ArchiveArticles
Our anonymity may be an illusion
Because we talk about ourselves so much online, few leaked pieces may even be required to identify us.Karl Marx’s Eerie AI Prediction
He felt that capitalism would fall when machines replaced human laborImagining Life after Google
Reviewers of George Gilder's new book weigh inIf we have simply taken the big software, hardware, and social media companies who dominate our lives for granted, the reactions from the business world to Life after Google: The Fall of Big Data and the Rise of the Blockchain Economy should give us a lot to think about.
Read More ›Could AI Understand the Universe?
World-renowned chemist thinks it might understand what we can’t, including consciousnessCould HAL 9000 Ever Be Built?
I say yes. Some reflections on the 50th Year Anniversary of 2001: A Space OdysseyAt one point on the trip from Earth to Jupiter, HAL becomes suspicious that the crew might be sabotaging the mission. HAL then purposely tries to kill all the crew. The most logical explanation for this act is a coding error. HAL was programmed to operate on the basis that the mission took priority over human life.
Read More ›Robogeddon!! Pause.
Wait. This just in: AI is NOT killing all our jobsSilicon Valley as a Colonial Power
Irish writer asks us to look more carefully at claims about “liberation”Giant Google’s Vulnerable Spot
Social media are free because we are both the content and the marketCan a Game Prove That Computers Could Really Think?
Philosopher Daniel Dennett thinks so. Let's apply Occam's Razor and seeEthics for an Information Society
Because machines can’t learn to solve their own ethical problemsAI Tools for Mass Manipulation?
Machine learning can unleash a perfect storm of malice, experts warnDo Big Brains Matter to Human Intelligence?
We don’t know. Brain research readily dissolves into confusion at that pointWe also know very little about the human brain. Take this controversy about why the large human brain evolved...
Read More ›Hell Is a “Parasocial” Place
Where your "friends" may not even existSometimes the ‘Bots Turn Out To Be Humans
That “lifelike” effect was easier to come by than some might thinkWill AI Liberate or Enslave Developing Countries?
Perhaps that depends on who gets there first with the technologySo what happened to Google Glass?
We are told that the “wetware” (humans) got in the wayDo children trust robots too much?
Maybe, but more study is needed, say researchersWhy Do We Think Money Is Real?
It is actually a constantly shifting network of agreements to trust othersIt is actually a constantly shifting network of agreements to trust others. Maria Bustillos, editor of Ethereum’s culturemag, Popula, asks us to think about just what money is before we make up our minds about Bitcoin.
Read More ›Screenwriters’ Jobs Are Not Threatened by AI
Unless the public starts preferring mishmash to creativityAn AI-generated film is not an altogether new idea. Rule-based expert systems were used to write short plays over a half century ago, in the early 1960's. Then, as now, don’t expect creativity. That is not what AI does.
Read More ›