Category: Web/Tech

Arbitrage

by  Tyler Cowen in

“Marijuana domain name values will fly off the charts once Prop 19 passes,” said Mr. Faler, 49. “I’m hoping to make enough money to buy a condo in Morocco. That’s how big it’s going to be.”

Mr. Faler, who lives about 90 miles southeast of Los Angeles in Menifee, Calif., is poised to enter the pets and marijuana market by registering domains like potfordogs.com and marijuanadogbone.com because “dogs get cancer too” he says.

Here is more, interesting throughout.  The owner of marijuana.com has been turning down offers for $2 million.

Chat with a computer, about a free market economy

by  Tyler Cowen in

John – Are you into sports.
[ Af:0 At:10 Sp:0] Sports is not my cup of tea. I prefer intellectual challenges like Go.
John – Who's the world Go champion.
[ Af:0 At:10 Sp:0] Sorry. I can't help you. A celebrity of some sort?
John – Do you play chess?
[ Af:0 At:10 Sp:0] I don't play any games except Go.
John – Can we play Go on here?
[ Af:0 At:10 Sp:0] About playing… Does it make sense to you that we reward athletes more than scientists?
John – Television coverage makes that possible.
[ Af:0 At:10 Sp:0] It's a free market economy. And people value entertainment more than serious things like science and education.
John – And your point is?

One judge thought that "Suzette" was more human than a competing human decoy, but I would have been suspicious of the line about a "free market economy."  There is more here, including more of the dialogue, and also here.  

I thank Michelle Dawson for the pointer; here is my paper with Michelle on the Turing test.

Parentheticals to ponder

by  Tyler Cowen in

Geoffrey Johnson, who gave a speech that attempted to debunk any ideas that a machine could have emotions or self-consciousness and could, therefore, be said to think in a human way (Johnson was a pioneer of the frontal lobotomy).

That is from Jane Smiley's new and worthwhile The Man Who Invented the Computer, The Biography of John Atanasoff, Digital Pioneer.  My favorite part of the book was the discussion of Konrad Zuse, who deserves his own popular biography.