CategorySocial Factors
University Fires Philosophy Prof, Hires Chimpanzee to Teach, Research
A light-hearted look at what would happen if we really thought that unreason is better than reasonDissociated Press – According to sources from the Funny Papers News Collective, officials at the Université Paris Diderot announced today that philosophy professor Justin Smith has been dismissed from his teaching and research duties at the university, following publication of his new book, Irrationality. In the widely acclaimed book, Smith argues forcefully that reason is highly overrated, and generally of less survival value than brute animal instinct. Citing 16th-century diplomat Girolamo Rorario in his treatise “That Brute Animals Make Better use of Reason than Men”, Smith argues: [H]uman deliberation – the period of hesitancy when we survey our various options and eventually select what appears to be the best of them – far from being an advantage over other beings, Read More ›
Silicon Valley’s Strange, Apocalyptic Cult
Key Valley figures hope to beat death the transhumanist way. Oh, by the way, YOU are doomedEverything has a history, including Silicon Valley. According to a new media theorist, an influential Valley philosophy might underlie the current attitudes, values, and beliefs: There is a Silicon Valley religion, and it’s one that doesn’t particularly care for people — at least not in our present form. Technologists may pretend to be led by a utilitarian, computational logic devoid of superstition, but make no mistake: There is a prophetic belief system embedded in the technologies and business plans coming out of Google, Uber, Facebook, and Amazon, among others. Douglas Rushkoff, “The Anti-Human Religion of Silicon Valley” at Medium In an excerpt from his new book, Team Human (2019), Rushkoff traces the history to a post-Cold War collaboration centered on Read More ›
How Did Twitter Become a “Virus of the Mind”?
A libertarian law professor reflects on the poisonous atmosphere and proposed remediesUsing engineering terminology, he makes the point that, whereas the blogosphere has been a loosely coupled system where craziness in one venue had little impact on another, new social media are tightly coupled systems, prone to maximal disruption
Read More ›Swarm Printing: Are AI Robots Tomorrow’s Construction Workers?
Robotic swarms specially adapted to operate in austere environments could be useful responses to natural and manmade disastersWhile many traditional construction jobs will be lost, others will be created. Someone will need to design, build, service, and repair the robots.
Read More ›Autopilot Is NOT Just Another Word for “Asleep at the Wheel”
As a recent fatal accident in Florida shows, even sober, attentive drivers often put too much trust into Tesla’s Autopilot system, with disastrous resultsLike all tools, AI systems, when used correctly, can augment our abilities, but they are nowhere near replacing us. And we endanger ourselves, and others, when we believe they can.
Read More ›Google’s “Civil War” Is a First For the Big Tech Industry
Not the sort of first to rejoice market analysts’ heartsIf a recent longform article at Fortune is any guide, tech philosopher George Gilder was onto something when he told Steve Forbes recently that the whole Google culture is “kind of self-defeating and wrong.”
Read More ›Beyond the Google Search
Today's search technology may provide us with an "answer" we did not work for and won't rememberWhat It Really Takes to Build a High-Tech Company, Sell It, and Get Rich
Inventor and entrepreneur Hal Philipp offers a rewarding but cautionary true storyThe road to the success that Hal Philipp enjoys today was laced with landmines. When money starts rolling in, entrepreneurs must expect lawsuits. But perseverance and a strong character won the day.
Read More ›Scientists’ Definition of Life Excludes AI, but Includes Embryos
A sophisticated AI machine would certainly be worth a lot of money but it has no more moral worth than a broken toasterSpeaking of moral value, the professors’ proposed definition would certainly include the earliest human embryos, their status as “human life” often denied by those who wish to justify their wanton destruction or casual instrumental use as natural resources.
Read More ›Need Cash Fast? Just Pretend That You Wrote Software
Tesla is not the first company to announce software it hasn’t written, but it is indeed the most brazenSoftware engineers call imaginary products “vaporware.” And if the tag fits, it wouldn’t be the first time that Tesla has marketed an illusion.
Read More ›News from the Real World of Self-Driving Taxis: Not Yet
WayMo includes a human in all their “robotaxis,” just in case, because the vehicles (at last report) were still confounded by common conditionsHype serves no one other than the early investors hoping to get their cash back. Calm evaluations—and an appreciation for the amazing beings that humans are—would serve all of us much better than overpromised claims that are doomed to under deliver.
Read More ›Will AI Teach Us to Love Big Brother?
A trend watcher fears that we’ll accept total surveillance if it controls crime and addictionIf China becomes the dominant world power through total control, David Mattin argues, it will erode the Western world’s governing myth that liberal democracy is the best system.
Read More ›Identity Politics Goes High Tech
Does high tech simply cater to tribalism or make it worse?The simmering controversy sometimes explodes into serious charges. For example, The Department of Housing and Urban Development has launched a Fair Housing Act complaint against Facebook for targeting customers in a way that may constitute discrimination.
Read More ›Laundry Robot Firm, er, Folds
Keeping proposed costs and space requirements within average household budgets may be a deal breaker for most consumersEven if robots can be engineered to fold laundry, the question of whether they threaten jobs, as a result, is more complex.
Read More ›George Gilder: Google Does Not Believe in Life After Google
He offers chilling insight into the ultimate visions of technocratsIf the surveillance technology developed for China catches on in the West, however numberless the Googlers' infinite parallel universes may be, Americans will be constantly and closely observed while sitting behind on the beach.
Read More ›Are Tesla’s Robot Taxis a Phantom Fleet?
Jonathan Bartlett suspects that a dire quarterly report is powering the fleet, not genuine innovationSelf-driving car entrepreneur Elon Musk is nothing, if not ambitious. Earlier this week, he promised to have a million robot taxis on the road by next year, taking dead aim at Uber and Lyft. But responses have changed in recent years from Wow! To “Oh. Really?”
Read More ›Why AI Won’t Replace Your Doctor
Most analysts think that AI can improve medical care but cannot replace human judgement in painful situationsIt’s not so much that electronic systems make errors as that they make errors that health care staff can’t anticipate and correct for—errors that occur in complex machinery, not errors made by experienced professionals.
Read More ›New Evangelical Statement on AI is Balanced and Well-Informed
The signers are clearly (and rightly) skeptical that computers can become conscious moral agentsToo much of the debate over AI is dictated by prior metaphysical commitments that are rarely examined. This Evangelical Statement is a welcome contrast because it makes the theological issues explicit.
Read More ›How Are Zombies Empowered by Algorithms?
And other random thoughts on recent AI headlinesAs we repeatedly note at Mind Matters News, algorithms—including the ones used by Netflix—can’t be creative.
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