Mind Matters News and Analysis on Natural and Artificial Intelligence

CategoryMachine Learning

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Mind Matters
Date
October 8, 2018
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Machine Learning, Social Factors
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Google boss quits, writes satirical novel

The novel is said to be so far-fetched that it captures the environment
Mind Matters
October 8, 2018
Recently, we’ve looked at a number of complaints about the way Silicon Valley is acquiring too much power over people’s lives, at home and abroad, and reaching deep into the compulsory school system as well. A former employee decided to respond creatively. Read More ›
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Author
Mind Matters
Date
October 5, 2018
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Machine Learning, Social Factors
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Remember those awful Seventies TV ads?

The new “attention economy” killed that kind of advertising. But what now?
Mind Matters
October 5, 2018
One way of describing the change is that we now live in an attention economy rather than a captive time economy, so far as advertising is concerned. Read More ›
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Author
Mind Matters
Date
October 5, 2018
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Machine Learning, Social Factors
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People-friendly robots company shuts down

The “cobots,” robots that can work with people, got the pink slip—for now
Mind Matters
October 5, 2018
Robotics is a business like any other. The individual good idea requires a business plan that can survive savage years in the wilderness before the buyout. That said, we certainly haven’t heard the last of the cobot, which may be one of the ideas that make robotics practical for everyday business. Read More ›
Portraits of people thinking
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post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
October 4, 2018
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Machine Learning, Social Factors
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Who built AI? You did, mostly

Along with millions of others, you are providing free training data
Jonathan Bartlett
October 4, 2018
For AI to work you need data. The most innovative players in the AI space have learned how to get users to willingly and gladly provide them with data for free. Read More ›
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post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 2, 2018
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning
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Deep Learning won’t solve AI

AlphaGo pioneer: We need “another dozen or half-a-dozen breakthroughs”
Denyse O'Leary
October 2, 2018
Hassabis: "AlphaGo doesn't understand language but we would like them to build up to this symbolic level of reasoning — maths, language, and logic. Read More ›
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post
Author
Mind Matters
Date
October 1, 2018
Categorized
Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors
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Are sex robots a cure for loneliness?

Maybe, in a culture where people see themselves as machines
Mind Matters
October 1, 2018
Nancy Pearcey, who is the author of Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions about Life and Sexuality, reminds us that the most popular metaphor for the universe today is a vast machine. Read More ›
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Mind Matters
Date
September 30, 2018
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Machine Learning, Social Factors
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George Gilder talks tech at World News Daily

In a three-part interview the tech philosopher explains why he thinks Google is doomed
Mind Matters
September 30, 2018
“The Google dream is a supermind in the sky that knows everything,” Gilder told WND. “My dream is to distribute information as human minds are distributed.” Read More ›
MRI Image Of Head Showing Brain
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post
Author
Michael Egnor
Date
September 26, 2018
Categorized
Machine Learning, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind
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Do either machines—or brains—really learn?

A further response to Jeffrey Shallit: Actually, brains don’t learn either. Only minds learn.
Michael Egnor
September 26, 2018
Learning is an ability of human beings, considered as a whole, to acquire new knowledge, not an ability of human organs considered individually. Read More ›
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Author
Mind Matters
Date
September 24, 2018
Categorized
Machine Learning, Natural Intelligence, Social Factors
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The Hills Go High Tech

An American community finding its way in the new digital economy
Mind Matters
September 24, 2018
At present, says Hochschild, Ankur Gopal and Interapt are sourcing as many new hillbillies as they can find: “For now, there is so much demand for I.T. workers — 10,000 estimated openings by 2020 in the Louisville metro area alone — that Mr. Gopal is reaching out to new groups. Read More ›
CCTV camera or surveillance operating with crowded people in bac
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Author
Mind Matters
Date
September 23, 2018
Categorized
Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors
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Digital dictatorship?

China’s “social credit” system coming under scrutiny
Mind Matters
September 23, 2018
It is not clear that most Chinese people understand the implications yet but many in the industry do. As of September 16, over 1400 Google employees had signed a letter of protest against Google’s involvement in Chinese censorship.   Read More ›
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Author
Mind Matters
Date
September 18, 2018
Categorized
Machine Learning
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You Have Just Six Emotions

At least it would be easier for the machines if we did
Mind Matters
September 18, 2018
Efforts to enable machines to read our emotions are hitting a roadblock and, oddly enough, Charles Darwin, founder of popular evolution theory, plays a role in getting it wrong. Read More ›
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post
Author
Mind Matters
Date
September 17, 2018
Categorized
Machine Learning, Social Factors
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Is the future of jobs over?

Should people be paid to let machines do the work?
Mind Matters
September 17, 2018
Recently, there have been short-term limited experiments with a Universal Basic Income but it’s hard to evaluate a transformative social policy with such limited and cherry-picked data. And, says Richards, paying people not to work would simply slow their move into the job markets of the digital age. Read More ›
Text Terms and Conditions typed on retro typewriter
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post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 15, 2018
Categorized
Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors
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The true cost of “free” social media

It’s free but… are we? George Gilder points a way forward.
Denyse O'Leary
September 15, 2018
He thinks that expected massive increases in computing power will enable blockchain technologies that allow users to safely bypass the global data monopoly that Google and similar firms represent. Read More ›
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Author
Mind Matters
Date
September 14, 2018
Categorized
Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors
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Senior Google scientist quits over Google’s censorship in China

He believes it “contravenes widely accepted principles of international law and human rights”
Mind Matters
September 14, 2018
Some believe that any censorship system that a human being can develop can somehow be got around by another human being. China may provide a way of testing that.   Read More ›
Personal Bitcoin Wallet with euro coins
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post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
September 13, 2018
Categorized
Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors
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How Bitcoin Works: The social value of trust

Jonathan Bartlett
September 13, 2018
The idea of employing such a game to guarantee validity in a trustless environment is nothing short of groundbreaking. It is an amazing accomplishment, and I am impressed by it more each time I think about it. However, it does have some drawbacks, which, I think, will ultimately lead to its demise. Read More ›
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Author
Mind Matters
Date
September 12, 2018
Categorized
Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors
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Twitter doesn’t just seem out of control

It actually is.
Mind Matters
September 12, 2018
Social media may be changing the world more than we think. And we may need some social leadership in fighting back against Twitter mobs. It probably won’t emerge from within because bullies are usually cowards. Read More ›