only put 5% interest on their loan. This in fact put the poorer person in even more debt as they had to pay back a lot more than the richer person. It was also a time of great racism in America with the Ku Klux Klan operating in their most vicious period killing a lot of people and the police hardly took any notice of their actions. Most city officials were owned by the Mafia and they did whatever the Mafia wanted them to do. This greatly increased the rate of crime in most parts of America and because this was the time of prohibition the Mafia brought lots of alcohol into the country. His party was a very relaxed with the economy and with the way it was run and they had adopted a policy of ‘laissez faire'. They said that they would not govern and guide the American economy but they would let it take its way down its own path and see where it ends up. Obviously they did not completely abandon it however they did not keep the right amount of watch on it as they should have done. This irregular regulation the economy led to an major imbalance in the products which America had been selling to their population. The people that bought the large goods that fuelled the American economy, for instance cars, fridges and radios were not going to keep on buying them forever. If a family had a car then unless they were rich they would not invest in another car because there would be no need to. This is the same with fridges and radios because people did not need to buy two or three fridges or radios. Most people could manage with one fridge and again, unless you were quite well-off you were unlikely to buy more than one radio. These major products therefore only had a limited field of marketing before the field was ‘over- farmed' and nobody wanted to buy from that field anymore. This major reduction in sale therefore led to a major reduction in the amount of people employed by a company. For example, Ford motor cars would not have to employ as many people if they are not producing as many cars because they will not have to run as much machinery and the manual jobs will not be as substantial. Because of this many people were made redundant and were forced to go without a job. During President Hoovers presidency there were no unemployment benefits so people who lost their jobs would have to either try and get another job or live on the money that they already had which for most peoples cases that was not a great deal of money. For most this money only lasted a couple of months so people started to sell a lot of their property and people started selling their houses to gain a little extra cash. In these cases most people did not get a lot of money for their houses and soon found themselves living in shanty towns or ‘Hoovervilles' as a lot of Americans called them. Hoover did not really care about the people's situation and his policy was that people should sort out their own problems. These ‘Hoovervilles' housed great quantities of crime (mainly with the Mafia), heavy drugs also supplied by the gangs and they were very dirty and run down. A new president was to be called for to sort out the problems that America had to deal with. These mainly were that the amount of crime had to be brought down and the Great Depression had to be lifted of the people of America. The man to propose these solutions was a man called Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Franklin was a very clever man who had had a good upbringing and who had always had money in his family While at Harvard, Franklin fell in love with Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, his fifth cousin once removed. Eleanor had had a trying childhood. Her mother, a beautiful socialite who gave her little affection, died when Eleanor was eight. Her father, Theodore Roosevelt's brother, was spirited and charming. But he was unstable and alcoholic, and he died when Eleanor was ten. Orphaned, she lived with her maternal grandmother and entered her teens feeling rejected, ugly, and ill at ease in society. When Franklin, a dashing Harvard man two years her senior, paid her attention, she was flattered and receptive. On March 17, 1905, the two Roosevelts were married. Her uncle Theodore, president of the United States, gave her away. The marriage was successful enough on the surface. Within the next 11 years Eleanor delivered five children (a sixth died in infancy): Anna (1906), James (1907), Elliott (1910), Franklin D. , Jr. (1914), and John (1916). Having been born into wealth, the Roosevelts never lacked for money, and Eleanor and Franklin moved easily among the upper classes in New York and Campobello. Eleanor, however, was often unhappy. For much of her married life she had to live near Franklin's widowed and domineering mother. Family duties kept her at home, while Franklin played poker with friends or enjoyed the good life. Later, during World War I, she was staggered to discover that Franklin was having an affair with her social secretary, a pretty young Virginian named Lucy Mercer. Despite these tensions, Eleanor remained a helpful mate throughout the 40 years of her marriage to Franklin. When he contracted polio in 1921, she labored hard to restore his emotional health and to encourage his political ambitions. Thereafter, with Franklin confined to braces and wheelchairs, she served as his eyes and ears. Because she possessed deep sympathy for the underprivileged, she guided his social conscience. Franklin was the man who proposed to the American populace his solutions to get America out of the mess that the country was in. Previously In 1910 Roosevelt was elected to the New York Senate and made the governor of New York. While he was the governor he tried out some of his plans like unemployment benefits and these proved to work well in the recovery of people's lives. He was willing when he came to be elected for President to put these plans into action and the people liked this. The people believed that they could trust Roosevelt because he had put some of his plans into action before and they had worked well in New York. This why he beat Hoover by a landslide vote in the elections in 1932. When he became President he immediately set his plans rolling and the people knew that they had made the right choice in the form of a President and Government that were actually going to do something positive for the country.

Is Chivalry Dead

Is Chivalry Dead?! What do you think of when you hear the word â€Å"chivalry†? I can’t speak for everyone but I know most of us, when we hear or think about the word â€Å"chivalry,† automatically we picture images of such figures as the legendary King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, Prince Charming, Gawain and The Green Knight, castles, and images of heavily armor knights saving princess or the cliche-ic â€Å"damsels in distress†. Though myths and fairytales illustrate this picture of chivalry, this in fact is a result of what the world has come to mean.Originally, the word â€Å"chivalry† had a different meaning. During the middle ages, the individuals who lived during this time use chivalry as a â€Å"code of conduct†. This â€Å"code of conduct† was put in place help the society become better by organizing it. People who lived during the Middle Ages supported the â€Å"code of conduct† because they felt it may h elp control the nation and help it gain more power. With any society, if chaos arises something is put into place for it to be demolished.For example, laws are created to provide a society with some type of order. Therefore, chivalry was created to control a society. â€Å"Chivalry wasn’t only to regulate the disorganization within a society but it also provided individuals at the type of the social ladder to be viewed with high esteem, particularly knight†. In order for a knight to make a name for himself or be recognized as honorable, he had to follow the behavioral code of chivalry.In modern society, one might speculate if chivalry has influence other people from across the globe. Although it pretty safe to say that in our society, chivalry has not fully impact us as a society, neither socially or culturally. Therefore providing truth to the saying that chivalry is dead. In medieval times, power in Europe was dispersed to the people of hierarchy. The people of great nobility, such as the king, had control of people who were viewed as inferior, such as the peasants.The earliest way for the nobles to protect themselves and land is through feudalism. Feudalism is a social system based on a hierarchy which consists of social, political, and economic systems. The purpose of the feudalism system was to give the nobles a chance to have power over lands and people. â€Å"This control would be so successful that it would provide a way for the king to give knights things such as gold or land in exchange for their loyalty and service to the kingdom†. This was the bases for the â€Å"code of conduct. †

Limitations of Ratio Analysis for Cross-Sectional Comparisons Essay

Ratio analysis is a useful technique for comparing a company’s performance and position with other companies. However, such comparisons may be misleading. Some of the limitations of ratio analysis for cross-sectional comparisons are discussed below: Accounting policies: Accounting laws allow companies to choose accounting policies and use discretion while preparing accounts. Such a freedom leads to differences in the accounts of companies, which in turn distorts cross-sectional company comparisons. Historic cost: If companies are of different ages, their financial statements will include non-current assets purchased at different times in the past which will usually be recorded at historic cost. This will mean the different companies have different book values of asset, thereby affecting their financial statements even if the businesses are otherwise identical (Ireland and Leiwy, 2011). Creative accounting: Companies tend to present inflated revenues and reduced liabilities on the financial statements. In particular, they tend to window dress during earnings results seasons. These tricks make investors believe that companies have a strong financial position. However, such creative accounting misleads analysts using financial accounting and ratios for cross-sectional comparisons. Different risk profiles: Companies have different financial and market risk profiles. Companies in the same industry may face different financial and market risks. For example, a company with a low debt ratio may indicate improved financial position. However, banks may not have provided loans to the company owing to the company’s low creditworthiness or high financial risk profiling. Another company in the same industry may have a low financial risk profiling, and it may obtain loans at a reduced rate for expansions. But, the financial statement will only show a high gearing rate. In this case, ratio analysis leads to incorrect interpretations and conclusions about both the companies. Qualitative factors: Ratio analysis does not consider qualitative factors such as management quality, quality of assets, social responsibilities, goodwill etc. Despite the limitations discussed above, financial ratio analysis is still useful in assessing a company’s financial performance. Ratios can provide a functional understanding of a company’s operations if used intelligently. Analysts need to understand the limitations in the analytical method and make the necessary modifications.

Open Source Alternatives for Small Business Research Paper

Open Source Alternatives for Small Business - Research Paper Example This research will begin with the statement that in the past few years, open source technology has emerged as a very attractive trend which has caught the attention of a large number of software developers and organizations. Basically, open source software applications allow people to access the code of applications openly. In fact, they can make changes and update the software product. The standard invented in the application development industry in the late 90s, with a number of releases of open source products and operating systems, and it has while subtle into other societies also. Additionally, there are a number of powerful arguments intended for releasing anything in an open source format, whether it is a digital recording, a complete operating system (OS) or a software tool. One of the basic reasons behind the adoption of this trend is that this mode of software development and products allows end users to openly get an overview of the source code. So that they could make cha nges to it in order to match it with their requirements. In this scenario, it gives confidence for the sake of steady growth and modernism, as moreover building a community of shared data and information. In addition, a number of businesses those generate open source systems depend on modernisms of clients to increase characteristics as well as to recognize and fix possible feeble points, and these businesses enthusiastically give confidence for changing their technology-based products. based products (Smith, 2013; Wu, Gerlach, & Young, 2011; Gurbani, Garvert, & Herbsleb, 2005). In addition, the majority of people consider that all types of open source software applications and programs are free of charge. This is not, actually, the situation. A number of businesses manufacture open application that necessitates people to disburse for them, with the charges supporting development of innovative products and extra characteristics. It is as well general to observe shared source licenses on products, people pay for. For example, Apple Computer, releases a number of its technology through support of open licenses (Smith, 2013; Wu, Gerlach, & Young, 2011; Gurbani, Garvert, & Herbsleb, 2005). This paper presents a detailed analysis of an open source operating system ‘Ubuntu’. In this scenario, this research covers a number of aspects associated with this operating system. 2. Ubuntu The Ubuntu is an Operating system that works on the Linux platform which is rapidly gaining popularity and is the choice of many, who want a substitute for Windows. The majority of people want efficient and economical ways to interact digitally through the array of contemporary applications

STATUTORY VALUATION - Compulsory Purchase (REAL ESTATE BSc COURSE) (2) Essay

STATUTORY VALUATION - Compulsory Purchase (REAL ESTATE BSc COURSE) (2) - Essay Example However, we acknowledge that the adoption of compulsory purchase law will come with the right for people whose property interests may be affected by the claim compensation. Given that the shop was let to the Smiths Minimarket; the first floor leased out for 125 years; and the advert hoarding at the ground floor let out at an annual license, the freeholders are justified to receive  £ 334,800 compensation. From the available records, the shop was let to Smiths Minimarket on an FRI basis for 15 years from 25.12.2011 at a cost of  £ 20,000 per year though subject to a rent review every 3 years. It is evidence the shop`s first floor flat was leased out for 125 years from 25.12.2008 for a rent of  £ 200 per year. It is also well-known that portion of the shop, particularly at ground floor, had an advert hoarding let at  £ 5,000 per year though on annual license. We learnt that the planning consent was not renewed, actually from the time it was given for 3 years, years ago. Moreover, the freeholder receives  £ 50 every Friday evening from Mrs. Jones who has a chip and fish van that occupy the shop from the side of forecourt. It is said this agreement was held on a license that was stated to run for two years. In addition to all these, the freeholder revealed that  £ 100 is paid per sale by Mr Youens for casual sale of second-hand cars that occupy the three places on front forecou rt of the shop. A good number of compulsory purchases are made under laws granted by several general Acts. The Government had walked the talk of its early intention to complement the existing laws by fresh laws which dictates that authorization of compulsory acquisition is given through compulsory purchase order that is created by the acquiring body and affirmed by the appropriate Minister or confirming authority. This order should be in prescribed form and comprises a statement of purpose for which property is