English Conversation Course

Recently, I talked to my friend, who is professionaly involved in working with Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning, about world future. He is convinced, that many jobs currently undone by people will be taken by machines. At the beggining I was dubious, but after some research I am not so sure, that Artificial Intelligence revolution is tens of years  away from us. Take a look at this TED presentation about artificial intelligence: https://www.ted.com/talks/maurice_conti_the_incredible_inventions_of_intuitive_ai As I recall, news about AI development are quite often in my RSS feeds. Maybe it is because most of my news feeds are about technology. On the other hand, I am signed up for other branches of technology RSS's and they are not even half as active as AI news feeds. Take a look at some examples: 1. Computers are already as good (if not better) as humans in games like the chess or go. Deep Blue computer recently defeated best human player in go. 2. Companies like ...

The history of transacions started with barter. Someone wanted to exchange one type of goods for another. He found a guy who needed his goods nad, coincidentally, had the other type of goods. They agreed and so it begun, the world started to exchange goods. Later on, someone realized there is no need for direct exchange of currencies. That led to creation of money. Firstly, it was gold and silver. Its value was secured because gold and silver were extremely hard to obtain. Few centuries later countries started to create money. Its value was secured by technologies used to print it. Governments were (or they thought... and think they were) the only one to prepare such document, that represents some value. People trust governments to some point, so currencies become way to perform transactions. Nowadays, money is partially physical currencies, and partially entries in databases of banks and credit card providers. What has not changed from dark ages, is that we trust some higher power (go...

How does mass media manipulate us? There’s no doubt modern media manipulate us. The mass media accompany us all day long – we believe in what we see on TV, read in newspapers or see on the net.  Sometimes it doesn’t even have to be a lie, but there are some tricks which make us feel afraid or feel angry. That preying on emotions perfectly strengthens the power of information and makes us in fact have our eyes covered with blinkers and we see only the only truth created by them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQDbT1gJLSk For example - fear and hate You have just got promotion. You got five at school or college and in general  you are a very happy man. You wake up well-rested as never before, reaching for a cup of delicious, aromatic coffee and a daily newspaper. You go to the homepage of one of the most popular news sites in Poland and as a breaking news, you get something like: „We aim for rockets in Europe and Poland’’       ...

5 most important breakthroughs of the past 10 years: what technologies have changed our lives? Smartphones, ebook readers, tablets or Virtual reality. Some of them did not exist ten years ago, about some knew only few. Thanks to these inventions and their popularization, our lives have changed unrecognizably over the past decade. https://www.ted.com/talks/ray_kurzweil_on_how_technology_will_transform_us   5. Ebook readers Kindle was not the first ebook reader on the market, however thanks to it the popularity of this type of equipment exploded. What makes that in the world of smartphones and tablets so many people decide to buy a device intended primarily for reading? It's all about the screen made in e-paper technology . Not only it is as eye-catching as traditional paper, it consumes very little energy and thanks to that we can read a few books on a single device. Last year around 25 million ebook readers were sold worldwide. Source: http://www.komput...

Week 8 [08.05 - 14.05.2017] - Bonds, Jameses Bonds        In 1962 the movie "Dr. No" appeared on the screens, and it became the first among the series of adventures of the invulnerable James Bond. The role of the agent 007 was played by six actors, each of whom brought a bit of his charm to the image of Bond. Let's recollect again who has been selflessly serving Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain during all this time.      In the late 1950s, the film company Eon Productions acquired the rights to the film adaptation of all the novels of Fleming, the films it has made are the official filmography of the Bond.  The first official James Bond was Sean Connery, who is still considered the best agent 007 among all who ever played this role. His JB career started in a film "Dr. No", after which Connery played in five more official parts: "From Russia with Love", "Goldfinger", "Thunderball", "You Only Live Twi...

Week 8 [08.05 - 14.05.2017] - Color is Important Have you ever wondered why certain colors or combinations of colors cause or evoke an emotional response, or simply create a nice picture? Color can affect us psychologically and physically, and often we do not notice it. It can be a powerful tool within history. Cognition in color theory makes it possible to control color to enhance the effect and visual enhancement of the image. In filming the using of color to create harmony or tension within the scene, or to draw attention to a key visual idea sometimes leads to amazing results. Studying the work of the best filmmakers we admire so much, we must admit that there is nothing accidental. A saturated red color is used to enhance emotions, to raise blood pressure, while blue color has a calming effect. Some colors are clearly associated with some place or location, others - with time or an epoch. Let's watch this nice video of CineFix to see the great examples ...