danaleeling

"Future jobs depend on being better than AI" Born after the advent of LLM AI he will grow up in a world infused with AI and will never have known a time before AI.  What if humans cannot be better than AI? What future jobs can humans do in a world where humans cannot be better than AI? Watching a presentation on education in this age of AI the presenter recommended aligning education with future employment where humans are better than AI. The presenter also recommended having students analyze AI where responses had gaps and cracks. The history of science and religion teaches that a God of the gaps is problematic. AI is in its infancy, the hallucinations, gaps, cracks, and errors will shrink if not disappear. An OpenAI internal model just solved an open problem in discrete geometry through reasoning, not brute force. AI will correctly solve any mathematics problem. Why would humans need to spend decades learning to do something that AI has learned to do in a frac...

In Nature Volume 652 from 16 April 2026 on page 543 Chris Bivins argues that the world needs more taxonomists. One particular line in the article caught my attention, "But when I find a fungus that lacks a name, I can still hold it, examine it under a microscope, compare it to known species and begin the work of description. An LLM cannot. It has no access to the physical world, only to text."  That LLM's only have access to text is simply not true. LLM's are now quite proficient at image analysis. Give the LLM images of known fungal species and the LLM can begin the work of description, potentially highlighting similarities and differences to known species. I gave Google Gemini app this image: And the prompt "Describe this photo along with the likely identification of the organisms in the photo." The response started at the blue diamond: This image captures a close-up look at a brush-footed butterfly resting amidst lush green foliage. Visual Description The...

SC 130 Physical Science is centered on four course level learning outcomes: Explore physical science systems through experimentally based laboratories using scientific methodologies Define and explain concepts, theories, and laws in physical science. Generate mathematical models for physical science systems and use appropriate mathematical techniques and concepts to obtain quantitative solutions to problems in physical science. Demonstrate basic communication skills by working in groups on laboratory experiments and by writing up the result of experiments, including thoughtful discussion and interpretation of data, in a formal format using spreadsheet and word processing software. The course is philosophically centered on science as an emergent truth that arises from experimentally observed data. Hence course learning outcome number three refers to generating mathematical models, not to being given mathematical models.  In this respect the course is guided by Galileo's observation...

A plant list spreadsheet is used to edit the plant list from term to term. The plant list is only a reference for use in the field allowing for notes on late arriving students. The answer sheet is a grid of 24 blanks. A printed class list was used for attendance. Spare answer sheets were in a plastic grocery bag tied to a belt loop. The Tripltek was not brought along allowing for a hands free walk. A set of language tables in a spreadsheet cross references some of the plants and languages. A class flora is kept in iNaturalist . Weather would cancel the final. The arrival of a cruise ship with many German tourists, some of whom visited Nan Madol, coincided with rapidly deteriorating weather conditions. By 16:00 the sky dark like 18:00 and heavy rain was falling. Roads across the island flooded. Just after 16:00 thunder rolled through the sky. The final could not be conducted. Those present were awarded 24 points for showing up under the conditions. No photos taken.

The new segment of the term end assessment starts from below the new student center. This currently provides Colocasia esculenta and what appears to be Curcuma longa at the start of the new segment.  Falcataria falcata is available on this route, small saplings with branches that can inspected, unlike the giants on the north side of the access road. Melastoma malabathricum is inbound on this segment. This route is a southern route variant that can also pick up Premna serratifolia at A101, then Centella asiatica, Ociumum tenuiflorum, Jasminum sambac, Cocos nucifera, and Terminalia catappa prior to the student center. Dicranopteris linearis would be an option. Campnosperma brevipetiolatum is the crown jewel of the new segment. Including mature trees. Cyathea nigricans is available here too, right under the Campnosperma brevipetiolatum. This species might be better served by the large specimen behind the gym. ...

SC 130 Physical Science has centered on performing experiments with physical systems that obey mathematical relationships. Mathematics has been at the core and center of the course. What constitutes mathematical literacy?  What does it mean to "understand" mathematics? How can a student demonstrate that they possess quantitative reasoning capabilities?  During the term the students repeatedly demonstrated a complete loss of algebraic knowledge, although all had completed either MS 100 College Algebra and some had completed MS 101 Algebra and Trigonometry. Given this, how can a student prove that they "know" mathematics? What do we mean when we say that we have learned mathematics? What do we mean when we claim to have taught mathematics? And yet the students still cannot do mathematics? How should math be be taught? As abstract concepts? Or in specific context of subject matter system? Should mathematics be delivered "just-in-time" as equations are encount...