Surprise! The Element Of Surprise Has Been Mathematically Modeled
from the there's-just-no-spontaneity-any-more dept
Answering the question of whether or not something can be a surprise if it's predictable, some researchers claim to have mathematically modeled the likelihood of surprise -- currently based on watching a video. The description isn't entirely clear (and those who are more mathematically minded are urged to weigh in with just how innovative this is, or isn't), but it suggests the mathematics of surprise could be useful in trying to gain attention by standing out from the pack. The idea is that using this model, you could see if your "surprise" is actually all that surprising. Either way, saying you've mathematically modeled the element of surprise probably doesn't play well on first dates.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Bean Counters
So they created a method to determine what peoples beliefs are, analyzed it and created a method for determining what would and wouldn't be a normal belief?
Hmmm, sounds like they are working on a method to reach a specific demographic based on beliefs instead of the norm, i.e. male, female, age, and locality?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
ZZzzzZzZzZzzzzzz.......
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Seeing Shannon
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Seeing Shannon
This looks like the actual article:
http://ilab.usc.edu/publications/doc/Itti_Baldi06nips.pdf
[ link to this | view in chronology ]