35 replies to this topic

[xanadu]

The question seems to be should the government be allowed to regulate every aspect of our lives according to some social theory or other.

[doug123]

Jay: tell me more about this game "Go." I used to play computer games pretty obsessively; a couple of years ago...they are really a thrill is you have a powerful 3d graphic card. I had an ATI 9800 pro (overclocked!) back in '04...I never got into Half Life or Half Life 2 -- like every other computer dork -- modern 3d graphics are amazing and so realistic it isn't even funny; I liked to play some sim-racing games. If Go is a thrill, I should check it out -- it isn't a first person shooter is it? I hate those games! I tried Halo -- but after getting murdered like 10 times on the first or second level it was too traumatic to continue at all. My new "box" has a new Athlon 64 X2, a gigabyte of dual channel DDR 400, and an ATI X1300Pro ( http://www.pc365.com.../x1300pro_3.jpg ), a decent sound card...the box was dirt cheap because I went AMD; of course I got an Athlon 64 -- as Windows will (bar any serious changes in their road map) be releasing Vista in the beginning of 2007 -- which should be 64-bit capable. Vista will still run a 32 bit OS, but with from what I read with a serious hit in performance. Vista will bring a major change to the basic Windows interface. From what I read, there will be several different versions of Vista, like six or seven...seriously. And the difference will be visually distinguishable (unlike XP Home and Professional) -- and without a powerful 3d graphics card and CPU + RAM -- you are "asked out."

When you start talking about computers taking over, that kind of scares me. I read Bill Joy's essay (forgot what it was called or when it was written) that basically predicts that as soon as computers take over, that will be the end of Mankind. Is this correct?

Anyone who has not seem the Animatrix, you should check this out. This is what could happen if computers take over...man...the second renaissance beginning is very psychedelic....

http://www.intothema...frames_sr1.html

Oh, and Jay: I have been using the em dash, not a double minus -- (which would really equal a plus?) [lol]

Edit: fixed '02 to '04.

Edited by nootropikamil, 02 May 2006 - 08:14 AM.

[zoolander]

A recent study with rats

Relationship of brain tryptophan and serotonin in improving cognitive performance in rats.

Khaliq S, Haider S, Ahmed SP, Perveen T, Haleem DJ.

Department of Biochemistry, Neurochemistry and Biochemical Neuropharmacology Research Unit, University of Karachi, Karachi-75270, Pakistan.

Brain function can be affected by the availability of dietary precursors of neurotransmitters. The diet induced increase in tryptophan (TRP) availability has been shown to increase brain serotonin synthesis and various related behaviors. Evidence shows that TRP and serotonin (5HT; 5 Hydroxytryptamine) play a significant role in memory function. Enhanced brain serotonin activity has been shown to improve cognitive performance in animals and human whereas decreasing brain 5HT levels by acute TRP depletion has been shown to impair cognition. A number of methods have been used for the assessment of memory in animals. In the present study, the radial arm maze and the passive avoidance was used for the assessment of memory in rats following long-term TRP administration. TRP at doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg body weight was orally administered for 6 weeks. The present study shows a significant improvement in memory of rats following both doses of tryptophan. Plasma TRP, brain TRP, 5HT and 5 hydroxy indol acetic acid (5HIAA) levels were increased significantly following administration of TRP. The results of the present study suggest that increase in brain 5HT metabolism following long term TRP administration may be involved in enhancement of memory.

PMID: 16632446 [PubMed - in process]

A bit of information related to the test. Here is a picture a a radial arm maze



They are used primarily to measure spatial learning and memory. In most situations, a single food pellet is placed at the end of each arm. A rat is placed on the central platform. The rat visits each arm and eats the pellet. To successfully complete the maze, the rat must go down each arm only once. He must use short-term memory and spatial cues to remember which arms he's already visited. If a rat goes down an arm twice, this counts as an error. The rat's performance on the maze is considered a test of short-term memory. Short-term memory can then be tested in different rats or under different treatment conditions. In the case above, long-term tryptophan administration.

Personally, I would like to read the above paper in full before making my own conclusion but I cannot get a hold of it. The paper was printed in the Pakistan journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Does anyone here have access?

EDIT: I have done a test like this myself.

pre treatment: Subject (me) went to the fridge 15 times in one hour to see what was in it. Subject returned to couch each time without any food.

post treatment with 100mg 5-HTP: subject went to fridge to see what was in it. Subject returned to couch and fell asleep shortly thereafter as a result of taking 5-HTP and did not return to fridge

[tung]

[doug123]

UCSD can't access it. Not through our libraries. My school gives us the ability to log in to the entire UC library backbone through a proxy server to gain access to pretty much everything currently available...this might be too new.

Dude, you know what's cool? My school library is the Geisel -- named after Dr. Seuss.

[jaydfox]

Oh, and Jay: I have been using the em dash, not a double minus -- (which would really equal a plus?)

Hmm, I think we were discussing dashes in a different thread. Anyway, I had understood that this was the situation (em dashes, not double minuses). I don't know how to type a true em dash, so I use the html code: — It will convert automatically in just about any browser.

Jay: tell me more about this game "Go." I used to play computer games pretty obsessively; a couple of years ago...they are really a thrill is you have a powerful 3d graphic card. I had an ...

Um, Go isn't quite that type of game. It's a board game of deep and complex strategy (orders of magnitude more complex and deep than chess), yet the rules are amazingly simple. Here's a good page where I learned the rules:
http://playgo.to/interactive/

Nothing fancy needed, just Java activated in your browser.

As for its complexity, the best Go-playing computer programs in the world are about as good as an amateur who has played for perhaps a year. It'll probably be at least another decade before a computer program can best the world champions, and possibly as long as two decades. Chess, on the other hand, basically fell to the computers a little less than a decade ago.