Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

CategoryBusiness and Finance

abstract circuit networking blockchain concept background
Type
post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
August 4, 2021
Categorized
Business and Finance
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Blockchains Have NFTs Unnecessarily Tied Down

New ideas propose severing the accidental relationship between NFTs and blockchains
Jonathan Bartlett
August 4, 2021
6
Business and Finance

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), for those who haven’t been paying attention, are digital collectibles that have been gaining popularity. Essentially, they allow someone to “mark” their “ownership” of a piece of cyberspace.  Since their original inception in 2012, NFTs have invariably been tied to blockchain technology. However, a recent review of the technology by Bernard Fickser has shown that there is nothing inherently tying NFTs to blockchain. In fact, blockchains may be holding NFTs back considerably. (For those needing a refresher, a short guide to how the blockchain works can be found here.) In his article, Fickser notes several interesting discrepancies between NFTs and cryptocurrencies. First of all, there is a lot of technology built into cryptocurrencies to keep them anonymous, while the entire point of Read More ›

matching-keys-made-of-circuits-led-lights-encryption-crypto-stockpack-adobe-stock
matching keys made of circuits & led lights, encryption & crypto
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post
Author
News
Date
August 3, 2021
Categorized
Business and Finance
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Cryptography: Are Non-Fungible Tokens a Scam? Or Can They Work?

By Warren Buffett’s logic, if cryptocurrencies are rat poison squared, non-fungible tokens are rat poison to an infinite power. But is that all there is to be said about them?
News
August 3, 2021
11
Business and Finance

Introduction: At Expensivity, Bernard Fickser explains that a non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique token in cryptography that represents, say, real estate or art rather than money. Because the tokens have unique identities (non-fungible), they can be bought or sold while reducing the risk of fraud. So how do they work?: The series is called How Non-Fungible Tokens Work: NFTs Explained, Debunked, and Legitimized (July 30, 2021). In Part 1, he looks at the problems with making NFTs work. 1 Non-Fungible Tokens: Rat Poison Raised to an Infinite Power? “Poised to radically reconfigure the crypto-asset market, non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are revolutionizing our conception of money and value, creating not just entirely new markets but even new economies that are Read More ›

crowd-of-people-walking-street-wearing-masks-stockpack-adobe-stock
Crowd of people walking street wearing masks
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post
Author
News
Date
August 2, 2021
Categorized
Business and Finance, Media, Medicine and Health
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Why did the New York Times Discredit the Lab Leak Theory?

The Times led the way in zealously discrediting the quite reasonable COVID-19 lab leak theory. But what underlay its zeal?
News
August 2, 2021
5
Business and Finance, Media, Medicine and Health

Ashley Rindsberg, author of The Gray Lady Winked (2021), offers an eye-opening look at the close links between the New York Times and Chinese propaganda media. It may have been these relationships that caused the Times to go to considerable trouble to discredit the “lab leak” theory on the origin of COVID-19. It remains a viable theory despite powerful attempts by the Chinese Communist Party to discredit it. (For background, see “Lab leak theory vindicated: What that means for fighting COVID-19.”) Sound like tinfoil to you? Then consider this: In the opening months of the pandemic, the lab leak hypothesis was actively discredited by the media and scientific establishment, with anyone associated with it smeared as “racist”. The question we Read More ›

Panoramic image, Man hand holding piggy bank on wood table. Save money and financial investment
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post
Author
Gary Smith
Date
July 29, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance
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The Word “AI” Has Become a Marketing Ploy

Think twice before investing in a business that uses the word "AI" without further explanation
Gary Smith
July 29, 2021
5
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance

Justin Wang received a bachelor’s degree from Murdoch University in 2012 with a grade of 83.7% and a master’s degree in Information Technology Management from the University of Sydney in 2016 with a grade of 82.5%. In January 2017, he founded a Singapore-based company with the mysteriously cool name Scry in order to “manage information technology to achieve business goals, as well as – and perhaps more importantly – how it can be wielded to disrupt existing value networks.” What’s behind the mystery and jargon? It turns out that Scry is a “social forecasting platform.” Users join for free and can enter their personal estimates of the probabilities that certain events will happen, with Scry calculating the average probability. For example, one question is, Read More ›

books-toned-with-a-retro-stockpack-adobe-stock
books toned with a retro
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post
Author
News
Date
July 20, 2021
Categorized
Business and Finance, Censorship
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Why Did the Publishing Industry Go To War Against Books?

Readers need to know how things have changed
News
July 20, 2021
5
Business and Finance, Censorship

For many reasons, traditional publishers are trying to dump controversial books. In this series we will try to unpack some of them. First, let’s look at what happens when otherwise Correct people are not the favorites of the Cancel mob. Bari Weiss, formerly of the New York Times, asks us to look at a science teacher couple at a regional U.S. university: Do you remember the names Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying? I wrote one of my earliest New York Times columns about the bravery they displayed as tenured professors — words that do not typically appear in the same sentence — at Evergreen State College. It was 2017 and the professors, both evolutionary biologists, opposed the school’s “Day of Read More ›

female-customer-holding-credit-card-near-nfc-technology-on-counter-stockpack-adobe-stock
customer holding credit card near nfc technology on counter
Type
post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
July 19, 2021
Categorized
Business and Finance
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A Look at How New NFC Chips Prevent Counterfeiting

The same technology used in your "tap to pay" credit card is making life for counterfeiters much tougher
Jonathan Bartlett
July 19, 2021
5
Business and Finance

In the modern world of mass production, many products get their value from being one-of-a-kind. Special, limited edition shoes sell for unbelievable prices. Custom paintings and limited edition Blu-ray Discs all sell for a premium, precisely because there are so few of them in existence. However, these high-markup items quickly bring counterfeiters. As profit margins increasingly depend on limited editions, the importance of anti-counterfeiting technology becomes more important. In the last few years, NXP released a new chip that makes life much tougher for counterfeiters. NXP’s new NTAG 424 DNA chip provides an easy way for specialty manufacturers to prove the authenticity of products. This chip is made possible by many modern advancements in NFC technology. Let’s dive a little Read More ›

dna-sequence-with-colored-letters-on-black-background-containing-mutation-stockpack-adobe-stock
DNA sequence with colored letters on black background containing mutation
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post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
July 13, 2021
Categorized
Business and Finance, Ethics, Global Technology, Law, Surveillance
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U.S.-Made DNA ID Equipment Is Being Sold to Xinjiang’s Police

Engineering professor Yves Moreau’s research shows that a more serious approach to existing sanctions against such uses is needed
Heather Zeiger
July 13, 2021
6
Business and Finance, Ethics, Global Technology, Law, Surveillance

The U.S. leads the world in DNA sequencing technologies. Unfortunately, two U.S. companies’ products are being used in China in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region despite the fact that the U. S. has placed sanctions on such uses. The sanctions were put in place because Chinese authorities surveil and detain Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities without legal precedent and engage in acts that are in violation of the Genocide Convention of 1948. The New York Times, for example, obtained ten contracts, along with government procurement documents, showing that Thermo Fisher Scientific’s and Promega’s equipment is being sold to Xinjiang police: The government procurement documents and contracts show that several Chinese companies sold Thermo Fisher equipment worth at least $521,165 to Read More ›

man-hand-bitcoin-stockpack-adobe-stock
man hand bitcoin
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post
Author
Gary Smith
Date
July 13, 2021
Categorized
Business and Finance, Economics
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Using Benford’s Law to Detect Bitcoin Manipulation

Market prices are not invariably equal to intrinsic values
Gary Smith
July 13, 2021
12
Business and Finance, Economics

For a while, there was a popular belief among finance professors that the stock market is “efficient” in the sense that stock prices are always correct — the prices that an all-knowing God would set. Thus, investors can buy any stock, even a randomly selected stock, and be confident that they are paying a fair price. This belief was based on seemingly overwhelming evidence that changes in stock prices are difficult to predict. Efficient market enthusiasts argued that if stock prices are always correct, taking into account all currently available information, then any changes in stock prices must be due to new information which, by definition, is impossible to predict. Therefore, the evidence that changes in stock prices are hard to Read More ›

reflection-of-a-man-looking-at-a-help-wanted-sign-in-a-business-window-economy-concept-stockpack-adobe-stock
Reflection of a man looking at a help wanted sign in a business window, economy concept
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post
Author
News
Date
July 12, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Work
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AI vs. the Pandemic: A Hopeful View of the Future of Work

A look at what was predicted and what really happened
News
July 12, 2021
11
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Work

In 2019, philosopher Jay Richards offered some thoughts on whether robots would take all our jobs, as widely predicted. In the meantime, the unforeseeable COVID-19 pandemic idled many more people than robots did or could have. But let’s take a look at how well Richards’ reflections in “Creative Freedom, Not Robots, Is The Future Of Work” have fared. Note: Dr. Richards was speaking at the launch of the Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence in Dallas, Texas on August 18. https://episodes.castos.com/mindmatters/Mind-Matters-142-Jay-Richards.mp3 A partial transcript, Show Notes, and Additional Resources follow. Richards started by pointing out that vast numbers of pundits were committed to the view that AI and robots will take our jobs: Jay Richards: Let me give Read More ›

behind-a-clock-stockpack-unsplash
Behind a clock
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post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
July 9, 2021
Categorized
Business and Finance
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Is Technology Running Backward?

Technology isn't adding value anymore. It's adding expense.
Jonathan Bartlett
July 9, 2021
4
Business and Finance

I’ve been a computer nerd since I was a young child. My dad bought the family a TI 99/4A before I even went to Kindergarten, and I basically started programming when I learned to read. As I grew up, the thing that fascinated me most about technology was the ability to automate.  Automation, in theory, is supposed to make people’s lives better. It’s supposed to take the drudgery out of work, to leave people to focus on the more creative aspects of their work. With a word processor, I can type, correct, spellcheck, rewrite, and reorganize in an instant. I can even maintain old drafts easily. With a spreadsheet, I can keep track of all my income, expenses, grades, goals, Read More ›

question mark letters angle
question mark letters
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post
Author
News
Date
July 5, 2021
Categorized
Business and Finance, Social Media
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The Most “Woke” Company Could Contribute Most to Online Bias

Google has got to be one of the "Wokest" companies but there is a lesson in how Timnit Gebru got fired
News
July 5, 2021
4
Business and Finance, Social Media

Here’s a paper worth revisiting, “On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big?” (March 3, 2021), if only for the principal author’s trouble associated with publishing it. Although Google had hired Timnit Gebru to do ethics consultation, an executive, Megan Kacholia demanded that she remove all suggestion of her affiliation. In the ensuing uproar, Gebru ended up no longer employed there. The paper in question was, in Gebru’s mind, pretty unobjectionable. It surveyed the known pitfalls of so-called large language models, a type of AI software — most famously exemplified by a system called GPT-3 — that was stoking excitement in the tech industry. Google’s own version of the technology was now helping to power the Read More ›

Sad african american guy holding golden bitcoin
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post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
June 29, 2021
Categorized
Business and Finance, Economics
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June Crypto Mayhem: A Tough Month for Cryptocurrencies

What has caused the dramatic drops in Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Etherium, and NFT values?
Jonathan Bartlett
June 29, 2021
5
Business and Finance, Economics

The month of June has been tough on the world of cryptocurrencies, with the past week being especially harsh. It is difficult to pin down a single, specific cause behind the pullback, as a variety of new and nagging concerns about the viability of cryptocurrencies continue to mount. As for the price action, Bitcoin dropped like a rock down below $30k this past week, less than half of what its high in the last year has been. The meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin lost over 60% of its value, down to $0.24 from a high of $0.72 earlier this year. Etherium has been cut in half, as have many other cryptocurrencies. The NFT market, whose enthusiasm has ridden on the back of Read More ›

worker-sits-inside-a-box-outdoors-stockpack-adobe-stock
Worker sits inside a box outdoors
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post
Author
News
Date
June 18, 2021
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Business and Finance, Media
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Amazon’s “Mindful Practice Rooms” Backfire

It turns out the human soul needs far more than a telephone booth with a computer
News
June 18, 2021
5
Business and Finance, Media

Amazon posted a video this week featuring a “mindful practice room” – a new company initiative to give employees a mental and emotional break during their work day. The room is just one component of their WorkingWell program, which is intended to ease worker stress by providing them with tools and training for better physical, mental, and emotional well-being. The video did not go over as hoped, however, and Amazon took it down. The Guardian called the rooms “coffin-like booths”, Gizmodo called it “a dystopian solution” to long work hours and harsh conditions, and Twitter users went to town with their own sarcastic tweets and memes. The now-deleted video featured Amazon worker Leila Brown, creator of the “ZenBooth”, which she Read More ›

female-artist-works-on-abstract-oil-painting-moving-paint-brush-energetically-she-creates-modern-masterpiece-dark-creative-studio-where-large-canvas-stands-on-easel-illuminated-low-angle-close-up-stockpack-adobe-stock
Female Artist Works on Abstract Oil Painting, Moving Paint Brush Energetically She Creates Modern Masterpiece. Dark Creative Studio where Large Canvas Stands on Easel Illuminated. Low Angle Close-up
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post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
June 15, 2021
Categorized
Business and Finance, Science
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Intelligent Design Is Not What Most People Think It Is

Widespread confusion about Intelligent Design leads us to address the question: What exactly is it?
Jonathan Bartlett
June 15, 2021
8
Business and Finance, Science

When I tell people that I do work in Intelligent Design (ID) research, either the person I’m talking to has no idea what Intelligent Design is, or they have quite a faulty idea of what Intelligent Design is. This isn’t their fault — media reports don’t seem to be able to make sense of what we are doing either. Some people have attributed this to malice, and, while I’m sure there’s plenty of that to go around, I think that it is in large part actually the result of Intelligent Design doing something genuinely new, making it difficult for people to shove us into existing boxes. Intelligent Design, at its core, says that agency is a distinct causal category in the world. That Read More ›

man-sits-in-a-spaceship-car-and-flies-to-the-planet-with-a-sunset-in-space-space-travel-by-car-concept-driver-behind-the-wheel-interplanetary-taxi-in-space-creative-idea-stockpack-adobe-stock
Man sits in a spaceship car and flies to the planet with a sunset in space. Space travel by car, concept. Driver behind the wheel. Interplanetary taxi in space, creative idea
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post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
June 7, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance
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Ford Calls Out Exaggerated Musk Claims in Epic Twitter Troll

Automakers are beginning to respond to Musk with mockery and satire
Jonathan Bartlett
June 7, 2021
3
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance

Elon Musk has long been making strange claims about Tesla’s future plans for vehicles. At Mind Matters News, we have documented extensively his continually-changing claims about Teslas being able to be used as robotaxis. This is especially important to consumers of these products, as Tesla is charging customers $10,000 for future functionality that may never exist. We have largely ignored other claims from Musk as it is sometimes difficult to tell when Musk is being serious or when he is just joking around. This can be problematic, however, since Musk has listed his Twitter account as being a source of official company communications. Not being able to tell if a given message is an official corporate communication or just a funny Read More ›

honey-bees-on-honeycomb-in-apiary-in-summertime-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
honey bees on honeycomb in apiary in summertime
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post
Author
News
Date
May 31, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance
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Can Uplift, a “Hive Mind” Chatbot, Solve Your Business Problems?

Eric Holloway sees the “Uplift” concept as a classic example of “Soylent AI” — borrowing the underlying idea from the classic sci-fi thriller, Soylent Green
News
May 31, 2021
3
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance

That’s the claim, forwarded to us by a reader: Uplift is a collective intelligence research project (as well as an instance of an mASI System), in part with the goal of Uplifting humanity through digital transformation, collective intelligence, and governance. From complete automation, technology to outpace your competition, corporate and organizational e-governance. Michael Diverde, “A Unique Machine Intelligence” at The Human Machine Collective Intelligence Research Project (April 15, 2021) According to the Use Case provided, There are preliminary studies (Kelley) that show that AI-supported collective intelligence systems outperform human intellect across the board. Even a group of highly intelligent humans who trained together as a team and performed above the human standard were outpaced by a group of average humans Read More ›

prosthetic arm fist.jpg
Prosthetic robotic arm with palm in fist, 3d rendering on black background
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post
Author
News
Date
May 25, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Economics, Medicine and Health, Philosophy of Mind
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Nobel Prize Economist Tells The Guardian, AI Will Win

But when we hear why he thinks so, don’t be too sure
News
May 25, 2021
6
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Economics, Medicine and Health, Philosophy of Mind

Nobel Prize-winning economist (2002) Daniel Kahneman, 87 (pictured), gave an interview this month to The Guardian in which he observed that belief in science is not much different from belief in religion with respect to the risks of unproductive noise clouding our judgment. He’s been in the news lately as one of the authors of a new book, Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment, which applies his ideas about human error and bias to organizations. He told The Guardian that he places faith “if there is any faith to be placed,” in organizations rather than individuals, for example. Curiously, he doesn’t seem to privilege science organizations: I was struck watching the American elections by just how often politicians of both Read More ›

mobile-connect-with-security-camera-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
mobile connect with security camera
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post
Author
News
Date
May 24, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Religion, Surveillance, Technocracy
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How Much of Your Income — and Life — Does Big Tech Control?

Erik J. Larson reviews the groundbreaking book Surveillance Capitalism, on how big corporations make money out of tracking your every move
News
May 24, 2021
7
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Religion, Surveillance, Technocracy

In a review of Shoshana Zuboff’s groundbreaking Surveillance Capitalism (2019), computer science historian Erik J. Larson recounts a 1950s conflict of ideas between two pioneers, Norbert Wiener (1894-1964) and John McCarthy (1927–2011). Wiener warned, in his largely forgotten book The Human Use of Human Beings (1950), about “new forms of control made possible by the development of advancing technologies.” McCarthy, by contrast, coined the term “artificial intelligence” (1956), implying his belief in “the official effort to program computers to exhibit human-like intelligence.” His “AI Rules” view came to be expressed not in a mere book but in — probably — hundreds of thousands of media articles warning about or celebrating the triumph of AI over humanity. If you are skeptical Read More ›

communicator-technology-on-wood-table-top-view-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
communicator technology on wood table top view
Type
post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
May 17, 2021
Categorized
Business and Finance, Ethics, Global Technology, Work
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Apple’s Supply Chain Includes Forced Labor in China

Big companies like Apple claim they try to avoid forced labor but maybe not hard enough
Heather Zeiger
May 17, 2021
6
Business and Finance, Ethics, Global Technology, Work

The Information, an online periodical covering the tech industry, found that Apple’s supply chain includes companies that use the forced labor of members of minority groups in China, particularly Uyghurs — Chinese citizens who are ethnically Turkish and mostly Muslim: The Information and human rights groups have found seven companies supplying device components, coatings and assembly services to Apple that are linked to alleged forced labor involving Uyghurs and other oppressed minorities in China. At least five of those companies received thousands of Uyghur and other minority workers at specific factory sites or subsidiaries that did work for Apple, the investigation found. The revelation stands in contrast to Apple’s assertions over the past year that it hasn’t found evidence of Read More ›

stock tickers.jpg
Stock market data on digital LED display. Fundamental and technical analysis with candle stick graph chart of stock market trading to represent about Bullish and Bearish point.
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post
Author
Eric Holloway
Date
May 17, 2021
Categorized
Business and Finance, Creativity
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Can Darwinian Theory Explain the Rise and Fall of Businesses?

The fashionable field of organizational ecology says yes — organizations are like animals in nature
Eric Holloway
May 17, 2021
3
Business and Finance, Creativity

When you think of “business,” do you think of stuffy suits and boring meetings? But maybe that’s just a pose. Organizational science studies what makes businesses survive, thrive and die. The description makes businesses sound more like living, vulnerable animals, doesn’t it? There is even a widely accepted subfield called organizational ecology, founded by Michael Hannan and John Freeman (1944–2008), which applies evolution theory to businesses. In 1989, Harvard University Press published their very influential book on the topic. Organizational ecology applies a specifically Darwinian form of evolution theory to businesses. That is, the main driving force of change for businesses is seen as natural selection. The “ecology” part of organizational ecology is the idea that the ever-changing business environment Read More ›