_{Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis}

Robert J. Marks

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Robert J. Marks
Date
January 31, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Military

Tagged
Killer robots, Killer Robots (book), military technology}

Iran Conflict Shows Why the US Needs Autonomous Lethal AI Weapons

_{The bipartisan National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence recently released a sobering report about the U.S. lagging in development of killer robots} _{Robert J. Marks
January 31, 2020

4

Artificial Intelligence, Military}

To remain competitive, the U.S. military must respond and adapt to new warfare technology including weapons using AI, sometimes called killer robots. This includes autonomous AI that acts on its own. Chillingly, unlike atomic weapons, the tools to construct lethal AI weapons are cheap and readily available to all.

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Robert J. Marks
Date
December 17, 2019

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Programming

Tagged
Moore's Law, Parallel computing, Roger Penrose}

Moore or Less: Why the Exponential Speed of AI Can’t Be Sustained

_{Faster computers only help the performance of AI algorithms that require search marginally.} _{Robert J. Marks
December 17, 2019

4

Artificial Intelligence, Programming}

Exponential growth is often the beginning of a sigmoid or s-shaped curve where growth that appears to be exponential but eventually slows and reaches a saturation point. We see this in nature, for example, in bacteria.

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Robert J. Marks
Date
December 10, 2019

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Tagged
Augmented Reality, Oculus Quest, Thomas Furness, Virtual Reality}

Abandoning Reality: Getting Lost in Oculus Quest’s VR

_{Amazing. And time to remember the history. I was the chair of the first serious conference dedicated to virtual reality twenty-five years ago} _{Robert J. Marks
December 10, 2019

4

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

Virtual reality got its start in the US Air Force’s investigation of heads-up display for pilots. Just as you see a candy wrapper on your dashboard reflected in the windshield while you drive, pilots could have nearly a instantaneous view of instrumentation simply by focusing their eyes from far objects to near.

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Robert J. Marks
Date
December 9, 2019

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Business and Finance

Tagged
Automation, Carbon computing}

Random Comments on the Passing Scene: Carbon Computing and Much More

_{Child porn traffickers arrested despite their attempts to hide using high tech and Bitcoin} _{Robert J. Marks
December 9, 2019

6

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Business and Finance}

Also, McDonald’s doubles down on self-ordering kiosks, acquires automation firm.

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Robert J. Marks
Date
November 14, 2019

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Data Privacy, Machine Learning, Surveillance, Technocracy

Tagged
Cold War, IBM Watson, self-driving cars}

The Greatest Threat We Face From AI—and What We Can Do

_{Here’s a list of things that have really happened with artificial intelligence (AI), in order of increasing severity.} _{Robert J. Marks
November 14, 2019

5

Artificial Intelligence, Data Privacy, Machine Learning, Surveillance, Technocracy}

When we get to the end of the list, we will see that it is like beads connected by a string—revealing the most dangerous threat.

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Robert J. Marks
Date
October 18, 2019

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Data Privacy, Surveillance, Technocracy

Tagged
John Tamny, Smart Cities, Yuval Noah Harari}

Smart Cities?: Proceed With Caution!

_{Zaheer Allam provides a balanced view of the future impact of AI on society} _{Robert J. Marks
October 18, 2019

9

Artificial Intelligence, Data Privacy, Surveillance, Technocracy}

In some Smart City master plans, our privacy will be seriously compromised.

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Robert J. Marks
Date
September 19, 2019

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
hype, MIT}

AlterEgo Does Not Read Your Mind

_{What it really does may surprise you but many claims made for it are deceptive} _{Robert J. Marks
September 19, 2019

5

Artificial Intelligence, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind}

AlterEgo may prove invaluable for applications like helping the severely handicapped by using muscle movements that are usually unnoticed. But despite headlines and publicity claiming otherwise, it provides no technical stride forward in the field of AI-brain interface.

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post

Robert J. Marks
Date
September 4, 2019

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
Alchemy, Isaac Newton, Singularity}

Pursuit of the AI Singularity Is Modern Alchemy

_{Just as lead cannot just become gold, software cannot just become creative} _{Robert J. Marks
September 4, 2019

5

Artificial Intelligence}

Isaac Newton was a great scientist but he wasted a lot of time trying to turn lead into gold. Today, some great computer scientists waste a lot of time trying to produce AI that creates better AI without a programmer.

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Robert J. Marks
Date
August 1, 2019

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Education, Work

Tagged
apple, Augmented Reality, Donald Trump, Google, Microsoft, Uber}

Random Thoughts on the Passing Scene: How to Spell Gud

_{Also, Google and Apple ditching college degree requirements is not really that new} _{Robert J. Marks
August 1, 2019

4

Artificial Intelligence, Education, Work}

Twenty years or so ago, when I worked in Seattle, Microsoft was famous for the testing coding skills of their applicants and asking Mensa-like questions. Degrees were secondary.

Stones balanced on table with a pen

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Robert J. Marks
Date
July 30, 2019

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Global Technology

Tagged
algorithm, Algorithms, bias, Big Tech, Google Search, search engines, Technocracy}

Can Computer Algorithms Be Free of Bias?

_{Bias is inevitable but it should be recognized and admitted} _{Robert J. Marks
July 30, 2019

4

Artificial Intelligence, Global Technology}

Gregory Coppola’s revelations about Google’s politically biased search engine shone a spotlight on how algorithms are written.

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Robert J. Marks
Date
July 19, 2019

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning

Tagged
Neural networks, Police}

Can AI Predict and Prevent Political Unrest?

_{The 1996 Democratic Convention tried neural networks but discovered a hidden flaw} _{Robert J. Marks
July 19, 2019

5

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning}

The police union’s 1996 objection to fingering specific officers as violence risks without a detailed explanation pinpoints a weakness of neural networks even to this day. The neural network is basically a black box.

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Robert J. Marks
Date
July 18, 2019

Categorized
Education, Peer Review

Tagged
academia, Campbell’s Law, citation, Featured, Goodhart’s Law, Impact factor, Longform}

Why It’s So Hard To Reform Peer Review

_{Robert J. Marks: Reformers are battling numerical laws that govern how incentives work. Know your enemy!} _{Robert J. Marks
July 18, 2019

17

Education, Peer Review}

Measurement creates a temptation to achieve a measurable goal by less than totally honest means. As in physics, the simple act of measuring invariably disturbs what you are trying to measure.

Screen of boxes on copy of financial times

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Robert J. Marks
Date
June 24, 2019

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Data Privacy, Ethics

Tagged
Automation, humor, Surveillance}

Random Thoughts on Recent AI Headlines: Google Gives Away “Free” Cookies…

_{Also, why AI can't predict the stock market or deal with windblown plastic bags} _{Robert J. Marks
June 24, 2019

5

Artificial Intelligence, Data Privacy, Ethics}

A good rule of thumb is that unexpected outcomes increase exponentially as a function of AI complexity.

elephant mask beautiful young hipster woman in the city

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Robert J. Marks
Date
June 17, 2019

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Ambiguity, Gary Smith, Terry Winograd, Winograd Schema}

AI Is No Match for Ambiguity

_{Many simple sentences confuse AI but not humans} _{Robert J. Marks
June 17, 2019

5

Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind}

Because computers lack common sense, they cannot interpret statements that assume a background of general knowledge, as the Winograd Schema challenges show.

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Robert J. Marks
Date
June 4, 2019

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Materialism, Science Uprising (film series)}

Seven Minutes to Goosebumps: Confronting Materialism Head On

_{A new short film series takes on materialism in science, including that of AI’s pop prophets} _{Robert J. Marks
June 4, 2019

2

Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind}

At the Bradley Center, we are open to discussing and reporting any such discovery but are also open to evidence leading to alternative explanations.

Painted face, split in two

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Robert J. Marks
Date
May 28, 2019

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning

Tagged
art, Featured, Neural networks}

AI as the Artful Dodger

_{Watch what happens when I train a neural network on portraits of 56 famous scientists, starting the process with a right eye} _{Robert J. Marks
May 28, 2019

5

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning}

New AI is much more sophisticated but the old and new AI share the property that the final result is nothing more than an interpolation of the training images used to train the AI.

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Robert J. Marks
Date
May 17, 2019

Categorized
Applied Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence, Creativity, Work

Tagged
Creativity, entrepreneurship, William Dembski}

What One Thing Do AI, Evolution, and Entrepreneurship All Need?

_{They all need an input of creativity to make things happen.} _{Robert J. Marks
May 17, 2019

4

Applied Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence, Creativity, Work}

Programs for AI and evolution share the limitation that nothing creative happens without the guidance of a programmer. And a thriving economy based on creative entrepreneurship is one of the things that cannot be automated.