BOX SET: 6 Minute English - 'Technology 2' English mega-class! Thirty minutes of new vocabulary!

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!