State of the Art

There’s Nothing Like Real Experience: II

Author(s)3: Art Johnson
There’s Nothing Like Real Experience: II 150 150 IEEE Pulse
As the saying goes, the point on a pencil is the inspiration and the other end with the eraser is the experience. A pencil without an eraser is next to useless, as I have found out. Yes, I know that, instead of using pencils, we all type on computers these days, but the principle still holds: Experience tempers our creative endeavors with realistic expectations. Whether we are considering engineering solutions to outstanding problems or are considering more broadly how to live our lives, real-life experiences guide our every move. read more

Harmonicas

Author(s)3: Art Johnson
Harmonicas 150 150 IEEE Pulse
It is easy for me to imagine life without harmonicas, but for my parents’ generation, harmonicas were as common as rain. They were small and easy to fit in a shirt pocket or kit bag, and, whenever an idle moment presented itself, out came the harmonica to render a slightly reedy version of a well-known song: songs like “Red River Valley,” “You Are My Sunshine,” or “Tennessee Waltz.” read more

Collateral Learning

Author(s)3: Art Johnson
Collateral Learning 150 150 IEEE Pulse
Students take engineering courses to learn techniques for solving problems. Thus, most engineering courses taken by undergraduate students are highly technical in nature. But, there are many additional techniques and skills that can be learned along the way. read more

Ethics in the Era of Artificial Intelligence

Author(s)3: Art Johnson
Ethics in the Era of Artificial Intelligence 150 150 IEEE Pulse
Ethics can be interesting and fascinatingly compelling because of the subtle natures of its solutions in ambiguous situations. Articles on ethical issues and college courses on ethics rarely present answers to the questions that are posed. That is because ethical responses are highly situational and depend a lot on commonly accepted, but not codified, beliefs, and attitudes. read more

Consciousness in Animals

Author(s)3: Art Johnson
Consciousness in Animals 150 150 IEEE Pulse
Are humans the only species with a sense of consciousness? This question has intrigued me for most of my life. Having kept pets and livestock animals, and observed wild animals from both near and far, I have often wondered just how much they know about their surroundings and their place in it. Do they know how to reason out answers to questions important to them? Are they aware of the consequences of their actions? Can they anticipate what other animals, including those of close kin and other, more remote species, are likely to do in certain situations? Can they see themselves inside their minds, if they do, indeed, have minds? Do they dream? read more

School Security?

Author(s)3: Art Johnson
School Security? 150 150 IEEE Pulse

“Schools rethink security training” was the headline on page 1 of the 30 December 2019 issue of The Baltimore Sun daily newspaper. The accompanying article went on to explain that…

read more

A War at All Costs?

Author(s)3: Art Johnson
A War at All Costs? 150 150 IEEE Pulse

War between the two worlds Eminiar VII and Vendikar had gone on for 500 years with no cessation in sight. This war was conducted by computer simulation, so that a…

read more

Focus

Author(s)3: Art Johnson
Focus 150 150 IEEE Pulse

We, as a society, have become too easily distracted. We are all suffering these days from lack of focus, and it could get worse. “TMI” stands for “too much information,”…

read more

There’s Nothing Like Real Experience: I

Author(s)3: Art Johnson
There’s Nothing Like Real Experience: I 150 150 IEEE Pulse

As the saying goes, the point on a pencil is the inspiration and the other end with the eraser is the experience. A pencil without an eraser is next to…

read more