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Scientific conference falls for gibberish prank
ABC ^
| 04/15/2005
| Reuters
Posted on 04/15/2005 6:40:12 AM PDT by bedolido
A bunch of computer-generated gibberish masquerading as an academic paper has been accepted at a scientific conference in a victory for pranksters at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Jeremy Stribling said that he and two fellow MIT graduate students questioned the standards of some academic conferences, so they wrote a computer program to generate research papers complete with nonsensical text, charts and diagrams.
The trio submitted two of the randomly assembled papers to the World Multiconference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics (WMSCI), scheduled to be held July 10-13 in Orlando, Florida.
To their surprise, one of the papers - "Rooter: A Methodology for the Typical Unification of Access Points and Redundancy" - was accepted for presentation.
The prank recalled a 1996 hoax in which New York University physicist Alan Sokal succeeded in getting an entire paper with a mix of truths, falsehoods, non sequiturs and otherwise meaningless mumbo-jumbo published in the journal Social Text.
Mr Stribling said he and his colleagues only learned about the Social Text affair after submitting their paper.
"Rooter" features such mind-bending gems as: "the model for our heuristic consists of four independent components: simulated annealing, active networks, flexible modalities, and the study of reinforcement learning" and "We implemented our scatter/gather I/O server in Simula-67, augmented with opportunistically pipelined extensions".
(Excerpt) Read more at abc.net.au ...
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: brassmagnet; conference; falls; gibberish; prank; scientific
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A computer program generated the research paper complete with nonsensical text, charts and diagrams. (AFP)
1
posted on
04/15/2005 6:40:12 AM PDT
by
bedolido
To: bedolido
Sounds like some of the Lab reports I did for Thermodynamics Class.
To: bedolido
This is too funny, but it does highlight the differences between a conference paper, which is typically a unrefereed oral presentation, and a scientific journal publication, which must pass peer review.
3
posted on
04/15/2005 6:44:55 AM PDT
by
doc30
(Democrats are to morals what and Etch-A-Sketch is to Art.)
To: bedolido
World Multiconference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics (WMSCI). Just pronounce it as "Whimsy".
4
posted on
04/15/2005 6:47:20 AM PDT
by
theDentist
(The Dems are putting all their eggs in one basket-case: Howard "Belltower" Dean.)
To: bedolido
These guys have a guaranteed job with any pro-Kyoto, enviro-whacko group out there.
5
posted on
04/15/2005 6:48:08 AM PDT
by
DTogo
(U.S. out of the U.N. & U.N out of the U.S.)
To: bedolido
6
posted on
04/15/2005 6:49:32 AM PDT
by
add925
(The Left = Xenophobes in Denial)
To: bedolido
Brilliant...
I actually know one reviewer on Epinons.com who writes hundreds of reviews by using a quick little program to replace key indicators with features he plugs in... All he does is enter criteria and hit a replace button.. it goes through and changes out specs and product titles.. after flipping a few paragraphs around, he publishes it.. he has made thousands of dollars doing this... (this is, however, one reason I would never trust reviews on epinons.com...)
7
posted on
04/15/2005 6:50:45 AM PDT
by
mnehring
(http://www.mlearningworld.com)
To: bedolido
generated the research paper complete with nonsensical text, charts and diagrams. (AFP) Just like the papers I wrote in college. ;)
8
posted on
04/15/2005 6:50:59 AM PDT
by
dfwgator
(Minutemen: Just doing the jobs that American politicians won't do.)
To: mnehrling
In my college chemistry class, we constantly used S.W.A.G on test. Scientific Wild A$$ Guess.
9
posted on
04/15/2005 6:54:00 AM PDT
by
phil1750
(Love like you've never been hurt;Dance like nobody's watching;PRAY like it's your last prayer)
To: bedolido
A computer program generated the research paper complete with nonsensical text, charts and diagrams. (AFP) Sounds like he has a job waiting for him at Microsoft. Maybe he'll do a better job writing help files.
10
posted on
04/15/2005 6:57:22 AM PDT
by
Only1choice____Freedom
(I alone, am the chosen one. Because I alone, did the choosing.)
To: DTogo
"These guys have a guaranteed job with any pro-Kyoto, enviro-whacko group out there."
My thoughts exactly!
11
posted on
04/15/2005 6:57:36 AM PDT
by
poobear
To: bedolido
Who doesn't love a good geek-prank? It's deserving for those chin-stroking, head-nodding sychophants pretending to be above it all. It's funny how a bunch of multi-syllabic words placed in esoteric context can generate interest.
12
posted on
04/15/2005 6:59:45 AM PDT
by
edpc
To: bedolido
Makes me proud of my alma mater. MIT has it's share of leftists, but it's by no means a PC campus.
13
posted on
04/15/2005 7:01:27 AM PDT
by
RonF
To: phil1750
In my college chemistry class, we constantly used S.W.A.G on test. Scientific Wild A$$ Guess...they used the same term in Hydrology...in Engineering.
14
posted on
04/15/2005 7:01:41 AM PDT
by
skinkinthegrass
(Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you :^)
To: bedolido
Here's the blog on MIT's Technology Review web site:
http://archives.trblogs.com/2005/04/two_very_funny.trml
If you visit one of the links on the blog, you will find instructions on how to download the program that generated these articles.
15
posted on
04/15/2005 7:06:32 AM PDT
by
mnehring
(http://www.mlearningworld.com)
To: bedolido
I guess the more educated you are, the easier you'll fall for a bunch of multisyllabic nonsense.
To: bedolido
Hey, these guys were just trying to win the "Ward Churchill Medal of Academic Excellence"!
17
posted on
04/15/2005 7:07:28 AM PDT
by
Polyxene
(For where God built a church, there the Devil would also build a chapel - Martin Luther)
To: bedolido
the model for our heuristic consists of four independent components: simulated annealing, active networks, flexible modalities, and the study of reinforcement learning" and "We implemented our scatter/gather I/O server in Simula-67, augmented with opportunistically pipelined extensions".
18
posted on
04/15/2005 7:09:34 AM PDT
by
reagan_fanatic
(It takes all kinds of critters...to make Farmer Vincents fritters)
To: doc30
".... the differences between a conference paper, which is typically a unrefereed oral presentation, and a scientific journal publication, which must pass peer review." Well, that's not "quite" true. At most conferences I've been to, the "peer review" happens in real time with questions from the audience after the talk. In some cases, those "reviews" have been pretty damned scathing.
To: edpc
"Who doesn't love a good geek-prank? It's deserving for those chin-stroking, head-nodding sychophants pretending to be above it all. It's funny how a bunch of multi-syllabic words placed in esoteric context can generate interest."
And don't forget "MASS EQUALS VALIDITY!"
Top sends
20
posted on
04/15/2005 7:13:21 AM PDT
by
petro45acp
(Democrat = socialist. Say it loud, say it often, and VOTE!!)
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