While I found the concept interesting, having to request an account through a contact form just to edit an article [1] doesn't really live up to the “wiki” part.
[1]: https://wikenigma.org.uk/info/notes_for_contributors/become
Wikenigma is an encyclopedia for topics with unknown answers
11–20 of 77 posts
Re: Wikenigma is an encyclopedia for topics with unknown answers
#12So is this the equivalent of one of the stories in the 1997 movie "Good Will Hunting," but on the Internet for everyone to take a crack at some hard problems to solve?
Re: Wikenigma is an encyclopedia for topics with unknown answers
#13I noticed this on the page about infinity: > Are some infinities larger than others? But didn't Cantor prove the answer to that is "yes" back in the 19th century?
Re: Wikenigma is an encyclopedia for topics with unknown answers
#14A brief review of a single Wikenigma article suggests that it doesn't cover known topics particularly well. The mechanism for color vision in humans is poorly understood. We do know that there are four ocular photoreceptors, and at least one extraocular photosensitive cell in humans. The Wikenigma article erroneously states that "human eyes have three different types of retinal cells (cone cells) which respond to lig…
It sucks to criticize, but I concur in the case of the site's article on neural networks [1]. They state that the successes of neural networks "defy mathematical understanding." Universal Approximation Theorem is sufficient; even if you give the benefit of the doubt that they refer to interpretability, there is active and fruitful research into NN saliency. (As an aside, I'm curious how such a quotation got published in PNAS?) It goes on to criticize NNs as not being biologically accurate, misunderstanding the purpose of NNs.
Perhaps this is due to the site relying heavily upon newspaper articles, as opposed to actual research.
[1] - https://wikenigma.org.uk/content/mathematics/neural_networks...
Re: Wikenigma is an encyclopedia for topics with unknown answers
#15There's a lot of work to do.
* At least some of the articles in psychology and language have been written by someone with an agenda, or a limited education in the field. E.g., the article about turn taking (https://wikenigma.org.uk/content/language/general/conversati...) talks about "endogenous oscillators" as if it is accepted that that's the solution to the problem.
* Philosophy mentions the Liar Paradox next to Free Will. These two are not quite the same.
* The article on intelligence doesn't even try. "Further reading" refers to a 27 year old report that had to calm the seas after the publication of The Bell Curve.
On the other hand, what's the point of listing everything in language, psychology and philosophy? We know next to nothing about these with any level of certainty. They could just be single entries. Now it seems as if the only thing unknown about language is the origin of the word abacadabra.
Re: Wikenigma is an encyclopedia for topics with unknown answers
#16While I found the concept interesting, having to request an account through a contact form just to edit an article [1] doesn't really live up to the “wiki” part. [1]: https://wikenigma.org.uk/info/notes_for_contributors/become
Interestingly, "wiki" means (in Hawaiian) "fast" (used by Ward Cunningham in '95 for "very fast web").
So, no, the process may not be fast. But in topics like "the best competitive sports club in the world", some may prefer to keep intervention more controlled, depending on the general intention.
Re: Wikenigma is an encyclopedia for topics with unknown answers
#17There's a lot of work to do. * At least some of the articles in psychology and language have been written by someone with an agenda, or a limited education in the field. E.g., the article about turn taking ( https://wikenigma.org.uk/content/language/general/conversati... ) talks about "endogenous oscillators" as if it is accepted that that's the solution to the problem. * Philosophy mentions the Liar Paradox next to…
> unknown ... origin
? Serenus Sammonicus?
Edit: ok, I read the page, I see what was meant.
But a problem emerges, it could get evident seeing as their source is Wikipedia (?! "I know that because somebody told me"?!): it is epistemologically not trivial to state ignorance. Even when the learned does, the protocol is that "John, PhD, on that occasion expressed ignorance".
It may be a reason why once upon a time we had erudition, much more highlighted than nowadays: some attempt towards completeness in the exploration of sources.
Re: Wikenigma is an encyclopedia for topics with unknown answers
#18I noticed this on the page about infinity: > Are some infinities larger than others? But didn't Cantor prove the answer to that is "yes" back in the 19th century?
Yes. Trivially, uncountable infinities have to be larger than countable infinities do they not? The set of reals contains within it the set of integers for example but also contains a bunch of other stuff. (Not a mathematician obviously).
Re: Wikenigma is an encyclopedia for topics with unknown answers
#19A brief review of a single Wikenigma article suggests that it doesn't cover known topics particularly well. The mechanism for color vision in humans is poorly understood. We do know that there are four ocular photoreceptors, and at least one extraocular photosensitive cell in humans. The Wikenigma article erroneously states that "human eyes have three different types of retinal cells (cone cells) which respond to lig…
It sucks to criticize, but I concur in the case of the site's article on neural networks [1]. They state that the successes of neural networks "defy mathematical understanding." Universal Approximation Theorem is sufficient; even if you give the benefit of the doubt that they refer to interpretability, there is active and fruitful research into NN saliency. (As an aside, I'm curious how such a quotation got published…
The stated aim being «to act as a Catalyst for Curiosity in a general sense – as well as trying to identify possible starting points for (re)cultivating interest in scientific, academic, and of course, armchair-based research [... also as] curiosity does tend to wane significantly as years go by», the ambition is not the most intent and practical.
Re: Wikenigma is an encyclopedia for topics with unknown answers
#20So is this the equivalent of one of the stories in the 1997 movie "Good Will Hunting," but on the Internet for everyone to take a crack at some hard problems to solve?
> to solve
Just to be intrigued - see https://wikenigma.org.uk/curators_rationale
But also to raise awareness on the complementary part of the achievements in research. Nonetheless, in this regard it should be a much more structured effort than a "bedside booklet".