Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

ArchiveArticles

HAL-like-lights
Type
post
Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
August 30, 2018
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind, Social Factors
Tagged
,

Could HAL 9000 Ever Be Built?

I say yes. Some reflections on the 50th Year Anniversary of 2001: A Space Odyssey
Robert J. Marks
August 30, 2018
8
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind, Social Factors

At 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 ›
jehyun-sung-477894-unsplash
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 30, 2018
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Work
Tagged
, , , , , ,

Robogeddon!! Pause.

Wait. This just in: AI is NOT killing all our jobs
Denyse O'Leary
August 30, 2018
5
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Work
Jay Richards, author of The Human Advantage: The Future of American Work in an Age of Smart Machines,sees it as more of a retooling than a meltdown. But retooling does mean change, work, cost, and risk. Read More ›
james-pond-191266-unsplash
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 29, 2018
Categorized
Ethics, Social Factors
Tagged
, , , ,

Silicon Valley as a Colonial Power

Irish writer asks us to look more carefully at claims about “liberation”
Denyse O'Leary
August 29, 2018
4
Ethics, Social Factors
The social media companies will force us to define ourselves over against the specifications of our would-be programmers. And say what you want about the conflict, it will never be dull. Read More ›
arthur-osipyan-455426-unsplash
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 28, 2018
Categorized
Social Factors
Tagged
, , , , ,

Giant Google’s Vulnerable Spot

Social media are free because we are both the content and the market
Denyse O'Leary
August 28, 2018
4
Social Factors
Recently, we looked at philosopher of technology George Gilder’s Life after Google: The Fall of Big Data and the Rise of the Blockchain Economy. But what form would that decline take? A look at the advertising picture offers one clue. Read More ›
scott-webb-500230-unsplash
Type
post
Author
Robert Verrill, OP
Date
August 27, 2018
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind
Tagged
,

Can a Game Prove That Computers Could Really Think?

Philosopher Daniel Dennett thinks so. Let's apply Occam's Razor and see
Robert Verrill, OP
August 27, 2018
7
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind
While I agree with Dennett that Occam’s Razor shouldn’t be used overzealously, we shouldn’t be too reluctant to use it either. The reason why Dennett rejects Occam’s Razor in the Game of Life is that if he didn’t, then nothing in the Game of Life would be capable of possessing cognitive states. Read More ›
Lady justice, themis, statue of justice on sky background
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 25, 2018
Categorized
Machine Learning, Social Factors
Tagged
, ,

Ethics for an Information Society

Because machines can’t learn to solve their own ethical problems
Denyse O'Leary
August 25, 2018
2
Machine Learning, Social Factors
AI (machine learning) was probably faster and cheaper but the whole point of the system was supposed to be justice which, whatever the explanation, proved too difficult to calculate… Read More ›
MRI Image Of Head Showing Brain
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 24, 2018
Categorized
Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind
Tagged
,

Do Big Brains Matter to Human Intelligence?

We don’t know. Brain research readily dissolves into confusion at that point
Denyse O'Leary
August 24, 2018
2
Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

We also know very little about the human brain. Take this controversy about why the large human brain evolved...

Read More ›
h-heyerlein-386302-unsplash
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 22, 2018
Categorized
Social Factors
Tagged
, , , , , , ,

Hell Is a “Parasocial” Place

Where your "friends" may not even exist
Denyse O'Leary
August 22, 2018
4
Social Factors
Consumer digital hells can be dreadful indeed but they are mostly of our own making. The companies that profit from them are not forcing us to live in them. That said, students should be taught in school that the internet’s virtual world features a great deal of fakery, including fake friends. Read More ›
Close-up Shot of Hacker using Keyboard. There is Coffee Cups and Computer Monitors with Various Information.
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 20, 2018
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning
Tagged
, , , , , ,

Sometimes the ‘Bots Turn Out To Be Humans

That “lifelike” effect was easier to come by than some might think
Denyse O'Leary
August 20, 2018
3
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning
Companies sometimes pretend to be using AI or machine learning when they are actually using human employees for various reasons. One reason is that they have promised potential investors more high tech than they can deliver. Sometimes, as we learned recently at The Guardian, it gets a bit sticky... Read More ›
Biometric facial recognition on smartphone. Unlock smartphone as it scans his face.
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 20, 2018
Categorized
Machine Learning, Social Factors
Tagged
, , , , , ,

Will AI Liberate or Enslave Developing Countries?

Perhaps that depends on who gets there first with the technology
Denyse O'Leary
August 20, 2018
3
Machine Learning, Social Factors
Karl D. Stephan: Zimbabwe, an African country well-known for its human-rights abuses, has received advanced Chinese AI technology from a startup company in exchange for letting the firm have access to the country’s facial-recognition database. So China is helping the government of Zimbabwe to keep tabs on its citizens as well. Read More ›
andy-kelly-402111-unsplash
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 17, 2018
Categorized
Social Factors
Tagged
, ,

Do children trust robots too much?

Maybe, but more study is needed, say researchers
Denyse O'Leary
August 17, 2018
3
Social Factors
Children could easily give in to peer pressure from other children to give an incorrect answer in place of a correct one. How much difference it makes that the pressure is supplied by a robot would surely depend on how the child is taught to see robots. Read More ›
andre-francois-556751-unsplash
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 17, 2018
Categorized
Business and Finance
Tagged
, , ,

Why Do We Think Money Is Real?

It is actually a constantly shifting network of agreements to trust others
Denyse O'Leary
August 17, 2018
3
Business and Finance

It 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 ›
peter-kent-32354-unsplash
Type
post
Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
August 16, 2018
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture
Tagged
, , , , , ,

Screenwriters’ Jobs Are Not Threatened by AI

Unless the public starts preferring mishmash to creativity
Robert J. Marks
August 16, 2018
7
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

An 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 ›
Roboter Arme
Type
post
Author
Eric Holloway
Date
August 15, 2018
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
Tagged
,

Could One Single Machine Invent Everything?

The king’s perpetual innovation machine was all ready to roll but then a skeptic butted in
Eric Holloway
August 15, 2018
8
Artificial Intelligence
Computers can never originate, they only regurgitate. Humans, on the other hand, can come up with original ideas, i.e. they write the programs in the first place. So, my proof shows that the human mind cannot be a computer program. Read More ›
david-pisnoy-660309-unsplash
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 14, 2018
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Social Factors
Tagged
, , , , ,

George Gilder: Life after Google Will Be Okay

People will take ownership of their own data, cutting out the giant “middle man”
Denyse O'Leary
August 14, 2018
5
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Social Factors

In his new book, he calls the successor era he envisions the “cryptocosm,” referring to the private encryption of data, represented by technologies such as blockchain.

Read More ›
kevin-364843-unsplash
Type
post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
August 13, 2018
Categorized
Machine Learning, Social Factors
Tagged
, , ,

Who Creates Information in a Market?

Do exchange-traded funds (ETFs)' algorithms make personally gathering information obsolete?
Jonathan Bartlett
August 13, 2018
6
Machine Learning, Social Factors

Algorithmic strategies can only be as good as the information that goes into them.  Ignoring how the information is created causes us to misunderstand the dynamics of value creation.  Algorithms can leverage information, they can’t create it.

Read More ›
Cropped shot of call center operator in headset working and talking with client
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 11, 2018
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Natural Intelligence
Tagged
, , , , ,

Why machines can’t think as we do

As philosopher Michael Polanyi noted, much that we know is hard to codify or automate
Denyse O'Leary
August 11, 2018
5
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Natural Intelligence
Human life is full of these challenges. Some knowledge simply cannot be conveyed—or understood or accepted—in a propositional form. For example, a nurse counselor may see clearly that her elderly post-operative patient would thrive better in a retirement home. But she cannot just tell him so. Read More ›
hugues-de-buyer-mimeure-350387-unsplash
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 9, 2018
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Natural Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind
Tagged

Why Can’t Machines Learn Simple Tasks?

They can learn to play chess more easily than to walk
Denyse O'Leary
August 9, 2018
4
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Natural Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind
If specifically human intelligence is related to consciousness, the robotics engineers might best leave consciousness out of their goals for their products and focus on more tangible ones. Read More ›