Science and Sci-Fi interviews

Artificial Intelligence academic – “How Smart Machines Think” (MIT Press, 2018) – Sean Gerrish interview

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Sean Gerrish is a software engineer and has worked as an engineer for Teza Technologies and as an engineering manager for machine learning and data science teams at Google. We spoke about his latest book on machine learning. Sean’s comments in this interview reflect his views and not necessarily those of his employers.

0:41 – Sean talks about how he got into studying machine learning.

2:26 – Sean talks about the book and how it’s broken down. He touches on self-driving cars, IBM’s Watson, and machines that can play Atari games and so on.

4:31 – Sean talks about the most difficult concepts for people to understand.

6:51 – Sean talks about what intelligence in machines is.

12:01 – Sean talks about machine learning and the future of robots that can think for themselves.

15:39 – Sean talks about the large amount of labor needed to create machines that learn.

18:53 – Sean talks about AI and the marketplace.

24:01 – Sean talks about how he did the research for the book.

28:46 – Sean talks about a problem he grappled with in the research.

32:02 – The book has a sci-fi related Easter egg.

39:16 – Sean can be found on twitter @seannyg, and he writes frequently on Quora.

For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

Guests: Sean Gerrish

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: Netflix, Watson, Atari, machine learning, intelligent machines, robots, bladerunner

 

Sci-fi literature – Aisha Matthews interview

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Aisha Matthews is studying for her PhD in science fiction literature, specifically Afrofuturism. She also plans the literature track at the Museum of Science Fiction’s Escape Velocity convention. I interviewed her about her studies, goals and interests.

1:29 – Aisha talks about her science fiction and literature studies and talks about Escape Velocity’s literature track. Harry Potter was her first big interest in speculative fiction.

3:08 – She started in pre-med studies but gravitated. She got into public relations after college and then went back and got her masters.

4:34 – Aisha talks about how science fiction allows people to see new realities.

6:19 – Aisha talks about Black Panther and Afrofuturism.   Escape Velocity will have a panel on it. The movie shows some divide between African and African-Americans.

8:46 – Afrofuturism provides alternative realities to Western thought. They try to look at pluralistic experiences.

10:46 – Afrofuturism explores invaders from outer space tropes for example.

13:45 – Afrofuturism existed before the name was even developed. Octavia Butler is probably the first and best author to start with to get into Afrofuturism.

18:00 – Aisha talks about kids getting into science and science fiction. She talks about how science fiction can have a greater effect on interest in engineering and science.

21:10 – Aisha talks about how comic books can inspire. Escape Velocity tries to bridge the gap between pop culture and science.

23:05 – Aisha talks about video game story telling and Afrofuturism. The violence in video games kind of make it difficult to apply Afrofuturism.

28:03 – Aisha talks about how much science people need to know to enjoy or study science fiction.

31:27 – They’ll be talking about Childish Gambino at Escape Velocity too.

32:48 – Her grand vision is to further the value of science fiction to have a funded study program in science fiction literature.

34:41 – The museum site is museumofsciencefiction.org. Escape Velocity can be found at Escapevelocity.events.

 

Links

http://octaviabutler.org/

http://www.museumofsciencefiction.org/

https://escapevelocity.events/

 

For more “Creating Sci-Fi and Fantasy – An Inside Look” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

 

Guests: Aisha Matthews

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: science fiction, literature, afrofuturism, science, engineering, octavia butler, black panther, escape velocity

Astronomy education – Dr. Inge Heyer interview

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Dr. Inge Heyer has been involved with astronomy for over 30 years as a researcher and educator. She spoke to me at Far Point 2018 about what it takes to teach astronomy. (Photo provided by Dr. Heyer)

1:24 – Dr. Heyer highlights the importance of imagination in explaining concepts to students.

3:04 – Her favorite part of teaching astronomy is when people get their hands on models or something they can really see to learn better. There are always new tools to teach with.

7:09 – She has a rule of no tech in her class. Students put their phones in a class box for extra credit. It means they’re interacting more with students when they do it. Participation in class has increased using this method.

8:24 – Star Trek was her big science fiction inspiration. She also read German sci-fi. Hans Dominik is one. Karl May was another inspiration but he wrote about traveling around the world.

12:53 – She felt like she was certainly an astronomer in college when she started collecting actual data in an observatory.

13:54- Astronomy can teach us about life on Earth. People are made from the stuff that stars are made from.

15:54 – She also likes Babylon 5, Stargate, NCIS and other non science fiction type entertainment.

17:54 – She’s worked on Hubble and also with the British Observatory.

20:16 – Dr. Hyer discusses what astronomy is like in various countries around the world. Countries get together to build observations together and establish consortiums.

22:09 – There are also science fiction fans everywhere.

23:59 – She appreciates that science fiction isn’t supposed to teach people. However, she doesn’t like when they get current science wrong.

27:31 – Science fiction fans are natural communicators. They all talk to each other about the information they learn.

29:24 – She ran an experiment to see the connection between science fiction interest and science interest. She found a third factor between them. Both groups are early literates. Everyone in the group she talked to was reading by age six and many were writing stories by age eight.

31:43 – People can go to www.ingeheyer.com for more information. People should also attend Shore Leave in July 6-8. The convention site is http://www.shore-leave.com/

 

Links

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Dominik_(writer)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_May

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope

http://www.ingeheyer.com/

https://www.shore-leave.com/

 

For more “Creating Sci-Fi and Fantasy – An Inside Look” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

 

Guests: Dr. Inge Heyer

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: science fiction, sci-fi, star trek, shore leave, travel, astronomy, telescopes, education, science