^{Monthly Archive}January 2023

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
January 13, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, art, chatbots, ChatGPT, Creativity, Creativity and AI writing tools, journalism, Literature, Spectator, Wall Street Journal, Writing}

Will ChatGPT Replace Human Writers?

_{Some people think so. But maybe they’re mistaken about the purpose and nature of language} _{Peter Biles

January 13, 2023

5

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

In the wake of the notorious ChatGPT chatbot from OpenAI, many are asking, “What’s going to happen to people who make their living as writers?” We’re talking journalists, novelists, academics, etcetera. It’s a valid question given the dexterity of the new technology. OpenAI’s DALL-E image generator poses the same question to visual artists. If a machine can generate a skillfully crafted piece of text or an image, the need for human writers and artists turns opaque. That is if we actually think artificial and natural intelligence are comparable competitors. Cynics are claiming a doomsday for writers. Sean Thomas of the Spectator thinks doomsday is upon us. He wrote in a January 10th article, I’ve done writing of all kinds Read More ›

Cancel Culture society concept or cultural cancellation and social media censorship as canceling or restricting opinions that are offensive or controversial to the public

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
January 13, 2023

Categorized
Censorship, Social Media

Tagged
Alex Berenson, Big Tech, Child sex abuse, COVID 19 censorship, Facebook, Robert Flaherty, Tucker Carlson, Twitter, Twitter and Russian influence claims, Twitter files 13, Twitter files 14, White House}

Twitter files 13 and 14… plus the critical bigger picture

_{Growing distrust of mainstream media should be supplemented by scrutiny among users of Big Tech social media. They're not an answer to the problem.} _{News

January 13, 2023

6

Censorship, Social Media}

First, as Elon Musk continues to dump the files out the window at Twitter — to the dismay of the media elite that generally knew and approved of censorship of views other than their own, especially where COVID-19 or U.S. federal politics was concerned: Twitter files 13: Handled by independent journalist Alex Berenson — once banned from Twitter for criticizing the government response to the pandemic: “Pfizer board member Scott Gottlieb secretly pressed Twitter to hide posts challenging his company’s massively profitable Covid jabs /To funnel his demands, Gottlieb used the same Twitter lobbyist the White House did – fresh evidence of overlap between the company selling mRNA shots and the government forcing them on the public.” 4/ In October Read More ›

Peaceful old man looking at his hound and holding the paw of it. Tranquil man is sitting in wheelchair and wearing eyeglasses. Hound is sitting near the chair

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
January 12, 2023

Categorized
Natural Intelligence

Tagged
Bob Yirka, Dog intelligence and humans, Dog intelligence by breed, SmartDOG intelligence test}

1000 Dogs Tested on Standardized Dog IQ test. What Was Found?

_{There were no breed differences for short-term memory or logical reasoning but some differences in how much they needed to interact with humans when problem-solving} _{Denyse O'Leary

January 12, 2023

4

Natural Intelligence}

Assessing dog intelligence is one of those sensitive areas because of the difficulty in agreeing on what to measure. Experts tend to say that border collies are the smartest dog breed but the response they may get is, “My shih tzu understands me and I am a difficult person to understand!” Nonetheless, a Finnish research group decided to try their hand at administering a battery of standardized intelligence tests (smartDOG) to over 1000 dogs between 1 and 8 years old, of 13 different breeds, with a minimum of 40 dogs from each breed. Here’s what they were testing for: The battery involves measuring different cognitive traits, from spatial problem solving to logical reasoning, to impulse control and an ability to Read More ›

Abstract digital human face. Artificial intelligence concept of big data or cyber security. 3D illustration

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
January 12, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Closer to Truth (video series), Consciousness as physical, Hubert Dreyfus (1929–2017), Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), Marvin Minsky (1927–2016), Marvin Minsky on AI capabilities, Physicalism, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Society of Mind (Simon and Schuster 1986), What computers can’t do. (HarperCollins 1978)}

If Consciousness Is Not Physical, How Can an AI Duplicate It?

_{Robert Lawrence Kuhn interviewed Berkeley philosopher Hubert Dreyfus on the question before his death in 2017} _{Denyse O'Leary

January 12, 2023

6

Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind}

At Closer to Truth, Robert Lawrence Kuhn interviewed the late philosopher Hubert Dreyfus (1929–2017) a couple of years back on the question “Is consciousness entirely physical.” The interview was released May 18, 2022 (10:03 min). Here’s the big question about consciousness, our inner experience of what things feel like. Is consciousness a product of the physical world alone? Because if consciousness is the output of the physical brain by itself, however complex, then consciousness as physicalism would defeat those who believe, or hope for, the existence of nonphysical realities. Some philosophers (physicalists) do maintain that consciousness is entirely physical or, more commonly, they dance around the point. For example, philosopher David Papineau said in 2020, “If only we could stop Read More ›

Doctor Helps get up . Sick . Elderly Patient.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
January 11, 2023

Categorized
Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Psychology

Tagged
Epileptic seizures, Featured, Functional blindness, Functional gait disorders, neurology, Non-epileptic seizures, Subconscious mind, unconscious mind}

When It’s Not Clear If a Disorder Is From the Brain or the Mind…

_{Neurologist Andrew Knox explains to Robert J. Marks that some psychological problems appear as if they were brain problems — yet there’s nothing wrong with the brain} _{News

January 11, 2023

8

Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Psychology}

In the podcast released last Thursday, Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks interviewed pediatric neurologist Dr. Andrew Knox from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health on “Ways the brain can break” (#220, January 5, 2023). What follows is Part 4 of the discussion, “When it’s not clear if a disorder is from the brain or the mind…” Here are Part 1: How our brains are — and aren’t — like computers, Part 2: What is happening when children have strokes or dementia signs?, and Part 3: How do strokes, dementia offer insight into how the brain works? https://mindmatters.ai/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/Mind-Matters-220-Andrew-Knox-Episode-1.mp3 This portion begins at roughly 25:15 min. A partial transcript and notes, and Additional Resources follow. Epileptic Read More ›

Digital chatbot, robot application, conversation assistant, AI Artificial Intelligence concept.

^{Type
post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
January 11, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Politics

Tagged
Ben Shapiro, bias, Blake Lemoine and LaMDA, Chatbot failings, Chatbot poetry, chatbots, ChatGPT, ChatGPT and bias, Donald Trump, Featured, Gary Smith on chatbots, OpenAI}

Note to Parents: Grooming and Wokeness Are Embedded in Chatbots

_{With or without tuning, all AI chatbots are biased one way or another. AI without bias is like water without wet} _{Robert J. Marks

January 11, 2023

5

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Politics}

First impressions of a person can be wrong. Further interactions can reveal disturbing personality warts. Contrary to initial impressions, we might find out they lie, they are disturbingly woke, they can’t do simple math, their politics is on the extreme left, and they have no sense of humor or common sense. I have just described Open AI’s GPT3 chatbot, ChatGPT. Initially, users are gobsmacked by the its performance. Its flashy prose responses to simple queries look amazing. But become roommates with the chatbot for a few hours and its shortcomings become evident . It can’t get its facts straight, can’t do simple math problems, hates Donald Trump, and is being groomed to be “woke.” Its performance warts are so numerous that Bradley Center Senior Fellow Gary N. Smith hoists a Read More ›

Health care researchers working in life science laboratory, medical science technology research work for test a vaccine, coronavirus covid-19 vaccine protection cure treatment

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
January 11, 2023

Categorized
Peer Review, Philosophy, Science

Tagged
Featured, John Horgan, Kelsey Piper, Rob Sheldon on space science decline, Science decline, Space Physics Paradox (NAS 1994), The End of Science (Little Brown 1996), Tibi Puiu}

Gloomy News from a Nature Article: Is the End of Science Near?

_{A study in the premier science journal notes the long term falling off of truly original findings, as opposed to endless citations of others’ findings} _{News

January 11, 2023

9

Peer Review, Philosophy, Science}

Science writer Tibi Puiu reports on new findings that reflect what many today, have begun to suspect: Over the past few decades, the number of science and technology research papers published has soared, rising at a rate of nearly 10% each year. In the biomedical field alone, there are more than a million papers pouring into the PubMed database each year, or around two studies per minute… The new study revealed that the “disruptiveness” of contemporary science has decreased, rendering ever diminishing returns. In this particular context, authors define disruptiveness as the degree to which a study departs from previous literature and renders it obsolete. In other words, a highly disruptive study is one that completely changes the way we Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Eric Holloway
Date
January 10, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Programming

Tagged
Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, Computers, Data Mining, Neural networks, Number sequence, Numbers (types)}

Is ChatGPT Solely a Neural Network? I Tested That…

_{Changing the random number test to a "computer easy, human hard" test requires simply that we ask ChatGPT to reverse the random number. It couldn't.} _{Eric Holloway

January 10, 2023

9

Artificial Intelligence, Programming}

ChatGPT is a direct descendent of GPT-3, and is a fancy form of a fancy machine learning algorithm called a neural network. For an overview of all of ChatGPT’s neural network complexity, here is a fun article. However, all that is beside the point. The important thing about a neural network: It can only generate what is in its training data. Therefore, ChatGPT can only produce what is in its training data. ChatGPT’s training data does not include the conversation you or I are having with ChatGPT. Therefore, if something novel occurs in the conversation, ChatGPT cannot reproduce it. That is, if ChatGPT is a neural network. Conversely, if ChatGPT reproduces novel text from the conversation, then ipso facto ChatGPT is not a Read More ›

Screaming portrait of capuchin wild monkey

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
January 10, 2023

Categorized
Archeology, Natural Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Brazil, Capuchin monkeys, Ewen Callaway, paleontology, Pedra Furada, Sarah Cascone, Stone tools, Tool use by animals}

Study: Monkeys, Not Humans, Likely Made Ancient Brazilian Tools

_{The stone objects, dated from 50,000 years ago, look like the ones made by capuchin monkeys today} _{News

January 10, 2023

4

Archeology, Natural Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind}

There’s a danger in looking too hard for evidence of our ancient ancestors. Sometimes we could be seeing things that aren’t there. One group of stone tools from 50,000 years ago could, it is now suggested, have been made by monkeys: Excavations at Pedra Furada, a group of 800 archaeological sites in the state of Piauí, Brazil, have turned up stone shards believed to be examples of simple stone tools. Made from quartzite and quartz cobbles, the oldest ones appear to be up to 50,000 years old, which would put them among the earliest evidence of human habitation in the Western Hemisphere. However, the tools also bear a striking resemblance to the stone tools currently made by the capuchin monkeys Read More ›

Deep learning neural network AI Artificial intelligence concept

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
January 10, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Programming

Tagged
Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), Bees and generalization, Generalization, Hubert Dreyfus (1929–2017), Rebel Science (pseudonym), self-driving cars}

Programmer: Deep Learning Can’t Give Us Computers That Think

_{Artificial general intelligence (AGI) — computers that think like humans — would need to be able to generalize, which he says Deep Learning doesn’t do} _{News

January 10, 2023

6

Artificial Intelligence, Programming}

At Medium late last year, a programmer/researcher who writes under the name “Rebel Science,” assessed Deep Learning, a favorite of the self-driving car quest, as “useless” because it can’t generalize: The biggest problem with DL is its inherent inability to effectively generalize. Without generalization, edge cases are an insurmountable problem, something that the autonomous vehicle industry found out the hard way after wasting more than $100 billion by betting on DL. Rebel Science, “Deep Learning Is Not Just Inadequate for Solving AGI, It Is Useless” at Medium (Nov 2, 2022) Displaying for readers a picture of a bicycle, he continues, A deep neural network cannot perceive this bicycle unless it has been previously trained to recognize it. Generalization is the Read More ›

3D illustration of Escher's inspired stairs

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
January 9, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Mathematics, Physics

Tagged
Closer to Truth, M. C. Escher (1898-1972), Night and Day (Escher 1938), Relativity (Escher 1953), Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Roger Penrose}

How Surreal Artist MC Escher Influenced Physicist Roger Penrose

_{Escher’s mathematical art was all the more remarkable because he had no formal training in mathematics} _{Denyse O'Leary

January 9, 2023

4

Arts & Culture, Mathematics, Physics}

Last month, Robert Lawrence Kuhn interviewed eminent British mathematical physicist Sir Roger Penrose on a number of topics, including the influence of surrealist artist M. C. Escher (December 9, 2022/32:00 min). Here is a transcribed selection from the second part of the discussion in Part 1 above*, beginning around the 12-minute mark, with some notes: Robert Lawrence Kuhn: We talked about the impossible Penrose triangle which really opens up another area of your life in terms of visual representations of remarkable things. Penrose tiling really new ways of thing of seeing visual representation of fiery fundamental geometric and algebraic transformations and things. But what I wanted to ask you is, as youdeveloped that you had this interaction with the artist Read More ›

Sick asian senior woman fainted unconscious at the table, fall face down,elderly female patient stop breathing due to heart failure, cardiac arrest,severe arrhythmia, sudden unexpected death syndrome.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
January 9, 2023

Categorized
Medicine and Health, Neuroscience

Tagged
Alzheimer's disease, Andrew Knox, Dementia, Featured, Juvenile Huntington's disease, Memory formation, Memory loss, Robert J. Marks, Strokes, Syncope}

How Do Strokes, Dementia Offer Insight Into How the Brain Works?

_{Neurologist Andrew Knox thinks the brain may store memories is an associative scheme, where previous memories are used to build up new ones} _{News

January 9, 2023

7

Medicine and Health, Neuroscience}

In the podcast released last Thursday, Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks interviewed pediatric neurologist Dr. Andrew Knox from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health on “Ways the brain can break” (#220, January 5, 2023). What follows is from Part 3 of the discussion. Here’s Part 1: How our brains are — and aren’t — like computers and Part 2: What is happening when children have strokes or dementia signs? https://mindmatters.ai/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/Mind-Matters-220-Andrew-Knox-Episode-1.mp3 This portion begins at roughly 18:25 min. A partial transcript and notes, and Additional Resources follow. The discussion began with the question, “How does the brain store memories?” Andrew Knox: There are different schemes for storing memories, but patients with Alzheimer’s seem to have Read More ›

the drawings from the ceiling of Altamira cave in Santillana Del Mar, Cantabria, Spain

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
January 9, 2023

Categorized
Archeology, Arts & Culture, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Becky Ferreira, Ben Bacon, Cave paintings, Kristina Killgrove, Lunar calendar, Melanie Chang, Paul Pettit}

Do Cave Paintings From 20,000 Years Ago Show Symbolic Writing?

_{In an article in the Cambridge Archeological Journal, researchers say they’ve deciphered the dots and Y’s among the animal paintings} _{Denyse O'Leary

January 9, 2023

5

Archeology, Arts & Culture, Philosophy of Mind}

London-based wood carving conservator Ben Bacon has, with academic colleagues, shaken up Ice Age paleontology by demonstrating that the marks on the 20,000-year-old cave paintings of animals found across Europe could be interpreted as a lunar calendar timing their reproductive cycles: Prof Paul Pettitt, of Durham University, said he was “glad he took it seriously” when Mr Bacon contacted him. “The results show that Ice Age hunter-gatherers were the first to use a systemic calendar and marks to record information about major ecological events within that calendar.” News, “Londoner solves 20,000-year Ice Age drawings mystery” at BBC (January 5, 2023) The paper is open access. Bacon had spent many hours both on the internet and in the British Library, studying Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
January 9, 2023

Categorized
Censorship, Social Media

Tagged
Bari Weiss, Bias in media, Featured, Jack Dorsey, Karl D. Stephan, Twitter, Wilfred Reilly}

What? Twitter is “neutral”? A thoughtful engineer responds

_{Despite appearances, Twitter is not a conventional public square, but a private corporation} _{News

January 9, 2023

7

Censorship, Social Media}

This column by Texas State University engineering prof Karl Stephan is republished with thanks from Engineering Ethics (January 2, 2023) Back when I started this blog in 2006, the phrase “social media” was hardly used by anybody, according to Google Trends. It began to climb above 1% of its current frequency of use around 2008, possibly in connection with the elections of that year, and has been climbing ever since. Twitter, the social-media format that has become the default medium of choice for announcements by Presidents on down, was also founded in 2006. From an obscure techie-speak term, it has turned into a routine and near-universal medium of expression that its leadership has claimed is as neutral as they can make it. But Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
January 9, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Law

Tagged
Artificial intelligence in law, Do Not Pay (corporation), Featured, Josh Browder, Litigation}

You’ve Got a Robot Lawyer in Your Pocket (Really?)

_{The DoNotPay AI lawyer program might be useful for fighting parking tickets but it is unsuited to serious litigation where much more complex issues are at stake} _{Richard W. Stevens

January 9, 2023

6

Artificial Intelligence, Law}

The Gutfeld! program on Fox News on January 6, 2023, recently had fun discussing robots replacing lawyers to practice law. In faux serious rhyme, Greg Gutfeld intoned: “Can a computer that’s self aware, keep you from the electric chair?” Sparking the conversation was the report that an artificial intelligence (AI) smartphone app was slated to assist a defendant fighting a parking ticket in a currently-undisclosed courtroom: Gigabytes of text could stream forth addressing the near infinite number of questions raised about robot lawyers. For now, let’s just explore the “robot lawyer” app built by DoNotPay. The company’s website declares: “The DoNotPay app is the home of the world’s first robot lawyer. Fight corporations, beat bureaucracy and sue anyone at the Read More ›

Lost and confused man walks puzzled on a penrose triangle. Perplexed person looks disoriented ahead, don't know which way to choose. Surreal and conceptual scene, mental maze, optical illusion

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
January 8, 2023

Categorized
Mathematics, Philosophy of Mind, Physics

Tagged
Closer to Truth, Computationalism, Consciousness, Idealism (philosophy), Penrose Triangle, Physicalism, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Roger Penrose, Supervenience}

Nobelist Roger Penrose Talks About His Impossible Triangle

_{At Closer to Truth, the mathematical physicist explains to Robert Lawrence Kuhn how he understands the relationship between mathematics, the mind, and the physical world} _{Denyse O'Leary

January 8, 2023

8

Mathematics, Philosophy of Mind, Physics}

Last month, Robert Lawrence Kuhn interviewed eminent British mathematical physicist Sir Roger Penrose on the relationship between mathematics, the mind, and the physical universe (December 9, 2022/32:00 min). Penrose likes to illustrate the relationship between the three with an “impossible” triangle (see below). Here are a couple of transcribed selections from the first part of the discussion in Part 1*, concerning the Penrose Triangle, with some notes: Robert Lawrence Kuhn: Let’s start with your grand metaphysical framework, your three worlds — three mysteries: the physical world, the mental world, the platonic or mathematical world — each connected to the other two in your famous diagram of an equilateral triangle. What’s the origin of this vision of yours of foundational reality? Read More ›

photorealistic smoke sim in a sci-fi/knolling case - AI Generated

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
January 8, 2023

Categorized
Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Physics

Tagged
Computer Simulation, Dan Falk, free will, Infinite universe, Marcelo Gleiser, Matt Williams, Melvin Vopson, Nick Bostrom, Planetarium Hypothesis}

A Physicist Rejects the Idea That We Live in a Sim Universe

_{At IAI News, Marcelo Gleiser worries that the claim that we are simulated beings with no free will reduces our ability to tackle the problems humanity faces} _{News

January 8, 2023

5

Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Physics}

Dartmouth College physicist Marcelo Gleiser insists that the reality in which we live is not a simulation by advanced aliens or other intelligences — and that the fact that it isn’t is important. As the summary of his essay at IAI News explains, The idea that we are living in a simulation has become commonplace. Elon Musk, for example, thinks it is almost certain we are living in a simulation. But the simulation hypothesis comes up against insurmountable problems, and is, in the end, an excuse for us not to sort out our real moral failings… Marcelo Gleiser, “Reality is not a simulation and why it matters” at IAI News (January 4, 2023) The “simulation” idea may sound pretty far-fetched Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
January 8, 2023

Categorized
Addiction

Tagged
Anna Lembke, Dopamine Nation (Dutton 2021), Featured}

This New Year, Resolve to Dive Headfirst into Life

_{Dr. Anna Lembke urges people to abandon isolating addictions and choose honesty and relationship instead} _{Peter Biles

January 8, 2023

4

Addiction}

With the new year in full swing, people are considering resolutions and asking themselves what habits they need to change. For me, my negative habits almost entirely revolve around technology. Too much time checking social media, email, browsing Twitter and YouTube, going down the cat video abyss. Skimming news, articles, photos, and videos, diminishes the attention span and leaves one feeling empty, restless, and in greater need of a “fix.” It’s a socially acceptable drug, but no less addicting than the others. Lembke, medical director of Stanford Addiction Medicine, asks us in her book Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence (Dutton 2021), Why, in a time of unprecedented wealth, freedom, technological progress, and medical advancement, do we appear to be Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
January 7, 2023

Categorized
Physics

Tagged
16 Psyche, Andy Tomaswick, Asteroid space colonies, Charles Q. Choi, Danuri, David Kipping, Exoplanets, Extraterrestrial life, Fine-tuning of universe for life, Io (moon of Jupiter), James Jee, Mars winter, Matt Williams, Milky Way, Moon water, Paul Sutter on ET, Richard Vincent, Steve Meyere, Universe characteristics, universe fine tuning}

The Search for Extraterrestrial Life 17

_{Interest in moon exploration and bases is growing and it turns out there is more water there (carried by the solar wind) than thought} _{News

January 7, 2023

9

Physics}

In our universe: We’re always learning new things now. The universe “has 2−3× more light than expected from the integrated light from galaxies” “According to new measurements by New Horizons, the light coming from stars beyond the Milky Way is two to three times brighter than the light from known populations of galaxies – meaning that there are even more out there than we thought! – Matt Williams, Universe Today, (December 24, 2022) The paper is open access. While we’re here, rogue stars may be even older than we thought: “”We don’t exactly know what made them homeless. Current theories cannot explain our results, but somehow they were produced in large quantities in the early universe,” James Jee, an astronomer Read More ›