CategoryArtificial Intelligence
The Idol with Feet of Silicon
Religions based on artificial intelligence (AI) cannot transcend the limits of computersThose proclaiming that exclusive truth lives totally in naturalism are constrained to a sadly narrow view of the world. Some naturalists have put their faith in AI and have founded the AI Church. They may think they are doing something new and cutting edge, but as Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, there is nothing new under the sun (1:9).
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Tales of an Invented God
The most important characteristic of an AI cult is that its gods (Godbots?) will be created by the AI developers and not the other way aroundA book on the new pop science religion might well be titled “Tales of the Invented God.” Its author would likely be challenged to keep up with all the non-events breathlessly documented. After all, the technocrats who invent their future gods can change, re-envision, replace, upgrade, eliminate them at any time.
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AI as an Emergent Religion
Science philosopher Mike Keas’s new book discusses how AI and ET are merging, to create a religion of futurist magicMany Singulatarians hold that their soon-to-be-realized technology will be indistinguishable by the rest of us from magic. Are they serious? Well, in 2005, Kurzweil said that the magical Harry Potter stories “are not unreasonable visions of our world as it will exist only a few decades from now.” when, due to AI, “the entire universe will become saturated with our intelligence.” Keas warns that this type of thing encourages people “to expect the experiential equivalent of occult phenomena.”
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Artificial Intelligence Is Actually Superficial Intelligence
The confusing ways the word “intelligence” is used belie the differences between human intelligence and machine sophisticationWords often have more meaning than we hear at first. Consider colors. We associate green with verdant, healthy life and red with prohibition and danger. But these inferences are not embedded in the basic meaning of “red” or “green.” They are cultural accretions we attach to words that enable the richness of language. That, by the way, is one reason why legal documents and technical papers are so difficult to read. The terms used are stripped clean of such baggage, requiring additional words to fill the gaps. The word “intelligent” is like that. Saying that a computer, or a program, is intelligent can lead us down a rabbit hole of extra meaning. An honest researcher merely means the computer has Read More ›
STEM EDUCATION 1. Pursuing Nerd Quality Over Nerd Quantity
Reducing math and science to practice is what engineers do. Scientists didn’t put a man on the moon. Engineers did.
Consciousness Studies Is a “Bizarre” Field of Science
The question of whether machines can be conscious is bound up with attempts to study immaterial things while denying their existence
Will artificial intelligence design artificial super-intelligence?
And then turn us all into super-geniuses, as some AI researchers hope? No, and here's why not
1: IBM’s Watson Is NOT Our New Computer Overlord
AI help, not hype: It won at Jeopardy (with specially chosen “softball” questions) but is not the hoped-for aid to cancer specialists
Can Big Data Beat the Humans Who Compile It?
A computer pioneer bets no: Human intelligence augmented by artificial intelligence will always beat artificial intelligence alone. Is he right?
4: Making AI Look More Human Makes It More Human-like!
AI help, not hype, with Robert J. Marks: Technicians can do a lot these days with automated lip-syncs and smiles but what’s behind them?
5: AI Can Fight Hate Speech!
AI can carry out its programmers’ biases and that’s all
6: AI Can Even Exploit Loopholes in the Code!
AI adopts a solution in an allowed set, maybe not the one you expected
7: Computers can develop creative solutions on their own!
AI help, not hype, with Robert J. Marks: Programmers may be surprised by which solution, from a range they built in, comes out on top
8: AI Just Needs a Bigger Truck!
AI help, not hype, with Robert J. Marks: Can we create superintelligent computers just by adding more computing power?
10. Is AI Really Becoming “Human-like”?
AI help, not hype: Here’s #10 of our Top Ten AI hypes, flops, and spins of 2018A headline from the UK Telegraph reads “DeepMind's AlphaZero now showing human-like intuition in historical 'turning point' for AI” Don't worry if you missed it.
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The Human Mind from a Computer Science Perspective
The Blyth Institute’s new journal will offer a focus on artificial intelligence and philosophy as well as philosophical questions in mathematics and engineering
Stephen Hawking and the AI Apocalypse
Can doomsday headlines, chasing fame, stand in for deep knowledge of a subject?
Robert J. Marks Talks Computers with Michael Medved
Computers can magnify what we do, he says, and that's the real threat