Questões de Concursos UFPR

Ancient dreams of intelligent machines: 3,000 years of robots

The French philosopher René Descartes was reputedly fond of automata: they inspired his view that living things were biological machines that function like clockwork. Less known is a strange story that began to circulate after the philosopher’s death in 1650. This centred on Descartes’s daughter Francine, who died of scarlet fever at the age of five.

According to the tale, a distraught Descartes had a clockwork Francine made: a walking, talking simulacrum. When Queen Christina invited the philosopher to Sweden in 1649, he sailed with the automaton concealed in a casket. Suspicious sailors forced the trunk open; when the mechanical child sat up to greet them, the horrified crew threw it overboard.

The story is probably apocryphal. But it sums up the hopes and fears that have been associated with human-like machines for nearly three millennia. Those who build such devices do so in the hope that they will overcome natural limits – in Descartes’s case, death itself. But this very unnaturalness terrifies and repulses others. In our era of advanced robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), those polarized responses persist, with pundits and the public applauding or warning against each advance. Digging into the deep history of intelligent machines, both real and imagined, we see how these attitudes evolved: from fantasies of trusty mechanical helpers to fears that runaway advances in technology might lead to creatures that supersede humanity itself.

(Disponível em: <https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05773-y)

More than 100 South African gold miners

treated for smoke inhalation

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Hundreds of South African gold mine workers were rescued and over 100 treated for smoke inhalation after an underground fire, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Thursday.

Safety is a huge issue in South Africa’s dangerous deep-level mines and a focus for investors. A spate of deaths at SibanyeStillwater’s gold operations, including a seismic event that killed seven miners in early May, has highlighted the risks.

In the latest incident, more than 600 miners were initially trapped after a fire broke out at a mine east of Johannesburg operated by unlisted Gold One, NUM said.

This comes almost two weeks after five miners died in an underground fire at a South African copper mine operated by unlisted Palabora Mining Company in Limpopo.

Company officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

“As the NUM, we vehemently condemn this kind of incident as it is becoming a trend”, the union said in a statement.

(Disponível em:<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-safrica-mining-fire/more-than-100-south-african-gold-miners-treated-for-smoke-inhalation-idUSKBN1KG294.)

Ancient dreams of intelligent machines: 3,000 years of robots

The French philosopher René Descartes was reputedly fond of automata: they inspired his view that living things were biological machines that function like clockwork. Less known is a strange story that began to circulate after the philosopher’s death in 1650. This centred on Descartes’s daughter Francine, who died of scarlet fever at the age of five.

According to the tale, a distraught Descartes had a clockwork Francine made: a walking, talking simulacrum. When Queen Christina invited the philosopher to Sweden in 1649, he sailed with the automaton concealed in a casket. Suspicious sailors forced the trunk open; when the mechanical child sat up to greet them, the horrified crew threw it overboard.

The story is probably apocryphal. But it sums up the hopes and fears that have been associated with human-like machines for nearly three millennia. Those who build such devices do so in the hope that they will overcome natural limits – in Descartes’s case, death itself. But this very unnaturalness terrifies and repulses others. In our era of advanced robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), those polarized responses persist, with pundits and the public applauding or warning against each advance. Digging into the deep history of intelligent machines, both real and imagined, we see how these attitudes evolved: from fantasies of trusty mechanical helpers to fears that runaway advances in technology might lead to creatures that supersede humanity itself.

(Disponível em: <https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05773-y)

More than 100 South African gold miners

treated for smoke inhalation

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Hundreds of South African gold mine workers were rescued and over 100 treated for smoke inhalation after an underground fire, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Thursday.

Safety is a huge issue in South Africa’s dangerous deep-level mines and a focus for investors. A spate of deaths at SibanyeStillwater’s gold operations, including a seismic event that killed seven miners in early May, has highlighted the risks.

In the latest incident, more than 600 miners were initially trapped after a fire broke out at a mine east of Johannesburg operated by unlisted Gold One, NUM said.

This comes almost two weeks after five miners died in an underground fire at a South African copper mine operated by unlisted Palabora Mining Company in Limpopo.

Company officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

“As the NUM, we vehemently condemn this kind of incident as it is becoming a trend”, the union said in a statement.

(Disponível em:<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-safrica-mining-fire/more-than-100-south-african-gold-miners-treated-for-smoke-inhalation-idUSKBN1KG294.)

More than 100 South African gold miners

treated for smoke inhalation

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Hundreds of South African gold mine workers were rescued and over 100 treated for smoke inhalation after an underground fire, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Thursday.

Safety is a huge issue in South Africa’s dangerous deep-level mines and a focus for investors. A spate of deaths at SibanyeStillwater’s gold operations, including a seismic event that killed seven miners in early May, has highlighted the risks.

In the latest incident, more than 600 miners were initially trapped after a fire broke out at a mine east of Johannesburg operated by unlisted Gold One, NUM said.

This comes almost two weeks after five miners died in an underground fire at a South African copper mine operated by unlisted Palabora Mining Company in Limpopo.

Company officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

“As the NUM, we vehemently condemn this kind of incident as it is becoming a trend”, the union said in a statement.

(Disponível em:<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-safrica-mining-fire/more-than-100-south-african-gold-miners-treated-for-smoke-inhalation-idUSKBN1KG294.)

Diverti-me imensamente com a história dos imbecis da web. Para quem não acompanhou, foi publicado em alguns jornais e também on-line que no curso de uma chamada lectio magistralis em Turim eu teria dito que a web está cheia de imbecis. É falso. A lectio era sobre um tema completamente diferente, mas isso mostra como as notícias circulam e se deformam entre os jornais e a web. A história dos imbecis surgiu numa conferência de imprensa durante a qual, respondendo a uma pergunta que não me lembro mais, fiz uma observação de puro bom senso. Admitindo que em 7 bilhões de habitantes exista uma taxa inevitável de imbecis, muitíssimos deles costumavam comunicar seus delírios aos íntimos ou aos amigos do bar - e assim suas opiniões permaneciam limitadas a um círculo restrito. Hoje uma parte consistente dessas pessoas tem a possibilidade de expressar as próprias opiniões nas redes sociais e, portanto, tais opiniões alcançam audiências altíssimas e se misturam com tantas outras ideias expressas por pessoas razoáveis.

[...]

É justo que a rede permita que mesmo quem não diz coisas sensatas se expresse, mas o excesso de besteira congestiona as linhas. E algumas reações descompensadas que vi na internet confirmam minha razoabilíssima tese. Alguém chegou a dizer que, para mim, as opiniões de um tolo e aquelas de um ganhador do prêmio Nobel têm a mesma evidência e não demorou para que se difundisse viralmente uma inútil discussão sobre o fato de eu ter ou não recebido um prêmio Nobel - sem que ninguém consultasse sequer a Wikipédia.

(Umberto Eco - Os imbecis e a imprensa responsável, 2017.)

‘Ferrugem’: um ótimo nacional encara o cyberbullying

Um celular perdido, um vídeo viralizado, e Tati, de 16 anos, se vê no meio de um furacão que abalaria qualquer um – e muito mais uma menina a quem ainda falta o equipamento emocional para lidar com uma situação tão drástica de exposição da intimidade e de ostracismo social. Os amigos e amigas vão caindo fora; com os pais, ela não consegue falar. Renet, o garoto com quem ela começava a engatar um flerte quando tudo começou, dá as costas a ela. E Tati, interpretada pela ótima novata Tiffanny Dopke, de fisionomia suave e jeitinho cativante, sucumbe à pressão.

‘Ferrugem’, do diretor Aly Muritiba, é um dos pontos altos de uma safra surpreendentemente boa do cinema nacional nos últimos meses (completada ainda por ‘Aos Teus Olhos’, ‘As Boas Maneiras’, ‘O Animal Cordial’ e ‘Benzinho’). Da agitação e cacofonia dessa primeira parte do filme, Muritiba vai, na segunda metade, para um estilo oposto: com atenção e reflexão, acompanha o sofrimento de Renet (o também muito bom Giovanni de Lorenzi) com as consequências do episódio que afetou Tati. Aqui, duas visões morais muito distintas se opõem: a do pai (Enrique Diaz), que quer poupar Renet, e a da mãe (a calorosa Clarissa Kiste), que quer obrigá-lo a enfrentar os fatos.

Maduro, lúcido, muito bem escrito e filmado, ‘Ferrugem’ está na comissão de frente dos possíveis indicados do Brasil ao Oscar do ano que vem.

(Disponível em:<https://veja.abril.com.br/tveja/em-cartaz/ferrugem-um-otimo-nacional-encara-o-cyberbullying/>. Acesso em 31/08/2018.)