^CategoryMachine Learning

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
November 6, 2018

Categorized
Data Privacy, Machine Learning

Tagged
Canada, Data Security, government-policy, Justin Trudeau, Surveillance}

Canada demands intimate banking data from a half million citizens

_{The goal of the program, recently uncovered by media, is to develop a “new institutional personal information bank” for government use.} _{Denyse O'Leary

November 6, 2018

4

Data Privacy, Machine Learning}

A Canadian TV station recently provided a dramatic insight into how far Western governments are prepared to go, using advanced data gathering techniques, to surveil the lives of citizens: Statistics Canada is asking banks across the country for financial transaction data and personal information of 500,000 Canadians without their knowledge. Global News has learned. Documents obtained by Global News show the national statistical agency plans to collect “individual-level financial transactions data” and sensitive information, like social insurance numbers (SIN), from Canadian financial institutions to develop a “new institutional personal information bank.” Andrew Russell and David Akin, “EXCLUSIVE: Stats Canada requesting banking information of 500,000 Canadians without their knowledge” at Global News Further investigation showed that the government agency has already Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Eric Holloway
Date
November 5, 2018

Categorized
Machine Learning, Natural Intelligence

Tagged
halting oracle, halting problem, Jonathan Bartlett}

Human intelligence as a halting oracle

_{Jonathan Bartlett proposes to model the human mind as a halting oracle} _{Eric Holloway

November 5, 2018

4

Machine Learning, Natural Intelligence}

A common objection to Bartlett’s idea is that humans cannot be halting oracles because we embed any unsolvable math problem as the halting condition for a loop and a human cannot tell us whether the loop will halt or not. This objection misses the fact that there is a range of oracles between plain Turing machines and a complete halting oracle. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
November 5, 2018

Categorized
Machine Learning, Philosophy of Mind, Religion, Social Factors

Tagged
computer models, religion, science media, violence}

Did AI show that we are “a peaceful species” triggered by religion?

_{No, but this episode shows how science media sometimes help mislead the public} _{Jonathan Bartlett

November 5, 2018

6

Machine Learning, Philosophy of Mind, Religion, Social Factors}

Unfortunately, most of the public knows about science only through science media professionals. And it is apparent that science media professionals often know little to nothing of what they are talking about.

A chilling snippet from mass surveillance in China

_{China is helping other countries restrict their citizens’ internet, while shunning the U.S.} _{Mind Matters

November 2, 2018

4

Ethics, Machine Learning, Social Factors}

Overall, governments worldwide are restricting the freedom of the internet, especially around election times, and the big social media companies are conspicuous by their silence. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
November 2, 2018

Categorized
Data Privacy, Machine Learning

Tagged
Blockchain, Brendan Eich, George Gilder, Life after Google (book), Privacy, Ralph Benko}

Life after Google: More private and more profitable?

_{Reviewing Gilder’s Life after Google, Ralph Benko asks, If our attention is worth billions, shouldn’t we market it?} _{Denyse O'Leary

November 2, 2018

4

Data Privacy, Machine Learning}

In a more open market, the user’s time and attention would no longer be a free service of nature. One expects incentives to follow naturally from more competition for the user’s attention.

Could AI write novels?

_{George Orwell thought so, as long as no thinking was involved} _{Denyse O'Leary

October 23, 2018

4

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Social Factors}

Serious literature will always be written, to borrow a phrase from Winston Churchill, in “blood, toil, tears and sweat” because imaging the human condition accurately is part of its nature. And if the writer lives in an unfree society, serious literature will also be written in fear. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Mind Matters
Date
October 22, 2018

Categorized
Business and Finance, Machine Learning}

How Do Bitcoins Work Anyway?

_{And what's their future? A roundup for non-geeks} _{Mind Matters

October 22, 2018

6

Business and Finance, Machine Learning}

Everywhere these days one hears people foretelling the fortunes of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin—like so many fairies, good and bad, wishing around a cradle. Most people, including New Yorker staff writer Nick Paumgarten, have hoped to just avoid the scene, partly because few enthusiasts can even explain what the cryptocurrencies are or why they exist. But Paumgarten dove in and his recent long form article offers helpful explanations along with illuminating profiles of digital currency pioneers. First, why? Bitcoin and Ethereum enthusiasts want, in Paumgarten’s words, “a better, decentralized version of the World Wide Web—a Web 3.0—more in keeping with the Internet’s early utopian promise than with the invidious, monopolistic hellscape it has become. They want to seize back the tubes, and Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
October 22, 2018

Categorized
Machine Learning

Tagged
Autonomous Vehicles, Featured, self-driving cars}

Guess what? You already own a self-driving car

_{Tech hype hits the stratosphere} _{Jonathan Bartlett

October 22, 2018

8

Machine Learning}

Yes, the car you own today is probably “self-driving” and you may not know it. But that is because of the creative ways the term can be defined. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Mind Matters
Date
October 19, 2018

Categorized
Machine Learning, Social Factors

Tagged
censorship, China, Europe, Google, Surveillance, United States}

Would Google be happier if America were run more like China?

_{This might be a good time to ask} _{Mind Matters

October 19, 2018

6

Machine Learning, Social Factors}

A leaked internal discussion document, the “Cultural Context Report” (March 2018), admits a “shift toward censorship.” It characterizes free speech as a “utopian narrative,” pointing out that “As the tech companies have grown more dominant on the global stage, their intrinsically American values have come into conflict with some of the values and norms of other countries.” Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
October 17, 2018

Categorized
Machine Learning

Tagged
Altair 8800, computer, computer chips, graphics}

AI computer chips made simple

_{The artificial intelligence chips that run your computer are not especially difficult to understand} _{Jonathan Bartlett

October 17, 2018

7

Machine Learning}

Increasingly, companies are integrating“AI chips” into their hardware products. What are these things, what do they do that is so special, and how are they being used? Read More ›