Eric Holloway
What Computers Can’t Know: The Unknown Unknowns
Is True Artificial Intelligence Possible? A Science Perspective
Many will conclude that true AI — AI that thinks like humans — must be possible because we hear so much about it from so many sources
Tech Hype Watch: Do Chatbots Really Understand Things?
Well-known author Robert Wright believes they do but he misunderstands how computers work
How Ancient Philosophers Can Help Design Better Computers
The Kubernetes program, for example, steers groups of computers the way, in the ancient image, a navigator steers a ship
Will Artificial Intelligence Revolutionize Math?
In an article in Nature, mathematician Thomas Fink makes the case that AI can rapidly falsify wrong conjectures. But what about its built-in limitations?
Applying the Theory of Intelligent Design
What are ID's implications for economics, metaphysics, and computer science?As my PhD advisor Dr. Robert Marks likes to say: “You have to make the queen of the sciences get down and scrub the floors.” Intelligent design (ID) is a science, and so ID has to get down and scrub the floors. To further this goal, I’ve come up with a schema for the ways in which ID can be applied, and what it in fact means for ID to be applied. The upshot of this schema is not only to guide brainstorming, but it also demonstrates that ID is already applied in many areas, unbeknownst to all. As they say, the best way to get something done is to take credit for someone else’s work. First, let’s identify what ID is. ID is Read More ›
How Could Intelligent Design Help Us In a Conflict?
Well, what would happen if Daffy Duck teams up with Marvin the Martian?In war, the goal is to eliminate a threat as quickly as possible, given available resources. We try to hit the center of a target with the fewest arrows. A key mathematical concept of intelligent design, active information, captures this dilemma. It also helps us understand the role of artificial intelligence might play in wartime. Active information Active information is the difference between two sources of information. Picture archers shooting at a target: 1. Endogenous information: What is the size of the target? And how difficult is the target to hit? It is the difference between hitting a squirrel and hitting the moon. 2. Exogenous information: How skilled the archer is who is firing the arrows? What difference does the Read More ›
How Is Intentionality Embedded in the Universe?
All efforts to extinguish intentionality and morality only serve to further establish their inescapable reality
Could Our Minds Be Bigger Than Even a Multiverse?
The relationship between information, entropy, and probability suggests startling possibilities. If you find the math hard, a face-in-the-clouds illustration works too
Is Your Mind Bigger Than the Universe? Well, Look At It This Way…
Surprisingly, there is a way to measure the mind that shows it IS bigger than the universe — informationImagine you’re sitting at home, relaxing in your favorite easy chair. Go on, kick your legs up. Feel your limbs releasing the stress of the day, starting from the extremities, and progressing up your core to your head. Now, let your mind expand. Let go of what is holding your mind down. Feel it become free, outside of everything around it. Let the feeling continue until your mind is bigger than the universe. Now consider the question: if your mind is bigger than the universe, can it be within the universe? If a ball is bigger than a bag, can it be contained by the bag? Of course not. If the mind is bigger than the universe, then it must Read More ›
Why Is Theology the Most Important Empirical Science?
Arguing pro or con about the existence of God has resulted in many successful and/or widely accepted theories in science
Can AI Really Start Doing Evil Stuff All By Itself?
We need to first talk to the man in the mirror before we go around blaming transistor circuit boards for what’s wrong in the world
Can There Really Be an Ultimate Happiness Machine?
Technology can do so much. Can it really provide an answer to the eternal human quest for happiness?
AI and the Chinese Room Argument
We still haven't cracked the mystery of human intelligence
“Ghost Work” and the Enduring Necessity of Human Labor
Contrary to popular assumptions, the greater the automation, the greater the need for human labor.
Ancient Greek Philosophy and Modern Blockbuster Graphics
The amazing computer-generated effects you see in almost every blockbuster today are only possible thanks to ideas proposed over 2300 years ago.
Life According to the Turing Machine
Is there more to the world than just data and digits?
Does ChatGPT Pass the Creativity Test?
What does ChatGPT have to do in order to be considered creative?What is creativity? Where does it come from? Why are some things humans do considered creative, while other things mundane? Can AI be creative? To answer these questions, let’s come up with a definition. Creativity at least means something new has been done. No work that copies what has come before is considered creative. A Creativity Criteria Just doing something new is not enough either. If it were, then I can easily be creative by flipping a coin 100 times. That specific sequence of coin flips will only occur once in the entire history of humanity. But no one would say I was creative when I flipped a coin. This means creativity has to generate a new insight. However, these two criteria are not adequate, Read More ›
Can AI Create its Own Information?
The simple answer is "no," but why? Eric Holloway explainsAI is amazing. It is all the rage these days. Companies everywhere are jumping on the AI bandwagon. No one wants to be left behind when true believers are raptured to the mainframe in the sky. What makes the AI work? The AI works because of information it gained from a human generated dataset. Let’s label the dataset D. We can measure the information in the dataset with Shannon entropy. Represent the information with H(D). When we train an AI with this data, we are applying a mathematical function to the dataset. This function is the training algorithm. Labelling the training algorithm T, then we represent training as T(D). The outcome of training is a new AI model. The model generates new data. We Read More ›