Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

TagAndroids

frankensteins lady
display model mannequin face portrait
Type
post
Author
Nathan Jacobson
Date
March 9, 2023
Categorized
Virtual Reality
Tagged
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The Composite

Seductive Optics and Skeuomorphic Intelligence, Part IV.
Nathan Jacobson
March 9, 2023
6
Virtual Reality

This is the last in a series. Read Part I, Part II – “Moving PIxels“, and Part III -“Talking Boxes“. The greatest aspiration of artificial intelligence Frankensteins is stitching together all the sundry parts into a moving, talking, seeing, and interacting android. Today, this composite of technologies is most famously embodied in Sophia. This android from Hanson Robotics is an international “celebrity”, appearing on late night shows and on the exhibit floors of tech conferences. With how many things are we on the brink of becoming acquainted, if cowardice or carelessness did not restrain our inquiries. Mary Shelley, Frankenstein On its marketing page, Sophia’s marketing department puts the following words in its mouth, as though it has a sense of self Read More ›

artificial-intelligence-sentient-ai-thinking-for-itself-using-computational-data-and-a-human-like-sense-of-consciousness-and-conscience-generative-ai-stockpack-adobe-stock
Artificial intelligence - sentient AI thinking for itself using computational data and a human-like sense of consciousness and conscience. Generative AI
Type
post
Author
News
Date
March 1, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Ex-Googler Blake Lemoine Still Thinks AI is Sentient

Lemoine posits that because AI can appear to act anxious and stressed, it can be assumed to be sentient
News
March 1, 2023
1
Artificial Intelligence

Blake Lemoine, who formerly worked for Google, has doubled down on his claim that AI systems like LaMDA and Chat-GPT are “sentient.” Lemoine went public on his thoughts on sentience in The Washington Post last June with his bold claim, and since parting ways with Google, has not backed down on his beliefs. Lemoine posits that because AI can appear to act anxious and stressed, it can be assumed to be sentient. Maggie Harrison writes at Futurism, An interesting theory, but still not wholly convincing, considering that chatbots are designed to emulate human conversation — and thus, human stories. Breaking under stress is a common narrative arc; this particular aspect of machine behavior, while fascinating, seems less indicative of sentience, Read More ›

robot soldier
Armed super soldier with supersonic gun in the cyber city. cyberpunk city. cyborg. Robot. Generative AI
Type
post
Author
News
Date
February 28, 2023
Categorized
Robotics
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“It All Comes Down to Ethics”

Robert J. Marks interviewed for recent article on "killer robots"
News
February 28, 2023
1
Robotics

Robert J. Marks and his book The Case for Killer Robots: Why America’s Military Needs to Continue Development of Lethal AI were mentioned in a Fortune Magazine article by Jacob Carpenter, which discussed the issue of robotic and AI-controlled weapons in police and military forces. Marks was interviewed for the article and his phrase “in the end, it comes down to the ethics” was also featured in the article’s title. The article weighs different perspectives on weaponized AI and whether this is the direction the country is headed in the future. Marks notes the parallels with the gun rights issue in the debate over weaponized robots. The issue will inevitably extend to the question of AI deploying firearms, not just Read More ›

lightbult brain
Brain Flourescent Light Bulb
Type
post
Author
News
Date
February 14, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Will AI Ever Achieve Consciousness?

A former Facebook executive thinks so, assuming progress will eventually get us there
News
February 14, 2023
2
Artificial Intelligence

John Carmack, a former Facebook executive who famously expressed doubts over Mark Zuckerberg’s ambitious metaverse project, thinks AI is “on the cusp” of simulating the human brain. Per a report from Futurism, Carmack sat down with Dallas Innovates and talked about the possibilities of AI, as well as its prime obstacle: an inconvenient thing called consciousness. Carmack said, The thing we don’t yet have is sort of the consciousness, the associative memory, the things that have a life and goals and planning. I mean, forget human brains; we don’t even have things that can act like a mouse or a cat.” Despite the far-off dream of developing consciousness in AI, Carmack thinks it’s plausible, given the great strides we’ve seen Read More ›

error-page-template-for-website-retro-robot-with-monitor-computer-head-warning-message-on-blue-screen-macro-view-copy-space-stockpack-adobe-stock
Error page template for website. Retro robot with monitor computer head. Warning message on blue screen. macro view copy space
Type
post
Author
Jeffrey Funk and Gary Smith
Date
January 16, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Large Language Models Can Entertain but Are They Useful?

Humans who value correct responses will need to fact-check everything LLMs generate
Jeffrey Funk and Gary Smith
January 16, 2023
7
Artificial Intelligence

In 1987 economics Nobel Laureate Robert Solow said that the computer age was everywhere—except in productivity data. A similar thing could be said about AI today: It dominates tech news but does not seem to have boosted productivity a whit. In fact, productivity growth has been declining since Solow’s observation. Productivity increased by an average of 2.7% a year from 1948 to 1986, by less than 2% a year from 1987 to 2022. Labor productivity is the amount of goods and services we produce in a given amount of time—output per hour. More productive workers can build more cars, construct more houses, and educate more children. More productive workers can also enjoy more free time. If workers can do in four Read More ›

aerial-view-of-frankenstein-castle-in-southern-hesse-germany-stockpack-adobe-stock
Aerial view of Frankenstein Castle in southern Hesse, Germany
Type
post
Author
Peter Biles
Date
January 7, 2023
Categorized
Arts & Culture, Transhumanism
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The Prophecies of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

Andrew Klavan explores the world of the Romantics in new book and finds special insight in Shelley’s classic horror story
Peter Biles
January 7, 2023
4
Arts & Culture, Transhumanism

Andrew Klavan, acclaimed novelist and host of the Andrew Klavan Show at the Daily Wire, wrote a book about his profound encounters with the Romantics of the 19th century, called The Truth and Beauty: How the Lives and Works of England’s Greatest Poets Point the Way to a Deeper Understanding of the Words of Jesus. The Romantics include literary figures like Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, and John Keats. While it’s common to highlight the Romantics’ veneration of nature, they were also living in the throes of the Enlightenment, in which atheistic materialism was becoming a minority alternative to theism. Klavan writes, “The wonderful success of science at explaining the material world threatens to create in scientists a bias towards Read More ›

robot-ai-creativity-adobe-stock
robot ai artificial intelligence is learning creativity
Type
podcast
Author
Robert J. Marks and Richard W. Stevens
Date
December 15, 2022
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Defining the Role of AI in Patents

Robert J. Marks and Richard W. Stevens
December 15, 2022
2

Recently, a piece of art called “Théâtre D’opéra Spatial” took home the first-place prize at the Colorado State Fair’s fine art competition in the category of digital arts/digitally manipulated photography. The art was generated using AI. Can AI hold a copyright? Can a human hold a copyright for a piece of artwork that they used AI to generate? Robert J. Read More ›

multiple-smartphone-screens-adobe-stock
Multiple smartphone screens
Type
podcast
Author
Andrew McDiarmid and Doug Smith
Date
November 24, 2022
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Getting Intentional About Your Screens

Andrew McDiarmid and Doug Smith
November 24, 2022
1
Our obsession today with screens is, often unintentionally, taking us to places we regret. We use these windows into the world for hours every day, often unaware how intentional content creators and app designers are in shaping our decisions and forming harmful habits. Read More ›
robot army
Military artificial intelligence arms race to produce an AI enabled army with autonomous robot soldiers and weapon systems, conceptual illustration
Type
post
Author
Peter Biles
Date
October 27, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
Tagged
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Robots, Drones, and Modern Warfare

Robots might not take over the world like the sci-fi movies depict, but AI in modern warfare threatens much destruction
Peter Biles
October 27, 2022
4
Artificial Intelligence

You might remember the blockbuster movie I, Robot (2004) starring Will Smith, who plays a tough-minded homicide detective named Del Spooner in Chicago in the year 2035. Humanoid robots serve humanity and have become incorporated into society. Still, ever since a robot saved Del at the expense of a little girl, he hates them and thinks they will eventually overrun the world. I, Robot imagines a society in which AI could physically overtake humanity. The technology we’ve created for our own use ends up using us, unto our own destruction. Movies like I, Robot, Terminator, and others envision sentient, human-like robots that threaten to jeopardize the meaning of being human. But is that the real danger of AI, or does Read More ›

painting of human eye
“Fluorite” - oil painting. Conceptual abstract picture of the eye. Oil painting in colorful colors. Conceptual abstract closeup of an oil painting and palette knife on canvas.
Type
post
Author
Peter Biles
Date
October 19, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture
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Human Artists and their AI Copycats

What will happen to actual artists if AI can mimic their styles?
Peter Biles
October 19, 2022
4
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Imagine you’re walking through a world-class art museum, and you come across Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers.” (Let’s assume someone hasn’t already thrown tomato soup on it.) The painting isn’t a replication. It’s not a copy of a copy of a copy. It’s the original canvas and paint, the direct object created by the artist himself, shaped by age, visited by thousands of admirers—it’s “vintage.” You stand there admiring the work of a past genius, and get a sense of its beauty and meaning in a whole new way. There’s something unique in witnessing “the real thing.” Why do people travel worldwide to look at Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” when they can see a digital recreation through a Google search? Or why Read More ›

puppet-hands-from-leadership-controlling-our-lives-concept-stockpack-adobe-stock
Puppet hands from leadership controlling our lives. Concept
Type
podcast
Author
Andrew McDiarmid
Date
April 21, 2022
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How to Sever Big Tech’s Strings

Andrew McDiarmid
April 21, 2022
1

Doug Smith, author of [Un]Intentional: How Screens Secretly Shape Your Desires and How You Can Break Free, explains to Andrew McDiarmid how we can escape the subtle influence of Big Tech. He also emphasizes the importance of removing ourselves from our screens so we can enjoy the outside world and recapture our creativity. Show Notes 00:38 | Introducing Doug Smith Read More ›

robot-hand-making-contact-with-human-hand-on-dark-background-3d-rendering-stockpack-adobe-stock
Robot hand making contact with human hand on dark background 3D rendering
Type
post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
January 31, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance
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Musk Goes All-In on the Tesla Robot

Musk puts all other projects on hold to pursue the dream of eliminating human labor, despite the reality that humans are irreplaceable
Jonathan Bartlett
January 31, 2022
5
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance

In August, during Tesla’s “AI Day” presentations, Musk unveiled the “Tesla Robot.” Or, in reality, a dancing person in a robot costume, along with some made-up specifications about the robot. Many (including the present writer) found this idea for a product line ludicrous, and a mere headline grab. However, in a recent conference call with investors, Elon Musk has doubled down on the Tesla Robot, now named “Optimus,” as being the foundation for the future of the company. In fact, it looks like Tesla has put all of its other development projects on hold in order to work on the robot. The Cybertruck (announced 2019, originally expected in 2021), Semi-truck (announced in 2017, originally expected in 2020), and Roadster 2.0 (announced in 2017, Read More ›

cyber-security-concept-stockpack-adobe-stock
Cyber security concept.
Type
podcast
Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
October 7, 2021
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The 2020 AI Dirty Dozen Hyped Stories: Countdown by Bradley Center Brain Trust Members

Robert J. Marks
October 7, 2021
3

Is AI fundamentally flawed? Can Elon Musk merge man with machines? Will there ever be self-driving cars? Join us as we revisit the top 12 most over-hyped stories in artificial intelligence from 2020 with Robert J. Marks, Jonathan Bartlett, and Eric Holloway. Show Notes Additional Resources

robotic-handyman-pliers-handwrench-fixing-maintenance-concept-creative-design-toy-with-metal-funnel-hopper-cogs-wheels-gears-silver-metallic-body-green-wall-blue-floor-background-copy-space-stockpack-adobe-stock
Robotic handyman pliers handwrench. Fixing maintenance concept. Creative design toy with metal funnel hopper, cogs wheels gears silver metallic body. Green wall, blue floor background. Copy space
Type
post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
August 23, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance
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Nobody is Taking Tesla AI Seriously Anymore

Tesla's "AI Day" presented reasonable discussion until the "robot" showed up
Jonathan Bartlett
August 23, 2021
4
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance

Recently, Tesla held its “AI Day.” Tesla often creates an event which highlights some aspect of their business that they want to promote to investors, customers, or to potential employees. Tesla has had “battery day” and “autonomy day” to promote Tesla efforts on those fronts. It is an attempt to keep excitement and exposure to a maximum during seasons when there are no big product reveals. While Elon Musk is typically guilty of leading people on with extravagant (and unwarranted) claims about Tesla technology, these events have recently shown a more reserved side to Tesla’s front man. In “battery day,” he was expected to launch a million-mile battery, but instead talked mostly about getting access to the minerals needed for Read More ›

silhouette-of-drone-flying-above-city-at-sunset-stockpack-adobe-stock
Silhouette of drone flying above city at sunset
Type
podcast
Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
August 19, 2021
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Using EMPs in Warfare

Robert J. Marks
August 19, 2021
1

EMPs are just one aspect of the ever-growing threat in our changing world. There are multiple types of frequencies which could affect your electronics and your well-being. Robert J. Marks and Sarah Seguin return to discuss these threats and the future of warfare. Show Notes Additional Resources

cute-little-happy-child-girl-playing-piano-in-a-light-room-selective-focus-noise-effect-stockpack-adobe-stock
Cute little happy child girl playing piano in a light room. Selective focus, noise effect
Type
podcast
Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
July 8, 2021
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Jay Richards: Creative Freedom, Not Robots, Is The Future Of Work

Robert J. Marks
July 8, 2021
1

In an information economy with the rise of artificial intelligence and robots, are humans being pushed to the margins of the workforce? Are we to look forward to a hopeful future, or a dark one? Listen in to hear Jay Richards provide his own insight on the development of technology and its role in the workplace, and how he envisions Read More ›

Robotic Hand Assisting Person For Signing Document
Type
post
Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
July 1, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Law
Tagged
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Can a Robot Hold a Patent?

The boring answer is no, but the question raises intriguing thoughts about AI and intellectual property law
Richard W. Stevens
July 1, 2021
10
Artificial Intelligence, Law

Since the late 1800s, people have been intrigued by robots. There’s something strange, wonderful, but sometimes scary about walking, talking, thinking machines, especially when in human form. Talking about “whether a robot can hold a patent” is bound to intrigue humanoids.  Mute the Robot Sound Bite In June 2021, we started considering the provocatively titled podcast transcript, “Can a Robot Be Arrested? Hold a Patent? Pay Income Taxes?”, posted on the IEEE Spectrum site. Steven Cherry interviewed Ryan Abbott, physician, lawyer, and professor, about these topics and referencing his 2019 book, The Reasonable Robot: Artificial Intelligence and the Law. Our previous discussion, “Can a Robot be Arrested and Prosecuted?”, addressed criminal liability for crimes committed by artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Now we consider: “Can a Read More ›

robot-looking-on-the-planet-earth-from-space-technology-concept-artificial-intelligence-stockpack-adobe-stock
Robot looking on the planet Earth from space. Technology concept, artificial intelligence
Type
podcast
Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
June 24, 2021
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Geoffrey Simmons: Human Design and Robots (Bingecast)

Robert J. Marks
June 24, 2021
2

“Machines will never fall in love with each other, they will never say a prayer in earnest and they will never comprehend their own death,” writes Dr. Geoffrey Simmons. In today’s bingecast, Dr. Robert J. Marks talks with author and retired physician Simmons about his book, Are We Here to Re-Create Ourselves?: The Convergence of Designs. The two spin off Read More ›

internet-law-concept-stockpack-adobe-stock
Internet law concept
Type
post
Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
June 7, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Law
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Can a Robot be Arrested and Prosecuted?

An Uber driver is held liable if he runs over someone. But what if a driverless taxi ran over someone?
Richard W. Stevens
June 7, 2021
8
Artificial Intelligence, Law

The title, “Can a Robot Be Arrested? Hold a Patent? Pay Income Taxes?”, is bound to attract clicks and attention. Posted on the IEEE Spectrum site, a podcast transcript by that name reports Steven Cherry’s interview of Ryan Abbott about artificial intelligence and the law. Abbott, a physician, lawyer, and professor, wrote the aptly titled book, The Reasonable Robot: Artificial Intelligence and the Law, published by Cambridge University Press in 2019. To the point: Can a robot be arrested? Technically, an arrest occurs when a person is forcibly but lawfully detained. Of course, one can forcibly detain a robot – we’ve seen that done in many science fiction movies. Abbott was talking specifically about how criminal law should apply to actions taken by artificial intelligence (AI) Read More ›

robot-playing-chess
Robot Playing Chess
Type
post
Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
June 1, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Natural Intelligence
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Chicken Little AI Dystopians: Is the Sky Really Falling?

Futurist claims about human-destroying superintelligence are uninformed and irresponsible
Robert J. Marks
June 1, 2021
5
Artificial Intelligence, Natural Intelligence

The article “How an Artificial Superintelligence Might Actually Destroy Humanity” is one of the most irresponsible pieces about AI I have read in the last five years. The author, transhumanist George Dvorsky, builds his argument on a foundation of easily popped balloons. AI is and will remain a tool. Computers can crunch numbers faster than you or me. Alexa saves a lot of time looking up results on the web or playing a selected tune from Spotify. A car – even a bicycle – can go a lot faster than I can run. AI is a tool like fire or electricity used to enhance human performance and improve lifestyles. Like fire and electricity, AI can be used for evil or Read More ›