Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

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Sea soul. Abstract marine backgrounds with sun beam and underwater landscape
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post
Author
News
Date
September 29, 2022
Categorized
Philosophy of Mind
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Why should we believe that the human mind is immortal?

Philosopher Moreland: Think of the soul like a chest of drawers and think of the mind and the spirit like two drawers in the chest of drawers
News
September 29, 2022
3
Philosophy of Mind

Philosopher J. P. Moreland offers some thoughts at Closer to Truth (September 14, 2022) J.P. Moreland: (1:49) Think of the soul like a chest of drawers and think of the mind and the spirit like two drawers in the chest of drawers. I am a soul I’m an immaterial substance. Within me are different faculties, different ranges of powers or abilities. My mind is a faculty of the soul. My spirit is a different faculty of the soul. Now, you can’t separate my mind from my soul like you can [separate] the legs of a table and put them in different places. So the legs of a table would be called “separable parts.” They can be separated from the whole Read More ›

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Ottawa freedom sign
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post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 28, 2022
Categorized
Censorship, Social Media
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Big Tech Censors Worldwide — Yet It Isn’t a Government

Censorship has gone private and is thus much harder to detect and address
Denyse O'Leary
September 28, 2022
5
Censorship, Social Media

Do we even know what Big Tech censors or why? Sometimes its choices matters as in the COVID-19 controversies: One warm weekend in October of 2020, three impeccably credentialed epidemiologists—Jayanta Bhattacharya, Sunetra Gupta, and Martin Kulldorff, of Stanford, Oxford, and Harvard Universities respectively—gathered with a few journalists, writers, and economists at an estate in the Berkshires where the American Institute for Economic Research had brought together critics of lockdowns and other COVID-related government restrictions. On Sunday morning shortly before the guests departed, the scientists encapsulated their views—that lockdowns do more harm than good, and that resources should be devoted to protecting the vulnerable rather than shutting society down—in a joint communique dubbed the “Great Barrington Declaration,” after the town in Read More ›

a-young-man-with-a-pistol-gun-is-standing-in-front-of-a-high-school-preparing-to-go-inside-and-commit-a-horrible-violent-mass-murder-shooting-stockpack-adobe-stock
A young man with a pistol gun is standing in front of a high school preparing to go inside and commit a horrible violent mass murder shooting.
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post
Author
News
Date
September 28, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Why AI Could (But May Not) Predict School Shootings

There is no solution that is not run through natural intelligence, computer science prof Robert J. Marks explains
News
September 28, 2022
6
Artificial Intelligence

In recent weeks, WBC director Robert J. Marks has done a number of interviews for his new book, Non-Computable You: What You Do That Artificial Intelligence Never Will (Discovery Institute Press, 2022). At The Cat’s Roundtable, he was asked by host John Catsimatidis about the hype around AI and whether AI could, for example, predict school shootings. https://mindmatters.ai/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/Mind-Matters-205-Robert-J-Marks.mp3 Robert J. Marks: It’ll continue doing great and exciting things, but there’s a lot of hype associated with it. People think, “Well, is the Terminator going to come alive? Are we ever going to face a scenario like we see in The Matrix?” And the answer is, “No. There are certain brick walls, which artificial intelligence will never go through,” and we Read More ›

an-advanced-cpu-printed-with-a-flag-of-usa-on-a-neon-glowing-electronic-circuit-board-illustration-of-the-concept-of-united-states-made-high-end-micro-chips-stockpack-adobe-stock
An advanced CPU printed with a flag of USA on a neon glowing electronic circuit board. Illustration of the concept of United States made high-end micro chips.
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post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
September 27, 2022
Categorized
Business and Finance, China, Ethics, Politics, Programming
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What Difference Has the CHIPS Act Made to the U.S. and Taiwan?

We need to first look at the broader picture of what the CHIPS Act is intended to do
Heather Zeiger
September 27, 2022
8
Business and Finance, China, Ethics, Politics, Programming

In a previous article, I discussed the semiconductor industry and Taiwan’s supremacy in manufacturing microchips, the foundry portion of the semiconductor supply chain. Now let’s look at the U.S. perspective on the semiconductor industry and its relationship to Taiwan. In order to do that, we have to talk about the CHIPS+ Act Congress passed a bipartisan bill, the CHIPS and Science Act in July, after a year of negotiations in committee. President Biden signed the act into law on August 9 and the CHIPS Act Implementation Strategy was launched on September 6 through an executive order. CHIPS, or “Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors,” is a $250B initiative that incentivizes businesses to bring semiconductor manufacturing, research and innovation back to Read More ›

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Group of IT experts
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post
Author
News
Date
September 27, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning
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At COSM 2022, Blake Lemoine Faces Computer Engineers

… not talk show hosts… about his claim that chatbot LaMDA is a real person. Venture capitalist Matt McIlwain hosts the panel
News
September 27, 2022
2
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning

Matt McIlwain, managing director of Madrona Venture Group a venture capital consortium, will be moderating a most interesting panel at COSM 2022: It includes ex-Googler Blake Lemoine — yes, he’s the one who started the global uproar around that Google chatbot LaMDA, which he claims is a real person. Google HQ didn’t agree… which is why he no longer works there. But is that because it is not true or because it is not popular? What Lemoine believes is still definitely out there. The main point: On McIlwain’s panel, Lemoine will be facing off against Baylor University pioneer in swarm intelligence Robert J. Marks and with George Montañez, an up-and-coming machine learning pro at Harvey Mudd College. Can he convince Read More ›

crypto-currency-background-with-various-of-shiny-silver-and-golden-physical-cryptocurrencies-symbol-coins-bitcoin-ethereum-litecoin-zcash-ripple-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Crypto currency background with various of shiny silver and golden physical cryptocurrencies symbol coins, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, zcash, ripple
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post
Author
News
Date
September 27, 2022
Categorized
Cryptocurrency, Politics
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Is Cryptocurrency Part of the Overall Future of Money?

Experts clash over whether crypto could replace government-issued currency
News
September 27, 2022
10
Cryptocurrency, Politics

Recent discussions between WBC director Robert J. Marks and fellow engineers raise a question: Could new technology enable a global private currency to compete with government currencies? While the fact is not always evident in the Western world, government currencies depend on the stability of the government. Stories about people using discredited government banknotes to warm themselves, etc., are not fiction. And today what about the unbanked billions of the world who work and create value but do not have access to financial institutions? So in, for example, a national emergency, would cryptocurrency be any help? The option of private electronic currency is comparatively new and, as we might expect, expert views differ. We present them for your reflection (not Read More ›

two human figures art
hope, freedom, life, different, contrast concept, blue sky human with broken human, surreal and fantasy artwork, conceptual art, painting illustration, sadness and depression idea
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post
Author
Peter Biles
Date
September 26, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture
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Making Art Is Uniquely Human

While the architects of AI "art" tools like to think their technology can replace human creativity, the artistic impulse is uniquely human
Peter Biles
September 26, 2022
4
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

In my last post, I wrote about a novelist who used a version of the AI art tool known as Stable Diffusion to gather images for a promotional website. She wanted erotic and violent elements in the artwork and found that other AI art tools included “guardrails” limiting access to graphic results. But if these images are disconnected from a human, imaginative process, can we say AI-generated results qualify as creative works? Artificial intelligence doesn’t only challenge our notions of what it means to be human. It also makes us wonder what it means to make art and whether human beings are the only agents capable of creating it. Walter Kirn addressed this question poignantly in a Substack essay.  Kirn Read More ›

concept-of-employee-monitoring-by-boss-stockpack-adobe-stock
Concept of employee monitoring by boss
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post
Author
News
Date
September 26, 2022
Categorized
Business and Finance, Work
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Why AI Employee Tracking Can’t Build a Great Company

Employees, knowing that an AI is tracking them, start filling in boxes instead of creating or innovating for success
News
September 26, 2022
3
Business and Finance, Work

Earlier this year, we learned about the best employee tracking software for 2022. (The Head Office can know if you went to the washroom or phoned your dog’s vet … ) Not everyone thinks that total surveillance by management is the best way to get optimum performance: But technology is not a replacement for what good managers do. They pull disparate groups of people together and build camaraderie, share a vision, grow trust, and—over time—create cohesive teams that achieve big goals. They get to know their team members individually and work carefully to set expectations, be supportive, understand context, and give feedback and direction. They take into account the nuance of uniqueness, inherent both in the person and in the Read More ›

scientists-testing-in-lab-stockpack-adobe-stock
Scientists testing in lab.
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post
Author
News
Date
September 26, 2022
Categorized
Business and Finance, Medicine and Health
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Will AI Really Change Drug Development? Not So Fast…

Jeffrey Funk and Gary N. Smith note that AI was not significant in the development of COVID vaccines. Financial incentives ruled
News
September 26, 2022
3
Business and Finance, Medicine and Health

Something to know before you invest or entertain high hopes: Jeffrey Funk and Gary Smith published a recent article in Salon that offers a free cold shower. Some realities they cite: Most of the expense of drug development is in clinical trials on human beings, which can’t be automated. Any attempt to save time or money would come at identifiable costs in accuracy. Yes, COVID vaccines were a banner achievement for speedy drug development. But AI played little or no standout role in the process: Determined to get a COVID-19 vaccine to the public before the November 3, 2020, presidential election, the U.S. government devoted $14 billion to support the pharmaceutical companies’ vaccine efforts. The government agreed to pay Pfizer Read More ›

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Young attractive handicapped beauty blogger is filming video with smartphone at home.
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post
Author
News
Date
September 26, 2022
Categorized
Medicine and Health, Neuroscience
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Reality Check: Can Bionic Hands Really Compete With Nature?

A geographer born without a left forearm offers an honest assessment of the “bionic hand” arms race
News
September 26, 2022
4
Medicine and Health, Neuroscience

The author of a recent article in IEEE Spectrum was born without a left forearm so she can talk about the tech reality of prostheses from the front lines: Today, the people who design prostheses tend to be well-intentioned engineers rather than amputees themselves. The fleshy stumps of the world act as repositories for these designers’ dreams of a high-tech, superhuman future. I know this because throughout my life I have been fitted with some of the most cutting-edge prosthetic devices on the market. After being born missing my left forearm, I was one of the first cohorts of infants in the United States to be fitted with a myoelectric prosthetic hand, an electronic device controlled by the wearer’s muscles Read More ›

black-hole-eye-of-consciousness-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
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post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 25, 2022
Categorized
Panpsychism, Science
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Can Panpsychism Save Naturalism From Itself?

Panpsychism can be seen as an effort to save naturalism by acknowledging the reality of the mind while insisting that the mind is wholly natural
Denyse O'Leary
September 25, 2022
6
Panpsychism, Science

This article is an excerpt of one that originally appeared in Salvo 61 (Summer 2022), under the title “Everything is Conscious? Panpsychism goes mainstream.” Panpsychism — the view that all of the universe participates in consciousness, which is most fully developed in humans — has been gaining popularity in science in recent years. Does that sound unbelievable? Is not science committed wholly to materialism and nothing but materialism? Will consciousness not soon be “explained” by an accidental glitch in brain wiring that natural selection retained? Science doesn’t seem nearly as committed to that view just now. A 2018 article at Quartz by Olivia Goldhill was titled “The idea that everything from spoons to stones is conscious is gaining academic credibility.” Read More ›

blockchain-blocks-and-their-hexadecimal-hash-values-conceptual-vizualization-3d-render-stockpack-adobe-stock
Blockchain blocks and their hexadecimal hash values conceptual vizualization 3D render
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post
Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
September 25, 2022
Categorized
Cryptocurrency, Ethics, Religion
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Modern Bitcoin’s Surprising Lesson About Ancient Scripture

It turns out there’s a striking parallel between the historical record of scripture and the blockchain ledger
Robert J. Marks
September 25, 2022
5
Cryptocurrency, Ethics, Religion

This article was published in The Stream (September 13, 2022) and is republished with permission. Can we trust the authenticity of the New Testament scriptures? Trust is foundational in the acceptance of scripture. There’s an interesting lesson to learn from a very modern system of trust: money. Even Bitcoin, believe it or not. An Exchange of Trust We’ll start with old-fashioned familiar money. Why is a twenty dollar bill worth $20? It’s just a small sheet of paper, after all. The answer is trust. We trust the piece of paper has value because its worth is backed by the United States government. We also trust that Walmart will give us $20 worth of Doritos if we give them a twenty Read More ›

big-bang-explosion-in-space-stockpack-adobe-stock
Big bang explosion in space
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post
Author
News
Date
September 25, 2022
Categorized
Philosophy, Science
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Webb Telescope Builders “Are Questioning Previous Science”

In an interview at Futurism, Webb astronomer Garth Illingworth shares how the new findings are shaking up what we think we know about the universe
News
September 25, 2022
3
Philosophy, Science

Futurism’s Maggie Harrison recently interviewed UC Santa Cruz astronomer Garth Illingworth, one of the developers of the James Webb Space Telescope. His observations put the astronomers’ astonishment at the unexpected new findings of very old, developed galaxies in perspective: And I would just say, you know, when I was sitting there watching the first images, I was just blown away by their beauty and the character there, the information. But one of the things I was thinking afterwards was: in that hour, I saw, like, six sets of data. I have to say, that’s more data than I’ve ever seen from anything in any sort of reasonable time period in my whole life. Scientists are going to be working on Read More ›

enceladus-stockpack-adobe-stock
Enceladus
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News
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September 24, 2022
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News From the Search for Extraterrestrial Life 6

China has found evidence for an ancient ocean on Mars and an international research teams reports that the number of dried-up lakes is higher than thought
News
September 24, 2022
6

Noting the passing earlier this month of Frank Drake, author of the famous Drake Equation, planetary geoscientist David Rothery notes, we know a great deal more promising information about the search for life today than we did in 1961 when he first formulated the equation: “We are learning more about exoplanets every year, and are entering an era when measuring their atmospheric composition to reveal evidence of life is becoming increasingly feasible. Within the next decade or two, we can hope for a much more soundly based estimate of the fraction of Earth-like planets where life gets started.” – The Conversation, September 5, 2022. We also know about potentially habitable moons now (for example, Enceladus, whose image is featured above). Read More ›

once-more-unto-the-breach-3d-illustration-of-science-fiction-scene-with-robot-general-holding-battle-hammer-rallying-his-android-troops-under-a-stormy-dark-sky-stockpack-adobe-stock
Once more unto the breach / 3D illustration of science fiction scene with robot general holding battle hammer rallying his android troops under a stormy dark sky
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post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 24, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Business and Finance, Censorship, Surveillance
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Oh, Not This Again: “AI Will Rise Up and Destroy Mankind”

The advances of AI raise a number of issues, yes. But the intelligences behind these advances are not artificial at all
Denyse O'Leary
September 24, 2022
4
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Business and Finance, Censorship, Surveillance

A new paper from researchers at Oxford University and Google’s Deepmind prophesies that “the threat of AI is greater than previously believed. It’s so great, in fact, that artificial intelligence is likely to one day rise up and annihilate humankind … Cohen says the conditions the researchers identified show that the possibility of a threatening conclusion is stronger than in any previous publication.” (MSN, September 15, 2022) How? Why? The research paper predicted life on Earth turning into a zero-sum game between humans and the super-advanced machinery. Michael K. Cohen, a co-author of the study, spoke about their paper during an interview. In a world with infinite resources, I would be extremely uncertain about what would happen. In a world Read More ›

abandoned-railway-tracks-in-the-desert-namibia-stockpack-adobe-stock
Abandoned railway tracks in the desert, Namibia
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post
Author
Gary Varner
Date
September 24, 2022
Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction
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The MacGuffin: Big Fuss About Nothing Is Not Good Science Fiction

A MacGuffin creates a lot of action but doesn’t in any way advance the plot
Gary Varner
September 24, 2022
7
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction

As with Time Travel, the MacGuffin plot risk comes in a variety of flavors. People bicker about the term, but Alfred Hitchcock (1863–1942) summarized the gist of it: A MacGuffin is “the thing the characters on the screen worry about but the audience don’t care.” The MacGuffin creates a lot of action but doesn’t in any way advance the plot. The action is not the problem. If the item contributes to the plot in a significant way — the One Ring from Lord of the Rings or the Dragon Balls from the Dragon Ball Series, for example — then it isn’t a MacGuffin. But if the item is inert and chased mainly because the characters want it, then it is Read More ›

backgrounds-of-characteristics-and-different-shaped-colony-of-bacteria-and-mold-growing-on-agar-plates-from-soil-samples-for-education-in-microbiology-laboratory-stockpack-adobe-stock
Backgrounds of Characteristics and Different shaped Colony of Bacteria and Mold growing on agar plates from Soil samples for education in Microbiology laboratory.
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post
Author
News
Date
September 23, 2022
Categorized
Biology, Information Theory
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Bacterial Growth Patterns Can Spell Out Our Inmost Thoughts

Crazy? No. Researchers reduced them to an alphabet and you can test it for yourself
News
September 23, 2022
2
Biology, Information Theory

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have created an encoder/decoder using bacterial growth patterns. Because such growth patterns tend to be regular, they can be reduced to an encoding scheme they call “emorfi”: The encoding is not one-to-one, as the final simulated pattern corresponding to each letter is not exactly the same every time. However, the researchers discovered that a machine learning program could learn to distinguish between them to recognize the letter intended. Ken Kingery, Duke University, “An AI message decoder based on bacterial growth patterns” at Phys.org (September 23, 2022) The paper requires a fee or subscription. Go here to see how it works and test it yourself. We tried it with “Bacterial growth patterns can spell out your Read More ›

closeup-of-hummingbird-hawk-moth-butterfly-macroglossum-stellatarum-feeding-of-red-valerian-flowers-centranthus-ruber-in-flight-its-a-species-of-hawk-moth-found-across-temperate-regions-of-eurasi-stockpack-adobe-stock
Closeup of Hummingbird Hawk-moth butterfly (Macroglossum stellatarum) feeding of red valerian flowers (Centranthus ruber) in flight. Its a species of hawk moth found across temperate regions of Eurasi
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post
Author
News
Date
September 23, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Biology, Military, Robotics
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Machine Uses Live Hawk Moth Antenna for Smell Detection

Human-created sensors are not sensitive, fast, or discerning enough to identify and process smells in the danger zones for which the Smellicopter was designed
News
September 23, 2022
3
Artificial Intelligence, Biology, Military, Robotics

We’ve often written about electronic prostheses that link up with the human nervous system — which essentially means controlling the prosthesis by thoughts alone. A reversal is also possible, as the University of Washington demonstrated in 2020: A machine (the “Smellicopter”) used an insect’s antenna to identify and seek out smells: “Nature really blows our human-made odor sensors out of the water,” said lead author Melanie Anderson, a UW doctoral student in mechanical engineering. “By using an actual moth antenna with Smellicopter, we’re able to get the best of both worlds: the sensitivity of a biological organism on a robotic platform where we can control its motion.” Sarah McQuate, “The Smellicopter is an obstacle-avoiding drone that uses a live moth Read More ›

busy-evening-cityscape-with-cars-and-people-on-42nd-street-in-midtown-manhattan-new-york-city-stockpack-adobe-stock
Busy evening cityscape with cars and people on 42nd Street in Midtown Manhattan New York City
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post
Author
News
Date
September 23, 2022
Categorized
Machine Learning
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One Way Human Vision Is Better Than a Machine’s

The problem machine vision has with understanding what things *should* look like creates risks for traffic video safety systems, researchers say
News
September 23, 2022
3
Machine Learning

Because machine vision absorbs information without context, it simply doesn’t “see” what a human sees — and the results could be “dangerous in real-world AI applications,” warns York University prof James Elder. He and his colleagues did an interesting experiment with deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs). They used “Frankensteins” — models of life forms that are distorted in some way — to determine how they would be interpreted by humans or by machine vision: “Frankensteins are simply objects that have been taken apart and put back together the wrong way around,” says Elder. “As a result, they have all the right local features, but in the wrong places.” The investigators found that while the human visual system is confused by Read More ›

futuristid dystopian city
Dystopian futuristic cyberpunk city at night in a neon haze. Blue and purple glowing neon lights. Urban wallpaper. 3D illustration.
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post
Author
Peter Biles
Date
September 22, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture
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AI Art Tool Can Generate Both Beauty and Horror

Making AI image generators mainstream might offer people an interesting new frontier to explore. But the tech has a serious dark side
Peter Biles
September 22, 2022
4
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

The capacities of AI art generators have grown much in the past couple of years. Through complex algorithms, AI scans the internet and manages to make artistic composites, some sublime, others grotesque. Today, AI art generators have incredible potential, but their capacities can also be easily abused. According to a Wired article from September 21, Science fiction novelist Elle Simpson-Edin wanted to generate artwork for her newest book. So, she tried AI tools. Her novel unabashedly depicts gore and sex, but most of the AI tools she discovered included “guardrails” that sanctioned explicit content. That is until she found Unstable Diffusion, “a Discord community for people using unrestricted versions of a recently released, open source AI image tool called Stable Diffusion.” Read More ›