Robert J. Marks

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post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
December 20, 2020

Categorized
Events

Tagged
Featured, For as Greater Purpose (book), Robert J. Marks, Walter Bradley, Walter Bradley Center, William Dembski}

We’re the Walter Bradley Center. But Who Is Walter Bradley?

_{A new biography, For a Greater Purpose, discusses Bradley’s life and legacy} _{Robert J. Marks

December 20, 2020

2

Events}

Mind Matters News is published by the Walter Bradley Center for Natural & Artificial Intelligence. And a natural question is, who is this guy, Walter Bradley? Find out in a new biography authored by design theorist William Dembski and myself, For a Greater Purpose. The Foreword is written by the extraordinary philosopher J. P. Moreland. From the book, here’s what others are saying about Walter Bradley: ● “Walter Bradley is one of the most extraordinary men I have ever known. I am in awe of him.” —William Lane Craig, PhD, DTh, ReasonableFaith.org ● “One of the great blessings God has granted me in my life is the opportunity to have co-ministered with [Walter Bradley] among faculty and students on university Read More ›

Black diagonal chain, a blockchain concept, double

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post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
November 27, 2020

Categorized
Data Privacy, Programming

Tagged
bitcoin, Blockchain, Featured, Fraud, Rudy Giuliani, VOATZ, Voting}

Can Blockchain Help Ensure Fraud Free Voting?

_{Could blockchain have prevented the current controversy around voter fraud in the recent U.S. election?} _{Robert J. Marks

November 27, 2020

3

Data Privacy, Programming}

In Wednesday’s meeting between Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Republican senators from the Pennsylvania legislature about potential voter fraud in the state, one state senator suggested blockchain as a potential cure for the type of voter fraud being alleged. A company called VOATZ has the technology to do this and was mentioned by name. Blockchain is the secret sauce that keeps bitcoin working. Each new bitcoin transaction is encrypted as a new link in the chain, which is distributed to numerous sites. If anyone tries to change a link in the blockchain, everyone who stores the bitcoin blockchain knows it, so the fraud is detected and removed. The beauty of blockchain is that trust is assured among people who Read More ›

Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh on outline map

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post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
October 15, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Military

Tagged
AI weapons, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Drone swarms, Featured, Israel, Military drones, The Case for Killer Robots}

The First War Using Modern AI-Based Weapons Is Here

_{Most introductions of new technology in warfare will ultimately be canceled by counter-technology. But in the meantime…} _{Robert J. Marks

October 15, 2020

3

Artificial Intelligence, Military}

AI weapons are being used in the border war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. And the results are not pretty: Israel may halt commercial weapon sales to Azerbaijan, Armenian Ambassador to Israel Armen Smbatyan told The Jerusalem Post, as fighting intensified for the ninth day between the two countries… Last week, Armenia recalled Smbatyan for consultations to protest the sale of Israeli made weapons, including drones, to Azerbaijan, which have been used against its forces. Tovah Lazaroff, “Israel may halt its weapons sale to Azerbaijan, Armenian ambassador says” at The Jerusalem Post (October 6, 2020) The most chilling—readily achievable—AI weaponry is a swarm of armed drones. Drones are inexpensive and easily deployed, and if only a few drones make it through Read More ›

Stethoscope on an old book of medicine, conceptual image

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post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
October 13, 2020

Categorized
Science

Tagged
Bronx Zoo, Consensus science, Correlation vs causation, Eugenics, Featured, George Washington, Junk DNA, Lysenkoism, Margaret Sanger, Michael Crichton, Politics, Racism, Settled science, Spurious Correlations (website), Trofim Lysenko, Vestigial organs}

Should We Really “Listen to Science”? What Should We Listen For?

_{Politicians who insist that their beliefs represent science might be surprised by the checkered history of that view} _{Robert J. Marks

October 13, 2020

7

Science}

This political season, politicians are telling us to “listen to science.” But buyer beware. The politicization of science is a long and sad history of so-called “scientific truths” that were not only mistaken but resulted in tragedy. Those who know a bit of this history should be wary of politicians’ table-pounding claims on topics ranging from climate change to COVID. In a 2003 lecture at Caltech, Michael Crichton, MD (pictured in 2002, courtesy Jon Chase CC BY-SA 3.0), author of great science fiction including Jurassic Park, noted, “science has in some instances been seduced by the more ancient lures of politics and publicity.” For example, racism was “settled science” in the early 20th century. So was eugenics, the so-called science Read More ›

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post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
October 5, 2020

Categorized
Mathematics, Natural Intelligence

Tagged
Bird intelligence, Featured, Ivan Pavlov, Marilyn vos Savant, Monty Hall, Monty Hall Problem, Monty Hall Problem analysis, Paul Erdős, Pigeons}

Pigeons Can Solve the Monty Hall Problem. But Can You?

_{The dilemma pits human folk intuition against actual probability theory, with surprising results} _{Robert J. Marks

October 5, 2020

6

Mathematics, Natural Intelligence}

Animals often outperform humans. My son’s dog is more friendly than I could ever be. Cheetahs run faster, baby horses walk earlier, and elephants can lift more. Birds fly and humans can’t. Is there anything else birds can do better than humans? Yes. Apparently, pigeons learn to solve the Monty Hall problem more quickly. Let’s Make a Deal was a television game show first hosted by Monty Hall (1921–2017) in 1963. There have been various remakes since then. The basic idea is that there are three doors and a contestant’s job is to barter with Monty for the most valuable prize behind the doors. The Monty Hall problem, loosely based on the quiz show, was popularized by Marilyn vos Savant Read More ›

Curious boy looking out the window with binocular

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post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
September 23, 2020

Categorized
Business and Finance, Programming

Tagged
Apple (company), Bill Gates, Bill Gates Sr., Bing, Excel, Featured, Internet Explorer, Microsoft, Microsoft Word, MS-DOS, Netscape, PowerPoint, WordPerfect, X-Box}

Has Microsoft Ever Really Innovated?

_{That’s a question worth asking, with a history of litigation winning out over innovation} _{Robert J. Marks

September 23, 2020

6

Business and Finance, Programming}

An interesting question in a 2010 discussion thread at Quora is “Why has Microsoft seemingly stopped innovating?” A deeper question is “Has Microsoft ever innovated?” Microsoft’s Bill Gates should be celebrated as a gifted and highly competitive entrepreneur and businessman. But his background as a computer scientist and student of algorithmic information theory is questionable. For this reason, Bill Gates’ assessment of the future of AI should be questioned. Undergraduate Gates dropped out of Harvard University to pursue the founding of Microsoft. He was a knowledgeable programmer with early computer hardware but his more significant talents as an entrepreneur did not require deep studies in computer science. Much of his success came from his business instincts and his team of Read More ›

Ethics Integrity Fairness Ideals Behavior Values Concept

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post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
September 15, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Ethics

Tagged
Autonomous weapons, bias, Design ethics, End-user ethics, Featured, HARPY missile, IEEE Code of Ethics, self-driving cars, The Case for Killer Robots}

AI: Design Ethics vs. End User Ethics — the Difference Is Important

_{Robert J. Marks

September 15, 2020

5

Artificial Intelligence, Ethics}

The major ethical challenge in AI design is unintended consequences. It’s up to end users to debate which consequences SHOULD be intended. Read More ›

Dozens of Drones Swarm in the Cloudy Sky.

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post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
September 11, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Military

Tagged
Angel Has Fallen (film), autonomous AI drones, Drone swarms, Featured, Helicopters, Paul Scharre, Slaughterbots (film), US Army}

Meet the U.S. Army’s New Drone Swarms

_{As with insects, only a few drones need survive to accomplish their task} _{Robert J. Marks

September 11, 2020

4

Artificial Intelligence, Military}

The US Army is developing a “swarm” of autonomous AI drones to protect combat helicopters. The swarm is modeled after social swarming insects like bees and ants who protect their queen. A drone nest protects the queen helicopter at all costs. The protective swarm’s tasks will range from sophisticated electronic warfare to acting as false targets (decoys) for incoming missiles. They will carry out theses tasks autonomously: Goals and tasks must be assigned by a person, but the way of their implementation, reaching the target or navigation and flight control is to be “in the hands of” advanced software and artificial intelligence. TOC, “The US Army is developing a ‘pocket’ swarm of combat drones” at BulgarianMilitary.com Here’s what a small Read More ›

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post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
September 7, 2020

Categorized
Education, Ethics

Tagged
Academic dishonesty, Cell phone, Cheating (on exams), Chegg, COVID-19, Featured, Virtual exams}

What’s To Be Done About Cheating with Chegg in the COVID era?

_{College-level solutions to specific problems can be texted, for a fee, to students writing exams} _{Robert J. Marks

September 7, 2020

3

Education, Ethics}

Academic dishonesty is a fancy term for cheating. With profit-motivated websites like Chegg.com, cheating is now easier than ever. When taking an exam, take a photo of a problem that stumps you and send it to Chegg. In literally minutes, you’ll be sent the answer over your cell phone. How do they do it? Often they employ smart nerds from poor countries who, by local standards, are paid big bucks for their efforts.Chegg, which charges $14.95 per month for its service, does not see itself as a site for cheaters but as a resource to help with homework. It advertises: With over 21 million homework solutions, you can also search our library to find similar homework problems & solutions. Browsing Read More ›

UCAV(Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle) military drone

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post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
August 23, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Military

Tagged
AI vs pilot dogfight, Cavalry, Dan “Animal” Javorsek, DARPA, Featured, Pilots}

After Thursday’s Dogfight, It’s Clear: DARPA Gets AI Right

_{In the dogfight Thursday between AI and a pilot, AI won. But what does that mean?} _{Robert J. Marks

August 23, 2020

4

Artificial Intelligence, Military}

AI prevailed against a human in DARPA’s recent AlphaDogfight trials. Given that DeepMind’s AI achieved the level of grandmaster in the StarCraft II video game, AI beating a human in a simulated closed world contest is not impressive. What is impressive is AlphaDogfight’s role in DARPA’s overall plan for the development of AI in the military. DARPA, the United States’ Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, has been called the US military’s “Department of Mad Scientists.” Its mission is to prevent strategic military surprise by supplying fertile ground where new and revolutionary ideas can sprout and grow. DARPA founded the internet and gave us the GPS (Global Positioning Satellite system) that guides our Google map directions. Less well known is DARPA’s Read More ›

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post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
August 14, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Military

Tagged
aerial dogfight, DARPA, dogfight, Donald Knuth, F-16, Featured}

DARPA Has Scheduled AI vs. AI Aerial Dogfights for Next Week

_{A round robin tournament will select the AI that faces off against a human pilot Thursday} _{Robert J. Marks

August 14, 2020

4

Artificial Intelligence, Military}

Forbes reports a simulated aerial dogfight will be held next week and we can watch it live: “The action will kick off Tuesday with AI vs. AI dogfights, featuring eight teams that developed algorithms to control a simulated F-16, leading to a round robin tournament that will select one to face off against a human pilot Thursday between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. EDT. You can register to watch the action online. DARPA adds that a “multi-view format will afford viewers comprehensive perspectives of the dogfights in real-time and feature experts and guests from the Control Zone, akin to a TV sports commentary desk. “With remarks from officials including USAF Colonel Daniel “Animal” Javorsek, head of the ACE program, recaps of Read More ›

The Atomic Bomb Dome Panorama in Hiroshima and the surounding garden in autumn at sunset on the side of Motoyasu River in Japan, with the Peace Memorial Park

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post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
August 6, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Military

Tagged
Atomic bomb, Featured, George Santayana, Hiroshima, Hitler, Nagasaki, Philip Jenkins, The Case for Killer Robots, Vladimir Putin, Xinjiang}

Stark Lessons from the 75th Anniversary of the Atomic Bomb

_{Nuclear weapons have not been used to destroy a city since Hiroshima and Nagasaki} _{Robert J. Marks

August 6, 2020

5

Artificial Intelligence, Military}

Seventy-five years ago today an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Einstein’s equation E=mc2 showed that 700 milligrams of mass (m), less than a third of the weight of a US dime, could be converted to enough energy (E) to destroy a Japanese city. The atomic bomb ended WWII. Advanced technology such as the atomic bomb not only wins wars but gives pause to otherwise aggressive adversaries. For this reason, I argue in my book, The Case for Killer Robots,that the United States must continue to develop cutting edge lethal AI for military use. As described in John Hersey’s essay “Hiroshima” in the New Yorker (1946), the effects of the atomic bomb were horrifying for the civilian population. Human beings Read More ›

Composite image of digital illustration of pixelated 3d woman

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post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
June 16, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Information Theory

Tagged
Data processing inequality, Featured, Image restoration, Pixelation}

At the Movies: Can AI Restore Blurred Images?

_{Working with pixels, we can do remarkable things—as long as we are not asking for magic} _{Robert J. Marks

June 16, 2020

5

Artificial Intelligence, Information Theory}

It’s an exciting scene in crime investigation movies. A critical image, like the one on the left below, is blurred by pixelization. The detective commands the technician, “Sharpen it!” and the technician pushes a key on a computer keyboard. The key activates an algorithm and, magically, the deblurred image on the right appears. That can’t be done in real life. An image cannot be sharpened using only the information in the image itself. This is proven by a mathy theorem called the data processing inequality. 1 The mutual information between an image and a corrupted blurred image cannot be increased by further processing. Period. That’s why the title of a recent news article from Duke University is misleading: “Artificial intelligence Read More ›

Stack of papers isolated on white background

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post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
June 9, 2020

Categorized
Military, Peer Review

Tagged
Albert Einstein, Frank Tipler, Hiroshima, Karl Popper, Marshall McLuhan, William Sealy Gosset}

Einstein’s Single Journal Paper Ended WWII

_{Does that mean that a thousand papers could multiply the effect? Think again.} _{Robert J. Marks

June 9, 2020

5

Military, Peer Review}

It was Albert Einstein’s work on matter and energy, captured in e = mc2 that enabled the atomic bomb that ended World War II. Modern anonymous peer review today works well except that it is muddied with bias, incompetence, and ignorance. The review processes of Einstein’s day were better. A renowned expert’s approval was sufficient for a paper’s publication.1 The current system has only been in force since the end of World War II when pressure was applied to professors to write papers. The mantra “publish or perish” looks to have been coined soon after the war in 1951 by Marshall “The Medium is the Message” McLuhan.2 Earlier, professors were often discouraged from publishing. Karl Popper, one of the most Read More ›

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post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
June 4, 2020

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Mathematics

Tagged
Big Bang Theory (sitcom), Cantor’s theory of the infinite, Featured, Max Tegmark, Multiverse}

Is Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Right re the Multiverse?

_{Sheldon Cooper insists that in no universe would he dance with Penny} _{Robert J. Marks

June 4, 2020

6

Arts & Culture, Mathematics}

A collection of universes is called a multiverse. If there are enough universes in a multiverse, can almost anything happen? No. Common models of the universe aren’t big enough. The argument that anything can happen in a multiverse is nicely presented in a 2011 scene in the sitcom The Big Bang Theory (2007–2019) involving consummate nerd Sheldon Cooper and Penny, the girl next door (here). Penny: Morning, Sheldon! Come dance with me! Sheldon: No. Penny: Why not? Sheldon: While I subscribe to the Many Worlds theory, which posits the existence of an infinite number of Sheldons in an infinite number of universes, I assure you that in none of them I am dancing. Penny: Are you fun in any of Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
May 30, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Tagged
Alan Turing, Computers, Determinism, DEVS, Featured, H. G. Rice, Pierre-Simon Laplace, Science fiction}

Hulu’s Devs Series: Where They Get Determinism Wrong

_{Devs disposes of a key limitation of computers that can supposedly predict the future with psychobabble} _{Robert J. Marks

May 30, 2020

5

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

Call me a nitpicker: As a computer engineer, I must say, computers cannot predict the future.

media reporter with microphone making journalist interview for news

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post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
May 25, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Science

Tagged
celebrity, Featured, Stephen Hawking}

Advice to Physicists: “Shut Up and Do Physics”

_{Well-known public intellectuals sometimes stray outside their silos of expertise, showing questionable judgment about, for example, AI} _{Robert J. Marks

May 25, 2020

4

Artificial Intelligence, Science}

Stephen Hawking was a genius in theoretical physics but he did not know much about computers and his fears of an AI takeover were unfounded.

Close-up view of 'one way' road sign with blurred building in the background. Manhattan, New York City, United States of America.

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post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
May 18, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Natural Intelligence

Tagged
Common sense, Flubbed Headline Challenge, headlines, Oren Etzioni, Paul Allen, Winograd Schema Challenge}

Flubbed Headlines: New Challenge For AI Common Sense

_{I propose a new challenge: Teach computers to correctly understand the headline “Students Cook and Serve Grandparents”} _{Robert J. Marks

May 18, 2020

4

Artificial Intelligence, Natural Intelligence}

Many high tech companies, including Microsoft, are headquartered near the coast in the state of Washington. The executives must have been terrified when they read the headline: “Tuna Biting Off Washington Coast” But wait. Tuna are not chomping on Seattle beaches. The headline, meant to convey good news for fishermen, can be read that way of course. We use common sense to identify the intended meaning and the incorrect interpretation makes us smile. But AI has trouble doing this because it lacks common sense. To solve the problem of AI’s lack of common sense, Microsoft’s co-founder Paul Allen (1953–2018) poured big bucks into Seattle’s Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence. “To make real progress in A.I., we have to overcome the Read More ›

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post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
May 14, 2020

Categorized
Peer Review

Tagged
Albert Einstein, Featured, Frank Tipler, Max Planck, Peer Review, Physics, Scholarly Publishing, Wilhelm Wiens}

Einstein’s Only Rejected Paper

_{It was the only one reviewed anonymously, as is the practice today} _{Robert J. Marks

May 14, 2020

5

Peer Review}

Today’s collection of scholarly literature is exploding in quantity and deteriorating in quality. One solution is to return to review practices at the time of Einstein. The reviewers were much better qualified and were not anonymous.

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post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
May 8, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Creativity, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
___longform, Archimedes, Creativity, Featured, Flash of Genius, Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855), Hal Philipp, Jacques Hadamard, Lovelace test, Nicola Tesla (1856–1943), Roger Penrose, US Patent Law}

Should AI Hold Patents? The Flash-of-Genius Answer

_{To understand why AI cannot independently invent, let’s look at how famous inventors have actually done it} _{Robert J. Marks

May 8, 2020

9

Artificial Intelligence, Creativity, Philosophy of Mind}

Like Excel, AI assists programmers in their design work. AI can search through trillions of possibilities, using data from a million sources, to find a successful design. But the structure of the search and the source of the data is the choice of the programmer. A look at how famous inventors developed products that changed the world sheds some light on the process.