Energy Powerpoint Slides

The 2 slides can be found here


1. Describe one thing that surprised you about the energy source that you researched and presented.
The extent and possibilties of hydropower extend beyond simple dams: with hydro power, we could harness the power of waves, of oscillating motion, of almost anything that in any way involves water.


2. Describe one thing that surprised you about an energy source that another team presented.
I had never realized the true extent that solar power could be harnessed: I was impressed by the fact that a few solar panels could keep a pool heated, especially considering how much water an average home swimming pool has.


3. Describe and defend what you believe to be the most important technological need regarding energy.
I think that the most important current need for energy technology is its dependence on clean energy sources. Regardless of whether or not global warming is real, CO2 is a serious problem and we don't want the US to turn into a giant Mexico City, where there are smog warnings daily.

What is Elementary?

What is "machine learning"?

Machine learning is when a computer has a large enough and reliable enough basic set of data and examples that it can determine mathematically what a newly introduced stimulus is.

How did the IBM team employ that concept in the development of Watson's AI? What advantage did that provide over previous attempts at "intelligence"?
The machine learning was used as the basis of the ability to answer: a huge amount of old jeopardy questions, along with saved files of databases, allows Watson to take a question and reference it to all the documents in his memory, then statistically determine which keywords are important, and what the correct final answer is. This allowed Watson to react to new questions by determining the correct formulas and algorithms to find an answer.


I've often mentioned the term "Empirical Scepticism". What does that mean? How does that relate to the concept of Machine Learning? How does this relate to your life?

Empirical skepticism is separating true fact from opinion. This means that whenever we receive information, even if we feel it is from a reliable source, it probably has the feelings of an individual externally effecting it. Machine learning's strategy of intelligence retrieval seems to be a way to overcome this: by examining so much evidence, it is possible to determine only the truest of true facts about any given thing.

Engineering Ground Zero

What different "trades" (types of construction work) are featured in this video? Name at least three.

1. glass makers
2. metal workers (the nameplates)
3. construction workers
4. concrete mixing/generation
5. general construction/contractors
6. plumbing/electrical/heating system workers
7. stone workers

What aspect of the project is most interesting to you? Why is that?
I really liked the wiers for the memorial. I thought it was interesting how a part of the project that seems so small could actually be a major component of the project, to the point that it being wrong would ruin the entire memorial.


(as a side note, look for the steel cable that breaks at just after the 4 minute mark... yeow! that could take a limb off)