There are about 6,500 - 7,000 languages currently spoken in the world. According to some <a href="https://www.uh.edu/engines/epi2723.htm">linguistic estimates</a>, there may have been upwards of 31,000 in all of history. (31,001 if you count Vulcan?)Every time a language dies, so goes a way of life, lore, and knowledge. Imagine life now if the Library of Alexandria had never burned.

Tum-vel Tor Marom Heh Yeht-urgam Dvinsu, Hi Nash-veh Ma Rai Ista

But what if you could figure out how to read the dead languages?<ul><li>Researchers from MIT and Google Brain created an AI-based system for this purpose</li><li>Languages change with use (think slang & idioms), but the characters and distribution remains relatively similar.</li><li>Because of that, you could attempt to decode a long-lost language if you understood its relationship to a known progenitor language.</li><li>The team - Jiaming Luo and Regina Barzilay used their machine decipher the early Greek language Linear B (see ZING!er up top 🙄) as a control test, as it was deciphered to in 1952/3 by <a href="https://www.classics.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/mycep/decipherment">Michael Ventris</a></li></ul>

Don’t Be So Obtuse!

The approach by the researchers focused on 4 key properties<ol><li>distributional similarity</li><li>monotonic character mapping</li><li>structural sparsity</li><li>significant cognate overlap</li></ol>The AI network achieved 67.3% translation of cognate (relative test) words.<ul><li>if a name for the system hasn’t been chosen, might I suggest HAL, Skynet, GERTY, or lovingly, <a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_1227,w_1000,x_0,y_0/c_limit,dpr_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_80,w_1080/We_Can_Do_It__qhtlbj.jpg">Rosie</a>? Wait! Call it Daniel Jackson and wake up Michael Shanks - he has work to do!</li></ul>

Channel All Reserve Power To The Progenitor!!

Next on the list? The team has begun translating Linear A, now that they’ve tried Linear B, to C if they can complete what linguists already have.The implications are monumental. AI affords the opportunity to work tirelessly and accurately - as meatbags still require rest. The trade-off being the human imagination that so often makes the important connections (what if translating/comparing all these languages is the final spark Google’s AI needs for the singularity, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/google-engineer-claims-ai-chatbot-is-sentient-why-that-matters/?amp=true">if it hasn’t already</a> 😮). Imagine an AI running 31,000 translations at once, unlocking secret after secret - Alexandria rebuilt.

And For Our Next Trick…

Imagine if we could replace The Library of Alexandria? AI could help! I wonder what kind of “dad jokes” ancient cultures had…(humor is an indicator of intelligence, after all)

technologyandthefuture

Technology & The Future

education

Learning & Education

communication

Communication

artificialintelligence

Artificial Intelligence

A.I. is translating messages of long-lost languages

“One way solar could soon become more widely used would be to integrate solar panels onto a wider array of commonplace materials and technologies without inconveniencing the ways we currently use those things today. “Even though <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2020/06/23/two-thirds-of-americans-think-government-should-do-more-on-climate/">over two-thirds</a> of Americans feel the government should do more to protect against climate change, most are unwilling - sometimes defiant - to change their collective energy routines drastically due to inconvenience. Some rooted in practical issues (i.e - not enough EV power stations, bad locations for alternative energies, general power supplies), others…not so much.

Powered by Convenience

If achieved, energy harvesting devices could be discreetly placed on top of windows, display screens, or even human skin

Researching New Materials To Integrate Solar Energy

However, a team of researchers in Japan have now made promising <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-15352-x">steps toward solving this transparency issue</a> The process is based on a conductive material called Indium Tin Oxide (ITO), which is both transparent and colorless.ITO is one of the most widely used <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indium_tin_oxide">transparent conducting oxides</a> because of its electrical conductivity and optical transparency, the ease with which it can be deposited as a thin film, and its chemical resistance to moisture.(Completely unrelated and 99.9% different, but this reminds me of <a href="https://www.tssbulletproof.com/blog/optically-clear-aluminum-provides-bulletproof-protection-2/">newer bulletproof glass technologies</a>. The .1% being that they’re both clear.)

Transparency Materials Still Less Than 70% Clear

With their manufacturing approach, Kato’s team made the device over 1,000 times more effective at converting incoming light into electrical energy than existing ITO-based solar cells.The team’s choice of materials was far more transparent than previous designs: allowing some 79% of incoming light to pass straight through.

Efficiency and Transparency

If the material becomes more commercially viable in the future, Kato’s team believes it could one day be integrated into phones and other everyday electronics. (for now, I guess I’ll just have to make do with one of these useful <a href="https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/topics/camping-and-hiking/best-solar-charger">portable solar chargers</a> 🤷‍♂️…🙃)

This Conversation Brought To You by…THE SUN!!

Tech got us here, tech can *help* get us out…

A new solar panel design can efficiently convert light into electricity, while still allowing almost 80% of incoming light to pass through.

scienceandnature

Science & Nature

Transparent solar panels could soon turn windows into energy harvesters

this article is from the previous election, but the subheading made me realize that drumpf has very publicly taken advantage of his donors and supporters with obvious (to anyone with a brain cell) lies and financial scheming/burglary how will he make up those funds during his assumed 2024 presidential(uuuuugh) race?

A.I. is translating messages of long-lost languages

Transparent solar panels could soon turn windows into energy harvesters

Mark Cuban: Trump has a cash problem, and he'll have to 'grovel' to donor class

Tanner Young