Blurt!Commonplace Book

The Conversation

“For years, many linguists have believed that learning language is impossible without a built-in grammar template. The new AI models … demonstrate that the ability to produce grammatical language can be learned from linguistic experience alone.”

posted Nov. 4, 2022, 8:00pm

“[I]t was common for deepfake audio to result in vocal tracts with the same relative diameter and consistency as a drinking straw, in contrast to human vocal tracts, which are much wider and more variable in shape.”

posted Oct. 14, 2022, 8:00pm

“It still isn’t clear whether people experience infantile amnesia because we can’t form autobiographical memories, or whether we just have no way to retrieve them. No one knows for sure what’s going on, but scientists have a few guesses.”

posted Sep. 23, 2022, 8:00pm

“When GM began selling leaded gasoline, public health experts questioned its decision. One called lead a serious menace to public health, and another called concentrated tetraethyl lead a ‘malicious and creeping’ poison. General Motors and Standard Oil waved the warnings aside until disaster struck in October 1924.”

posted Aug. 31, 2022, 8:00pm