Black hole mergers modelled in 3D

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Simulations on a supercomputer have allowed Nasa scientists to understand finally the pattern of gravitational waves produced by merging black holes. The work should help the worldwide effort that is currently underway to make the first detection of these "ripples" in the fabric of space-time.

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On the value of taking care of the roses (series: notes to myself)

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This year, for the first time in its history, the Loebner Prize competition was held in England, at the University of Reading to be precise. It was organised by Kevin Warwick and Huma Shah. Independently of whether Turing might have been pleased (he was not well treated in this country, recall?), there was a satisfying sense of “coming home” of the Turing Test (henceforth TT ). Expectations were high, and they very highly advertised too. The meeting was perfectly organised. Having been invited to play the role of a judge, together with several other colleagues, including two members of the IEG , Mariarosaria Taddeo and Matteo Turilli ( here are their pictures and Rosaria's interview ) , I enjoyed the opportunity to see from close-up the machinery and the TT . It was intriguing and great fun. Because there were interviews with the BBC and other things going on, and because we were also supposed to take part in the parallel AISB Symposium on the TT , I had time to test only...
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The art of biting one's own tongue consists in the ability not to engage when someone says something unpleasant, untrue, malicious, or abusive about you. Instead of answering a biased question, arguing against a ludicrous opinion, complaining about an abusive message, correcting a meaningless error, countering a fallacy, explaining a patent mistake, objecting to a groundless criticism, rectifying a willful misrepresentation, rejecting an insinuation, responding to a provocation, retorting to a nasty remark, replying to an offensive allegation, … in short, instead of engaging with your mindless interlocutors you simply ignore them and do absolutely nothing, not even acknowledging that you might have received their communication, not even sharing a “no comment”, just silence. As far as they know, you might have never got the email, read the tweet or the Facebook comment, seen the Instagram picture. If you bite your own tongue appropriately, for them their communication might have nev...
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(revised on Medium) On a sachet of brown sugar (series: notes to myself)

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Ho sempre criticato Berlusconi, i suoi votanti, il suo partito, il berlusconismo, gli italoforzuti, i suoi governi, la tragedia (soprattutto morale, ma anche istituzionale, politica, culturale ed economica) che tutto ciò è stato per il paese... Berlusconi è stato un disastro per l'Italia, una sorta di Trump al potere o vicino al potere per decenni. Servirà moltissimo lavoro e tanto tempo per riparare i danni fatti, ammesso che si possano riparare.  Ma Mercoledì 14 Giugno ho spostato la lezione del corso che tengo a Bologna, affinché chi volesse potesse participare ai funerali di stato e commemorare la morte di Berlusconi, e perché l'attuale governo ha proclamato il lutto nazionale per un politico che (con mio scandalo e vergogna) è stato eletto democraticamente da milioni di italiani e italiane (che gli dei dell'Olimpo li perdonino, io non ci riesco, e posso solo rispettarne le scelte), e ha ricoperto la carica di primo ministro quattro volte.  Non è stata una forma di risp...
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Sulla morte come "distanza che si apre nella vita"

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“La morte è una distanza che si apre nella vita, ma non è sparizione, distruzione, putrefazione.” Ho letto questa frase (chiamiamola non-P), è parte di un articolo giornalistico (non si può imporre un rigore scientifico, non è il contesto). Ho letto il resto dell’articolo. Non migliora. Non ha importanza. Desidero soffermarmi solo su questa frase. Da tanti anni non sono più un filosofo analitico, ma mi è rimasta l’inclinazione (il vizio senza pelo del lupo?) di (cercare di) usare le parole con attenzione e cura. Cercando di ancorarle a significati che non siano “futuristici” (parole in libertà). Troppe persone confondono il fatto che una frase sia grammaticale con il fatto che abbia un reale senso. Si può anche dire: P) “La morte non è una distanza che si apre nella vita, è sparizione, distruzione, putrefazione.” P è altrettanto grammaticale e credo che abbia molto più senso di non-P, almeno biologicamente e concettualmente. I fatti puntano in questa direzione. E chi sostiene il contra...
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I just published "On asking the wrong kind of questions (series: notes to myself)", happy 2024. https://link.medium.com/thDMgqTvZFb
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