+
upworthy

philosophy

Science

College students use AI to decode ancient scroll burned in Mount Vesuvius

“Some of these texts could completely rewrite the history of key periods of the ancient world."

When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 C.E., it buried entire cities in volcanic materials. While Pompeii is the most famous site affected by the natural disaster, the nearby villa of Herculaneum was also laid to waste—including over 800 precious scrolls found inside Herculaneum’s library, which were carbonized by the heat, making them impossible to open and recover their contents.

Which brings us to the Vesuvius challenge, started by computer scientist Brent Seales and entrepreneurs Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross in March 2023. The contest would award $1 million in prizes to whoever could use machine learning to successfully read from the scrolls without damaging them.

On February 5, the prize-winning team was announced.
Keep ReadingShow less
More

Why it's illegal for some Christian bakers to refuse to bake gay wedding cakes. Explained.

A funny, concise three-minute explainer video about gay wedding cakes and the law.

Say, hypothetically, you go to a bakery to order your wedding cake.

Imagine you are Christian. And the bakery specializes in wedding cakes. Particularly satanic wedding cakes, but they make them for atheist and Buddhist weddings too, on occasion. And you happen to love the way their devil's food cake tastes, and you'd like them to make one for your Christian wedding. And then the satanic baker says, "I'm sorry, but it's against my beliefs to make a wedding cake for Christian weddings. Good day! Hail Satan!"

You'd be upset, right? (Along with being confused with the whole "Hail Satan" thing.)

Keep ReadingShow less

​This post was originally published on Wait But Why.

Some people see life like an ocean. They go where the current takes them.

Other people see life like a ball of clay in their hands — something to be held and shaped and molded.

In an ocean, you’re small and helpless, surrounded by something much bigger than yourself. It can make you wonder whose life you’re even living.

But sometimes, the ocean can lead you to mysterious places you never knew you wanted to go.

Holding a ball of clay, you’re all-powerful.

Your life takes the shape that you give it — and it’s surprising how shapeable life can be when you treat it like clay. Sometimes, you shape your life into something that feels just right.

Keep ReadingShow less