O imparável aumento do número de prémios de milhões para cientistas

Em Maio do ano passado e antes disso também em 19 de Abril de 2021, dei conta do meu contributo, enquanto "nomeador" para um prémio de 3 milhões, vide também email abaixo que recebi ontem. 

É verdade que 3 milhões de dólares são um valor elevado, mesmo se comparado com aquilo que é o substancial vencimento mensal de um cientista, em alguns países ricos como a Suiça, https://pacheco-torgal.blogspot.com/2021/09/os-luxuosos-salarios-de-professores.html já é porém uma autêntica miséria, se comparado com os absolutamente enormes beneficios (no valor de milhares de milhões de dólares) de um elevado número de descobertas científicas https://pacheco-torgal.blogspot.com/2019/11/celebrar-quem-efectivamente-o-merece-no.html

Porém, a meu ver, a parte mais positiva deste prémio é que ele vem contribuir para aumentar a lista de dezenas de prémios, de valor superior a 1 milhão de dólares, https://pacheco-torgal.blogspot.com/2021/09/vinte-e-tres-premios-de-pelo-menos-1.html que visam premiar cientistas, o que constitui um sinal inequivoco do crescente reconhecimento público da importância crucial da Ciência para o futuro da Humanidade. 

PS - Recorde-se que só o European Research Council-ERC, atribuiu desde a sua criação, 12 mil bolsas de investigação, de valor superior a 1 milhão de euros cada uma. Tenha-se também presente que há apenas 20 atrás não havia nenhuma ERC, que há 50 anos atrás, nem sequer havia democracia no nosso país, e na Europa havia não uma União Europeia de 27 países, mas uma coisa chamada CEE, constituida por apenas 6 países, Alemanha, França, Itália, Holanda, Bélgica e Luxemburgo, sendo que nessa altura quase metade da Alemanha ainda vivia imersa num medíocre e absolutamente alienante pesadelo comunista. 

______________________________________________________________________

De: VinFuture Foundation Secretariat 
Enviado: 30 de maio de 2023 11:58
Para: F. Pacheco Torgal
Assunto: VinFuture Prize 2023: Thank-you Letter

 

To view this email as a web page, click here. Hanoi, Vietnam, May 30th, 2023 Dear Prof. F. Pacheco-Torgal,   On behalf of the VinFuture Prize, I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for your invaluable assistance in connecting the Prize with your extensive networks for our Call for Nominations stage. We are especially appreciative of your recognition of the VinFuture Prize as a source of pride, as it played a significant role in encouraging professionals within your networks to enthusiastically engage with us in our scientific and technological activities, as well as the nomination process. I am pleased to inform you that the 2023 VinFuture Prize Call for Nominations concluded on May 15th, with a total of 1389 nominations received from 90 countries and territories across six continents. The nominations demonstrate exceptional quality and a well-balanced distribution across all four prize categories. Currently, the VinFuture Prize Council and Pre-Screening Committee are meticulously reviewing these nominations. The recipients of the VinFuture Prize for 2023 will be announced and honored on December 20th this year, and we will keep you updated on the results. As a new global science and technology Prize, we recognize that there is much for us to learn and improve upon in order to better serve you and the broader scientific community. We highly value your feedback on how we can enhance our operations and further develop our scientific and technological activities during the Call for Nominations period. If you have any suggestions, please share them with us through this survey link: https://forms.office.com/r/Hz9Kr3Bk0Z. Once again, we extend our sincerest thanks for your tremendous support of the VinFuture Prize. We hope that you will continue to assist us in expanding and deepening our networks of scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs. Your invaluable involvement will significantly contribute to recognizing groundbreaking inventions in science and technology that address real-world problems faced by millions of people worldwide, fulfilling the VinFuture Prize’s ultimate mission of “Science for Humanity.” Sincerely, Dr. Thai-Ha Le Managing Director of the VinFuture Prize  The VinFuture Prize Management & Secretariat [T]   (+84)-24-3974-9999 (Ext. 4079) (9:00 AM–5:00 PM, GMT +7) [E]   secretariat@vinfutureprize.org       [W]  https://vinfutureprize.org [FB]  https://www.facebook.com/vinfutureprize [A]   Administration Building, VinUniversity Campus, Vinhomes Ocean Park, Gia Lam District, Hanoi, Vietnam

Os Portugueses que não querem pagar rendas Camarárias nem de 30, nem de 20, nem de 10 nem sequer de 9 euros por mês

Parece que no mesmo país onde o Estado obriga professores e investigadores a pagar taxas de IRS superiores aquelas que pagam muitas famílias super-ricas, https://pacheco-torgal.blogspot.com/2021/10/professores-universitarios-e.html há quem viva em casas camarárias, leia-se, casas que foram construídas com o dinheiro dos Portugueses que pagam impostos, e queira fazê-lo de borla, não aceitando pagar nem sequer rendas mínimas, nem de 30, nem de 20, nem de 10 nem sequer de 9 euros por mês, como hoje se pode ler num artigo do jornal Público, sendo que o total de rendas (mínimas) não pagas já vai em quase 15 milhões de euros, a conta em atraso seria obviamente muitíssimo superior, caso se estivéssemos a falar de rendas mensais de centenas de euros, que são aquelas que são efectivamente pagas pelos Portugueses, que além disso ainda fazem o favor de pagar impostos elevados https://www.publico.pt/2023/05/29/local/noticia/loures-faz-ultimato-nao-pagam-renda-tempo-impunidade-acabou-2051428

Mas bem vistas as coisas a culpa não é inteiramente desses borlistas, a grande culpa é toda de quem os ensinou que neste país se pode viver à vontadinha por conta daquilo que é dos outros, como sucede com aquela classe politica (canalha) que recebe subvenções vitalícias, para as quais não descontaram, as mesmas subvenções que agora custam mais de 8 milhões de euros por ano (e que desde que foram criadas já custaram mais de 100 milhões de euros) aos Portugueses que pagam impostos e que este Governo até tem tentado esconder https://poligrafo.sapo.pt/fact-check/valor-das-subvencoes-vitalicias-dos-ex-politicos-duplica-aos-60-anos-de-idade

Yuval Noah Harari answers the question: "Not knowing what professions will exist (in the future), what should schools teach in the present?"

https://pachecotorgal.com/2023/05/18/the-19-most-relevant-questions-for-the-human-species/

In a previous post (link above) I listed 19 questions, which ChatGPT considered to be the most relevant for the human species. The one that appears in the ninth position with the wording "Can we create an artificial intelligence that is comparable to human intelligence?" is now much closer to having a positive response, given the content of the 155-page article, which was recently released, https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.12712

In the controversial article, its authors affirm that the GPT-4 model, presents an almost human performance, being able to solve new challenges of high complexity and without the need of any special guidance, including in the areas of mathematics, coding, medicine , law, psychology and others: "We demonstrate that, beyond its mastery of language, GPT-4 can solve novel and difficult tasks that span mathematics, coding, vision, medicine, law, psychology and more, without needing any special prompting. Moreover, in all of these tasks, GPT-4's performance is strikingly close to human-level performance"

On the above topic, I remember that last month, in a post published on the 25th of April, I had already mentioned another article, on the high capabilities of GPT-4 in solving important medical challenges.

Still on the future impacts of Artificial Intelligence, the main section of the last edition of the Portuguese newsweek Expresso, published an extensive interview with the well-known thinker Yuval Noah Harari, from which I intend to highlight the answer to the question:

"Not knowing what professions will exist (in the future), what should the school teach in the present?"

Yuval Noah Harari's response: "…Schools don't have to give information to children because they are flooded with information. But they have to teach them to distinguish between credible and non-credible sources of information."

Of course, this answer raises another question (which the journalists did not ask), which is how can you teach a child to distinguish between a credible and an unreliable source of information? Fortunately, though, ChatGPT can help answer that question:

ChatGPT Answer: "Teaching a child to distinguish between a credible and an unreliable source of information is an important skill in today's times when the amount of information available is vast and not all of it is reliable. Here are some guidelines on how to approach this matter:

1. Start with basic concepts: Explain to the child what a source of information is, such as books, websites, newspapers, magazines and videos. Help her understand that not all sources are reliable and that some may contain incorrect or misleading information.
2. Teach to evaluate the source: Show the child how to examine the source of information. Explain that it is important to consider who wrote the information, what their expertise is and whether they have a credible reputation. Make sure the source is recognized and respected in the area where you are providing information.
3. Check facts: Encourage the child to check whether the information presented is supported by evidence, research or additional sources. Explain that reliable information is based on verifiable facts and can be corroborated by multiple independent sources.
4. Review impartiality: Help the child understand that some sources of information may have bias or a specific agenda. Teach her to consider whether information is presented impartially or whether there is hidden intent behind it.
5. Promote critical thinking: Encourage the child to ask questions about the information being presented. Encourage her to think critically, analyze different perspectives and look for evidence before accepting information as true.
6. Teach About Reliable Sources: Identify and present the child with examples of reputable sources of information such as encyclopedias, websites of educational institutions, libraries, reputable newspapers and educational TV programs. Explain why these sources are considered reliable and how to use them.
7. Monitoring and Supervision: Be there to guide the child through their research and offer support when they encounter questionable information. Encourage her to seek the opinion of trusted adults, such as parents, teachers, or librarians, when in doubt about the credibility of a source.
8. Set an example: As an adult, you can influence your child by modeling reliable information-seeking behavior and by sharing your own source evaluation process. Demonstrate how you verify the accuracy of information before accepting it"