Grep the Log

Hey Gang! Stop by my new YouTube channel and subscribe for more interesting tech industry updates. Below is my first video plugging the blog and lining out what's to come.

If you've ever seen Terminator (if you haven't, correct your priorities) then you're familiar with the techno-evil that is Skynet. An all powerful, omnipotent AI that has taken control of the machines and destroyed it's creators: the human race. This dystopian 80's view of AI and technology may seem a little silly, but it has shaped the way many of us perceive the results of this tech becoming a reality. People inherently fear what they do not understand. In the 80's an interconnected world was beyond comprehension and that is what made Skynet an effective "bad guy" for the films. This resonated so well, that even some of today's brightest minds (looking at you Elon) are taking measures to see that real wold AI never reaches that point. While I can't deny that the idea of a sentient computer with access to military strength is unsettling, I think the likelihood of this becoming reality is almost impossible. If we all agree to leave the fict

It was the summer of 2016, times were simple. Our president had not starred in reality shows outside of mainstream news and the world was in disarray as the wondered what really happened to Barb (RIP). Then we received a gift that would make our divided country whole once more: Pokemon Go. July of 2016 was probably the most active and joy filled month in American history. Office productivity had tanked as we defended out team's territory and adults and kids alike found themselves taking of the hobby of trespassing in the hopes of capturing a rare monster. Looking back, the obsession that our society collectively had for Pokemon Go at launch was a bit disturbing. Kids from age 5 to grandparents in their 70's were staring at their phones to catch virtual creatures from a Japanese cartoon. It was a crazy time. For me, I think the novel concept of the game's use of augmented reality, combined with nostalgia for millenials like myself, were really the catalyst for this pheno

Twitch, Youtube, and even Facebook are littered with livestreams and videos of players (streamers) from all around the world doing one thing: playing video games. While this is a foreign concept to some, in the past several years this act has ballooned into an almost 5 billion dollar industry as of 2017 . This phenomenon is something that escapes me, even as an avid gamer, but one scroll through reddit and I am quickly reminded that I am in the minority. Why do people like it? This is something I often find myself pondering when I see reports of a streamer pulling in the GDP of a small country for playing a free game . I think the answer can be found in looking at the reality TV boon of the late 90's and early 2000's. We as humans get some strange enjoyment out of watching content that is mundane in nature, but acted out by someone with a big personality. A great example of this is literally anything Guy Fieri has done on television. Is there anything compelling about wat

Artificial intelligence is a hot topic whether you're discussing tech stocks, action movies, or Elon Musk's latest musings on Twitter. One particular application I feel we will see actualized prior to the latter's fear of Skynet is the use of artificial intelligence to create living digital worlds in video games. As the "new mainstream" of entertainment mediums and the most popular across all demographics, adoption of AI here will be key in seeing it grow for all applications. Instead of developing a means to beat real players, AI in video games is utilized to enhance  the human players’ experience. More common than not, AI in video games is controlling non-player characters (NPCs). Develops are always looking for new ways to make them seem more intelligent or legitimate. Up to this point they have employed a form of pseudo AI called the Finite State Machine (FSM) algorithm, which has been around since the 1990s. In a FSM, a dev will account for all possible