› added 5 days ago

5

TIL about Theseus, a robotic mouse created by Claude Shannon in the 1950s, which could learn to navigate mazes using telephone relay switches, marking one of the first instances of machine learning. Theseus helped researchers better understand routing in telephone networks of that era.

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via reddit.com

6EJKW TIL that the lookout who first spotted the iceberg that sank the Titanic survived the sinking and went on to serve in the merchant navy in WWI and WWII. Shortly after Christmas in 1964, at the age of 77, his wife died, he was evicted from his house and he hanged himself.
KOx79 TIL that Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader of the Soviet Union at the time of its collapse, is still alive. I swore he was super old in the 80's!
16Vnr TIL There is an exotic species of roach, extinct in the wild, that still exists because insect lovers thought it looked cool. Scientists who discovered and collected the Simandoa conserfariam bred them in captivity for the pet trade after their habitat was destroyed by mining.
d817j TIL that an astonishing amount of what we put in our recycling bins doesn't actually get recycled. Plastic being the worst offender with around 91% not actually being recycled.
8an8Z TIL that Apple's famous 1984 commercial only aired twice, once locally in Idaho, and once at the Super Bowl.