Kevin Ryan in Tokyo

Category: Uncategorized

  • Last post for TokyoKevin

    This is Kevin Ryan from Tokyo.

    I retired a couple of years ago.
    I am not using this domain very much any more.

    Another Kevin Ryan is running for the US Senate from Illinois, my home state too. He could sure get a lot more use out of it, so I am giving it to him.

    So this site will go dark in a couple of days. Kevin the Senator hopeful may put it to use, so the content will change.

    I may resurrect the content here at tokyokevin.com next week, if I decide there is a need.

    Thank you everyone for all your attention. I hope you enjoyed the ride. I certainly did.

    Cheers!

  • Attention Grabbing by Mr. Beast

    Mr. Beast of YouTube fame is expanding his empire with a new game show. This is a review of the show, complete with a short history of how Mr. Beast got there. A good lesson for where are attention is being guided. Take back control, folks.

  • Reasoning and/or AI?

    Mike Caulfield blogs about reason and reasoning and surprisingly doesn’t care how AI got there, and who is still doing the work. Google and Perplexity have launched Deep Research engines, AI help for regular research. He talks about SOK (State of Knowledge) and the next step up SSOK (Statements about SOK), which often include references to the knowledge (links or quotes from other work).

    “A question sometimes comes up at this point — well, look at all the work you had to do when you verified this. Isn’t it actually you who is doing the reasoning?

    This question doesn’t really understand cognition well. In a sense, it’s always me doing the reasoning.”

    Is it really research if the cognitive process is being somewhat replaces with AI? I think it is. It just becomes quicker, and more a filter than an engine itself. Worth thinking about.

  • Cool Biomass Visualization

    Multi-step explanation of how much living stuff is on earth (biomass) and then compares that to man-made stuff (technomass). Eye opening. Via Kottke.

  • Good Question

    How can we harness AI for learning without it being a crutch, when kicked out, doesn’t leave us flat on the ground? I kept thinking about Khanmigo and how it never just gives the answer and makes the students go through the steps. Can we do that with language learning? The Unresolved Tension Between AI and Learning.