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Hello. This is 6 Minute English
from BBC Learning English.
I’m Sam.
And I’m Neil.
On Saturday mornings I love going
to watch football in the park.
The problem is when it’s cold and
rainy - I look out the bedroom window
and go straight back to bed!
Well, instead of going to the park, why
not bring the park to you? Imagine
watching a live version of the
football match at home in the warm,
with friends. Sound good, Sam?
Sounds great! – but how can I be in
two places at once? Is there some
amazing invention to do that?
There might be, Sam - and it could
be happening sooner than you think,
thanks to developments in VR, or
virtual reality. According to Facebook
boss, Mark Zuckerberg, in the future
we’ll all spend much of our time
living and working in the ‘metaverse’ – a
series of virtual worlds.
Virtual reality is a topic we’ve discussed
before at 6 Minute English. But when
Facebook announced that it was
hiring ten thousand new workers
to develop VR for the ‘metaverse’, we
thought it was time for another look.
Is this programme, we’ll be hearing two
different opinions on the ‘metaverse’
and how it might shape the future.
But first I have a question for you, Neil.
According to a 2021 survey by
gaming company, Thrive Analytics, what
percentage of people who try virtual
reality once want to try it again? Is it:
a) 9 percent?
b) 49 percent? or,
c) 79 percent?
I guess with VR you either love it
or hate it, so I’ll say b) 49 percent of
people want to try it again.
OK, I’ll reveal the correct answer
later in the programme. But what
Neil said is true: people tend to either
love virtual reality or hate it.
Somebody who loves it is
Emma Ridderstad, CEO of Warpin’, a
company which develops
VR technology.
Here she is telling BBC World
Service programme, Tech Tent, her
vision of the future:
In ten years, everything that you
do on your phone today, you will
do in 3-D, through your classes
for example. You will be able to do
your shopping, you will be able to
meet your friends, you will be able
to work remotely with whomever
you want, you will be able to share
digital spaces, share music, share
art, share projects in digital spaces
between each other. And you will also
be able to integrate the digital objects
in your physical world, making the
world much more phygital than
is it today.
Virtual reality creates 3-D, or
three-dimensional experiences where
objects have the three dimensions of
length, width and height. This makes
them look lifelike and solid, not
two-dimensional and flat.
Emma says that in the future VR will
mix digital objects and physical
objects to create exciting new
experiences – like staying home to
watch the same football match
that is simultaneously happening in
the park. She blends the words
‘physical’ and ‘digital’ to make a new
word describing this
combination: phygital.
But while a ‘phygital’ future sounds
like paradise to some, others are
more sceptical – they doubt that
VR will come true or be useful.
One such sceptic is technology
innovator, Dr Nicola Millard. For one
thing, she doesn’t like wearing a
VR headset – the heavy helmet and
glasses that create virtual reality
for the wearer – something she
explained to BBC World Service’s,
Tech Tent:
There are some basic things to
think about. So, how do we
access it? So, the reason, sort of,
social networks took off was, we’ve
got mobile technologies that let
us use it. Now, obviously one of
the barriers can be that VR or AR
headsets - so VR, I’ve always been
slightly sceptical about. I’ve called
it ‘vomity reality’ for a while because,
frankly, I usually need a bucket
somewhere close if you’ve got a
headset on me… and also, do I want
to spend vast amounts of time in
those rather unwieldy headsets?
Now, I know they’re talking AR as
well and obviously that does not
necessarily need a headset, but I
think we’re seeing some quite
immersive environments coming
out at the moment as well.
Nicola called VR ‘vomity reality’
because wearing a headset makes
her feel sick, maybe because it’s
so unwieldy – difficult to move or
wear because it’s big and heavy.
She also makes a difference
between VR - virtual reality- and AR,
which stands for augmented
reality – tech which adds to the
ordinary physical world by
projecting virtual words, pictures
and characters, usually by wearing
glasses or with a mobile phone.
While virtual reality replaces what
you hear and see, augmented
reality adds to it. Both VR and AR
are immersive experiences – they
stimulate your senses and surround
you so that you feel completely
involved in the experience.
In fact, the experience feels so real
that people keep coming back
for more.
Right! In my question I asked
Neil how many people who try
VR for the first time want to try
it again.
I guessed it was about half –
49 percent. Was I right?
You were… wrong, I’m afraid.
The correct answer is much
higher - 79 percent of people
would give VR another try.
I suppose because the experience
was so immersive – stimulating,
surrounding and realistic.
Ok, A, let’s recap the other
vocabulary from this programme
on the ‘metaverse’, a kind of
augmented reality – reality which
is enhanced or added to
by technology.
3-D objects have three
dimensions, making them
appear real and solid.
Phygital is an invented word
which combines the features of
‘physical’ and ‘digital’ worlds.
A sceptical person is doubtful
about something.
And finally, unwieldy means
difficult to move or carry because
it’s so big and heavy.
That’s our six minutes up, in this
reality anyway. See you in the
‘metaverse’ soon!
Goodbye!
Hello. This is 6 Minute English
from BBC Learning English.
I’m Neil.
And I’m Sam.
What do shopping with a credit
card, finding love through
internet dating and waiting for
the traffic lights to change
have in common?
Hmmm, they all involve
computers?
Good guess, Sam! But how
exactly do those computers work?
The answer is that they all use
algorithms – sets of mathematical
instructions which find solutions
to problems.
Although they are often hidden,
algorithms are all around us.
From mobile phone maps to
home delivery pizza, they play a
big part of modern life. And
they’re the topic of this programme.
A simple way to think of algorithms
is as recipes. To make pancakes
you mix flour, eggs and milk, then
melt butter in a frying pan and
so on. Computers do this in more
a complicated way by repeating
mathematical equations over
and over again.
Equations are mathematical
sentences showing how two
things are equal. They’re similar
to algorithms and the most famous
scientific equation of all, Einstein's
E=MC2, can be thought of as a
three-part algorithm.
But before my brain gets squashed
by all this maths, I have a quiz
question for you, Sam. As you know,
Einstein’s famous equation is
E=MC2 - but what does the
‘E’ stand for? Is it:
a) electricity?
b) energy? or
c) everything?
I’m tempted to say ‘E’ is for
‘everything’ but I reckon I know
the answer: b – ‘E’ stands
for ‘energy’.
OK, Sam, we’ll find out if you’re
right later in the programme.
With all this talk of computers, you
might think algorithms are a
new idea. In fact, they’ve been
around since Babylonian times,
around 4,000 years ago.
And their use today can be
controversial. Some algorithms
used in internet search engines
have been accused of
racial prejudice.
Ramesh Srinivasan is Professor
of Information Studies at the
University of California. Here’s what
he said when asked what the word
‘algorithm’ actually means by
BBC World Service’s programme,
The Forum:
My understanding of the term
‘algorithm’ is that it’s not necessarily
the bogyman, or its not necessarily
something that is, you know, inscrutable
or mysterious to all people – it’s the
set of instructions that you write in
some mathematical form or in
some software code – so it’s the
repeated set of instructions that
are sequenced, that are used and
applied to answer a question or
resolve a problem – it’s a simple
as that, actually.
Some think that algorithms have
been controversial, but Professor
Srinivasan says they are not
necessarily the bogyman. The
bogyman refers to something
people call ‘bad’ or ‘evil’ to make
other people afraid.
Professor Srinivasan thinks
algorithms are neither evil nor
inscrutable – not showing emotions
or thoughts and therefore very
difficult to understand.
Still, it can be difficult to understand
exactly what algorithms are,
especially when there are many
different types of them. So, let’s
take an example.
It’s autumn and we want to
collect all the apples from our
orchard and divide them into
three groups – big, medium
and small. One method is to
collect all the apples together
and compare their sizes.
But doing this would take hours!
It’s much easier to first collect
the apples from only one tree -
divide those into big, medium
or small – and then repeat the
process for the other trees,
one by one.
That’s basically what algorithms
do – they find the most efficient
way to get things done, or in other
words, get the best results in the
quickest time.
Mathematics professor Ian
Stewart agrees. Listen as he
explains how the algorithm called
‘bubble sort’ works to BBC World
Service’s programme, The Forum:
Think of when your computer is
sorting emails by date and maybe
you’ve got 500 emails and it sorts
them by date in a flash.
Now it doesn’t use bubble sort,
but it does use a sorting method
and if you tried to do that by hand
it would take you a very long time,
whatever method you used.
Professor Stewart describes how
algorithms sort emails. To sort is a
verb meaning to group together
things which share similarities.
Just like grouping the apples by
size, sorting hundreds of emails
by hand would take a long time.
But using algorithms, computers
do it in a flash – very quickly or
suddenly.
That phrase – in a flash – reminds
me of how Albert Einstein came up
with his famous equation, E=MC2.
And that reminds me of your quiz
question. You asked about the ‘E’
in E=MC2. I said it stands for ‘energy’.
So, was I right?
‘Energy’ is the correct answer.
Energy equals ‘M’ for mass,
multiplied by the Constant ‘C’ which
is the speed of light, squared.
OK, let’s recap the vocabulary from
this programme, starting with
equation – a mathematical statement
using symbols to show two
equal things.
If something is called a bogyman,
it’s something considered bad
and to be feared.
Inscrutable people don’t show
their emotions so are very difficult
to get to know.
Efficient means working quickly
and effectively in an
organised way.
The verb to sort means to group
together things which
share similarities.
And finally, if something happens
in a flash, it happens quickly
or suddenly.
That’s all the time we have to
discuss algorithms. And if
you’re still not 100% sure about
exactly what they are, we hope
at least you’ve learned some
useful vocabulary!
Join us again soon for more
trending topics, sensational
science and useful vocabulary
here at 6 Minute English from
BBC Learning English.
Bye for now!
Goodbye!
Hello. This is 6 Minute English
from BBC Learning English.
I’m Neil.
And I’m Sam.
In recent years, many people
have wanted to find out more
about where they come from.
Millions have tried to trace
their family history and discover
how their ancestors lived
hundreds of years ago.
The internet has made it much
easier to find historical
documents and records about
your family history - and one of
the most useful documents for
doing this is the census.
A census is an official count of all
the people living in a country.
It collects information about a
country’s population and is usually
carried out by the government.
In Britain, a census has been
carried out every ten years
since 1801. In 2002, when
census records from a hundred
years before became available
online, so many people rushed
to their computers to access
them that the website crashed!
But before we find out more
about the census and its related
vocabulary it’s time for a quiz
question, Sam. Someone who
knows a lot about his family
history is British actor, Danny
Dyer. When BBC television
programme, Who Do You
Think You Are? researched
his family history they discovered
that the actor was related to
someone very famous – but
who was it?
A) King Edward III,
B) William Shakespeare, or,
C) Winston Churchill?
Well, I know Danny Dyer usually
plays tough-guy characters so
maybe it’s
C), war hero Winston Churchill?
OK, Sam, we’ll find out later if
that’s correct. Now, although
the first British census took
place in 1801, other censuses
have a much longer history.
In fact, the bible story of Mary
and Joseph travelling to
Bethlehem is linked to a
Roman census.
So, what was the original
reason for counting people
and what did governments
hope to achieve by doing so?
Here’s Dr Kathrin Levitan, author
of a book on the cultural history
of the census, speaking to
BBC World Service programme,
The Forum:
I think there were probably
two most common reasons.
One was in order to figure out
who could fight in wars, so basically
military conscription and in order
to find out who could fight in wars
ancient governments like the
Roman Empire had to find out how
many men of a certain age there were.
And I would say that the other thing
that censuses were most commonly
used for was for purposes of taxation.
According to Kathrin Levitan, ancient
censuses were used to figure out – or
understand, how many men were
available to fight wars.
The Roman Empire needed a strong
army, and this depended on
conscription – forcing people to
become soldiers and join the army.
The other main reason for taking
a census was taxation – the
system of taxing people a certain
amount of money to be paid to
the government for public services.
Ancient and early modern censuses
were large and difficult-to-organise
projects. They often involved
government officials going from
house to house, asking questions
about the people who lived there.
But over time governments’ desire
to know about, and control, its
citizens gave rise to new
technologies for counting people.
Here’s statistician and economist
Andrew Whitby explaining how
this happened in the US to BBC
World Service programme,
The Forum:
The 1890 census of the United
States was the first in which some
kind of electro-mechanical process
was used to count people… so
instead of armies of clerks reading
off census schedules and tabulating
these things by hand, for the first
time an individual census record
would be punched onto a card… so
that there were holes in this card
representing different characteristics
of the person and then those cards
could be fed through a machine.
Old-fashioned censuses were managed
by clerks – office workers whose job
involved keeping records.
Thousands of clerks would record
the information gathered in the
census and tabulate it, in other words,
show the information in the form of
a table with rows and columns.
The US census of 1890 was the first
to use machines, and many censuses
today are electronically updated to
record new trends and shifts in
populations as they happen.
In fact, so much personal
information is now freely available
through social media and the
internet that some people have
questioned the need for having
a census at all.
Yes, it isn’t hard to find out about
someone famous, like a TV star.
Someone like Danny Dyer, you mean?
Right. In my quiz question I asked
Sam which historical figure TV
actor, Danny Dyer, was related to.
And I said it was
C) Winston Churchill. Was I right?
It was a good guess, Sam, but
the actual answer was
A) King Edward III. And no-one
was more surprised that he was
related to royalty than the
EastEnders actor himself!
OK, Neil, let’s recap the
vocabulary from this programme
about the census - the official
counting of a nation’s population.
To figure something out means
to understand it.
The Romans used conscription
to force men to join the army by law.
Taxation is the government’s
system of taxing people to pay
for public services.
A clerk is an office worker whose
job involves keeping records.
And tabulate means show
information in the form of a table
with rows and columns.
That’s all for our six-minute look
at the census, but if we’ve whetted
your appetite for more why not
check out the whole episode – it’s
available now on the website of
BBC World Service programme,
The Forum.
Bye for now!
Bye bye.
Hello. This is 6 Minute English
from BBC Learning English.
I’m Neil.
And I’m Georgina.
What do Homer, Ray Charles
and Jorge Borges all have in
common, Georgina?
Hmm, so that’s the ancient Greek
poet, Homer; American singer,
Ray Charles; and Argentine writer,
Jorge Luis Borges… I can’t see
much in common there, Neil.
Well, the answer is that they
were all blind.
Ah! But that obviously didn’t hold
them back - I mean, they were
some of the greatest artists ever!
Right, but I wonder how easy they
would find it living and working in
the modern world.
Blind people can use a guide dog
or a white cane to help them
move around.
Yes, but a white cane is hardly
advanced technology! Recently,
smartphone apps have been
invented which dramatically
improve the lives of blind people
around the world.
In this programme on blindness
in the digital age we’ll be looking
at some of these inventions, known
collectively as assistive technology –
that’s any software or equipment
that helps people work around their
disabilities or challenges.
But first it’s time for my quiz
question, Georgina. In 1842 a
technique of using fingers to feel
printed raised dots was invented
which allowed blind people to read.
But who invented it? Was it:
a) Margaret Walker?,
b) Louis Braille?, or
c) Samuel Morse?
Hmm, I’ve heard of Morse code but
that wouldn’t help blind people
read, so I think it’s, b) Louis Braille.
OK, Georgina, we’ll find out the
answer at the end of the programme.
One remarkable feature of the latest
assistive technology is its practicality.
Smartphone apps like ‘BeMyEyes’
allow blind users to find lost keys,
cross busy roads and even colour
match their clothes.
Brian Mwenda is CEO of a Kenyan
company developing this kind of
technology. Here he explains to
BBC World Service programme,
Digital Planet, how his devices seek
to enhance, not replace, the
traditional white cane:
The device is very compatible with
any kind of white cane. So, once you
clip it on to any white cane it
works perfectly to detect the
obstacles in front of you, and it
relies on echo-location. So,
echo-location is the same technology
used by bats and dolphins to detect
prey and obstacles and all that. You
send out a sound pulse and then
once it bounces off an obstacle, you
can tell how far the obstacle is.
When attached to a white cane, the
digital device - called ‘Sixth Sense’ -
can detect obstacles – objects which
block your way, making it difficult for
you to move forward.
‘Sixth Sense’ works using echo-location,
a kind of ultrasound like that used by
bats who send out sound waves
which bounce off surrounding objects.
The returning echoes show where these
objects are located.
Some of the assistive apps are so
smart they can even tell what kind of
object is coming up ahead – be it a
friend, a shop door or a speeding car.
I guess being able to move around
confidently really boosts people’s
independence.
Absolutely. And it’s challenging
stereotypes around blindness too.
Blogger, Fern Lulham, who is blind
herself, uses assistive apps every day.
Here she is talking to
BBC World Service’s, Digital Planet:
I think the more that society sees
blind people in the community, at work,
in relationships it does help to tackle
all of these stereotypes, it helps
people to see blind and
visually-impaired people in a whole
new way and it just normalises
disability – that’s what we need, we
need to see people just getting on
with their life and doing it and then
people won’t see it as such a big
deal anymore, it’ll just be the ordinary.
Fern distinguishes between people
who are blind, or unable to see, and
those who are visually impaired –
experience a decreased ability to see.
Assistive tech helps blind people
lead normal, independent lives within
their local communities. Fern hopes
that this will help normalise disability –
treat something as normal which has
not been accepted as normal before…
…so being blind doesn’t have to be a
big deal – an informal way to say
something is not a serious problem.
Just keep your eyes closed for a
minute and try moving around the
room. You’ll soon see how difficult
it is… and how life changing this
technology can be.
Being able to read books must also
open up a world of imagination.
So what was the answer to your
quiz question, Neil?
Ah yes. I asked Georgina who
invented the system of reading
where fingertips are used to feel
patterns of printed raised dots.
What did you say, Georgina?
I thought it was, b) Louis Braille.
Which was…of course the correct
answer! Well done, Georgina – Louise
Braille the inventor of a reading
system which is known worldwide
simply as braille.
I suppose braille is an early example
of assistive technology – systems
and equipment that assist people
with disabilities to perform everyday
functions. Let’s recap the rest of
the vocabulary, Neil.
OK. An obstacle is an object that
is in your way and blocks your
movement.
Some assisted technology works
using echo-location – a system of
ultrasound detection used by bats.
Being blind is different from being
visually impaired - having a
decreased ability to see, whether
disabling or not.
And finally, the hope is that
assistive phone apps can help
normalise disability – change the
perception of something into
being accepted as normal…
..so that disability is no longer a
big deal – not a big problem.
That’s all for this programme but
join us again soon at 6 Minute English…
…and remember you can find many
more 6 Minute topics and useful
vocabulary archived on
bbclearningenglish.com.
Don’t forget we also have an app
you can download for free from
the app stores. And of course we
are all over social media, so come
on over and say hi.
Bye for now!
Bye!
Welcome to 6 Minute English, where
we bring you an intelligent topic
and six related items of vocabulary.
I’m Neil.
And I’m Tim. And today we’re talking
about AI – or Artificial Intelligence.
Artificial Intelligence is the ability of
machines to copy human intelligent
behaviour – for example, an
intelligent machine can learn
from its own mistakes, and make
decisions based on what’s happened
in the past.
There’s a lot of talk about AI these
days, Neil, but it’s still just science
fiction, isn’t it?
That’s not true – AI is everywhere.
Machine thinking is in our homes,
offices, schools and hospitals.
Computer algorithms are helping
us drive our cars. They’re diagnosing
what’s wrong with us in hospitals.
They’re marking student essays…
They’re telling us what to read on
our smartphones…
Well, that really does sound like
science fiction – but it’s
happening already, you say, Neil?
It’s definitely happening, Tim.
And an algorithm, by the way, is
a set of steps a computer follows
in order to solve a problem.
So can you tell me what was the
name of the computer which
famously beat world chess
champion Garry Kasparov
using algorithms in 1997?
Was it…
a) Hal, b) Alpha 60,
or, c) Deep Blue?
I’ll say Deep Blue.
Although I’m just guessing.
Was it an educated guess, Tim?
I know a bit about chess…
An educated guess is based
on knowledge and experience
and is therefore likely to be correct.
Well, we’ll find out later on how
educated your guess was in
this case, Tim!
Indeed. But getting back to AI
and what machines can do – are
they any good at solving real-life
problems? Computers think in zeros
and ones don’t they? That sounds
like a pretty limited language when
it comes to life experience!
You would be surprised to what
those zeroes and ones can do, Tim.
Although you’re right that AI does
have its limitations at the moment.
And if something has limitations
there’s a limit on what it can do or
how good it can be.
OK – well now might be a good time
to listen to Zoubin Bharhramani,
Professor of Information Engineering
at the University of Cambridge and
deputy director of the Leverhulme Centre
for the Future of Intelligence.
He’s talking about what limitations
AI has at the moment.
I think it’s very interesting how many
of the things that we take for granted –
we humans take for granted – as being
sort of things we don’t even think about
like how do we walk, how do we reach,
how do we recognize our mother. You
know, all these things. When you start
to think how to implement them on a
computer, you realize that it’s those
things that are incredibly difficult to get
computers to do, and that’s where the
current cutting edge of research is.
If we take something for granted we
don’t realise how important something is.
You sometimes take me for granted, I
think, Neil.
No – I never take you for granted, Tim!
You’re far too important for that!
Good to hear! So things we take for
granted are doing every day tasks like
walking, picking something up, or
recognizing somebody. We implement –
or perform – these things without
thinking – Whereas it’s cutting edge
research to try and program a
machine to do them.
Cutting edge means very new and
advanced. It’s interesting isn't it, that
over ten years ago a computer beat
a chess grand master – but the
same computer would find it incredibly
difficult to pick up a chess piece.
I know. It’s very strange. But now
you’ve reminded me that we need
the answer to today’s question.
Which was: What was the name
of the computer which famously
beat world chess champion
Garry Kasparov in 1997? Now, you
said Deep Blue, Tim, and … that was
the right answer!
You see, my educated guess was
based on knowledge and experience!
Or maybe you were just lucky. So, the
IBM supercomputer Deep Blue played
against US world chess champion
Garry Kasparov in two chess matches.
The first match was played in
Philadelphia in 1996 and was
won by Kasparov. The second was
played in New York City in 1997
and won by Deep Blue. The 1997
match was the first defeat of a
reigning world chess champion
by a computer under
tournament conditions.
Let’s go through the words we
learned today. First up was
‘artificial intelligence’ or AI – the
ability of machines to copy human
intelligent behaviour.
“There are AI programs that can
write poetry.”
Do you have any examples you
can recite?
Afraid I don’t! Number two – an
algorithm is a set of steps a
computer follows in order to
solve a problem. For example,
“Google changes its search
algorithm hundreds of times
every year.”
The adjective is algorithmic – for
example, “Google has made many
algorithmic changes.”
Number three – if something has
‘limitations’ – there’s a limit on
what it can do or how good it
can be. “Our show has certain
limitations – for example, it’s only
six minutes long!”
That’s right – there’s only time to
present six vocabulary items.
Short but sweet!
And very intelligent, too. OK, the
next item is ‘take something for
granted’ – which is when we don’t
realise how important something is.
“We take our smart phones for granted
these days – but before 1995 hardly
anyone owned one.”
Number five – ‘to implement’ – means
to perform a task, or take action.
“Neil implemented some changes
to the show.”
The final item is ‘cutting edge’ – new
and advanced – “This software is
cutting edge.”
“The software uses cutting edge
technology.”
OK – that’s all we have time for on
today’s cutting edge show. But please
check out our Instagram, Twitter,
Facebook and YouTube pages.
Bye-bye!
Goodbye!