Smart Machines - Above the Treeline

176 Pages·2013·59.67 MB·English

Smart Machines
IBM’s Watson and the Era
of Cognitive Computing
John E. KElly III and StEvE hamm
how wIll computErS ShapE buSInESS,
thE Economy, and our lIvES In thE futurE?
We are crossing a new frontier in the evolution
of computing: the era of cognitive systems. The
victory of IBM’s Watson on the television quiz
show Jeopardy! signaled the advent of this new era,
revealing how scientists and engineers at IBM and
elsewhere are pushing the boundaries of science
and technology to create machines that sense, learn,
reason, and interact with people in new ways.
In Smart Machines, John E. Kelly III, director of
IBM Research, and Steve Hamm, a writer at IBM
and a former business and technology journalist, “Ibm's watson is one of the
introduce the fascinating world of “cognitive systems” most important technological
to general audiences and provide a window into the breakthroughs in decades, and this
future of computing. Cognitive systems promise to
is the go-to book for understanding
penetrate complexity and assist people and orga-
what this new technology is all about
nizations in better decision making. They can help
and how it will change your life.”
doctors better diagnose and treat patients, augment
the ways we see, anticipate major weather events, —Tyler cowen, author of Average Is Over:
and contribute to smarter urban planning. Kelly and Powering America Beyond the Age of the
Hamm describe this technology inside and out and Great Stagnation
illuminate the difficulty of harnessing and under-
“this provides an understanding of
standing “big data,” one of the major computing
challenges facing technicians in the coming decades. the immense possibilities offered
Their book will inspire governments, academics, and by the intelligent collaboration of
the global tech industry to work together to power man and machine; readers can then
this exciting wave in innovation.
tackle the difficult yet essential
John E. KElly III is senior vice president task of ensuring these new cognitive
and director of IBM Research and helps guide
technologies will, in practice, be
IBM’s overall technical strategy.
devoted to bettering our lives.”
—Ralph Gomory, Stern School of business
StEvE hamm is a writer for IBM. Formerly $22.95t / £15.95 cloth 978-0-231-16856-4
a senior writer at BusinessWeek magazine, $21.99 / £15.00 ebook 978-0-231-53727-8
he is the author of Bangalore Tiger and avaIlablE now  160 pages
The Race for Perfect. buSineSS / TechnoloG y
columbia buSineSS School publiShinG
All Rights: Columbia University Press
cup.columbia.edu | 1
The Insect Cookbook
Food for a Sustainable Planet
arnold van huIS, hEnK van Gurp,
and marcEl dIcKE
thE dEfInItIvE GuIdE to undErS tandInG and
worKInG wIth InSEct S aS a food SourcE.
In The Insect Cookbook, two entomologists and a chef
make the case for insects as a sustainable source
of protein for humans and a necessary part of our
future diet. They provide consumers and chefs with
the essential facts about insects for culinary use, with
recipes simple enough to make at home yet boasting
the international flair of the world’s most chic dishes.
Insects are delicious and healthy. A large proportion
of the world’s population eats them as a delicacy.
In Mexico, roasted ants are considered a treat, and
“an attractive mixture of background the Japanese adore wasps. Insects not only are a tasty
information on insects, their anatomy, and versatile ingredient in the kitchen but also are
history of use in food and other full of protein, and insect farming is much more sus-
tainable than meat production. The Insect Cookbook
products, food culture, recipes, and
contains delicious recipes; interviews with top chefs,
interviews, this book is very carefully
insect farmers, political figures, and nutrition experts
prepared and a pleasure to read.”
(including chef René Redzepi, whose establishment
—Job ubbink, coeditor of The Kitchen was elected three times as “best restaurant of the
as Laboratory: Reflections on the Science world”; Kofi Annan, former secretary-general of
of Food and Cooking the United Nations; and Daniella Martin of Girl
Meets Bug); and all you want to know about cooking
“this book is beautifully presented,
with insects, teaching twenty-first-century consum-
well written, and has a variety ers where to buy insects, which ones are edible,
of authorities to support its and how to store and prepare them.
case that we need to consider
arnold van huIS is professor of tropical entomology at Wagenin-
incorporating insects into our gen University and is a consultant on insects as food and feed to the
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
diets for ecological reasons.”
hEnK van Gurp is a cooking instructor at the Rijn IJssel Hotel and
—Theresia de Vroom,
Tourism School in Wageningen.
marymount institute for Faith
marcEl dIcKE is professor of entomology at Wageningen University
and Rhodes professor at Cornell University.
$27.95t / £19.95 cloth 978-0-231-16684-3
$26.99 / £18.50 ebook 978-0-231-53621-9
march 256 pages / 126 color images
Food / cookinG
aRTS and TRadiTionS oF The Table:
peRSpecTiVeS on culinaR y hiSToRy
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2 | SpRinG 2014
buGSIt GorEnG
(frIEd wontonS)
equipmenT needed: deep FR yeR,
wiTh VeGeT able oil FoR FR yinG
•
1 tablespoon sesame oil
•
1 shallot, minced
•
1 garlic clove, crushed
•
4 tablespoons very finely sliced leek
•
½ cup (20 g) mealworms, coarsely chopped
•
1 teaspoon sambal oelek (raw hot chili paste),
or more to taste
•
½ pound (230 g) ground meat
(all beef or mixed pork and beef)
•
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
•
1 large egg
•
1 tablespoon soy sauce
frIEd wonton
•
Salt
•
20 (4-inch [10 cm] square) egg-roll wrappers
•
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
•
Chili sauce
1 . Heat the sesame oil in a skillet over medium-
high heat and fry the shallot, garlic, leek, meal-
worms, and the teaspoon of sambal oelek lightly
for about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and
allow to cool in the pan.
2. Add the ground meat, bread crumbs, egg, and
seasonings and knead well. This should be a
well-seasoned mixture; add a little salt and
more sambal oelek, if necessary.
3. Whisk the flour into 3 tablespoons of water to
make a paste.

4. Divide the meat mixture into twenty portions
and roll each into a ball. Wrap each ball in an
egg-roll wrapper and use the flour paste to seal
the edges. Shape into a little pouch by gather-
ing and twisting the corners together.
5. Heat oil in deep fryer to 350° F (180°C). Fry the
wontons in batches for 5 minutes, until nicely
browned and crisp. Drain on paper towels and
serve hot, with chili sauce for dipping.
Yield: 20 wontons
TipS:
•
If you are using fresh mealworms instead of
freeze-dried, use ¼ pound (120 g) of mealworms
and ¼ pound (120 g) of ground meat.
•
Rinse the mealworms and blanch them in boil-
GIrl taStInG InSEct tIdbIt S
ing water for 1 minute. Rinse with cold water and (cooKInG contES t, laoS)
drain well, then chop them coarsely, using a food
processor. Knead with the remaining ingredients.
cup.columbia.edu | 3
Jacques Lacan, Past and Present
A Dialogue
alaIn badIou and ÉlIS abEth roudInESco
Translated by Jason E. Smith
francE’S prEmIEr phIlo SophEr and It S lEadInG
hIStorIan of pSychoanalySIS dIScuSS thE naturE
of JacquES lacan’S thouGht and hIS lEGacy.
Alain Badiou shares the clearest, most detailed
account to date of his profound indebtedness to
Lacanian psychoanalysis. He explains in depth the
tools Lacan gave him to navigate the extremes of
his other two philosophical “masters,” Jean-Paul
Sartre and Louis Althusser. Élisabeth Roudinesco
supplements Badiou’s experience with her own
perspective on the French analytic world since
Lacan’s death—critiquing, for example, the link (or
“this is a highly readable and relevant lack thereof) between politics and psychoanalysis in
discussion. badiou and roudinesco Lacan’s work. Their dynamic exchange is an intimate,
each contribute an important piece at times contentious, yet ultimately productive
debate that reinvigorates the work of a pivotal
of the puzzle that is the figure and
twentieth-century thinker.
thought of Jacques lacan. both the
“this set of exchanges contributes significantly to our
general reader and specialists in
current appreciation of both lacanian psychoanalysis
either badiou or lacan’s thought will
and badiouian philosophy. for readers curious
be able to appreciate this book in its
about both lacanian psychoanalysis and badiouian
English translation.”
philosophy, this book is an irresistible must-read.”
—bruno bosteels,
—adrian Johnston, university of new mexico
author of Badiou and Politics
alaIn badIou was shaped by his dedication to
the consequences of the May 1968 revolt in Paris
and is a longtime leading member of Union des
Jeunesses Communistes de France.
ÉlISabEth roudInESco is director of research
at the Université Paris Diderot and director of
studies at the École Pratique des Hautes-Études,
©
p.m Sorbonne. She is the author of Jacques Lacan,
$19.95t / £13.95 paper 978-0-231-16511-2 . Joh Why Psychoanalysis?, and Philosophy in Turbulent
a
$$1685..9090 / / £ £1435.0.000  ebcloootkh  997788--00--223311--5163551305--59 nSSon Times: Canguilhem, Sartre, Foucault, Althusser,
Deleuze, Derrida.
may 128 pages
philoSophy
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4 | SpRinG 2014
Ahmed the Philosopher
Thirty-Four Short Plays for Children
and Everyone Else
alaIn badIou
Translated by Joseph Litvak
a comIc IntroductIon to thE thouGht of onE
of thE world’S GrEatES t lIvInG phIlo SophErS.
In Ahmed the Philosopher, Alain Badiou’s most enter-
taining and accessible play, translated into English
here for the first time, readers are introduced to
Badiou’s philosophy through a theatrical tour de
force that has met with great success in France. The
play presents its comic hero, the “treacherous servant”
Ahmed, as a seductively trenchant philosopher even
as it casts philosophy itself as a comic performance.
The comedy unfolds as a series of lessons, with
each “short play” or sketch illuminating a different “this is a terrific translation of an
Badiouian concept. Yet Ahmed does more than intriguing play. In it, badiou presents
illustrate philosophical abstractions; he embodies the most fundamental elements of
and vivifies the theatrical and performative aspects
his philosophy, including his critique
of philosophy, mobilizing a comic energy that
of multiculturalism, his theory of the
exposes the emptiness and pomp of the world.
event, and his ruminations on love,
Through his example, the audience is moved to a
in a vivid, dramatic form. this work
living engagement with philosophy, realizing the
power to break through the limits of everyday life. makes an excellent introduction
to badiou.”
“litvak’s translation is a remarkable achievement, both
faithful to the original and enormously creative in its —martin puchner, author of The Drama
transposition into our language and culture. It is smart, of Ideas: Platonic Provocations in Theater
and Philosophy
eloquent, and truly a delight to read.”
—kenneth Reinhard, university of california, los angeles
alaIn badIou is a philosopher, playwright, novelist, political activist,
and professor emeritus at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris.
He has published many philosophical works, including Being and Event
and Logics of Worlds, and the play Incident at Antioch: A Tragedy
in Three Acts.
JoSEph lItvaK is professor of English at Tufts University and the
author of Caught in the Act: Theatricality in the Nineteenth-Century
English Novel.
$24.95t / £16.95 paper 978-0-231-16693-5
$75.00 / £52.00 cloth 978-0-231-16692-8
$23.99 / £16.50 ebook 978-0-231-53658-5
aprIl  192 pages
philoSophy / dRama
World English-language Rights: Columbia University Press;
All Other Rights: Les Editions Actes Sud
cup.columbia.edu | 5
lk
ee
cn Jo
tn Se
ure serieseth J. arrow The FouRTh kenneThph e. STiGliTz, kenneTh J. aRRow
J. aRRow and paR
lecTuRe inTha daSGu
2011.pTa a
T
Kenneth J. Arrow Lecture Series
prESEntEd In p artnErShIp wIth thE c ommIttEE on Global thouGht
and thE proGram for EconomIc rESEarch at c olumbIa unIvErSIty
Columbia University Press is proud to announce the publication of an ongoing series of books based
on the Kenneth J. Arrow Lectures at Columbia University. The first three books in the series—from
such leading economic thinkers as Joseph E. Stiglitz, Bruce C. Greenwald, Amartya Sen, Eric Maskin,
and José Scheinkman—will be available this spring.
Kenneth J. Arrow’s work has so deeply shaped the course of economics for the past sixty years that,
in a sense, every modern economist is his student. His ideas, style of research, and breadth of vision
have been a model for generations of the boldest, most creative, and most innovative economists.
His work has yielded such seminal theorems as general equilibrium, social choice, and endogenous
growth, proving that simple ideas have profound effects.
The Kenneth J. Arrow Lecture Series highlights economists, from Nobel laureates to groundbreaking
younger scholars, whose work builds on Arrow’s scholarship and his innovative spirit. The books in the
series are an expansion of these lectures, which to date have included
Bruce C. Greenwald and Joseph E. Stiglitz on the role of innovation in the economy, with
Philippe Aghion and Robert Solow • Eric Maskin and Amartya Sen on social choice theory and
the impossibility theorem, with Joseph E. Stiglitz and Kenneth J. Arrow • JosÉ a. Scheinkman on
the impact of speculative trading on bubbles, with Patrick Bolton and Sandy Grossman • Partha
Dasgupta on the welfare economics of climate change, with Kenneth J. Arrow, Scott Barrett,
Geoffrey Heal, and Joseph E. Stiglitz •  Amy Finkelstein on the economics of health care, with
Jonathan Gruber, Joseph E. Stiglitz, and Kenneth J. Arrow • and Christian Gollier on carbon
pricing and discount rates, with Bernard Salanié, Joseph E. Stiglitz, and Kenneth J. Arrow
thE commIttEE on Global thouGht explores global modernity from an innovative, interdisciplinary perspective and reconceptual-
izes the approaches required to confront the challenges of globalization. The distinguished faculty of the Committee work to augment Colum-
bia’s role as a global university by fostering a research community of scholars and practitioners engaged with the global and disseminating
knowledge through publications, seminars, courses, and public events.
thE proGram for EconomIc rESEarch, founded in 2003, enhances the research environment for economists at Columbia Univer-
sity across a range of activities, including research-funding proposal development and portfolio management; seed funding for early-stage
research; public programs, conferences, and events; and visiting researcher programs.
6 | SpRinG 2014
Creating a Learning Society
A New Approach to Growth, Development,
lk
and Social Progress ee
cn
JoSEph E. StIGlItz and tn
brucE c. GrEEnwald uet
rh
e
With Philippe Aghion, Kenneth J. Arrow, J
Robert M. Solow, and Michael Woodford se. a
r
r
r
i
a nEw paradIGm for EconomIc Growth thEory eo
sw
that wIll rEvolutIonIzE natIonal and
IntErnatIonal polIcy.
It has long been recognized that most increases in
the standard of living are associated with advances
in technology, not the accumulation of capital. Yet it
has also become clear that what separates developed
from less-developed countries is a gap in knowledge.
Therefore, how countries learn and become more
praise for Joseph E. Stiglitz:
productive is key to understanding how they grow
and develop. In this book, Joseph E. Stiglitz and “Stiglitz is a nobel prize–winning
Bruce C. Greenwald spell out the implications of economist, and he deserves to
this insight for economic theory and policy. Starting be. over a long career, he has
with Kenneth J. Arrow’s 1962 paper “Learning
made incisive and highly valued
by Doing,” they explain why the production of
contributions to the explanation
knowledge differs from that of other goods and
of an astonishingly broad range
why market economies are typically not efficient
of economic phenomena, including
in the production and transmission of knowledge.
Combining technical analysis with accessible prose, taxes, interest rates, consumer
Stiglitz and Greenwald offer new models of “endog- behavior, corporate finance,
enous growth” that upend received thinking about and much else. Especially among
global policy and trade regimes. They show why
economists who are still of active
many standard policy prescriptions impede learning
working age, he ranks as a titan
and why free trade may lead to stagnation while
of the field.”
broad-based industrial protection and exchange rate
interventions can benefit the whole economy. —benjamin m. Friedman,
New York Review of Books
JoSEph E. StIGlItz is University Professor at Columbia University
and cochair of Columbia University’s Committee on Global Thought.
He was winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize for Economics.
brucE c. GrEEnwald is Robert Heilbrunn Professor of Finance and
Asset Management at Columbia Business School.
$34.95t / £23.95 cloth 978-0-231-15214-3
$33.99 / £23.50 ebook 978-0-231-52554-1
JunE 560 pages
economicS
kenneTh J. aRRow lecTuRe SeRieS
All Rights: Columbia University Press
cup.columbia.edu | 7
The Arrow Impossibility Theorem
ErIc maSKIn and amartya SEn
lk
ee With Kenneth J. Arrow, Prasanta K. Pattanaik,
cn
tn and Joseph E. Stiglitz
ue
t
rh nobEl prIzE-wInnInG EconomIS tS rEvISIt
e
J KEnnEth J. arrow’S GroundbrEaKInG worK
se. ar on votInG habIt S and outcomES.
r
r
i
eo
sw Kenneth J. Arrow’s “impossibility theorem” was
a watershed in the history of welfare economics,
voting theory, and collective choice, demonstrating
that there is no voting rule that satisfies the four
desirable axioms of decisiveness, consensus, non-
dictatorship, and independence.
In this book, Eric Maskin and Amartya Sen explore
the implications of Arrow’s theorem. Maskin
discusses how to design a voting rule that gets us
praise for amartya Sen: closer to the ideal—given that achieving the ideal
is impossible—and Sen considers the theorum's
“without hyperbole, no postwar
ongoing utility, exploring its value and limitations in
intellectual of the first rank has done
relation to recent research on social reasoning. The
more good for more people—above
volume also contains a contextual introduction by
all, many of the world’s poorest—
social choice scholar Prasanta K. Pattanaik and com-
than amartya Sen.” mentaries from Joseph E. Stiglitz and Arrow himself,
as well as essays by Maskin and Sen outlining
—The Independent
the mathematical proof and framework behind
praise for Eric maskin: their assertions.
“a great scholar is one who can ErIc maSKIn is an Adams University Professor at Harvard University.
He received the 2007 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics (with
identify good research questions and
L. Hurwicz and R. Myerson) for laying the foundations of mechanism
then, with great care and thought,
design theory. He has also made contributions to game theory,
begin to uncover some of their contract theory, social choice theory, political economy, and other
areas of economics.
answers. by this vital standard, Eric
maskin is truly one of the greatest amartya SEn is the Thomas W. Lamont University Professor and
professor of economics and philosophy at Harvard University. He has
scholars I have ever known.”
received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences and the Bharat
—Roger myerson, university of chicago Ratna, India’s highest civilian award. He is also a senior fellow at the
Harvard Society of Fellows; distinguished fellow of All Souls College,
Oxford; and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. His books have
been translated into more than thirty languages.
$19.95t / £14.00 cloth 978-0-231-15328-7
$18.99 / £13.00 ebook 978-0-231-52686-9
July 120 pages
economicS
kenneTh J. aRRow lecTuRe SeRieS
All Rights: Columbia University Press
8 | SpRinG 2014
Speculation, Trading, and Bubbles
JoSÉ a. SchEInKman
lk
With Kenneth J. Arrow, Patrick Bolton, ee
cn
Sanford J. Grossman, and Joseph E. Stiglitz tn
ue
t
top EconomIStS wEIGh In on thE cauSES rh
e
and conSEquEncES of onE of thE world’S J
moSt pErSIStEnt EconomIc problEmS. se. ar
r
r
i
eo
The history of financial markets is full of moments sw
in which asset prices inflate far beyond their
intrinsic value. These events are commonly called
bubbles, and in this book, José A. Scheinkman
and other top economists offer new explanations
for this phenomenon.
Scheinkman discusses such factors as high trading
volume and the coincidence between bubbles’
implosion and increases in supply, and he develops
a model for bubbles based on differences in “Scheinkman, a reigning guru of
beliefs among investors. Patrick Bolton and mathematical economics and a
Sanford J. Grossman comment on Scheinkman’s famously shrewd student of history
work, investigating factors that contribute to bubbles,
and human nature, makes a point at
such as excessive leverage, overconfidence, mania,
once simple, valuable, and durable.”
and panic in speculative markets. Kenneth J. Arrow
—david warsh, author of
and Joseph E. Stiglitz add introductory material
Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations
contextualizing Scheinkman’s findings.
JoSÉ a. SchEInKman is the Edwin W. Rickert Professor of Econom-
ics at Columbia University and the Theodore Wells '29 Professor of
Economics Emeritus at Princeton University. He is a member of the
National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the Econometric Society
and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Sanford J. GroSSman is an American economist and hedge fund
manager specializing in quantitative finance. He has published widely in
leading economic and business journals, including American Economic
Review, Journal of Econometrics, Econometrica, and Journal of Finance,
and is chairman and CEO of QFS Asset Management.
patrIcK bolton is the Barbara and David Zalaznick Professor of
Business at Columbia Business School and a member of the Committee
on Global Thought. He is also codirector of the Center for Contracts
and Economic Organization at the Columbia Law School.
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July 120 pages
economicS / Finance
kenneTh aRRow lecTuRe SeRieS
All Rights: Columbia University Press
cup.columbia.edu | 9
The Custom-Made Brain
Cerebral Plasticity, Regeneration,
and Enhancement
JEan-dIdIEr vIncEnt
and pIErrE-marIE llEdo
Translated by Laurence Garey
a concISE and lIvEly IntroductIon to currEnt
rESEarch at thE frontIEr of nEurobIoloG y
that ExplorES thE human braIn’S pla StIcIty and
rEGEnEratIvE capabIlItIES.
Two leading neuroscientists introduce the concepts
of “cerebral plasticity” and the “regenerating brain,”
describing what we know now about the processes
through which the brain constantly reconstructs
itself and the potential benefits this knowledge
might bring to neurological, cognitive, and emo-
“highly informative, up to date, tional health.
and entertaining, this book
The authors begin with a survey of the fundamental
emphasizes that the brain is scientific developments that led to our current
constantly being constructed understanding of the regenerative mind, elucidating
during an individual’s lifetime, like some of the breakthrough neurobiological studies
that paved the way for our present understanding
a medieval cathedral that is never
of the brain’s plasticity and regenerative capabilities.
finished yet ages without reaching
They then discuss the application of these findings
‘maturity.’ the brain, like the
to such issues as depression, dyslexia, schizophrenia,
cathedral, is forever being repaired
and cognitive therapy, incorporating the latest
and restored. a stimulating read.” technologies in neuroimaging, optogenetics, and
nanotechnology. Their work shows the brain is
—israel Rosenfield, author of
anything but a static organ, ceasing to grow as
The Invention of Memory
human beings become adults. Rather, the brain is
dynamic, evolving organically in relation to physical,
cultural, historical, and affective stimuli, a plasticity
that provides great hope to survivors of trauma
and degenerative disorders.
JEan-dIdIEr vIncEnt is professor emeritus at the University of
Paris-Sud-Orsay and a member of the Faculty of Medicine, Paris-Sud-
Kremlin-Bicêtre. He is the author of The Biology of Emotions.
pIErrE-marIE llEdo is a research director specializing in neuronal
stem cells at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS).
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JunE 224 pages
Science / neuRo Science
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10 | SpRinG 2014