text:
|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|6 Jan 2009
|Filing date
|17 May 2005
|Priority date
|2 Mar 2001
|Fee status
|Also published as
|Publication number
|Jonathan Guy Grenside Cooke, Andrew Richard Young
|Original Assignee
|Factiva, Inc.
|Export Citation
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (38), Non-Patent Citations (3), Classifications (21), Legal Events (3)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for indexing data using polyarchical indexing codes and automatically generating indexing paths extending across multiple hierarchical levels.
Indexing of documents is useful for categorizing the content for later searching, retrieval and possibly other operations. Indexing can involve applying a code to the document which-relates to its subject matter. The codes are then linked with the categories for various types of subject matter. In order to search for all documents containing content in a particular category, a computer system can simply retrieve all documents containing the code linked for that category.
The accuracy of traditional indexing of documents relies heavily on the person applying the codes to the documents. Each particular code must be individually and manually entered throughout each document. Therefore, if a document relates to one particular category "A" but was coded under a different category "B," a search within the category "A" will most likely not result in an identification of the document.
Also, the granularity of coding is also manually entered. This manual coding means that a person must enter codes relating to broad categories for a document as well as any codes for more narrow categories. If different persons are coding documents, as is often the case due to high volume, different and potentially inconsistent applications of granular coding can result. As a result, different coders may apply various broad and narrow categories in different manners, resulting in less effective indexing.
Accordingly, a need exists for improved methods and taxonomies for indexing data.
A method and apparatus consistent with the present invention indexes data using automatically generated indexing codes. An indexing code is received relating to a particular piece of data. Based upon that indexing code, an expansion set of codes is automatically retrieved and applied to the data. An indication of the data is then stored along with the associations resulting from application of the expansion set of codes to the data.
Another method and apparatus consistent with the present invention indexes data using multiple polyarchical indexing. An indexing code is received relating to a particular piece of data. Based upon the indexing code, multiple polyarchical codes are automatically retrieved and applied to the data. These polyarchical codes can then be used for cross-categorization of the data. An indication of the data is stored along with the associations resulting from application of the multiple polyarchical codes to the data.
The accompanying drawings are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification and, together with the description, explain the advantages and principles of the invention. In the drawings,
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a taxonomy that helps to automate data indexing and result in a relatively consistent application of indexing codes to the data. The taxonomy includes polyarchical coding, also referred to as polyarchies, which involves using multiple higher level codes applied to the same lower level code. The polyarchical coding means that, for example, a coder need only enter one lower level code for a piece of data and the higher level polyarchical codes are automatically applied, resulting in a consistent application of coding structures.
The taxonomy also includes the automatic generation of expansion paths. When a coder enters a lower level code, a series of related codes across higher coding levels are automatically applied. Therefore, upon application of only a lower level code, the corresponding data is automatically coded with the related hierarchical codes. This feature also provides for consistent application of the related codes.
The use of multiple related categories, for example, across the same or various higher levels is referred to as polyarchies 26. Each level represents in this example different categories with the same general categorical subject matter. With polyarchical coding, the indexing or coding is expanded in multiple directions upwardly across different levels. As an example, if the indexing code 12 specifies a category of on-line brokerages for data 14, then category 16 may relate to financial services and category 18 may relate to Internet activity. Therefore, data 12 relating to on-line brokerages in this example is also indexed more broadly under those two higher level categories. As illustrated, the higher level categories or coding can exist vertically across one or more higher levels, and the polyarchies can exist horizontally across one or more of the same or different levels. Therefore, polyarchical codes can include, for example, two or more indexing codes associated with data on different paths in an upward indexing direction, as illustrated.
The levels and configuration shown in structure 10 are presented for illustrative purposes only. The term "category" includes both categories and sub-categories. The types and ordering of the categories may depend upon, for example, a particular implementation, the type of data to be coded and particular desired or necessary requirements for the indexed data. The term "indexing code" or "code" includes any type of identifier associated with a particular category or element for use in any type of indexing or organizing of data. For example, the indexing code may be implemented with numerical or alphanumerical characters electronically linked with the corresponding category.
The series of categories 36, 38, and 40 represent an expansion path 44, and the series of categories 50 and 52 represent an expansion path 56. The expansion path means that the indexing represented by a particular indexing code is expanded upward across potentially multiple, higher levels of coding. Each of the codes in the expansion paths, as represented by links 42 and 54 is associated with the corresponding piece of data.
The expansion paths can be automatically applied, for example, depending upon a particular implementation. Therefore, when indexing code 32 is entered for data 34, the codes for the categories in expansion path 44 can be automatically generated and associated with data 34. Likewise, when indexing code 46 is entered for data 44, the codes for the categories in expansion path 56 can be automatically generated and associated with data 48. The expansion paths shown are provided for illustrative purposes only. The expansion paths, and the expansion sets of codes for implementing them, can span any number of levels, possibly originate at any of the levels and span across levels having any type of relationships for indexing or organizing data. The exemplary levels are shown with a hierarchical relationship; however, other types of relationships among the levels may alternatively be used.
Table 1 provides an example of an expansion path. In this example, when the code "125782" is entered for a piece of data relating to analgesics manufacturing, the codes in levels 1-4 are automatically generated and associated with the data. As shown, the categories are increasingly broader from level 5 to level 1. The indexing codes and categories shown in Table 1 are provided for illustrative purposes and are only one such example.
Indexing Code
Metals, Minerals and Chemicals
Chemical Manufacturing
Over-the-Counter Drug Manufacturing
Analgesics Manufacturing
Upon application of a particular indexing code to a piece of data, the codes in the polyarchies and expansion paths are also linked with the data, as illustrated above. Therefore, indexing in structure 60 has a cross-indexing dimension 64 representing multiple categorization across the same levels and a hierarchical indexing dimension 62 representing multiple categorization across different levels. The polyarchies can be generated, for example, from any level. Also, the expansion paths can span one or more levels, from one level to any other higher level.
Structure 60 can be implemented within any type of electronic data structure that specifies indexing codes, links them with categories and specifies the polyarchies and expansion paths. For example, it can be specified in a relational database, object-oriented database, an Extensible Markup Language (XML) database, or any other type of database. Therefore, upon application of a particular indexing code, the data structure can be accessed to retrieve the corresponding expansion paths in order to automatically apply them to the data.
Memory 102 may include random access memory (RAM) or similar types of memory, and it may store one or more applications 106 for execution by processor 104. Secondary storage device 110 may include a hard disk drive, floppy disk drive, CD-ROM drive or other types of non-volatile data storage. Processor 104 may execute applications or programs stored in memory 102 or secondary storage 110 or received from the Internet or other network 116. Input device 108 may include any device for entering information into computer system 100, such as a keyboard, key pad, cursor-control device, touch-screen (possibly with a stylus) or microphone.
Display device 114 may include any type of device for presenting visual information such as a computer monitor, flat-screen display or display panel. Output device 112 may include any device for generating a hard copy of information or may include speakers for presenting information in audio form. Computer system 100 can possibly include multiple input devices, output devices and display devices.
Although computer system 100 is depicted with specific components, one skilled in the art will appreciate that this system can contain additional or different components. In addition, although aspects of an implementation consistent with the present invention are described as being stored in memory, one skilled in the art will appreciate that these aspects can also be stored on or read from other types of computer program products or computer-readable media, such as secondary storage devices, including hard disks, floppy disks, or CD-ROM; or other forms of RAM or read-only memory (ROM). The computer-readable media may include instructions for controlling computer system 100 to perform by a particular method.
A data section 206 can present data for indexing. The term "data" refers to any information which can be indexed and examples include, but are not limited to, news, publications, textual information, graphics, pictures or photographic information, images, information in multiple languages or any other information. For example, a user can retrieve news from wire sources over network 116 and view the news in section 206 for indexing. As illustrated, a user can entered indexing codes at particular locations in the data as represented by codes 208, 210 and 212. The indexing codes can be entered through any type of user input via input device 108; for example, the user may type in the indexing code or "drag and drop" the indexing code from section 202 to the data using a cursor control device. Screen 200 also includes a save section 214 for the user to select in order to save the entered indexing codes and apply them to the data and a cancel section 216 for the user to select in order to cancel the entered indexing codes.
In method 120, the system receives one or more indexing codes for the data (step 124), which can include indexing codes manually entered, such as through screen 200, and indexing codes programmatically generated. The indexing codes can relate to, or be used for, any type of categorization, which includes, but is not limited to, the following examples: company information, geographic information, subject matter information or industry information.
For automatic indexing, the system can search for key terms in the data and retrieve associated indexing codes. Key terms are those words or other data elements, such as images or pictures, having an associated indexing code. The non-word information, such as images, may be associated with indexing codes by using, for example, identifiers for the information; for example, images can have identifiers such as uniform resource locators (URLs) and those identifiers can be linked with indexing codes. Table 2 conceptually illustrates linking of key terms with indexing codes. For non-word information, identifiers can be designated as terms.
Key Term
Indexing Code
term 1
code 1
term 2
code 2
. . .
term N
code N
If the system is configured to search for key terms (step 126), it determines whether a key term exists in the data (step 128). It can use any searching algorithm, such as sequentially comparing each word in the data with each key term, as illustrated in Table 2, or by re-organizing the data, such as through alphabetizing each word and then identifying key terms. If the system locates a key term in the data (step 130), it retrieves the corresponding indexing code by, for example, accessing a data structure associating key terms with indexing codes (step 132). If more key terms exist to search (step 134), the system returns to step 126 to process the next key term.
If no more key terms exist (step 134) or if searching for them was not required (step 126), the system retrieves expansion set(s) of codes for the indexing codes entered by the user and possibly located through the searching (step 136). Those expansion sets can include a plurality of codes spanning indexing levels, polyarchical codes and combinations of both, as described above. Also, the expansion sets can include the corresponding indexing code as a part of the set. Table 3 conceptually illustrates the association of indexing codes with one or more expansion sets of codes.
Indexing Code
Expansion Codes
code 1
codes 1a, 1b, . . . 1n
code 2
codes 2a, 2b, . . . 2n
. . .
code N
codes Na, Nb, . . . Nn
The system associates the expansion set(s) of codes with the data based upon the indexing code(s) (step 138). This association means that the system generates the relationships between the codes and the data to be indexed, as illustrated in the structures above and saves the association for further processing or other purposes (step 140). For example, the system can store the data in one central location and specify pointers or links from the codes to the data storage location. The association can include the entire data or a particular portion of it depending upon, for example, where the user entered an indexing code or where the system located a key term.
If more data is to be indexed (step 142), the system returns to step 122 to repeat method 120. For example, the user may retrieve additional data via network 116 and view it in data section 206 for indexing.
The user can make various types of changes to the codes. By selecting a delete codes section 234, the user can delete particular identified indexing codes or a selected expansion set of codes in section 226. By selecting an add codes section 236, the user can add a new indexing code and associated expansion codes entered in section 226. By selecting an edit codes section 238, the user can change (add and delete) expansion codes corresponding to an indexing code in section 226. Selection of a save section 240 saves the entered changes within, for example, a coding rules database.
In method 150, the system receives a code change request through, for example, a user's selection of section 234, 236, or 238 (step 154). The system then receives a particular type of change. For a code deletion (step 156), the system receives an identification of codes to delete, such as selection of an indexing code or particular expansion codes for it in section 226 (step 162). For a code addition (step 158), the system receives a new indexing code and associated expansion set(s) of codes in section 226 (step 164). For a code edit (step 160), the system receives an identification of additions and deletions of expansion codes for an indexing code in section 226 (step 166).
If the user selects save changes section 240 (step 168), the system applies the requested changes to the indexing structure. For example, the system can make the changes in an indexing rules database that specifies the indexing codes, categories, expansion sets of codes, and the relationships between them (step 170). If the user requests another code change such as by again selecting one of the sections 234, 236, and 238 (step 172), the system returns to step 154 to process the next request.
In method 180, the system receives search terms through such ways as entry of indexing codes in sections 256 and 258 (step 184). The system identifies indexing codes corresponding with the entered search terms by, for example, detecting the actual entered codes or linking entered information such as categories with indexing codes (step 186). The system searches the indexed data to identify data associated with expansion paths for the indexing codes (step 188). By using the expansion paths, the system can search for data associated with codes along the expansion paths having the entered search term, potentially providing for a robust and thorough search of the indexed data. The data identified through the search is retrieved and an indication of the search results is displayed (step 190). For example, the system can display the number of occurrences of the search terms and then allow the user to view the data corresponding with each occurrence.
While the present invention has been described in connection with an exemplary embodiment, it will be understood that many modifications will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and this application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations thereof. For example, different indexing rules, categorization, and sub-categorization may be used without departing from the scope of the invention. This invention should be limited only by the claims and equivalents thereof.
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I've tried putting together a list on Goodreads of books recommended on Less Wrong, but it will only be as good as the people who contribute to it.
Less Wrong is a community blog devoted to refining the art of human rationality. Please visit our About page for more information.
This has been discussed in passing several times, but I thought it might be worthwhile to collect a list of recommended reading for new members and/or aspiring rationalists. There's probably going to be plenty of overlap with the SingInst reading list, but I think the purposes of the two are sufficiently distinct that a separate list is appropriate.
Some requests:
Happy posting!
PS - Is there a "New Readers Start Here" page, or something similar (aside from "About")? I seem to remember someone talking about one, but I can't find it.
1"Everything Eliezer has ever written (since 2001)... twice!" while likely a highly beneficial suggestion for every single human being in existence, is not an acceptable entry. A Technical Explanation of Technical Explanation is fine. If you're not sure whether to classify something as "an essay" or "a blog post", there is a little-known trick to distinguish the two: essays contain small nuggets of vanadium ore, and blog posts contain shreds of palladium. Alternatively, just use your best judgement.
I've tried putting together a list on Goodreads of books recommended on Less Wrong, but it will only be as good as the people who contribute to it.
A belated, supernumerary entry (many thanks to taw's recent post for inspiration): How to Lie with Statistics. It is, in essence, a catalog of Dark Arts (and common mistakes) in that field, with some closing remarks on defenses against them.
Before you pick up anything in this thread you would be well advised to peruse How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren. This is doubly recommended if reading is one of your primary ways of acquiring knowledge.
The book was published some time ago, but books, and the reading habits associated with them, haven't changed all that much. The authors make the point that most people, even college graduates, read at an elementary level, and that many educational institutions make no effort to improve this. Elementary reading is characterized by a passive and linear approach to reading, and often mistaken assumption about the process, such as that knowledge contained within a book will somehow be retained after a first superficial exposure. The authors introduce more advanced techniques of analytical and active reading, and offer interesting ideas regarding reading material of all kind—though unfortunately the book was written before the internet era—with a major focus on expository works.
Actually, there are many things in this book that I disagree with, and others that I suspect are just downright wrong. But I'm not aware of anything better on the subject, and the most important thing is that it will get a reader thinking about an act that most of us spend very little time reflecting on, despite the fact that we constantly engage in it.
How to mark a book is a short article by Adler that may give you a taste of what to expect.
While I no longer agree with Heinlein's characterisation of people who cannot grasp mathematics, I do think mathematics is a good thing to know. But on occasions when I have tried to explain what mathematics is all about, or to recommend a book which might do the job, I find myself at a loss. "Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction" didn't do it for one person I suggested it to. Does anyone else have suggestions, especially suggestions that worked for themselves or others?
This is not so much a recommendation as a request. Recently I stumbled on my well-thumbed copy of Carl Sagan's Cosmos. It was given to me when I was pretty young, and was, by and large, the first real book about science I ever read. It covers a great range of topics, from evolution and planetary chemistry to astrophysics and relativity, provides comprehensive historical background, and is written in a very personable style. It led me to Sagan's other work, which led to a broader interest in science and, along with a textbook on modern philosophical thought I chanced upon, sparked my own intellectual revolution that lifted me out of a deeply conservative religious upbringing. The notion of the Cosmic Calendar had a particularly electrifying effect on a boy who had been raised to believe the universe was merely a few thousand years old. The book, of course, was based on Sagan's television series of the same name. It's still an excellent read, and it's a joy to know that some of Sagan's dreams for the future, like that of a roving Mars lander*, have been fulfilled.
However, that illustrates the problem: Cosmos will be 30 years old next year. The number of discoveries, innovations and explorations that have been made since it was published is staggering. While a great deal of the book is still valid, many new chapters could be written. While there are certainly many good books on science being published today, few authors have the range and familiar writing ability of Sagan. While I would still want to be given Cosmos if I were growing up today, I would find much of it out-dated. What other book or books published recently could serve a similar purpose? That is, what modern book would you give someone with little scientific background if you wanted to expand their horizons not just to this or that field but to a great breadth of knowledge?
The beauty of Cosmos, I found, was that while it did not offer comprehensive knowledge of any one subject, it prompted interest in a great many. Furthermore, it was a textbook not written like one. Sagan's informal style made science accessible without insulting his audience's intelligence. Like the television show, it was almost as though he was tricking people into learning without dumbing down any of the material.
The popular equivalent these days (as in, non-fiction books by scientists that climb the bestseller lists) seem to be more philosophically oriented books like Dawkin's The God Delusion. That's all well and good, but what are the popular books on general sciences, books that reach a wide audience and encourage scientific thinking among the general public?
*Although his prediction that images from the lander would be delivered daily to the television sets of millions of enthralled viewers was unfortunately misguided.
PS - Is there a "New Readers Start Here" page, or something similar (aside from "About")? I seem to remember someone talking about one, but I can't find it.
Reaching the specified limit: The Recursive Universe: Cosmic Complexity and the Limits of Scientific Knowledge by William Poundstone.
This is another book which comes at things from lots of angles - it talks about Conway's Life, Maxwell's Demon (in several variations), self-reproduction ... it clears up a number of apparent paradoxes in an engaging and understandable way and explains a lot of really cool concepts on the way to understanding how patterns can arise from noise.
Greg Egan's Axiomatic.
This is his first collection of short stories. Half of them are fictional explorations of what it would really be like, for the mind to be literally a physical process of the brain, usually with some near-future technology thrown in to sharpen the issues. The title story is about choosing your own utility function, "Learning To Be Me" is Philosophy of Uploading 101, "A Kidnapping" is about stealing a copy of someone's upload, and the others look at other aspects. "Seeing" uses no future science, only present-day knowledge, but is still squarely a science fiction story -- the science just happens to be already here.
Another strong theme is ethics, and especially the ethical issues that arise from our greater physical understanding of what people are: "Blood Sisters", "The Cutie", "Appropriate Love", "The Moat", "The Moral Virologist", and again "Axiomatic".
"The Hundred Light-Year Diary" is about predestination and free will, a theme that appears in several of the other stories. "Whatever the unchangeable future holds, I'm sure of one thing: who I am is still a part of what always has, and always will, decide it." (A theme of Eliezer's on occasion.)
One story is about the many-worlds theory, and another is about the exponential probability distribution.
After which you can read his second short story collection.
maybe a separate list for fiction with rationalist themes would be a good idea?
there are the obvious problems with fiction for learning things (the rules of a fictional world may not apply the one we live in), but I'd be very interested in hearing recommendations, if only because because i suspect that there is some correlation between being an LW-reader and the books we'd like.
One story is about the many-worlds theory
"The Infinite Assassin" (which you must be referencing) involves a fanciful multiverse, not the many-worlds of actually existing quantum mechanics. Although as long as we're talking about Greg Egan and the MWI, I am obligated to drop a link to "Singleton."
This reading list isn't explicitly for our purpose, but many of the books would be appropriate (several are already recommended here). To pick one off the list that I have read: Daniel Dennett's Consciousness Explained is largely an exercise in speculation, but impressive for its density of reference to scientific literature of the time. If nothing else, it's an explicit demonstration of the non-mysteriousness of an all-too-common choice of mysterious phenomena, and the warnings about the Cartesian Theatre are wise to bear in mind.
I am a student, and have recently found this website through a friend. I am intrigued by the art that you are promoting here, and it strikes a chord with my own dedication to learning and becoming a better person. In the past, I have often preferred autodidactic learning; however, this particular subject seems especially dense and in some cases even dangerous if learned incorrectly. I am thus somewhat apprehensive at proceeding along my own course.
What is a good starting point for someone like me? Is there a single grand summary of the work being done here, or some similar statement of purpose and general principles?
I would begin with some of Eliezer Yudkowsky's essays on rationality, particularly "The Simple Truth", "An Intuitive Explanation of Bayes' Theorem", and "A Technical Explanation of Technical Explanation", and then I'd start flipping through the archives reading things that look interesting. Often-times these will have links, either at the top or in the text, to previous essays; jumping backwards through the sequences and then reading forwards back to where you began is a good method.
That's just for stuff on this site, though - I'd certainly read through the other online essays people linked in this post, and keep my eyes open for library copies of some of the books.
Argh! I hate when people do that! If someone's asking what simplestudent is, they generally want something more precise than a giant reading list.
IMHO, the piece with the highest ratio of "what we're all about" to length is Truly Part of You. That should be the starting point.
I have more time than I need at present, even allowing for various frivolous pursuits and time allocated for social interaction, eating, etc. I have the unique luxury of having a very flexible schedule, and am not close to filling that schedule anytime soon. Therefore, whenever I find something that I am truly interested in, I study it. To do otherwise would be wasteful.
I am truly interested in and committed to becoming a better person through any means necessary; becoming more rational will make me a better person. Thus, I am truly interested in and committed to becoming more rational.
"The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" by TS. Kuhn.
Enormously influential book length essay about how science progresses. Kuhn describes the idea of "normal science" - the everyday activities by which scientists take incremental steps forward. For normal science to be fruitful, it must be carried out within the context of a paradigm - a theoretical framework and set of shared commitments held by a scientific community. If no paradigm exists, or if the current paradigm is flawed, the incremental steps add up to nothing and no progress is made.
This idea is important for anyone interested in doing AI research. AI is a field without a paradigm: hundreds of papers are published every year, but do little to advance our understanding. Every serious AI researcher must confront the deep conceptual problems of the field; he must begin by articulating his own paradigm. There is little point in continuing along in the same style of research carried out by our predecessors: it leads only to esoteric branches of applied mathematics and engineering projects of questionable utility.
"Intelligence without Reason", "Intelligence without Representation", and "Elephants Don't Play Chess" by Rodney Brooks.
In my view Brooks made the most serious attempt to define a paradigm for AI research. Brooks decried the AI research of the 80s as being plagued by "puzzlitis" - researchers would cook up their own puzzles, and then invent AI systems to solve those problems (often not very well). But why are those problems (e.g. chess) important? Do they really advance our understanding of intelligence? What criterion can be used to decide if a theorem or algorithm is a contribution to AI? Is a string search algorithm a contribution to AI? What about a proof of the four-color theorem?
Brooks made the following bold suggestion: define the problems of relevance to AI to be those problems that real agents encounter in the real world. Thus, to do AI, one builds robots, puts them in the world, and observes the problems they encounter. Then one attempts to solve those real world problems.
Now, I consider this paradigm-proposal to be flawed in many ways. But at least it's something - it provides a clean definition, and a path by which normal science can proceed.
(A line from "The Big Lebowski" comes to mind: "Say what you will about the tenets of national socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos!")
The Tyranny of Words by Stuart Chase--I haven't reread it since I was a teenager, so this is a little tentative, but it's an introduction to General Semantics, and having it hammered that the word is not the thing, and it's not just that there are exceptions, but the thing behind the word changes over time, were both very worthwhile for me to learn.
By the way, if your idea of General Semantics comes from van Vogt, that's a case of the word really not being the thing.
And why isn't my html working?
I found Drive Yourself Sane useful for similar reasons.
I've been meaning to take a stab at Korzybski's Science and Sanity (available on the interwebs, I believe) for a while, but I've heard it's fairly impenetrable.
I've been meaning to take a stab at Korzybski's Science and Sanity (available on the interwebs, I believe) for a while, but I've heard it's fairly impenetrable.
Available here.
I had the experience, which I heard others have also had, that it was impenetrably turgid on a first reading, but perfectly clear on coming back to it a few years later. Still just as turgid, but clear. The science is also very dated. I have mixed thoughts about recommending it. It's a bit like recommending E.E. "Doc" Smith as an introduction to science fiction. Necessary to read at some point, but not at the outset.
I'd be interested to see what anyone else who has read it thinks.
ETA: Just flicking through the online copy I found one place where the science is, I think, wrong even with respect to the knowledge of the time. "A molecule of water is broken up [by an electric current] into a positively charged hydrogen ion consisting of two hydrogen atoms, and a negatively charged oxygen ion consisting of one oxygen atom." (chap. XL, p.686)
A lot of people coming from a background of traditional rationality identify themselves as falsificationists, unfortuneately. For an entertaining demolition of the work Popper and his intellectual descendants, see Popper and After: Four Modern Irrationalists[1] by the inimitable David Stove.
[1]Also known as: Anything Goes: Origins of the Cult of Scientific Irrationalism and Scientific Irrationalism: Origins of a Postmodern Cult
Satan, Cantor, and Infinity by Raymond Smullyan
Smullyan's books are the best introductions to formal logic I know. They are witty, entertaining, and make you think - without it being work.
If anyone has any kids who might be interested in logic, I highly recommend his puzzle books. They might be fun for adults too, but I can't be sure of that, as I haven't looked at them for quite a few years -- back then, though, I found them very accessible and they hooked me.
For deep understanding of how computers and especially computation works: "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs"
(available freely online: http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/)
I voted this up because it's a very good book, but I want to add a little disclaimer:
SICP is a book on how to write programs. It is not, as one might think from the title, a theoretical book. It is accessible to people who have never programmed, but it will not be liked by people who dislike the actual activity of programming.
I have found that many people hate to program, and most who try it discover they hate it.
Could you elaborate?
I expect that it has a very different success rate than other books; that a binary variable of "likes programming" is not the best model. That more analytical people are more like to learn programming from it than from other sources, and less analytical people the opposite. But I suppose "learn programming from it" and "like it" may be independent.
I can't tell whether I don't understand you, you don't understand me, or both.
I suppose it's theoretically possible for someone who hates programming to enjoy a book on how to program, but I don't think it will happen. I don't see what being analytical has to do with it.
If you don't hate programming, you might or might not like SICP for a whole bunch of reasons. How analytical you are might be one of them.
i actually agree with the points you made, and also with the point that Douglas_Knight made. I don't think those points are incompatible.
The nature of Scheme as a 'idealized' programming language enables one to focus on the actual problem rather than the language (after some practice at least). And that way of looking at problems is what makes it interesting in the context of LW -- which is not about programming perse after all.
So yes, the book teaches you to program -- but also yes, it does that in a somewhat abstracted way, which will be less interesting for people who want cookbook-style solutions. It's about training the mind.
Excellent point.
SCIP is as far as you can get from 'Learn X in 24 hours'. It's about real thinking about a problem, and then coming up with some elegant solution.
A lot of 'real-world' programming is about programming in an as quick-and-dirty fashion as you can get away with. This book is most definitely not for that -- and is as irrelevant for rationalists as astrology.
This book, however, is about thinking, in terms of computation. And the reason for mentioning it here for 'rationalist purposes' is that I think that viewing the world in computational terms bring valuable insight, just like e.g. an evolutionary viewpoint does, or a bayesian.
Hofstadter & Dennet - "The Mind's I"
Series of essays on self, AI, consciousness, intelligence, ... with Dennet and Hofstadter commenting them. It gives an excellent introduction in the subjects, and a lot of food for thought.
Long time ago since I read that. Maybe I should re-read it and see if it's as good as I can remember...
But I must add: exceptions are his I am a Strange Loop (terrible, redundant, and maudlin), and his Fluid Analogies (uninteresting to anyone not trying to code up a Copycat).
So basically, in order: GEB, Le Ton beau de Marot, and Metamagical Themas.
EDIT: correct LTDBM spelling; I was going from memory, and clearly I didn't remember the right order & capitalization.
I read it last year (for the first time) and enjoyed it thoroughly. It has some classic articles from the field, which if you haven't read already, you should when they're all in one place.
If you've never read Dennett's Where Am I, you shoud click the link and do so now.
Falling Free, by Lois McMaster Bujold.
It's a great story, but there's one scene in it that permanently changed my understanding of rationality: Leo Graf's first lecture to the engineering class where he discusses the relationship between engineering and ethics. The argument applies to all science and ways of applying scientific knowledge - really, to any and all attempts to interact with reality.
I'm just rereading it due to your mention, and I found this passage at the point where Leo Graf is beginning to realize What Needs To Be Done:
[...] "How the hell should I know? At that point, it becomes Orient IV's problem. There's only so much one human being can do, Leo."
Leo smiled slowly, in grim numbness. "I'm not sure . . . what one human being can do. I've never pushed myself to the limit. I thought I had, but I realize now I hadn't. My self-tests were always carefully non-destructive."
This test was a higher order of magnitude altogether. This Tester, perhaps, scorned the merely humanly possible. Leo tried to remember how long it had been since he'd prayed, or even believed. Never, he decided, like this. He'd never needed like this before. . . .
Ignoring the religious content, for me-now this seems to be another occurrence of the idea that the universe is not adjusted to your skill level, and Graf is realizing he needs (to satisfy his morality) to do the impossible.
Bujold sometimes appears to argue for theism, but a very peculiar form of it that doesn't really match what most people mean by the term.
In some ways she seems to be a theological consequentialist - suggesting that people are better for believing that other people have souls, or at least acting as though they believe that other people have souls, regardless of whether it's literally true.
Cordelia Vorkosigan's religious beliefs are rather... odd. This is particularly clear in one exchange from Mirror Dance:
It's important that someone celebrate our existence... People are the only mirror we have to see ourselves in. The domain of all meaning. All virtue, all evil, are contained only in people. There is none in the universe at large.
Cordelia claims to be a theist. How can that claim be reconciled with her statement above?
The Evolution of Human Sexuality by David Symons
This is arguably one of the best (or at least better) books written on human sexual selection and evolutionary psychology. It's a pioneering book, written back when such ideas were brand new, and it still holds up today, albeit some of the examples are wrong due to anthropologist misreporting (which is possibly still a common problem).
Playing to Win by David Sirlin.
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
Influence is a great book for new rationalists because it highlights a lot of cognitive biases with real-life examples derived from case studies. These examples are placed in the context of how the so-called 'compliance professionals' explout these biases to persuade people, who might otherwise be not so forthcoming.
And when you're finished, this Anki deck I made should help you retain the important parts.
Thinking Strategically by Dixit and Nalebuff. A introduction to game theory. I would have preferred more math, but the case studies are great ways to apply rational thinking to win.
I recommend any collection of essays by Stephen Jay Gould.
I know, I know. Yudowsky [hates him][Yudkowsky], John Maynard Smith [thinks everyone else hates him][Smith], Dawkins [gave him his due but disagreed][Dawkins], etc.
But, if you read his essays with an eye toward the workings of the mind, specifically how humans think when they theorize (which I consider his main topic) you will find useful things there that you would be hard pressed to find anywhere else.
The analyses I mentioned in another comment, saying they might be dangerous, are also quite useful. The specific ideas he analyzes are often hard to find even mentioned elsewhere.
What's useful about the analyses is that they are fairly detailed case studies. They weren't written just to show that the ideas were wrong, or warn of making similar mistakes, but to give a feel for how the ideas seemed to the people who came up with them.
But, if you read his essays with an eye toward the workings of the mind, specifically how humans think when they theorize (which I consider his main topic) you will find useful things there that you would be hard pressed to find anywhere else.
I disagree. His logical errors are quite common; he serves as a good example of failure, yes, but such is rarely hard to find.
And given that we believe everything we're told, it's a dangerous experience.
You definitely don't want to read Gould if you believe everything you're told. In his essays you will find many explanations and analyses of old, discredited ideas in terms of the mental models behind them and the personal and social factors that influenced their conception and reception, with little or no discussion of whether they are true.
At the sentence and paragraph level, he often uses the technique of explaining and critiquing an opinion by paraphrasing it. You have to stay on your toes just to keep track of what Gould is asserting and what he's attributing.
You may be right that his essays are dangerous to read.
But, if you want to protect yourself from exposure to logical flaws, a reading list won't do it. I suggest a blindfold and ear plugs.
But, if you want to protect yourself from exposure to logical flaws, a reading list won't do it. I suggest a blindfold and ear plugs.
I'd like to add to the list of requests:
A link to a page of Amazon reviews written by Everyman to Everyman doesn't have the same value as a comment from one of us to the rest of us.
Understanding Uncertainty, by Dennis V. Lindley.
It's a friendly and practical introduction to the bare minimum the author thinks everybody should understand of probability and decision theory as they pertain to uncertainty and reasoning under uncertainty.
Rational Choice in an Uncertain World: The Psychology of Judgment and Decision Making, by Reid Hastie & Robyn M. Dawes.
How The Mind Works, by Steven Pinker
The Moral Animal, by Robert Wright
I read this last year. It contained many of the important insights from ev. psych, especially in the area of mating strategies. It was far too wordy and long to justify its informational content. Robert Wright snagged most of the ideas from scientists, but he is a journalist, so he tends to mangle concepts and play up spurious "angles" of the "story." This was the most tedious thing I've read on the subject. Pinker is somewhat better.
The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins
Personally I'm not very impressed with this book. Maybe it's because by the time I read it I already knew too much, but I found it of little use other than to run over the groves in my mind of the most basic aspects of evolution. Maybe it's best for someone who is coming from a strong religious background and needs a starter to break the religion from their mind?
Maybe it's best for someone who is coming from a strong religious background and needs a starter to break the religion from their mind?
I doubt that their epistemology will let them accept the "fact" that life, including them, can be reduced to molecular interactions. I once exposed an extreme irrationalist / theist to evolutionary ideas, and he said to me that all evolutionists, Dawkins being the prime example, are sponsored by The Enemy -- and he meant "sponsored" in a literal sense, by paying money.
(On the other hand, I succeeded in converting one of my programmers into Evolutianity, but he was a pretty smart and rational guy in the first place, perhaps just a bit new-agey).
I think the Selfish Gene and other popular (but technically accurate) introductions to evolution are best for fence-sitters, not for strongly religious people. And I feel that there's a lot of fence-sitters among religious people these days.
I think, to really think about human rationality and irrationality, you need to be able to consider the mind from an evolutionary perspective. Is there a better introduction to evolutionary thinking out there?
I can only add it was very influential for me. I read this and The Extended Phenotype in succession and while I certainly understood evolution before reading them, I certainly understood it on a whole new level afterwards.
In my case, The Selfish Gene was absolutely essential. Its impact on me was enormous -- I spent a couple of years just to update myself after reading it. This book is the primary cause of my interest in AGI, FAI, naturalism, reductionism, science and rationality -- I definitely think it should be on the list.
Added: There may be another important effect to this book. When I was reading it, I had a strong feeling that this book is capable of utterly destroying religious and other non-naturalistic worldviews in readers who can reason more or less straight -- and that without explicitly mentioning religion or any gods at all. I never was a theist, but since religion keeps popping up here on LW, it apparently still is an important issue -- which is another reason why I support keeping the book on this list.
I fully agree with your statement. The Selfish Gene triggered my rational awakening and may have been the single most important book I've read in my entire life. I think the real significance of this book is that afterwards you really have a rather deep understanding of what life actually is and what it isn't.
Now most readers here won't need to read his book for that purpose, but I think it is a very unique book one should read eventually, even despite already being a rationalist. There most certainly are more structured books out there if one wanted to learn about evolution systematically, but it may still be the best "popular science" book out there to truly trash the notion of group selection, while it simultaneously nails the point that your genes aren't the means by which you propagate yourself, but that you are the means by which your genes propagate themselves - even at the cost of your well-being (which is of cause also just another psychological mechanism to get you into the human meat-market).
So despite being the pinnacle of evolution in terms of intelligence, we are still nothing but a disposable vehicle from the indifferent "viewpoint" of our genes. This realization obviously has the potential to rock your worldview to the very core, if you're completely oblivious to the real implications of evolution.
Despite being a citizen of Germany, where evolution is strictly part of the curriculum - evolution (and above all its implications) still weren't "properly" taught to me. This book was a goldmine of insight aiding in my intellectual development. Also it's where the term memetics was first coined.
If you're already a rationalist, it's not obligatory literature. But it sure as hell is literature you'd better digest sooner rather than later, if you're actually not that well-read regarding evolution.
A few years ago I had read most of Dawkins' other books, but had not yet read Selfish Gene.
I keep a list of books I want to read, and when they become available at the library, I go pick them up. Selfish Gene and a fiction book I had wanted to read were both became available at the same time, so I walked to the library and thought I'd flip a coin to decide which one to get (I allowed myself only one book to read for pleasure at a time when I was in school).
On the way there, I was accosted by a very aggressive evangeical Christian. He very earnestly told me about Jesus and how I needed to be saved, and demanded I explain how I thought I could explain the world without god. I made a few comments about evolution, which he shrugged off, since they didn't explain the origin of life. Eventually I told him I was wasting his time and went into the library.
The experience shook me up a bit, but then my choice of reading was clear. I had to get the Selfish Gene.
Not sure what exactly should count as appropriate, I had assumed that the votes would sort the good from the bad, but maybe people would be less inclined to downvote a book they liked, which could be a problem with a well-liked book.
Is it enough that these comments could serve as a warning, or do you suggest I delete/edit the post?
Godel, Escher, Bach, Douglas Hofstadter
Okay, I have to ask: what exactly is so great about GEB? I see it get highly praised, and Eliezer_Yudkowsky goes overboard with praise for it, but I don't understand what's so great. (Yes, the page warns the content may be obsolete, but I think he still stands by that part.)
I've read almost all of it, and while it was enjoyable reading, I don't understand how it's useful as rationalist reading, or for AI. It's just a bunch of neat observations strung together, and a long (but helpful) explanation of Goedel's Theorem. In talking about AI, all I found were ideas that seem quaint now and were bad ideas even at the time, like using semantic nets to attempt to solve visual analogy problems. (ETA: There's also no mention of Bayesian inference or anything like it.)
So, could anyone who agrees with this recommendation, please explain what is good about GEB from a rationalist or AI perspective? Be as specific as you can.
I would say that GEB gets so much praise because it was an early (perhaps the first) book published that explained some mathematical results that had become important because computers made it possible to see them in action. Aside from that, it's just a fun read and especially good for someone coming to this who doesn't have a strong mathematics background who may need an accessible push to overcome whatever has kept them from learning the math they will need to understand the technical details of the Way.
I didn't rate it, but I think it should be on any aspiring intellectual's to-be-eventually-read list. It's so flipping clever!
Metamagical Themas, Hofstadter's collection of Scientific American columns, might be slightly better for rationalist reading. It's thick, but you can pick and choose what columns to read. And there's sections on rationality and game theory that would be titillating to any beginner.
Now that I will have to agree with you on, but only because the essays are self-contained so you can just read the good stuff. Among other things, here's what's relevant to rationality and AI:
-The discussion on typography, which I found very interesting. Hofstadter makes a good case that general character recognition is AI-complete. ("The central problem of AI is 'What is "A" and what is "I"?'")
-The three-part intro to Lisp, which gives you a good and short (though IMHO too gushing) intro to what's useful about Lisp.
-A great discussion on analogies that starts from "Who is the First Lady (president's wife) of England, if the prime minister is Margaret Thatcher (a woman)?" That's useful for understanding intelligence.
There is an article that explains how perfectly rational people should play a game while realizing the other people are also perfectly rational. You can see some of it on Google Books and an overview at Wikipedia.
Wikipedia - Superrationality has an explanation of his take on the Prisoner's Dilemma.
It's a great book overall, but I did skip a few articles.
Heuristics and Biases, collection edited by Daniel Kahneman, Thomas Gilovich and Dale Griffin
It's an excellent series of papers and an interesting read, but ISTM there's not much of a take-away for practicing rationality compared to what you get in the posts here. It's written to demonstrate a mountain of experimental evidence for irrationality (and to meet academic standards), not to help readers see their own patterns of thought more clearly.
Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely
Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases, collection edited by Daniel Kahneman, Amos Tversky and Paul Slovic
In a different direction than (I would guess) most of the posts we'll see here: I Remember Townsend... by Lizbeth Marcs.
Edit: This is a strange one to recommend, here - it feels more like a reminiscence and political argument than a textbook - but I do so because it gets at the importance of the truth from an angle which isn't common among us thought nerds. It isn't an instruction manual, it's a rousing speech.
An obvious one is Richard Feynman's "Cargo Cult Science", which is published in the book Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! but can be found online pretty easily.
Edit: The reason why it's a good read is because - all due respect to Randall Munroe - science really does require a lot more than "let's try it and see". That's the basic idea which got the whole exercise started, but we've learned a lot as scientists since then, and Feynman explains a lot.
(Incidentally, the entire book - Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character) - is a fun read, although somewhat less focused on rationality as a whole.)
The Simple Truth seems like another Yudkowsky essay worthy of reading.
Edit: The primary reason to peruse it is to get an understanding of why people like the correspondence theory of truth, as well as to show off a lot of the confusions people have when they try to refute - or even support - the theory.
Good and Real: Demystifying Paradoxes from Physics to Ethics - Gary L. Drescher
There seem to be few reviews of this book, and almost no citations to it in Google Scholar. I found one review at http://www.bayesianinvestor.com/blog/index.php/2009/04/28/good-and-real/. Quoting from it:
He uses a concept which he calls a subjunctive relation, which is intermediate between a causal relation and a correlation, to explain why a choice that seems to happen after its goal has been achieved can be rational. That is the part of his argument that I find unconvincing. The subjunctive relation behaves a lot like a causal relation, and I can't figure out why it should be treated as more than a correlation unless it's equivalent to a causal relation.
I'm having trouble understanding it too. And it concerns me that neither the evidentialist camp nor the causalist camp seem to see a need to rebut or comment on Drescher's ideas.
Also, chapter 7, "Deriving Ought From Is", doesn't take into account an important difference between Newcomb's Problem and One-Shot Prisoner's Dilemma that I pointed out at http://lesswrong.com/lw/6r/newcombs_problem_vs_oneshot_prisoners_dilemma/. I think this is a fatal flaw for Drescher's argument.
A simply flabberghasting defence of non-nihilistic materialism. This is the book I know that deals with the highest proportion of topics of general interest here; as the title claims, it really does span from physics to ethics. It is an absolute delight, and a wonderful example of how far clear thinking can take one in dispelling confusion.
A simply flabberghasting defence of non-nihilistic materialism.
non-nihilistic materialism? You must be reading the ending differently from me; I found one of the most interesting parts his attempt to argue that existence is a useless concept and that other possible universes are just as real.
The reasonable interpretation; he could've said instead 'non-solipsistic materialism' or something.
But then, I'm not sure whether denying that existing, well, exists, is nihilism or solipsism (in European philosophy, nihilism is usually with regard to ethics, but in Buddhist philosophy, nihilism is often the word used to translate positions claiming that nothing whatsoever exists, not even perceptions or the atoms/'karmas' of the Hinayanists).
The word nihilism can be attached to different adjectives to explain what is being denied. Thus there is ethical nihilism, existential nihilism, epistemological nihilism, metaphysical nihilism etc. By itself it is usually taken to refer to ethical or existential nihilism (that there is no purpose to life).
I'm now in the middle of chapter 3, a really interesting demystification of Loschmidt's paradox (though it does not mention it by name), which is the question of how there can be an apparent "direction" to time in a universe with time-symmetric physics.
Like in my previous comment, I'm a bit frustrated that Drescher avoids introducing standard terminology when making his point. For example, he's using the concept of mutual information in his explanation, but he goes to great lengths to avoid using the term, even though it would make his explanation easier to follow and connect to existing literature.
Still satisfied though. I think I'll write a review and summary for LW.
I was just reading chapter 2 (which I did not get online and which I won't tell you how to get online if you private message me by clicking on my name and then the "send message" button), and I was pleasantly surprised to find that in pages 51 through 59, Drescher makes a more elaborate version of the point I made here although, frustratingly, without using the term "isomorphism".
Do you have any thoughts on Wei Dai's criticisms above?
"And it concerns me that neither the evidentialist camp nor the causalist camp seem to see a need to rebut or comment on Drescher's ideas."
Doesn't concern me in even the tiniest, most infinitesimal amount. Remind me to post on the rationalist virtue of zs'hanh at some point.
Difference between PD and one-shot Newcomb: Agree the incentives are different; agree that the logical structure of the problem is potentially more complicated because of that; suggest that the decision to expend cognitive resources searching for a way to defect could be treated as a defection or a probabilistic defection itself.
Drescher on subjunctives - I agree, this strikes me more as Drescher trying to make partial progress toward a solution than presenting something well-defined in a logical sense. I'm not sure Drescher would disagree with that.
I've spoken to Drescher at length and I think he's trying to derive way too much "ought" from TDT, to the point of thinking TDT yields morality itself.
That said, "Good and Real" is still the reductionist book for now.
Doesn't concern me in even the tiniest, most infinitesimal amount. Remind me to post on the rationalist virtue of zs'hanh at some point.
According to the provided link, zs'hanh means "contemptuous indifference to the activity of others". I'm not sure how that's supposed to apply here, since the entire subject of discussion is the activity of others (namely, Gary Drescher's writings).
If what you mean is that I should have tried to evaluate his ideas on the object level instead of depending on the opinion of others, I did say that I was unable to make sense of his subjunctive relation. Given that, it doesn't seem wrong to check if anyone else could make sense of it and be concerned that no one apparently could.
Drescher on subjunctives - I agree, this strikes me more as Drescher trying to make partial progress toward a solution than presenting something well-defined in a logical sense. I'm not sure Drescher would disagree with that.
He has told me that he now regards the decision theory approach in "Good and Real" (as well as the newer "meta-circular" approach) as inadequate and has recently been "rebooting" his thinking in order to try to find the right approach from a fresh perspective. (He seems to think that UDT is more promising but may not be the right approach either.)
You'll have to write that post and explain what heuristics you use to decide who to pay attention to. I think I'm actually relatively good at this (for example I've been following your career ever since "Staring into the Singularity" :) but I wasn't particularly impressed with Drescher until I met him in person.
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Little is known of the Maharishi's early life. He studied physics at the University of Allahābād and worked for a time in factories. He later left for the Himalayas, where for 13 years he studied under Guru Dev, the founder of TM. When Guru Dev died in 1952, the Maharishi organized a movement to spread the teachings of TM throughout the world; his first world tour took place in 1959 and brought him to the United States.
TM is a type of meditation, practiced twice a day, in which the subject mentally recites a special mantra (sacred sound or phrase). Concentration on the repeated utterances decreases mental activity, and as a result the subject is expected to reach a higher state of consciousness. The movement grew slowly until the late 1960s, when the Beatles, an English rock-music group, and numerous other celebrities began to join his following. Since then, many have left the movement, but TM remains a popular form of relaxation, especially in the United States. The principles of transcendental meditation are discussed in the Maharishi's books The Science of Being and Art of Living (1963) and Meditations of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1968).


text:
The Surly Brewing Company has broken ground on its new brewery in Minneapolis.
Surly's $20 million "destination brewery" in a former Prospect Park industrial area will include a bar, beer garden and event center.
Tuesday's groundbreaking comes more than two years after Gov. Mark Dayton signed a bill giving Minnesota brewers the right to sell beer where they make it.
The bill was prompted by Surly's plans to expand the company's brewery in Brooklyn Center. But as Surly searched a site for its destination brewery, dozens of other breweries around Minnesota opened their own taprooms.
Clint Roberts, executive director of the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild, told Minnesota Public Radio News that taprooms helped those small breweries gain a foothold in the state and spurred a thriving new industry of regional and neighborhood craft breweries.


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I have come seeking help with noise in my fairly new PC. It is the strangest thing as it does not bother me all the time. I hear a high pitch noise coming from my PC. After opening the case and getting real close to each fan, I am beginning to think its my CPU fan. I can also be completely wrong so please bear with me.
I have taken out my GTX 660 and the noise persists. I have taken out the enermax case fan and it still persists. Getting real close to the Seasonic PSU fan, I don't really hear the same noise. Also have disabled dvd-rom and hear the same thing.
If I listen to the side of the case (back of the motherboard) I hear it. I don't mind dull noise, but its the high pitch wine that gets me. The weird thing is I don't hear it if I am sitting at different positions in my chair. Also, it seems to happen at different times. Sometimes after I have used the PC a while, other times fairly soon after boot up.
Could it be my stock Intel 3570k cpu fan? Perhaps the case is at fault? It is an old model (brand new) Enermax.
Motherboard is MSI Z77A-GD55 and PSU is SeaSonic M12II 620 Bronze 620W
Last edited by dabomb2891 on Thu Apr 18, 2013 8:35 pm
PWM'ing your CPU fan to a slower speed, does it affect the noise?
High pitch noise may be coils on the PSU or motherboard...
I see.
Oh man. If its the PSU or motherboard, anything I can do instead of excahnging them?
What is PWM and how do I do that the cpu fan?
Check your motherboard fan monitoring tools, they may include fan speed control for the CPU fan-- usually via PWM or voltage. Throttle the CPU fan back, see if that helps.
If not, then it might be the PSU...
Ok, will do tonight and report back. Hopefully its not the PSU!
I would just pull the fan connector and hear what happens or not. Besides the buffer capacity for heat the heatsink has, Intel CPUs had great thermal protection for a long time. Just make sure there's no alarm configured in the BIOS that starts beeping wildly when there's no signal from the CPU fan anymore.
If it is really high pitched, I would suspect either PSU or MB, though. Some laptops do the same and if I lay in my bed at night with mine, I can estimate CPU load based on the whine.
Fixing that without replacing parts is not trivial, though, and will almost certainly need you to void your warranty.
Tried to look around for that setting, but did not see it. Yesterday did not really hear the whine. I am starting to wonder if I am crazy.
I will keep it going as long as I can before deciding to swap out parts.
sometimes the setting for PWM is kinda buried in the BIOS. in mine, it is under hardware management. in others i have seen it under power management. the easiest way to tell if your fan is PWM is to just pull the connector. 4 pinholes = PWM, 3 pinholes = not PWM. i'm not sure if this is what is happening, but what might be the reason for hearing it sometimes and not hearing it sometimes is that your cpu fan is PWM, which means as the CPU gets hotter the fan ramps up to a higher RPM, which could possibly produce the noise that was not audible at the lower RPM. also, i don't know how old your build is, but i just put together a new box a couple of weeks ago and if i remember correctly, the stock fan was NOT PWM.
i'm not sure if you have eliminated the CPU fan, but from what you have written, it seems the most likely suspect. it could be the case in terms of just how the air flows so you might want to clean up your cabling, to allow for larger spaces for the air to flow.
a quick way to check to see if it's your CPU fan that that requires no taking things apart or pulling plugs is to just stop the fan with your finger and see if the noise stops then.
of course, you could just be going crazy.
I have decided to stop being lazy and do some swaps to find out. I will probably swap a PSU this weekend and run it to see if its different. It should not take long to figure out if the sound disappears.
I am thinking that the sound intensifies after more usage, but could be wrong. We shall see.
Or, it could just be that this case is not a great noise dampener.
Hattori HANZo wrote:
I would just pull the fan connector and hear what happens or not.
Excellent advice. I have been known to just stick fingers in my fans one by one to see which is contributing most to noise. Not those Delta monster fans obviously...
@ aeberbach
I don't do it because of the stress for the bearings. Yes, not because of my fingers
If you tried on a 6000rpm Delta, you'd probably lose an entire limb.
Ok, here we go.
Pulled the plug on the CPU fan and booted up the machine. It was the silence I was looking for!
I guess I got use to the quietness of the Core2 Intel stock fan or my previous case drowned out the noise better.
Looking for a quiet CPU fan now. What are your suggestions?
Coolermaster Hyper212 Plus or Hyper 212 Evo is the budget one of choice at the moment. If you can get a Thermalright TRUE 120 or TRUE 140 for similar in price that might be worth it too, but the Hyper 212 Plus goes for as little as $20 after rebate...
I'd hazard a guess and say you got a lemon. I haven't had problems with Intel stock fans for years. They were always pretty silent and never exhibited any noise not from the airflow (or the bearings when they died).
The other option is that the high pitched whine was not from your fan, but the motherboard. The fan should be PWM controlled and I'd guess the PWM frequency is somewhere in the "hand full of kHz" range.
I'd put an oscilloscope in parallel and compare the PWM frequency with the frequencies in an audio recording with the mic being next to the fan in the running computer. Or I would extend the fan cable and put the fan in a cardboard box with some cloth around and try to hear if the whine still comes from the mobo for less fun.
Of course just ordering another fan and see if it fixes it or not is also an option, but I consider that boring.
I just installed the Hyper 212 Evo last night in the build I am working on. Its pretty easy and there is a good video on YouTube that will walk you through it. I have never installed a heatsink/fan before, so if I think its pretty easy it has to be.
Perhaps my descriptions are a bit off, but it turns into a higher pitch sound than the usual deep fan noise.
So after realizing that the noise I did not like comes from only CPU fan alone, I did more googling on my mobo and found out how to turn down the fan. It worked well and I do not hear it as often if barely. I have decided to stick with that for now.
Saw lots of recommendations for the 212 evo and I think I may switch to that somewhere down the line. I know it definitely keeps things cooler, but is it a lot quieter?
I don't think I got a bad fan, it could just be the mobo settings or I am simply not use to the noise of the new CPU fan with a different case.
Thanks for helping me narrowing it down and look forward to any more thoughts.
Even if you get the 212 (which I have) you're still probably going to need a fan to clip to the heatsink to vent hot air when your CPU is under load. If I remember correctly the 212 comes with a Coolermaster fan that is pretty quiet. But I swapped it with a Nexus fan and got a quieter system overall. There are lots of fans out there that are super quiet and definitely quieter than the stock fans. My own preference is Nexus as all three Nexus fans that I've owned have performed very well. I have my settings so that the fan only goes at 12.5% when the CPU temp is under 45 and for the most part, the fan is near silent. When I'm starcrafting, it will speed up and make some noise, but when I'm gaming, I usually have headphones on anyways so it's not an issue for me. I'm sure everyone else has good suggestions for brands, but I really like Nexus.
Thanks for the advice!
Yes, from my own research, it seems like I will need another fan even if I get the 212. So far, the noise levels are much better.
It is true that most of the time my headphones are on for gaming and watching shows, but I don't put the ear cups just past my ears on my cheek. Before I made the tweak, it would get noisier and extremely annoying during quiet dialog.


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Samsung 19"
Crutchfield Customer Review (What's this?)
We purchased this model as part of a kitchen remodel. Fits perfectly onto wall space. The picture quality is sharp. Finding the right sound setting takes some effort. Wished the audio controls were on a "bar" to allow more precise mix of tone.
Pros: Size and price point
Cons: Audio


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ACORN's back (in the spotlight) and its better than ever…Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
We knew that it was too good to be true that we've gone through a few ACORN-less weeks. We didn't hold our breath. Ostensibly, within the next 24 hours, the GOP will be back on the hunt for ACORN's blood and the left will be dismissive of this "community group's" abilities to harm the 2010 Census. Nowadays, simply uttering the word ACORN creates the extreme partisanship that is detrimental to obtaining the main goal of the 2010 Census: Obtaining an accurate count.
ACORN has been indicted in Nevada, so here we go again…Here's the scoop from the Associated Press:
Nevada charges ACORN illegally paid to sign voters
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nevada authorities filed criminal charges Monday against the political advocacy group ACORN and two former employees, alleging they illegally paid canvassers to sign up new voters during last year's presidential campaign.
ACORN denied the charges and said it would defend itself in court.
Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto said the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now had a handbook and policies requiring employees in Las Vegas to sign up 20 new voters per day to keep their $8- to $9-per-hour jobs.
Canvassers who turned in 21 new voter registrations earned a "blackjack" bonus of $5 per shift, Masto added. Those who didn't meet the minimum were fired.
"By structuring employment and compensation around a quota system, ACORN facilitated voter registration fraud," Masto said. She accused ACORN executives of hiding behind and blaming employees, and vowed to hold the national nonprofit corporation accountable for training manuals that she said "clearly detail, condone and … require illegal acts."
Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller emphasized the case involved "registration fraud, not voter fraud," and insisted that no voters in Nevada were paid for votes and no unqualified voters were allowed to cast ballots.
Law enforcement agencies in about a dozen states investigated fake voter registration cards submitted by ACORN during the 2008 presidential election campaign, but Nevada is the first to bring charges against the organization, ACORN officials said.
ACORN has said the bogus cards listing such names as "Mickey Mouse" and "Donald Duck" represented less than 1 percent of the 1.3 million collected nationally and were completed by lazy workers trying to get out of canvassing neighborhoods. The organization has said it notified election officials whenever such bogus registrations were suspected.
ACORN spokesman Scott Levenson denied the Nevada allegations on behalf of ACORN, which works to get low-income people to vote and lists offices in 41 states and the District of Columbia. He blamed former rogue employees for the alleged wrongdoing.
"Our policy all along has been to pay workers at an hourly rate and to not pay employees based on any bonus or incentive program," he said. "When it was discovered that an employee was offering bonuses linked to superior performance, that employee was ordered to stop immediately."
Levenson said the two former ACORN organizers named in Monday's criminal complaint — Christopher Howell Edwards and Amy Adele Busefink — no longer work for ACORN and would not be represented by the organization.
Edwards, 33, of Gilroy, Calif., and Busefink, 26, of Seminole, Fla., could not immediately be reached for comment.
Masto identified Edwards as the ACORN Las Vegas office field director in 2008, and said timesheets indicate that ACORN corporate officers were aware of the "blackjack" bonus program and failed to stop it. The attorney general said Busefink was ACORN's deputy regional director.
The complaint filed in Las Vegas Justice Court accuses ACORN and Edwards each of 13 counts of compensation for registration of voters, and Busefink of 13 counts of principle to the crime of compensation for registration of voters. Each charge carries the possibility of probation or less than 1 year in jail, Masto said.
A court hearing was scheduled June 3 in Las Vegas, prosecutor Conrad Hafen said.


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It is funny how we can sometimes hear things that aren't actually said and assume things that aren't actually true. The discussion on the Pope County Quorum Court regarding a millage increase has been interesting since a new court was seated in January.
Ironically, by merely requesting a vote on the issue of a millage, people automatically assume you support it — not so! So let me set the record straight, unless otherwise completely convinced — I do not support a millage increase, but rather budget cuts.
I have not had a single person tell me they are in favor of a millage increase. Before the Quorum Court can start any serious discussions on the budget, we must know what we have to work with in regards to revenues.
Sales tax revenues are down only slightly as of last month, which is a good thing, but unfortunately, budgets seem to continue to grow. I understand we need to provide services but we can only fund what we can afford.
A recent article by The Courier hopefully spelled out how our financial situation is in the county. Using sales tax as your primary source of income was a good thing when the economy was thriving. Now it is not, and it has become necessary to look at our county finances with a fine tooth comb.
We do have a Surplus Investment Fund that was created years ago for rainy days with roughly a $1 million balance. It was once a $2 million balance. There are those who want to fill every financial hole with this money. I do not! Using one-time money to fund recurring items is a bad precedent. It would be like putting a Band-Aid on a huge hemorrhaging wound. We need to fix the problem, not treat the symptoms.
The Court is going to have to make some tough decisions in the near future, since as of June 25, with a roughly $20 million budget, we have about $90,000 in General to run the county for the next six months. If Pope County had a disaster, like another major tornado for example, it could, and probably would, very easily wipe out any reserve we might have put back.
We were fortunate over the last few years to be able to put money back into the Surplus Investment Fund! Now we are not in the financial position to do that again.
Russellville will vote Sept. 10 on continuing a 1-cent sales tax, and remember that an additional 1⁄2 cent sales tax for roads starts being collected Monday. Dover is voting on a millage increase for new buildings, and I hear rumors Russellville may ask for another millage increase. Everyone seems to continue to want more and can never get enough, especially government!
I am concerned about our future health care costs and other potential unknown increases in costs for the next year. We must all understand that the county has two choices, just as you do in your family life and in your business. We can cut expenses or raise revenues (taxes).
In my business and in my home, when the revenues go down, I have to adjust and my expenses have to go down with them. This means I may only get what I need instead of everything I want.
Until I am otherwise completely convinced that we have made all possible cuts in our budget and will maintain those cuts, even if it means fewer services, I will not and do not support a millage increase.
I know this is contrary to what you may have assumed or understood about my position on a millage increase, but that is where I stand. The Court is looking for other possible revenues, including PILT (Payment In Lieu of Taxes) funds which would better stabilize the balance in General.
I believe, as one of the other Justices has stated, that given the choice, Pope County taxpayers would demand that we use these funds first, which are actually County General money anyway, than increase the millage or sales tax.
If you have an opinion on a millage increase or sales tax increase and would like to share that with me or just talk, please feel free to call me at (479) 280-1662. I would like to hear from you!


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hi, i would like to report junk/phishing emails, but i cant find any where in zone lab OR outlook express to do this.
does anybody have any ideas.
currently runningOP :- win xp home editionOE
:- ver 2002 SP3ZA
:- 4.5
Operating System:Windows XP Home Edition
Product Name:ZoneAlarm Pro
Software Version:


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The House delayed consideration of the Senate-approved bill on Wednesday after some members said they are concerned the measure would be an unfunded mandate for schools. The bill would require schools to send designated employees to the state's Criminal Justice Institute for training. It would also require schools to annually conduct active shooter drills on their campuses.
Republican Sen. Missy Irvin sponsored the bill and said the training would cost about $650,000 and would only be required if the Legislature authorized the funding. She said she's confident lawmakers could find the money given the state's projected $300 million surplus.


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According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), U.S. total crude oil production averaged 6.4 million barrels per day in 2012, an increase of 0.8 million from the previous year. Projected domestic crude oil production will increase to 7.3 million barrels per day this year and 7.9 million barrels per day in 2014, which would mark the highest annual average level of domestic production since 1998.
The railroads have been playing an increasing important role in moving all this "black gold," which requires lots of equipment. A close look at freight car building metrics shows that the carbuilders with tank cars ("the most diverse of all freight car designs and the most challenging to design and build," according to one manufacturer) in their portfolios—Greenbrier, Trinity, Union Tank Car, American Railcar Industries—have more than enough work to keep production lines humming.
As of late April, tank cars continued to dominate the freight car building market, accounting for 81% of total orders in the first quarter of this year—19,267 cars out of 23,901, according to the Railway Supply Institute's American Railway Car Institute (ARCI) Committee. "We've never seen numbers like this before," says RSI Executive Director Tom Simpson.
Overall, 11,952 cars of all types were delivered in the first quarter, and the backlog of cars ordered but undelivered swelled to 71,704—a figure no doubt skewed by the run on tank cars. "Based on current production run rates of approximately 24,400 per year, we estimate the industry has 2.5 years of tank backlog visibility, suggesting the OEMs are quoting delivery times into 2015," KeyBanc Capital Markets analysts Steve Barger and Tejas Patel note. By contrast, the non-tank-car backlog stands at 10,411, "which at current production run rates is less than two quarters of production visibility, although from a total capacity standpoint, it is less than one quarter's worth of production."
The KeyBanc analysts stress that "activity remains characterized by an extreme weighting toward tank cars, which we think is reflective of both the explosive growth in shale oil production and the generally weak volume environment for other commodity types. Specific to tank cars, 19,267 orders is highest number since ARCI started to provide data by car type in first-quarter 2007, and it exceeded the recent peak of 16,318 in first-quarter 2011. Over the past nine quarters, tank car orders have averaged 9,795 per quarter vs. the non-tank average of 9,030."
Putting these orders into a fleet-makeup context shows just how extreme the weighting toward tank cars is: Tank cars account for roughly 20% of the industry wide railcar fleet. All other car types combined account for 80% of the fleet.
Crude oil and gas shale development is behind the tank car building boom, a point not lost on analysts. A recent Wall Street Transcript headline declared that oil and gas shale will benefit western railroads, and their shareholders, significantly. Union Pacific, says one analyst, "has the ability to grow earnings per share 15% a year going forward," based on crude oil and gas shale business growth.
Said another analyst: "One good thing about the western part of the U.S. is that it's growing very fast thanks to oil and gas shale development. Volume should continue to go up. We also believe that Union Pacific and BNSF have a very good cost structure, and they have been able to increase the price they charge for their volume. If you look at the past five years, UP increased its pricing by about 5% a year, which is very good in this low-inflation environment. We also think UP is very shareholder-conscious: UP repurchased close to $6 billion of shares in the last few years. If you combine the volume increases, margin improvements, and the pricing gains with returning money to shareholders, we think UP can grow earnings per share at about 12% to 15% a year going forward."
Economic Planning Associates, in its most recent freight car building report, is also bullish on tank cars: "The most dynamic element in the long-term railcar environment will be tank cars to transport ever increasing volumes of oil and petroleum products. Though there was an expansion in demand for a variety of covered hoppers, mill gondolas, and Class F flat cars in the fourth quarter of 2012, tank cars remain the dominant force in overall equipment demand. In the second quarter of last year, tank cars accounted for 83.5% of total orders. Even with improvements among a variety of other railcars, tank car orders comprised 58.3% of total orders in the third quarter and 61.8% of the orders in the fourth quarter. It is quite obvious that the growth in tank car demand is centered in the movement of crude oil, particularly from the Bakken Shale Formation in the Dakotas."
The market beyond tank cars
Overall, EPA expects total car orders this year to top off just above 50,000, down from 2012's 58,900, then rebound strongly in 2014 and experience steady growth through 2018. "While we are pleasantly surprised by the modest expansion in demand for other car types, we remain cautious," EPA said. "We are concerned about the underwhelming growth of the economy as manufacturers, oil and gas producers, and coal companies struggle with the increasing number of government regulations. GDP growth slipped in the fourth quarter. Hopefully, our economy will embark on a stronger path of growth that will improve railroad traffic, revenue, and investments, leading to continued growth in railcar demand.
"Assuming no further jolts to our economy, we look for a stabilization in demand for most car types with the exceptions of small-cube covered hoppers and coal cars. After strong deliveries in 2011 and the first half of 2012, demand for these hoppers weakened considerably in the second half. As a result, our estimate of an easing in assemblies of small-cube equipment from 13,781 units last year to 5,000 units in 2013, as well as the pronounced weakening in coal car demand, will serve to drop total railcar deliveries from 58,900 cars last year to 50,500 cars in 2013."
"Replacement pressures and technological advances as well as legislative measures will play a role in promoting the demand for a variety of railcars," EPA said. "Construction activities are expected to continue to advance, which should support movements of aggregates and structural steel products. Continued expansion in demand for petroleum products, chemicals, and food and beverages will prop up the haulings of liquid products, in addition to the demand for tank cars. Stricter air emission standards will promote use of lower sulphur western coal, which should lead to limited replacements of older steel bodied coal cars. At the same time, eastern coal fleet requirements will stimulate some demand for technologically advanced steel and hybrid coal cars. Growing worldwide nutritional needs and expanding exports will pressure the current grain service cars as we proceed through the longer term while long neglected segments such as equipment to haul waste, aggregates, and limestone show signs of revival."