Will we surrender our free will to screens?
We may be surrendering while we aren’t paying attentionIf “the machines” ever do take over, it will be because we have stopped thinking, not because they have started to.
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Why I Doubt That AI Can Match the Human Mind
Computers are exclusively theorem generators, while humans appear to be axiom generatorsMy primary reason for doubting that AI can match human intelligence is that the difference between mind and machine is a difference of kind, not of quantity. Understanding the distinction will help us exploit the abilities of each to their maximum potential.
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AI Ethics and the Value of Human Life
Unanticipated consequences will always be a problem for totally autonomous AIIn the development of technology overall, there is always a tradeoff in which human life is given a price. For example, cheap cars aren’t safe and safe cars aren’t cheap.
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A Closer Look at Detroit: Become Human, Part III
The second pillar of the AI religion is reductionism, the reduction of humanity to matter and energyIf the qualities that define being human (so that there is an obvious distinction between what is human and what is not) are not material by nature; then the premise of a compelling story about androids that become and surpass human beings as intelligent life falls flat.
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Researchers Identify a New Form of Brain Communication
Mouse studies find brain waves that can bypass synapses and gaps, even communicate with severed nervesSuch surprising new findings show that comparisons between a human brain and a computer greatly underestimate the complexity of the brain.
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Amazon pulls out of the New York City deal
Is this a message about the new economy in America?Jay Richards thinks that crony capitalism is a long-term problem but that, in this case, New York legislators showed “staggering economic illiteracy and a disregard for their constituents”
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How Can Mere Products of Nature Have Free Will?
Materialists don’t like the outcome of their philosophy but twisting logic won’t change itAlthough most compatibilists have a more or less materialist view of nature, they find it impossible to shake the conviction that free will is real.
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Alita: Battle Angel: A Mind Matters Review
If you love anime and felt betrayed by the flop of Ghost, I would highly recommend AlitaAlthough it doesn’t strictly feature AI, Alita invites us to ponder what it means to be human. Are we defined by a human brain? Or are there aspects of being human that are not solely associated with the brain?
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Machines cannot take over
Even if some people would like them to. Here are some reasons why not.
A Closer Look at Detroit: Become Human, Part I
Gaming culture provides a window into our culture’s assumptions about artificial intelligenceIn the game, Detroit has transcended its current economic despair, emerging as the epicenter of the android revolution. Cyberlife, headquartered there, has become the first company to engineer and produce fully autonomous, general purpose AI androids for consumers.
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Even the axons in our nerve cells are “smart PCs”
Your brain is not a computer, it is billions of themContrary to expectations, researchers say, far-flung regions (thousands of cell body widths from their nucleus) can even make independent decisions.
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Why we can’t just ban killer robots
Should we develop them for military use? The answer isn’t pretty. It is yes.Autonomous AI weapons are potentially within the reach of terrorists, madmen, and hostile regimes like Iran and North Korea. As with nuclear warheads, we need autonomous AI to counteract possible enemy deployment while avoiding its use ourselves.
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STEM Education 4: Do STEM Nerds Need to Learn Latin?
Okay, not Latin. But some arts subjects do enhance a STEM careerWell-roundedness is appropriate in applied STEM curricula to the extent that it rounds out the skills necessary for success as a STEM professional.
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Could DNA Be Hacked, Like Software?
It’s already been done. As a language, DNA can carry malicious messages
Could Your Computer Be Transgender?
A shift in basic philosophy can account for the new dogma that biological sex is a matter of culture and choice
Can We Program Morality into a Self-Driving Car?
A software engineering professor tells us why that’s not a realistic goalAny discussion of the morality of the self-driving car should touch on the fact that the industry as a whole thrives on hype that skirts honesty.
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STEM EDUCATION 3. Killing People and Breaking Things
Modern history suggests that military superiority driven by technology can be a key factor in deterring aggression and preventing mass fatalities
That Robot Is Not Self-Aware
The way the media cover AI, you'd almost think they had invented being hopelessly naïve
The Idol with Feet of Silicon
Religions based on artificial intelligence (AI) cannot transcend the limits of computersThose proclaiming that exclusive truth lives totally in naturalism are constrained to a sadly narrow view of the world. Some naturalists have put their faith in AI and have founded the AI Church. They may think they are doing something new and cutting edge, but as Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, there is nothing new under the sun (1:9).
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AI as an Emergent Religion
Science philosopher Mike Keas’s new book discusses how AI and ET are merging, to create a religion of futurist magicMany Singulatarians hold that their soon-to-be-realized technology will be indistinguishable by the rest of us from magic. Are they serious? Well, in 2005, Kurzweil said that the magical Harry Potter stories “are not unreasonable visions of our world as it will exist only a few decades from now.” when, due to AI, “the entire universe will become saturated with our intelligence.” Keas warns that this type of thing encourages people “to expect the experiential equivalent of occult phenomena.”
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