Author: Richard W. Stevens | Page 4

Motorsport racing track and car slammed brakes sign

^{Type
post

Richard W. Stevens
Date
April 28, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Law

Tagged
Autonomous Vehicles, driverless cars, Elon Musk, NHTSA, self-driving cars, Tesla}

Artificial Intelligence Slams on the Brakes

_{The problem of autonomous cars suddenly slamming the brakes is becoming well known and it has no known fix} _{Richard W. Stevens
April 28, 2021

9

Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Law}

Having just donated your well-worn 1994 Toyota Camry to charity, you’re driving a brand new 2020 Honda sedan on a major street, enjoying air-conditioned comfort on a sunny day, with the satellite radio service narrowcasting tunes from the soundtrack of your life. Then, WHAM! In a half second, the car slows from 45 to 20 — and you never touched the brake pedal. You never saw it coming but your neck is still reminding you painfully of your whiplash injury. A close family member experienced this exact scenario just a month ago. She never touched the brake pedal. What happened? The dealership’s sales representative had not explained each and every feature of this postmodern car and certainly didn’t warn about Read More ›

Program development concept. Young man working with computer

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post

Richard W. Stevens
Date
March 1, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Programming, Science

Tagged
Stephen C. Meyer}

Why Software Cannot Just Evolve — a Demonstration

_{The claims for Avida — a software program that is supposed to “evolve” solutions via neo-Darwinian evolution — fail the most basic test} _{Richard W. Stevens
March 1, 2021

10

Artificial Intelligence, Programming, Science}

A Michigan State University publication headlined a media release declaring: “Evolution of learning is key to better artificial intelligence” (September 19, 2019). Reportedly, researchers used the computer simulation software, Avida, to show the “evolution of learning.” On that view, artificial intelligence arises via neo-Darwinian evolution. Really? The “Sound Bites” Were Exciting… The university’s team “composed of biologists and computer scientists used a digital evolution program that allowed them to observe tens of thousands of generations of evolution in just a few hours, a feat unachievable with living systems.” According to the release: • “The results are the first demonstration that shows the evolution of associative learning in an artificial organism without a brain.” • “While the environment was simulated, the Read More ›

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post

Richard W. Stevens
Date
February 15, 2021

Categorized
Mathematics, Science

Tagged
Birds, Dinosaurs, Featured, Muscle memory, Neo-Darwinism}

Random Evolution Doesn’t Produce Algorithmic Functions in Animals

_{A bird does not fly just because it has wings; it needs a “flight” program in its brain. Explanations of the evolution of flight do not account for that.} _{Richard W. Stevens
February 15, 2021

7

Mathematics, Science}

In a recent article “Evolution and artificial intelligence face the same basic problem,” Eric Holloway addressed the conundrum faced by artificial intelligence theorists: How can “a random process with no insight into the environment… increase information about that environment within evolving DNA sequences and/or artificial intelligence programs. By what mechanism can randomness ‘know’ anything?” Dr. Holloway’s challenge goes to the heart of the problem with the materialist worldview regarding origins, evolution, and ultimately intelligence. Software vs. hardware in your body Imagine you knew absolutely nothing about roller skates. Then you awoke this morning to find your ankles and feet permanently installed into roller skates. Instantly, everything you understood about walking and running is worthless. Getting onto your feet at all Read More ›

Futuristic design of an elevator cabin with mirrors with neon illumination and metal panels. Modern elevator design. Reflection to infinity.

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post

Richard W. Stevens
Date
January 24, 2021

Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Daniel Dennett, Infinity mirror experiment, Marvin Minsky, Materialism}

The Infinity Mirror Trap: Part 2: The Thought Determinism Paradox

_{The infinity mirror experience shows that thought determinism cannot explain all human thoughts} _{Richard W. Stevens
January 24, 2021

8

Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind}

In Part 1 of this series, we saw how the belief that “every human thought is an illusion” proves empty and powerless when trying to account for the infinity mirror experience. Part 2 here puts another view held widely by science-trained people, materialism, to the same mirror test. Materialism is the view that everything we observe results from the interplay of matter and energy. Under materialism, each human’s every thought is produced by electrochemical events in the brain. As Marvin Minsky, an artificial intelligence pioneer, wrote in Society of Mind (1988), “Everything, including that which happens in our brains, depends on these and only on these: A set of fixed, deterministic laws and a purely random set of accidents.” Philosopher Read More ›

^{Type
post

Richard W. Stevens
Date
January 19, 2021

Categorized
Philosophy of Mind, Science

Tagged
Featured, Infinity mirror experiment}

Why the Idea That the Human Mind Is an Illusion Doesn’t Work

_{There is a simple way to test whether our thoughts are all illusions} _{Richard W. Stevens
January 19, 2021

6

Philosophy of Mind, Science}

Sitting in a room with me are some smart people listening to a podcast of neuroscientist Sam Harris. They nod solemnly as Harris tells them that their thoughts are all illusions. No one has free will either, Harris says, both on the podcast and in his 2012 book, Free Will. Sir Francis Crick (1916–2004) said much the same in his 1994 work, The Astonishing Hypothesis. Harris and Crick are science-trained and Crick is a Nobelist. But popular culture influencers think the same way. The widely-read manga graphic novel artist, Masashi Kishimoto, has a character say in his 2009 work, Naruto, Every single one of us goes through life depending on and bound by our individual knowledge and awareness. And we Read More ›