Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

ArchiveArticles

lesly-juarez-307974-unsplash
Type
post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
October 11, 2018
Categorized
Events, Natural Intelligence, Social Factors
Tagged
, , , , ,

The Spiritual Side of a Digital Society

Spiritual issues surface when software is everywhere
Jonathan Bartlett
October 11, 2018
4
Events, Natural Intelligence, Social Factors
The more that software encompasses the whole of life, the more it needs to take into account the whole of the person using it. Read More ›
marc-olivier-jodoin-572629-unsplash
Type
post
Author
Michael Egnor
Date
October 9, 2018
Categorized
Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience
Tagged
, ,

Does your brain construct your conscious reality? Part II

In a word, no. Your brain doesn't "think"; YOU think, using your brain
Michael Egnor
October 9, 2018
6
Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience
The brain understands nothing, imagines nothing, sees nothing. It wills nothing. We understand, we imagine, we see, and we will, using our brains. Read More ›
cristina-gottardi-685293-unsplash
Type
post
Author
Michael Egnor
Date
October 9, 2018
Categorized
Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience
Tagged
, , , ,

Does your brain construct your conscious reality? Part I

A reply to computational neuroscientist Anil Seth's recent TED talk
Michael Egnor
October 9, 2018
5
Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience
His talk is a breathtaking compendium of fallacies on the mind and the brain. We can learn a lot from him—by understanding the errors into which he falls and the way out of those errors. Read More ›
franck-v-795970-unsplash
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 8, 2018
Categorized
Machine Learning, Social Factors
Tagged

I, Robot, am gathering dust in the sales room …

Why do robotics experts think that customers will warm to robots because they look like people?
Denyse O'Leary
October 8, 2018
3
Machine Learning, Social Factors
The underlying assumption is surely incorrect. Robots like the Roomba succeed in part because they don’t look or act like people, let alone threaten people. They just do jobs people would prefer not to do or maybe can’t. Read More ›
pawel-czerwinski-710838-unsplash
Type
post
Author
Mind Matters
Date
October 8, 2018
Categorized
Machine Learning, Social Factors
Tagged
, ,

Google boss quits, writes satirical novel

The novel is said to be so far-fetched that it captures the environment
Mind Matters
October 8, 2018
4
Machine Learning, Social Factors
Recently, we’ve looked at a number of complaints about the way Silicon Valley is acquiring too much power over people’s lives, at home and abroad, and reaching deep into the compulsory school system as well. A former employee decided to respond creatively. Read More ›
frank-okay-109313-unsplash
Type
post
Author
Mind Matters
Date
October 5, 2018
Categorized
Machine Learning, Social Factors
Tagged
,

Remember those awful Seventies TV ads?

The new “attention economy” killed that kind of advertising. But what now?
Mind Matters
October 5, 2018
4
Machine Learning, Social Factors
One way of describing the change is that we now live in an attention economy rather than a captive time economy, so far as advertising is concerned. Read More ›
kevin-364843-unsplash
Type
post
Author
Mind Matters
Date
October 5, 2018
Categorized
Machine Learning, Social Factors
Tagged
, ,

People-friendly robots company shuts down

The “cobots,” robots that can work with people, got the pink slip—for now
Mind Matters
October 5, 2018
4
Machine Learning, Social Factors
Robotics is a business like any other. The individual good idea requires a business plan that can survive savage years in the wilderness before the buyout. That said, we certainly haven’t heard the last of the cobot, which may be one of the ideas that make robotics practical for everyday business. Read More ›
Portraits of people thinking
Type
post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
October 4, 2018
Categorized
Machine Learning, Social Factors
Tagged
, , , ,

Who built AI? You did, mostly

Along with millions of others, you are providing free training data
Jonathan Bartlett
October 4, 2018
5
Machine Learning, Social Factors
For AI to work you need data. The most innovative players in the AI space have learned how to get users to willingly and gladly provide them with data for free. Read More ›
Brain activity
Type
post
Author
Mind Matters
Date
October 3, 2018
Categorized
Philosophy of Mind, Social Factors
Tagged
, , ,

Knowledge is power, sort of…

If that’s ALL knowledge is, the resulting science is bound to be limited, says Michael Egnor
Mind Matters
October 3, 2018
2
Philosophy of Mind, Social Factors
If you are trying to predict the course of a cannonball, Newtonian mechanics are adequate. If you are trying to understand the mind of the guy who fired the cannon, you need to look much deeper. Read More ›
liam-burnett-blue-619833-unsplash
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 2, 2018
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning
Tagged
, ,

Deep Learning won’t solve AI

AlphaGo pioneer: We need “another dozen or half-a-dozen breakthroughs”
Denyse O'Leary
October 2, 2018
2
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning
Hassabis: "AlphaGo doesn't understand language but we would like them to build up to this symbolic level of reasoning — maths, language, and logic. Read More ›
markus-spiske-803817-unsplash
Type
post
Author
Mind Matters
Date
October 1, 2018
Categorized
Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors
Tagged
, ,

Are sex robots a cure for loneliness?

Maybe, in a culture where people see themselves as machines
Mind Matters
October 1, 2018
3
Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors
Nancy Pearcey, who is the author of Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions about Life and Sexuality, reminds us that the most popular metaphor for the universe today is a vast machine. Read More ›
denisse-leon-544612-unsplash
Type
post
Author
Mind Matters
Date
October 1, 2018
Categorized
Machine Learning, Social Factors
Tagged
,

Can a stuffed toy turn into a robot?

Maybe to amuse a sick child? With the right skin, yes.
Mind Matters
October 1, 2018
2
Machine Learning, Social Factors
Robotic skins were developed at Yale for possible uses in space flight or search-and-rescue. But animating ordinary bendable objects is surely a fun way to introduce the idea. Read More ›
arthur-osipyan-455426-unsplash
Type
post
Author
Mind Matters
Date
September 30, 2018
Categorized
Machine Learning, Social Factors
Tagged
, , ,

George Gilder talks tech at World News Daily

In a three-part interview the tech philosopher explains why he thinks Google is doomed
Mind Matters
September 30, 2018
4
Machine Learning, Social Factors
“The Google dream is a supermind in the sky that knows everything,” Gilder told WND. “My dream is to distribute information as human minds are distributed.” Read More ›
Woman with digital headset sensor connected to her ear, reading brain impulses
Type
post
Author
Mind Matters
Date
September 29, 2018
Categorized
Data Privacy, Ethics
Tagged
, , ,

Google is collecting data on schoolkids

Some say it’s okay because the firm supplies a lot of free software and hardware to schools
Mind Matters
September 29, 2018
4
Data Privacy, Ethics
Many parents may not be content to let matters rest there; they might prefer to pay taxes for school equipment and have less surveillance in our lives overall. Read More ›
nguy-n-minh-chi-n-571263-unsplash
Type
post
Author
Mind Matters
Date
September 27, 2018
Categorized
Education
Tagged
,

Children are watching much less TV

But what we learned from children’s TV is coming back to haunt us
Mind Matters
September 27, 2018
6
Education
Maxwell King: Sesame Street's pacing "was set to be as fast as the times, with some emulation of Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In and the television serial Batman." Read More ›
robin-worrall-749755-unsplash
Type
post
Author
Mind Matters
Date
September 27, 2018
Categorized
Social Factors
Tagged
,

Will AI triumph?

Will that phone end up smarter than your kid?
Mind Matters
September 27, 2018
2
Social Factors
If so, it might not happen in quite the way we are told to fear. U.S. kids spend more than two hours a day looking at screens "perform worse on memory, language and thinking tests than kids who spend less time in front of a device. Read More ›
MRI Image Of Head Showing Brain
Type
post
Author
Michael Egnor
Date
September 26, 2018
Categorized
Machine Learning, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind
Tagged
,

Do either machines—or brains—really learn?

A further response to Jeffrey Shallit: Actually, brains don’t learn either. Only minds learn.
Michael Egnor
September 26, 2018
4
Machine Learning, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind
Learning is an ability of human beings, considered as a whole, to acquire new knowledge, not an ability of human organs considered individually. Read More ›
samuel-castro-71639-unsplash
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 25, 2018
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience, Social Factors
Tagged
, , , ,

Inner peace: Is there software for that?

Tech billionaire funds neuroscience in a search for the secret of contentment
Denyse O'Leary
September 25, 2018
3
Artificial Intelligence, Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience, Social Factors
His approach to neuroscience is very different from that of the Dalai Lama, who facilitates neuroscience research to better understand contemplation as a path to inner peace. Chen’s focus is more on developing virtual reality. Read More ›