Scenarios of Life with Advanced Artificial Intelligence

Check out a wide range of possible scenarios of what life could look like with advanced AI in all facets of our lives.

Sir Michael Berry at NU week of April 9

Check out a series of lectures Sir Michael Berry will be giving at Northwestern the week of April 9. He is one of the leading theoretical physicists of his era, and he dabbles in a wide-range of topics, from fluids to optics to quantum effects in materials.

Check out his lecture series for the week; these are all open to the public and the NU physics department invites ETHS to any of these lectures that seem interesting to you. If there is enough interest it may be possible to get some time for ETHS students and teachers to sit down with Prof. Berry!! Let Doc V know.

Stephen Hawking, RIP

One of the great minds of our time, Prof. Stephen Hawking, passed away on March 14, 2018, at the age of 76. This was some 50 or so years longer than doctors thought he would live when he showed symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as 'Lou Gehrig's disease') as a young man.

He was often called the Albert Einstein of his generation, and worked to extend Einstein's theory of general relativity. He was a world expert in black holes, evolution of the universe, quantum applications to general relativity, and other topics. His ashes will be laid to rest near Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin in Westminster Abbey, in London.

Dubai Theme: Education for the Year 2030...would you:

- share a boardroom with artificial intelligence?

- have a 3-D printed organ replacement?

- support the revival of an extinct species? (Jurassic Park for real)

- be prepared to pay for oxygenated air? (the mixture proportions of the atmosphere are changing)

- download your brain to a computer?

- be able to adapt to fully virtual employment?

- have a chip embedded in your brain, or in your child's brain?

- move to a space colony, such as the moon? (plans for a high-speed Wifi network to be built on the moon for future use)

- enlist for genetic intelligence enhancement?

- special order designer babies? Designer pets?

- have robots babysit, be a nanny?

- want your children to be taught virtually (non-human teachers)?

Other topics included autonomous travel for living 50+ miles from work (10B people by 2050); wearing a wristband that monitors your health, will order specialized medications for drone delivery; supersonic travel; solar energy should become the most common source of energy; wireless charging; all mundane activities done by robots; design and print out numerous objects you need on-demand (avoid stores).

These, and many more, are questions for your generation...

Dubai Conference 2018

It is because of Sunny Varkey and his Foundation that this entire conference and Global Teacher Prize exists in the first place. There is no other conference like it on the planet.

The GESF is held at the Atlantis resort, on the Dubai Palm.

This is most of the teachers in attendance, from some 40 or so countries. We had a desert excursion and sped over the dunes.

Up early to start each day with a quick run.

Good friends on the Advisory Board, who helped put together the 2-day teacher summit. We represent (from left to right, back row first): South Africa, USA, Australia, Malawi, Venezuela, Mexico, USA, and Morocco.

Had a private meeting with the USA contingent about violence in schools.

A highlight - three Parkland students were flown in to surprise the conference. They spoke about the tragedy, from only one month prior, to well over 2000 international delegates, with presidents, royalty, Al Gore, and many more in the front rows. It was an honor for me to be on a public briefing panel with Lewis Mizen (3rd from left) about violence in American schools. Also pictured, Kevin Trejos and Suzanna Barna. We are there to support them in any efforts the #NeverAgain (@NeverAgainMSD) movement (https://www.facebook.com/NeverAgainMSD/) seeks!

The conference ends with the announcement of this year's Global Teacher Prize winner: Andria Zafirakou, of Great Britain (London)!!

Links & Practice sets for March 14-19

Periods 3-4, 8-9
Wednesday, March 14:
First, reach consensus on the homework from Tuesday night, using energy.

Here's the initial video for rolling without slipping.  There is a second one with an example of a frictionless hill, so check them out and take notes on each before trying the practice problems.

Try the AP Probs for 1994, 1997; pages 18-19 in pack.

Thursday, March 15:
Reach consensus on the homework set, any volunteers to work parts in question on the board. 
Work on the lab with the rotations contraption.

Overnight, try 'the cat problem' on page 17 (AP from 1996).


Friday, March 16:
Complete the lab and report, share with vondracekm@eths202.org.

Check out a video on non-constant torque and non-constant angular acceleration. Try the AP Problem from 1999 on page 15 for Monday. Note that at the bottom of the page, add in to also find the angular velocity of the contraption when it goes from its starting position to the horizontal position shown in the diagram. Use energy conservation to find speeds.


Monday, March 19:
As a group, go over the 1999 problem from the weekend.

As a collaborative in class, try the 2002 AP Problem on page 14. Turn in a group solution before you leave.
Tonight, try the torque brain teasers on page 9.

Before leaving, check out a video on rolling AND slipping, take notes. We will see where all this stands tomorrow!! Thank you for your hard work while I am gone!!  :-)

Try to visualize an 11-dimensional universe!

This is, to date, the best attempt I have seen at explaining how to visualize a universe with 11 dimensions, as called for by M-theory!

C-Day Survey

Survey Instruction Information for Staff

• Post this information for your students:
  • Survey is accessed via this link https://tinyurl.com/ethsiys
  • The username is: Proctor15468
  • The password is: Evans15468
  • Students can choose to complete survey in English or Spanish.
• The survey will take approximately 30 minutes to complete. This allotted time is also sufficient for individuals with special accommodations.
• Users must hit “Finish” at the end of the survey in order to have their responses recorded.
• Survey answers cannot be saved. If a user prematurely exits the survey, their answers will be lost. There will be a warning if they try to leave the survey before submitting it.
• The survey should only be administered during the above designated time. Late surveys will not be accepted.

Chromebook Use

1. Students will need their charged Chromebook in order to take the survey.
2. All students have received an email to inform them about the survey and to have their Chromebooks charged.

Looking back closer to the moment of the Big Bang

In senior classes about one week ago, we saw the Ted talk below. This explained the radio telescope that is out in the western Australian desert, which is a 'radio quiet' area - no radio stations, towns, Wifi, cell towers, or anything else within hundreds of miles. This has allowed astronomers to put out radio receivers over hundreds of square miles, aimed at the sky. And being a desert, there is almost no rain or clouds...an ideal place for radio astronomy. Well, this has been giving scientists unprecedented looks at the universe from the radio portion of the spectrum, and now it has shown what the universe looked like as early as humans have ever seen. Dr. Hurley-Walker explains in her talk what these new results are all about. Very cool!