July 05, 2004
The Uncanny Valley
If you have watched both Final Fantasy:TSW and Ghost In The Shell, which one of them would you prefer watching again? If you ask me, its the latter. Why, you ask? What is the relation between both? They have totally different stories. Well, it isn't about stories. Let's put it in a different way. Imagine you are in the year 2070 and you go to the mall to buy a robot. If you had the option of choosing between a perfectly realistic looking humanoid and C-3PO, who would you prefer to choose? Get the idea? No? In that case, let's quote from an article -
When an android, such as R2-D2 or C-3PO, barely looks human, we cut it a lot of slack. It seems cute. We don't care that it's only 50 percent humanlike. But when a robot becomes 99 percent lifelike — so close that it's almost real — we focus on the missing 1 percent. We notice the slightly slack skin, the absence of a truly human glitter in the eyes. The once-cute robot now looks like an animated corpse. Our warm feelings, which had been rising the more vivid the robot became, abruptly plunge downward. Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori called this plunge "The Uncanny Valley" the paradoxical point at which a simulation of life becomes so good it's bad.
This chasm — the uncanny valley of Doctor Mori's 1978 thesis — represents the point at which a person observing the creature or object in question sees something that is nearly human, but just enough off-kilter to seem eerie or disquieting. The first peak, moreover, is where that same individual would see something that is human enough to arouse some empathy, yet at the same time is clearly enough not human to avoid the sense of wrongness. The slope leading up to this first peak is a province of relative emotional detachment — affection, perhaps, but rarely more than that.
Interesting, because this is what has been disquieting in all realistic rendered films I have watched and the games I have played. I couldn't watch FF more than once inspite of the brilliant graphics and microscopic details. There is something eerie about a realistic looking face rendered in 3D.
July 12, 2003
Surprise Language
"Surprise Language is Hindi.... Good luck!" was all that was needed by USC researchers to design a Hindi-English translation within a month. A mail titled as above was sent by DARPA's TIDES manager for the "Surprise Language" project.
The approach was based on statistical methods to find the most likely answer for a translation. Over a period of time the computer learns to pick the best translation for a given set of words in a "foreign language" (in this case, Hindi). Read more here.
June 17, 2003
The Math of Art
For me it remains an open question whether [this work] pertains to the realm of mathematics or to that of art.
Maurits Cornelis Escher says this about his art. I was surprised to see Google commemorating his birthday by putting up a graphic depicting one of his mysterious works. See the image on the right. I know Escher having seen his drawing of the Mobius strip earlier. As a kid, I have always been fascinated by the mobius strip not for its property of having only one side, but when you try to cut the strip into two lengthwise, it still remains intact.
mathacademy.com has some very interesting information on the famous mathematical art renderings of MC Escher. You can find his biography at mcescher.com.
January 11, 2003
Brains and Roller Coasters
I wonder if one can maintain his sanity after a ride in a dragster style roller coaster which moves 420 feet up from ground, take a 270 degree turn and move down, all at 120 miles per hour and in 20 seconds. Unfortunately some people don't. Like this medical case says about a 47-year old who had a similar ride. I'd prefer rappling down a 1200ft mountain face than hurtling down at 1.4G from a 420 feet tower. Atleast, I have control in the earlier case.
January 02, 2003
A new face of Jesus
If Popular Mechanics is to be believed, Jesus looked like a peasant, had dark olive skin and short curly hair. CNN.com says that Israeli and British anthropologists and programmers, using forensic anthropology have arrived to this conclusion, quite different from the typical long-faced, long haired man that Jesus is assumed to be. Here is a transcript of the talk between CNN's Sanjay Gupta and PM's Mike Fillon on this.
June 10, 2001
Molecular Expressions (mentioned below) has
Molecular Expressions (mentioned below) has been nominated for the 2001 Webby Awards!! Another great nominated site is Dancing Paul ! HeHe!! It is fun seeing Paul dancing to dance numbers!!
June 03, 2001
Dangerous Labs
I cannot believe this story of a BoyScout building a nuclear reactor in his backyard. I simply cannot, in this lifetime atleast.
