Digital Revolution

There are numerous collections of algorithms on the Internet. Places like AlgoWiki provide valuable service. Yet we feel that the Wiki model isn't the best way to present algorithms. Here's why. Wiki is designed not to credit authors. This is a huge dis-incentive, because very few people like to publish and perish. Rather, we believe that the library/arXiv model is superior in that it properly rewards outstanding authors with fame. There are various disadvantages using Wiki, like lack of personal style, lack of comprehensiveness due to low participation, and awkward search. These problems can be solved if the library model is implemented well. Details will be given once spectrum-dev is up and running.

Here we define a robust network to be a connected network that stays connected after a arbitrary link is removed. The minimal robust network connecting a set of nodes is a Hamiltonian cycle. Further, a robust network is called reduced if it can not stay robust after any link is removed. A robust network may contain multiple reduced robust networks. And reduced robust networks may be obtained by removing links from robust networks. It's a open problem to computationally characterize robust networks, and reduced robust networks. Not every robust network can be reduced to the minimal robust network because not every robust network contains a Hamiltonian cycle. It's another open problem to computationally find reduced robust networks contained in arbitrary robust networks.

Modern artificial intelligence rely on data fitting. For some, the approach seems shallow, for the result is a description that summarizes data, rather than a mechanism that generates them. The success of modern artificial intelligence requires a justification of data fitting in order to explain how a seemingly shallow method turns out to be highly efficient. One doesn't want to invoke the analogy of catching a baseball. Even if a baseball player has no idea of classical mechanics, the ball can be traced by following its trajectory. Data fitting is deeper than this. First it must be emphasized that data fitting is a essential tool even for hard sciences. Planck had no idea how to generate light quanta, but based on curve fitting derived with the quantum hypothesis, he successfully launched the quantum revolution. The beauty of his approach is the small number of parameters that can explain a host of radiation patterns. Although data fitting can not explain fundamental mechanisms, i...

News outlets reported that the digital revolution is coming to Taipei Metro with panels displaying advertisements. Yes, advertisements. While advertisement is a serious digital business, the lack of imagination from Taipei Metro still upsets observers. It's not that advertisements won't make urban transit less boring, but that the scope of improvement is so minuscule. The phenomenon is a sign that the island's ambition toward digital leadership is half-hearted and can not be extended beyond chip making. USA is a large economy that can accommodate a wide variety of specializations, but Taiwan needs to focus on a few areas of strategic importance. Chip making is one, but observers doubt that Taiwan is any good at the forefront of the digital revolution. Korea already eclipsed Taiwan in mobile and social networking. Many Taiwanese place their hopes on the metaverse which might never take off. All of this signals lack of solid foundation in Taiwan's pursuit of digital exc...

Globalisation is non-trivial, especially for the computer and digital industry. Ordinary small businesses likely experienced the benefits and drawbacks of outsourcing to freelancers through the Internet. For example, decent graphic design can be obtained at very low cost due to intense competition the digital platform offers. On the other hand, Internet freelancers often lack depth of specialized expert agencies and can not accomplish cases like complex marketing integration. However, the big players are oligopolies. Is there a reason why the computer and digital industry often forms global value chains? Consider iPhones. Apple worked with TSMC to build its SoC, and TSMC worked with machine vendors around the world to complete semiconductor manufacturing process. The reason is simple. Technological specialization and expertise are scattered around the world that no nation can compete on its own for excellence. Krugman put the case of globalisation as a race between transportation and ...

Wolfram|Alpha was advertised as a revolutionary knowledge engine designed to eclipse Google. The result is quite mixed. While the power of symbolic computation certainly helped people solve mathematical problems, Wolfram|Alpha still provides highly eccentric answers to queries like iOS. Instead of giving a description of Apple's flagship OS, the query results in a obscure Greek island. The knowledge engine even ignores case sensitivity. The far-from-satisfactory performance begs lots of questions. First is about knowledge model. Wolfram|Alpha works as a interpreter between human queries and knowledge databases. Given the sheer volume of human knowledge, it's natural that pure knowledge databases omit huge areas of public knowledge, and Wolfram|Alpha can only cover a very restricted domain. Compared with search engine's wide indexing of web pages, which of course contains falsehoods, Wolfram|Alpha is cleaner, but also very much less encyclopediac. How about depth? The trag...

Apple CEO Tim Cook expressed disapproval for mindless scrolling. Issues like mental health and addiction are deeply associated with gadget uses. Without doubt, responsible gadget makers should address these issues. However, what it takes is likely beyond the realm of gadgets, but into the world of human nature. For some people, life is simply too boring. Without access to high spirituality like physics or mathematics, they often turn to games, social networks, videos, and of course, politics. Lack of sophistication leads to emotional appeals. Social networks on smartphones created Trump out of people's herd mentality. There is no easy fix. While politicians constantly blame the tech sector for amplifying political opposition, no serious observer can agree that peace would come if tech giants like Facebook were simply broken up. The whole thing is much deeper than shallow politics, and calls for digital civilization to guard against people's negative mentality. On the other ha...