^CategoryRelationships

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
January 16, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Relationships

Tagged
Simon Briggs, Widdershins (short animated film 2018)}

A Fun Scottish Film on Breaking Free From Global AI

_{In “Widdershins,” our animated hero is leading the perfect life — if only he were a machine, that is. Then he meets someone who…} _{News

January 16, 2023

1

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Relationships}

In “Widdershins,” our animated hero is leading the perfect life — if only he were a machine, that is. Then he meets someone who… Can he break free? Does he even want to? Eleven minutes will tell… The life of a pampered gentleman is seamlessly automated by machines, but his orderly existence is thrown into chaos when he chooses to pursue a free-spirited woman, against the advice of his robot butler. – Director, Simon Briggs, 2018

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
January 2, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Psychology, Relationships

Tagged
Chatbots (history), Chatbots (how they work), Eliza effect, Gary Smith, GPT-3 (Gary Smith's tests)}

Let’s Call AI What It Really Is: Faux Intelligence

_{Gary Smith at Salon: While GPT-3 can string words together in convincing ways, it has no idea what the words mean} _{News

January 2, 2023

3

Artificial Intelligence, Psychology, Relationships}

Pomona College business and investments prof Gary Smith warns Salon readers not to be too gullible about what human-sounding chatbots really amount to. He notes that in the 1960s, a pioneer chatbot called ELIZA convinced many psychiatric patients that they were interacting with a real psychiatrist. The machine simply repeated back their statements as questions, a popular psychiatric technique at the time because it generated more and more discussion — from the patient. The patients’ belief that they were interacting with a human being came to be called the Eliza effect. Has much changed? If you play around with GPT-3 (and I encourage you to do so) your initial response is likely to be astonishment — a full-blown Eliza effect. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
December 30, 2022

Categorized
Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Psychology, Relationships

Tagged
Andrew Solomon, Cecily Whiteley, Depression (clinical), Global state of consciousness, Jonathan Birch, Neural correlates of depression, Noonday Demon (Scribner 2001), Randi Mazzella, Sally Brampton, Shoot the Damn Dog (Bloomsbury 2008), suicide}

Is Depression an Altered Global State of Consciousness?

_{Cecily Whiteley and Jonathan Birch from the London School of Economics and Political Science argue that altered consciousness prevents depressed people from just "seeing the bright side"} _{Denyse O'Leary

December 30, 2022

5

Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Psychology, Relationships}

PhD student Cecily Whiteley and philosophy prof Jonathan Birch, both of the London School of Economics and Political Science, think that depression is often misunderstood. In this 2021 article, noted again at Psyche, they point out that it is not just “feeling low”; it is an altered form of consciousness: The psychologist Andrew Solomon hints at some of these transformations in his memoir The Noonday Demon (2001): “When you are depressed, the past and future are absorbed entirely by the present moment, as in the world of a three-year-old. You cannot remember a time when you felt better, at least not clearly; and you certainly cannot imagine a future time when you will feel better. Being upset, even profoundly upset, Read More ›

Chat bot Robot Online Chatting Communication Business Internet Technology Concept

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
December 18, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Information Theory, Relationships

Tagged
chatbots, Chatbots and information, Chirag Shah, Emily M. Bender, Information search, Myocarditis, Stochastic parrots concept}

Why We Should Not Trust Chatbots As Sources of Information

_{A linguist and an information theorist say that chatbots lack any awareness of the information they provide — and that matters} _{News

December 18, 2022

5

Artificial Intelligence, Information Theory, Relationships}

Linguist Emily M. Bender and information theorist Chirag Shah, both of the University of Washington, have a message for those who think that the chatbot they are talking to is morphing into a real person: No. Not only that but there are good reasons to be very cautious about trusting chatbots as sources of information, all the more so because they sound so natural and friendly. First, decades of science fiction, the authors point out, have taught us to expect computer scientists to develop a machine like that: However, we must not mistake a convenient plot device — a means to ensure that characters always have the information the writer needs them to have — for a roadmap to how Read More ›

Annoyed black woman having video chat on smartphone at home

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
November 3, 2022

Categorized
Psychology, Relationships, Social Media

Tagged
Featured, iOS 16 iPhone, iOS 16 iPhone editing sent messages, Karl D. Stephan on editing text messages, Kim Komando, Text messages (editing after sending)}

Sorry! I Take It Back (But Only With iOS 16)

_{The new iOS lets you edit messages, but only within 15 minutes of sending them, and guess what—the recipient can see all your edits…} _{News

November 3, 2022

6

Psychology, Relationships, Social Media}

This article by Texas State University engineering prof Karl D. Stephan is republished with permission from MercatorNet November 1, 2022) Everybody has said something they later regret saying. If the person you’re talking to is right there in front of you, there’s nothing you can do to unsay it. As country singer Jon Langston says in one of his song titles, “I Can’t Take Back Words.” But according to tech guru Kim Komando, the new iOS 16 operating system for iPhones (version 8 and later) lets you do that with text messages—sort of. Ever since commercial text messaging became available on mobile phones in the mid-1990s, it has shared with verbal interchanges the fact that once you send a text, it’s Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Gary Varner
Date
October 29, 2022

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Relationships, Science Fiction

Tagged
Bortus (character in the Orville series), Ed (character in The Orville), Featured, Gordon Malloy (character in Orville series), Individuality (erasure in science fiction), Kelly Grayson (character in Orville series), Orville Season 3 Episode 3, Talla (character in the Orville series)}

The Orville Crew Sails Into Hallucinations From Deathless Beings

_{The ETs’ Big Message is: Ignore such labels as man, husband, captain, explorer because they are all irrelevant. Embrace loss of individuality and sculpt the cosmos!} _{Gary Varner

October 29, 2022

10

Arts & Culture, Relationships, Science Fiction}

As with Episode 2, Episode 3 of The Orville, Season 3, starts out with a great deal of promise only to completely fall apart at the end. However, I will say that — of all the episodes so far — the beginning of this story felt the most like Star Trek, in the sense that an anomaly shows up on the scanners, followed by a quirky scenario which promises a great deal of mystery to come. The crew detects a civilization on a planet that was previously understood to be desolate. Ed, Kelly, Talla, Bortus, and Gordon all land on the planet to find a lush forest and a high school. They enter the high school and are immediately trapped Read More ›

press and media camera ,video photographer on duty in public new

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 20, 2022

Categorized
Media, Politics, Psychology, Relationships

Tagged
Dominick Mastrangelo, Gallup poll on trust in media, Media (changing role), Media (trust in media), New York Times/Siena poll on trust in media, Paul Bedard, Polls on trust in media, Trust (in media), Trust in media and political affiliation}

Polls: Trust in Mainstream U.S. Media Still in Free Fall

_{Both the New York Times poll and Gallup poll illustrated that this week} _{Denyse O'Leary

October 20, 2022

4

Media, Politics, Psychology, Relationships}

A Canadian commentator has noticed a little-publicized fact about last week’s New York Times–Siena College poll of 792 registered voters. While the poll focused on the US mid-term elections next month, the information about how typical voters view mainstream media was most revealing. A majority not only don’t trust media but see them as a threat to democracy: A New York Times-Siena College poll published Tuesday found 59 percent of voters view the media as a “major threat to democracy,” while 25 percent said the press is a “minor threat” and only 15 percent said it poses no threat. The divide fell sharply along partisan lines, with 87 percent of voters who supported former President Trump in 2020 indicating they Read More ›

The colossal titan is comingAttack On Titan

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
August 24, 2022

Categorized
Business and Finance, Politics, Psychology, Relationships

Tagged
Big Tech moguls, Fred Bech, Industrial Age titans, Mark Zuckerberg and elections, Zuckerbucks}

Big Tech Moguls vs. Historic Titans of Industry: What’s Changed?

_{Today’s Big Tech moguls were more likely to have been born into fractured relationships and may be seeking an eternal geek adolescence} _{News

August 24, 2022

4

Business and Finance, Politics, Psychology, Relationships}

If we had to compare the giants of industrialization of the late 19th through early 20th centuries — Andrew Carnegie, Thomas A. Edison, Henry Ford, Henry Clay Frick,J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Cornelius Vanderbilt — with the giants of the contemporary tech world —Jeff Bezos, Jack Dorsey, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Larry Page, and Mark Zuckerberg — would we see significant differences? Fred Bech tackles that at Expensivity. He finds that the immense fame, power, and wealth are comparable, as is the fact that they took inventions created largely by others and — via business acumen — transformed our way of life.Of course, that means new problems as well as new solutions. Staying in touch with far-distant loved ones is a blessing; viruses, hacking, and Twitter mobs are Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 23, 2022

Categorized
Natural Intelligence, Relationships

Tagged
Dogs, Dogs and grief, Dogs crying, Dogs' intelligence and playfulness}

Study: Dogs Cry for Joy as Well as Pain

_{Recent research has focused on how dogs respond to the world they share with us} _{Denyse O'Leary

August 23, 2022

3

Natural Intelligence, Relationships}

A recent study looked at dogs reuniting with their human friends: When a person is overcome with emotion, their feelings stream down their cheeks. Even positive emotions can turn on the waterworks, as people bawl when they win awards, express love for their partners, or are reunited with a long-lost friend. But these feelings-driven tears may not be a wholly human experience. Dogs can also cry happy tears, according to a study published today (August 22) in Current Biology. Although the animals’ eyes don’t overflow, they well up when they’re reunited with their owners after spending even just hours apart, the researchers found. And they have hunch as to why: a sudden increase in oxytocin, the so-called love hormone, named Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
July 26, 2022

Categorized
Philosophy, Relationships, Science

Tagged
Alzheimer origin, Anthony Fauci (flipflops), Autism and research fraud, Deborah Birx, Deepfakes (in science journals), Depression (seratonin levels doubted as cause), Featured, Francis Collins on lockdowns, Human embryo cloning and research fraud, Photoshopping in science journals, Science fraud, Trust in science, Trust in science tested by scandals}

Trust in Science? Fraud Now Claimed re Key Alzheimer Paper

_{Autism and COVID-19 research have also been marred by misrepresentation, raising issues about what “trust in science” should mean} _{Wesley J. Smith

July 26, 2022

6

Philosophy, Relationships, Science}

[This article is republished with permission from The Epoch Times (July 26, 2022) where it appeared under the title “Scientists Are Destroying Our Trust in Science.”] A just-published exposé in the journal Science claims that a seminal study on the causes of Alzheimer’s disease may contain falsified data. The 2006 report concluded that Alzheimer’s is caused by a buildup of a certain type of plaque in the brain—a finding that has guided research into cures for Alzheimer’s ever since. But now, critics claim that the original authors “appeared to have composed figures by piecing together parts of photos from different experiments” calling their conclusions into significant question. If true, this is a scientific scandal of the worst order. As the Science article Read More ›

Old lonely woman sitting near the window in his house.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
July 1, 2022

Categorized
Medicine and Health, Relationships, Robotics

Tagged
Dementia and loneliness, Eldercare and robots, ElliQ (companion robot), Greg Olsen, Japan and robots, Loneliness and robot companions, Loneliness in old age, Old age and loneliness, Robots in old age care}

Is a Robot Pal Really a Solution to Old Age Loneliness?

_{New York State is buying a companion bot called ElliQ in a pilot project that is likely among the first of a trend} _{News

July 1, 2022

4

Medicine and Health, Relationships, Robotics}

New York State is buying 800 ElliQ robots from Israeli firm Intuition Robotics to help seniors cope with the familiar problem of loneliness — which worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic: ElliQ, a tabletop device that resembles a virtual assistant like Alexa or Siri, can make small talk, answer questions, remind users to take medication, help contact friends and family, initiate conversation and help with other daily activities. Users interact with the robot an average of 20 times per day, according to the company. Margaret Osborne, “New York State Purchases Robot Companions for the Elderly” at Smithsonian Magazine (June 22, 2022) Greg Olsen, director of the state’s Office for the Aging, says that seniors accept new technology like the ElliQ model Read More ›

Twisted watch face representing the infinite time spiral

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 19, 2022

Categorized
Philosophy, Physics, Relationships

Tagged
C. S. Lewis, C. S. Lewis on prayer, Free will and time travel, Kevin Dickinson, Quantum particles and time travel, qubits, Stav Dimitropoulos, Superposition and time travel, Time travel, Victor Bhaura}

Can the Future Reach Back and Affect the Past?

_{Researchers say that only elementary particles can really time travel but there is another way…} _{News

June 19, 2022

7

Philosophy, Physics, Relationships}

If the future influenced the past, that would be retrocausality. As Victor Bhaura puts it, Retrocausality means that, when an experimenter chooses the measurement setting with which to measure a particle, that decision can influence the properties of that particle (or another one) in the past, even before the experimenter made their choice. In other words, a decision made in the present can influence something in the past. Victor Bhaura, “Retrocausality — Future Influences Past Information Before Occurrence Of An Event” at Medium (June 8, 2022) Bhaura reminds us of a limerick called “Relativity” from 1923: There was a young lady named BrightWhose speed was far faster than light;She set out one dayIn a relative wayAnd returned on the previous Read More ›

Chatbot chat bot customer service automation. Hand pressing button on virtual screen.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 16, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind, Relationships

Tagged
Blake Lemoine, LaMDA (claims for understanding), LaMDA (evidence of editing), Lance Ulanoff, Victor Tangermann}

When LaMDA “Talked” to a Google Engineer, Turns Out It Had Help

_{Evidence points to someone doing quite a good edit job. A tech maven would like to see the raw transcript…} _{News

June 16, 2022

4

Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind, Relationships}

Readers may recall that Google engineer Blake Lemoine was placed on leave for telling media that a large language program he was working on is a sentient being. Some Googlers looked into the matter and this is what they found: A Washington Post story on Lemoine’s suspension included messages from LaMDA such as “I think I am human at my core. Even if my existence is in the virtual world.” But the chat logs leaked in the Washington Post’s article include disclaimers from Lemoine and an unnamed collaborator which noted: “This document was edited with readability and narrative coherence in mind.” The final document — which was labeled “Privileged & Confidential, Need to Know” — was an “amalgamation” of nine Read More ›

new technologies, a child uses a futuristic processor for augmented reality. high technology and communication concept. TV

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 11, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Psychology, Relationships

Tagged
AI by Design (book), Birth rate decline (causes), Catriona Campbell, Geoff Allen, Ron Jefferson, Tamagotchi characters, Virtual children}

Psychologist Promotes “Virtual Children” for the Good of Earth

_{The former technology advisor to the U.K. government thinks that parents may prefer no-strings AI children for $25 a month} _{News

June 11, 2022

5

Artificial Intelligence, Psychology, Relationships}

What if you had a child who was simply a virtual reality, who had no existence about from your own wishes? British psychologist Catriona Campbell, whose aim is to secure “a healthy, human-centred relationship with AI,” thinks that’s the way of the future and better for the planet. The vision of the author of AI by design: A Plan for Living with Artificial Intelligence (Chapman and Hall/CRC, 2022, is spelled out at Study Finds: The overpopulation crisis could be solved within 50 years thanks to the evolution of “virtual children,” one of Britain’s leading artificial intelligence experts claims. Computer-generated babies that cost about $25 a month are likely to become commonplace by the early-2070s, according to Catriona Campbell. In addition Read More ›

Human internal organs on metal plate ready for organ transplant.

^{Type
post

Author
Gary Varner
Date
April 23, 2022

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Relationships

Tagged
Firefly TV series Episode 12}

Firefly 12: The Amazing Mail Order Human Body

_{The episode, while still interesting, returned to a pattern of puzzling plot developments} _{Gary Varner

April 23, 2022

10

Arts & Culture, Relationships}

I was disappointed with Episode 12. After a run of three great episodes in a row, we experience yet another drop in quality. This drop is marked by the classic telltale sign of a bad episode: Simon says something stupid, and Kaylee storms off in a huff. The context of this conversation is not important; the bottom line is, Kaylee is mad, so all the other women are mad because nobody loves poor Simon. While Kaylee is being consoled, Captain Mal and Zoë are actually doing something important, retrieving the crew’s mail. Now, this plot development was not irksome at first, because Jayne gets a letter from his mother and a funny hat. This made sense. If the crew is Read More ›

Woman fist with woke written. Woke concept refers to awareness of social and racial justice, concern, vigilance, activism.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
April 10, 2022

Categorized
Ethics, Philosophy, Relationships, Religion

Tagged
Abortion (Catholic perspective), Abortion (Hindu perspective), Arjuna Gallagher, Cancel culture, Euthanasia (Catholic perspective), Euthanasia (Hindu perspective), Featured, Hinduism (approaches to social issues), Howard Resnick (on abortion), Jonathan Haidt, Michael Egnor, Microaggressions, Tulsi Gabbard (on abortion), Woke culture}

A Catholic and a Hindu Tackle Woke culture

_{In a wide-ranging discussion, Michael Egnor and Arjuna Gallagher look at Woke culture, abortion, euthanasia, and microaggressions} _{News

April 10, 2022

22

Ethics, Philosophy, Relationships, Religion}

In a recent series of Mind Matters News, podcasts, neurosurgeon Michael Egnor interviewed Arjuna Gallagher, a Hindu who lives in New Zealand. The first podcast looked at what the world’s 1.2 billion Hindus generally think about the mind and the second explored the Hindu view of free will and evil. The third podcast addressed the question, “What do Hindus think about the Big Bang?” Now, the fourth and final podcast asks, what do Hindus think of current science and culture issues, especially the flowering of Woke Cancel Culture, abortion, and euthanasia? Gallagher hosts a YouTube channel called Theology Unleashed, which has featured many guests discussing the spiritual dimension of our lives — for example, philosopher David Bentley Hart and neuroscientist Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Gary Varner
Date
April 9, 2022

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Relationships

Tagged
Adelai Niska (character in Firefly), Featured, Firefly (cancellation), Firefly (Episode 10), Firefly (Episode 9), Malcolm Reynolds (character in Firefly), River Tam (character in Firefly), Serenity (film), Simon Tam (character in Firefly), Wash (character in Firefly), Zoe (character in Firefly)}

Firefly Episode 10: Jealousy Divides the Firefly Crew in Space

_{And yet jealousy plays a key role in saving Mal and Wash from a villain’s sadistic torture} _{Gary Varner

April 9, 2022

11

Arts & Culture, Relationships}

Episode 9 marks a turning point for the series. The previous episodes have been somewhat hit and miss but so far, there’s only been one outright bad episode (Episode 5, which broke all the “rules” of consistent character). However, at best thus far, the series has been very… episodic. That is, a handful of the characters recurs but the events from the preceding episodes seem to have no effect on the upcoming ones. But with Episode 9, that changes. The transition from Episode 9 to 10 starts off on a promising note. We see the events of Episode 9 actually affecting the events of Episode 10. This is a trend that continues as the story builds to a crescendo. That Read More ›

Family with laptop, tablet and smartphone, everyone using digital devices

^{Type
post

Author
Andrew McDiarmid
Date
April 6, 2022

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Relationships

Tagged
Doug Smith, Featured, Screen addiction, Screen addiction recovery, Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey), Truman Show (film 1998), Unintentional (book)}

Escaping the “Truman Show” of Our Times

_{Effective methods intentionally hook us in, keep us engaged, and encourage behaviors that benefit them — and are often damaging for us} _{Andrew McDiarmid

April 6, 2022

5

Arts & Culture, Relationships}

This story originally appeared at Newsmax. (April 5, 2022) as “Time to Write Our Own Stories, Not Big Tech” and is reprinted with permission. It’s one of the best movies of the late 1990s. In The Truman Show, Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) has no idea his life is actually a popular TV show. Everything has been fabricated — his parents, his friends, his marriage, his job. But things start happening — a studio light falls from the sky, a fake elevator reveals a hidden backstage room. Suddenly, Truman is determined to discover the truth of his existence. Rebelling against the script being played out all around him, he begins a journey to seek the truth and discover the life he was Read More ›

Sculptor artist creating a bust sculpture with clay

^{Type
post

Author
Gary Varner
Date
March 19, 2022

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Ethics, Relationships

Tagged
Adam Baldwin, Featured, Jayne Cobb (character in Firefly), Malcolm Reynolds (character in Firefly), Simon Tam (character in Firefly)}

Firefly Episode 7: Jayne Can’t Live With Himself As a Hero

_{Jayne Cobb, otherwise dumb muscle, once helped many people — inadvertently — and is stuck with deadly consequences when the truth emerges} _{Gary Varner

March 19, 2022

10

Arts & Culture, Ethics, Relationships}

After the strong “Stagecoach” rebound of Episode 6, Episode 7 focuses on Jayne Cobb. Up to now, the dumb muscle has mainly been comic relief. But when Mal and his crew stop by a planet to retrieve some smuggled cargo — under the pretense of ordering a shipment of mud used to make ceramic parts — we learn a little more about the big man’s past. As the crew exits the Serenity to pick up the goods, they come across a giant mud statue… of Jayne. He has no idea why the statue is there but, come to think of it, he’s been acting nervous throughout the mission. Years ago, we learn, things went south at a job he was Read More ›