A BABY, a GEEK, and a COW…
… all walk into a bar looking for some BEER and VINO…What happens next? They all beat the market. Were their ticker names a factor? I decided to study that.
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The Three Laws of Robotics Have Failed the Robots
Almost no one out there thinks that Isaac Asimov's Three Laws could work for truly intelligent AI
Cats do bond with people
Both cats and kittens showed about the same level of attachment to caregivers as children and dogs didWhen a cat feels secure, he develops relationships with humans and dogs. But he won’t be either your servant or your master; just your housemate—and maybe at last your old friend.
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Can China Really Silence Hong Kong?
Hong Kong is tech-savvy and the protesters are adept at defeating even high-tech terrorsSome protestors use umbrellas to block the view of newly installed surveillance cameras while others dismantle the electronics. Others place traffic cones over tear gas canisters and then neutralize the gas with water.
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Do We Need To Learn from AI How To Think Better?
No, and a moment’s thought shows why not
Tibetan Monks Can Change Their Metabolism
Far from disproving it, science has documented itFor decades, a default assumption was that claims that meditating monks in the Buddhist tradition could greatly raise their temperature or slow their metabolism were assumed to be exaggerations that would yield to a scientific explanation. The scientific explanation turned out to be that they can do exactly that.
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If Computers Are Intelligent, Climbing a Tree Is Flying
That, says Edward Feser, is the take-home message from Gary Smith’s book, The AI DelusionThe book’s message is that “the real danger of artificial intelligence is that it will remain dumber than we are,” but we will think it is smarter.
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Tell Kids the Robot Is “It,” Not “He”
Teaching children to understand AI and robotics is part of a good education todayWe are not truly likely to be ruled by AI overlords (as opposed to powerful people using AI. But even doubtful predictions may be self-fulfilling if enough impressionable people come to believe them. Children, for example. We adults are aware of the limitations of AI. But if we talk about AI devices as if they were people, children—who often imbue even stuffed toys with complex personalities—may be easily confused. Sue Shellenbarger, Work & Family columnist at The Wall Street Journal, warns that already, “Many children think robots are smarter than humans or imbue them with magical powers.” While she admits that the “long-term consequences” are still unclear, “an expanding body of research” suggests we need to train children to draw…
Will Industry Pressure Loosen Self-Driving Car Tests?
Right now, the regulatory agency is under pressure to accept the industry’s “softball” testing suggestions
The Top Ten AI Hype Stories of 2018, Updated
You can segue to each in the podcast and read the accompanying Mind Matters News story, as well as key updates
The Prof Banned Phones in Class. What Happened?
Not a walkout. No riots. No revolution. Some insights though, that match up with other research
Machines Are Not Really Learning
A bit of machine learning history helps us see why
“Anonymized” Data Is Not Confidential
It’s almost as anonymous as your fingerprint, actually
The Machine Knows You Are Angry
Okay, it knows if your facial muscles are twisted in a certain way… does the difference matter?
What Others Are Saying About the New Google Insider’s Revelations
The documents' authenticity is not in dispute. What to do about them is another matter
A Silicon Valley Insider Asks the Awkward Questions
Billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel, speaking at COSM in October, has a history of challenging Valley orthodoxiesHis question, “How can Google use the rhetoric of ‘borderless’ benefits to justify working with the country whose ‘Great Firewall’ has imposed a border on the internet itself?”, is timely. China’s government uses high tech for, among other things, sophisticated racial profiling.
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In China, high-tech racial profiling is social policy
For an ethnic minority, a physical checkup includes blood samples, fingerprints, iris scans, and voice recordingsThe Chinese government seeks a database of everyone in the country, not only to track individuals but to determine the ethnicity of those who run up against the law.
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Why Some Scientists Believe the Universe Is Conscious
They’re not mystics. But materialism is not giving good answers so they are looking aroundThese prominent thinkers are driven to panpsychism because materialism about the mind doesn’t really work. So if panpsychism ends up seeming absurd, dualism—there really is an immaterial world—is also worth considering.
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Many Parents Ignore Risks of Posting Kids’ Data Online
The lifelong digital footprint, which starts before birth, makes identity theft much easier
Google Engineer Reveals Search Engine Bias
He found Google pretty neutral in 2014; the bias started with the US 2016 electionThe algorithms—the series of commands to computers—“don’t write themselves,” Coppola says. People who have their own opinions may write them into an algorithm, knowingly or otherwise.
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