torstein's comments

torstein | 13 years ago | on: Russia in color, a century ago

The cameras of the time required longer exposure times, so peoples expressions are (most often) natural. (Try genuinly smiling for a minute.)

torstein | 15 years ago | on: On Chomsky and the Two Cultures of Statistical Learning

>He doesn't care how the tides work, tell him why they work. Why is the moon at the right distance to provide a gentle tide, and exert a stabilizing effect on earth's axis of rotation, thus protecting life here? Why does gravity work the way it does? Why does anything at all exist rather than not exist? O'Reilly is correct that these questions can only be addressed by mythmaking, religion or philosophy, not by science.

Science doesn't really aim to answer the 'why'-questions, but rather the 'how'-questions. The scientific method boils down to falsifying hypothesis, and it's a lot easier with 'how does the tide work?' than 'why does the tide work (the way it does)?'.

Science can't say anything about 'Why does anything at all exist rather than not exist?', because there is no way to test any of the answers. So it's left to mythology, religion or philosophy to answer.

torstein | 15 years ago | on: Google Correlate

Anyone care to explain why almost every computer related queries have declined since 2004?

Is it as simple as more "normal" people use the internet?

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