Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

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great-bundle-of-various-colored-cables-with-various-connectors-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Great bundle of various colored cables with various connectors
Type
post
Author
Eric Holloway
Date
May 12, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Data Privacy, Global Technology, Surveillance, Technocracy
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No, Scientific American, Don’t Starve AI!

Don't unplug AI; just make sure everyone shares in both the creation and the benefits
Eric Holloway
May 12, 2020
4
Artificial Intelligence, Data Privacy, Global Technology, Surveillance, Technocracy

While many are concerned about all the jobs that AI will eliminate, no one is talking about the fact that AI needs humans. Information is the fuel that powers AI, and only humans can create this information. So, the real revolution that AI will bring is not data exploitation, but the empowering of people all around the world to power our economy through creation of information. What’s bad news for authoritarian groups like the Chinese Communist party is good news for everyone else. 

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cryptocurrency equipment mining
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post
Author
Gary Smith
Date
May 11, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Medicine and Health
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Data Mining: A Plague, Not a Cure

It is tempting to believe that patterns are unusual and their discovery meaningful; in large data sets, patterns are inevitable and generally meaningless
Gary Smith
May 11, 2020
9
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Medicine and Health

Findings patterns in data is easy. Finding meaningful patterns that have a logical basis and can be used to make accurate predictions is elusive. We can see this from 18th-century attempts to cure scurvy through 21st century claims about the stock market or history.

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if-then-logic-statement-written-in-white-chalk-on-a-black-chalkboard-isolated-on-white-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
If Then logic statement written in white chalk on a black chalkboard isolated on white
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post
Author
News
Date
May 10, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Mathematics, Religion
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Gödel and God: A Surprising History

A thought-provoking account of master logician Gödel’s largely unknown proof of the existence of God
News
May 10, 2020
11
Artificial Intelligence, Mathematics, Religion

In an unsanitized, politically incorrect (but factual) history, Selmer Bringsjord talks about how the tormented genius Kurt Gödel took up a quest that dated back a thousand years to prove the existence of God by formal logic. His original version didn’t quite work but his editor’s version passed an important logic test.

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lightning-in-the-dark-stockpack-unsplash.jpg
Lightning in the dark
Type
post
Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
May 8, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Creativity, Philosophy of Mind
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Should AI Hold Patents? The Flash-of-Genius Answer

To understand why AI cannot independently invent, let’s look at how famous inventors have actually done it
Robert J. Marks
May 8, 2020
9
Artificial Intelligence, Creativity, Philosophy of Mind

Like Excel, AI assists programmers in their design work. AI can search through trillions of possibilities, using data from a million sources, to find a successful design. But the structure of the search and the source of the data is the choice of the programmer. A look at how famous inventors developed products that changed the world sheds some light on the process.

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Real Php code developing screen. Programing workflow abstract algorithm concept. Lines of Php code visible under magnifying lens.
Type
post
Author
News
Date
May 8, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Medicine and Health, Philosophy of Mind, Technocracy
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Will Ideas or Algorithms Rule Science Tomorrow?

David Krakauer of the Santa Fe Institute offers an unsettling vision of future science as produced by machines that no one really understands
News
May 8, 2020
7
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Medicine and Health, Philosophy of Mind, Technocracy

The basic problem is that accepting on faith what we can’t ever hope to understand is not a traditional stance of science. Thus it’s a good question whether science could survive such a transition and still be recognizable to scientists. But does turning things over to incomprehensible algorithms, as Krakauer proposes, really work anyway? Current results from a variety of areas give pause for thought.

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Double exposure portrait of attractive and young girl
Type
post
Author
News
Date
May 6, 2020
Categorized
Philosophy of Mind
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Philosopher: Consciousness is Not a Problem. Dualism Is!

Physicalist David Papineau says consciousness is just “brain processes that feel like something”
News
May 6, 2020
7
Philosophy of Mind

Physicalist David Papineau  argues that consciousness “seems mysterious not because of any hidden essence, but only because we think about it in a special way.” In short, it's all in our heads. But wait, say others, the hard problem of consciousness is not so easily dismissed.

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cctv-camera-or-surveillance-operating-in-glass-building-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpeg
CCTV camera or surveillance operating in glass building
Type
post
Author
News
Date
May 5, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Data Privacy, Surveillance, Technocracy
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At Scientific American: Starve artificial intelligence!

Silicon Valley authors seek to limit AI's power. Jonathan Bartlett doesn't think it really has the power they are worried about
News
May 5, 2020
5
Artificial Intelligence, Data Privacy, Surveillance, Technocracy

Jonathan Bartlett agrees with Valley pioneers Davidow and Malone, authors of The Autonomous Revolution (2020) that there are real problems with the misuse of AI. But, he says, that’s because we treat it as powerful. It is a servant but we make it a master.   

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People on railway station and man in face mask using on phone while epidemic and covid19. Coronavirus and travel and public transport.
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
May 5, 2020
Categorized
Business and Finance, Global Technology, Medicine and Health, Work
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Top Consumer Trends COVID-19 Will Change Long Term

Data from 40 countries suggests that, post-COVID, people will continue to stick close to home
Denyse O'Leary
May 5, 2020
7
Business and Finance, Global Technology, Medicine and Health, Work

According to analysts, robotic devices are becoming more popular for a reason few would have guessed earlier; they reduce the need for physical human contact. Recycling, however, has taken a hit and weaning consumers from disposables post-COVID may prove a challenge. Huge firms are riding the storm, however, and Gen Z is spending the lockdown improving its career chances. Meanwhile, consumers surveyed around the globe say they plan to travel less.

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High-Ranking Military Man holds a Briefing to a Team of Government Agents and Politicians, Shows Satellite Surveillance Footage.
Type
post
Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
May 4, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Military
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Calvin and Hobbes Explain Why AI Will Never Rule the Battlefield

The creativity needed for successful command is beyond the capability of AI
Robert J. Marks
May 4, 2020
4
Artificial Intelligence, Military

AI sifts enormous amounts of accumulated data. But successful military strategy often depends on creating a new approach to a problem, one that lies outside the historical data available to the opposing forces. Muhammad Ali and Hannibal were famous for using such strategies.

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eye-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpeg
eye
Type
post
Author
News
Date
May 3, 2020
Categorized
Philosophy of Mind
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Why Is Science Growing Comfortable with Panpsychism (“Everything Is Conscious”)?

At one time, the idea that “everything is conscious” was the stuff of jokes. Not any more, it seems
News
May 3, 2020
9
Philosophy of Mind

A recent article at New Scientist treats panpsychism as a serious idea in science. That’s thanks to the growing popularity of neuroscientist Giulio Tonioni’s Integrated Information Theory (IIT), which offers the opportunity for mathematical modeling, along with the implication that inanimate matter and/or the universe may be conscious. If IIT continues to gain a sympathetic hearing, panpsychism could become, over time, a part of normal science.

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Curved video wall
Type
post
Author
Adam Nieri
Date
May 2, 2020
Categorized
Arts & Culture
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My Five Top Picks in Short Sci-Fi from DUST at YouTube

I'm glad I decided to revisit DUST, a wonderful community of short, free sci-fi films
Adam Nieri
May 2, 2020
4
Arts & Culture

They’ll sure take your mind off lockdown. Both “Hum” and “Alientology” feature a simple storyline that works in a short film. “EI: Emotional Intelligence,” an animated short, compares well with live action shorts. “Exit Strategy” is one of the few really successful sci-fi films on the topic of time. And I would love to see “The Secret Number” made into a feature film. 

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retro-robot-plays-with-wooden-abc-cubes-on-floore-3d-rendering-education-scientist-robot-student-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpeg
Retro Robot plays with wooden ABC cubes on floore. 3D rendering. Education scientist robot student
Type
post
Author
News
Date
May 1, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Business and Finance, Creativity
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Ruling: AIs Can’t Hold Patents

The US Patent Office has ruled that only "natural persons" can own patents, not machines
News
May 1, 2020
3
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Business and Finance, Creativity

An issue left untouched is whether AI can, in principle, be creative in any event. There is no real evidence for that. The big worry, perhaps, is not being replaced by one’s tools but being ruled by them.

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Young woman using smart phone,Social media concept.
Type
post
Author
News
Date
May 1, 2020
Categorized
Data Privacy, Medicine and Health, Surveillance
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Is Contact Tracing a Simple Answer to COVID Lockdowns?

An engineering professor at the University of Austin asks us to look at the costs and benefits
News
May 1, 2020
5
Data Privacy, Medicine and Health, Surveillance

The conventional science fiction fear of a superintelligent AI taking over the planet and ridding it of pesky humans distracts our attention from a much more realistic threat: Artificial intelligence (AI) makes both government and corporate surveillance much easier, cheaper, and more useful—whether it is in average citizens’ interests or not. If we are lucky, this will be the decade when we address the implications of that fact.

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robot-studies-a-coronavirus-with-magnifiernano-robot-with-bacterium3d-render-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpeg
Robot studies a coronavirus with magnifier,nano robot with bacterium,3d render.
Type
post
Author
News
Date
April 30, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Medicine and Health
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Can AI Save Us from COVID-19? An Expert Is Skeptical

To use AI more successfully next time, we need a clear understanding of its limitations as well as its capabilities
News
April 30, 2020
6
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Medicine and Health

Experts list various problems, including the fact that AI is vulnerable to failure due to unforeseen problems, including problems with data (too sparse, too noisy, too many outliers, etc.). It also doesn’t learn as well from experience as humans do.

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Happy man on wheelchair in nature. Exploring forest wilderness on an accessible dirt path.
Type
post
Author
News
Date
April 30, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Medicine and Health
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Through AI, a Paralyzed Man Has Regained the Sense of Touch

In 2016, through advanced technology, he regained the ability to move individual fingers
News
April 30, 2020
5
Artificial Intelligence, Medicine and Health

According to researchers, Ian Burkhart, whose hands and legs were paralyzed in a diving accident in 2010, has regained the sense of touch,, through a brain implant, as opposed to simply the ability to move a hand: The breakthrough came from analysis of years of data collected from NeuroLifeTM program study participant Ian Burkhart, who suffered a spinal cord injury in 2010 when diving into the ocean, and now lives with paralysis in his hands and legs. “When the chip was placed on the surface of Ian’s motor cortex in 2014, it was not known that the signals related to object touch could be observed because of the paralysis,” said lead author and Battelle Principal Research Scientist Patrick Ganzer. “Furthermore, Read More ›

flying-futuristic-central-processing-unit-electronic-circuitry-within-a-computer-that-carries-out-the-instructions-of-a-computer-program-performing-arithmetic-logic-controlling-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpeg
Flying futuristic central processing unit. electronic circuitry within a computer that carries out the instructions of a computer program performing arithmetic, logic, controlling.
Type
post
Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
April 29, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Medicine and Health
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Coronavirus: Is Data Mining Failing Its First Really Big Test?

Computers scanning thousands of paper don’t seem to be providing answers for COVID-19
Robert J. Marks
April 29, 2020
4
Artificial Intelligence, Medicine and Health

If Alphabet’s Deep Mind or Microsoft had successfully data mined the 29,000 papers and found useful coronavirus information, that would be pretty impressive. But they appear to be giving others a chance to try instead, raising issues once again about the value of data mining in medicine.

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The Creative Brain
Type
post
Author
News
Date
April 28, 2020
Categorized
Arts & Culture, Creativity, Philosophy of Mind
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Is There a Creativity Module in the Brain?

Both hemispheres are important for creativity, according to recent research, but the adventure lies beyond
News
April 28, 2020
4
Arts & Culture, Creativity, Philosophy of Mind

What we are really learning is that minute mapping of the brain is not likely to give us a complete explanation of creativity. Let alone a means of control. Answers, when they appear, lie in the immaterial world of the mind.

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Mother and child doing homeschooling, e-learning at home because of the corona virus pandemic covid-19 quarantine
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
April 28, 2020
Categorized
Education, Global Technology
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Five Ways COVID-19 Is Changing Education for Good

Parents, students, and teachers worldwide have been finding ways to use the internet in creative ways they would never have considered before
Denyse O'Leary
April 28, 2020
8
Education, Global Technology

Recently, a Harvard prof chose to launch an attack on homeschoolers, portraying them as driven by narrow religious concerns. Given how many parents COVID-19 has forced to homeschool, the attack was, at best, poorly timed. But it usefully focused attention on the ways education needs to change in an online world.
 

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person holding gray and brown fish
Type
post
Author
Michael Egnor
Date
April 27, 2020
Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind
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Jerry Coyne Just Can’t Give Up Denying Free Will

Coyne’s denial of free will, based on determinism, is science denial and junk metaphysics
Michael Egnor
April 27, 2020
6
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Some day, I predict, there will be a considerable psychiatric literature on the denial of free will. It’s essentially a delusion dressed up as science. To insist that your neurotransmitters completely control your choices is no different than insisting that your television or your iphone control your thoughts. It’s crazy.

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Photo by Erik Mclean
red and blue hearts illustration
Type
post
Author
Eric Holloway
Date
April 27, 2020
Categorized
Medicine and Health
Tagged
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Why Does COVID-19 Target the Northern Hemisphere?

A graph of death rates by latitude is revealing
Eric Holloway
April 27, 2020
4
Medicine and Health

First of all, COVID-19 clearly does not attack the globe uniformly by latitude. The second standout feature is that it targets the northern hemisphere. How can a disease’s spread be affected by hemisphere, let alone latitude? Let’s look a little deeper for some clues.

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