Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

TagComputers

cell-microscopic-weevil-rye-stockpack-adobe-stock
Cell microscopic- weevil rye
Type
post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
November 27, 2023
Categorized
Information Theory
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Directed Goals in Living and Evolving Systems

Nearly every action that an organism does is for something.
Jonathan Bartlett
November 27, 2023
9
Information Theory

Teleology is the technical term for goal-directedness, especially when describing living systems. Teleology has been problematic in the sciences because of the amount of hand-waving that teleology has historically allowed. From the outside, it is difficult to tell if something happened because it was intended or if it just happened to be beneficial. Determining the precise goal can be problematic, even if an action is goal-directed. It is easy to construct a story about why an organism does an action, but how do we ascertain whether this story is true? When are attributions of teleology science, and when does it degenerate to mere invention? Additionally, the lack of ability to measure goal-directedness has often placed teleology in the realm of storytelling instead of science. Read More ›

artificial-intelligence-ai-machine-learning-and-modern-computer-technologies-concepts-business-technology-internet-and-network-concept-stockpack-adobe-stock
Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and modern computer technologies concepts. Business, Technology, Internet and network concept.
Type
post
Author
Erik J. Larson
Date
November 17, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Why ChatGPT Is Killing Off Traditional AI

We're living in another AI "winter"
Erik J. Larson
November 17, 2023
4
Artificial Intelligence

The web proved that gathering data and using machine learning techniques resulted in superior performance on a number of central tasks in information extraction and natural language processing, like entity extraction, co-reference resolution, and many others (sentiment analysis et al). For all practical purposes, the debate about this raging on among AI scientists was resolved definitely by about 2010 — that the idea of hiring smart people to hand-code “knowledge” in a computer-readable language was quite limited. It had its day, to be sure, but it wasn’t a path to AGI. It wasn’t a path to anything other than hiring philosophers. My own career transitioned from doing the manual code-it-all-in approach to training and developing systems based on provision of data. Read More ›

greek-stoic-philosopher-statue-digital-render-stockpack-adobe-stock
Greek Stoic Philosopher statue digital render
Type
post
Author
Eric Holloway
Date
October 9, 2023
Categorized
Philosophy
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Ancient Greek Philosophy and Modern Blockbuster Graphics

The amazing computer-generated effects you see in almost every blockbuster today are only possible thanks to ideas proposed over 2300 years ago.
Eric Holloway
October 9, 2023
7
Philosophy

Once upon a time, in an online chatroom not so long ago, I was discussing philosophy with a friend. He said that, at the end of the day, philosophy is very speculative. It is hard to know which opinion is true. So, he decided, what is really important is whether an idea is useful. That way at least we get something out of the idea, even if we don’t know whether it is true. Strangely enough, this way of thinking makes ancient philosophy relevant, despite being contrary to modern physics. In particular, it becomes relevant for modern graphics programming. The amazing computer-generated effects you see in almost every blockbuster today are only possible thanks to ideas proposed over 2300 years Read More ›

business-audit-stock-financial-finance-management-on-analysis-data-strategy-with-graph-accounting-marketing-or-report-chart-economy-investment-research-profit-concept-generative-ai-stockpack-adobe-stock
Business audit stock financial finance management on analysis data strategy with graph accounting marketing or report chart economy investment research profit concept. Generative AI
Type
post
Author
Eric Holloway
Date
September 18, 2023
Categorized
Machine Learning
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Life According to the Turing Machine

Is there more to the world than just data and digits?
Eric Holloway
September 18, 2023
8
Machine Learning

John sat down at the kitchen table for breakfast. He poured himself a big bowl of bit-o-byte flakes and topped it off with a slosh of random milk. After a couple of big crunchy mouthfuls with his Turing spoon to reoptimize his compression ratio, John sat back and sipped at his virtual machine coffee. It was a pleasant morning. The principal components of the digitized sun were just visible above the trie data structure on the mountains in the distance. Thanks to the large rain bandwidth from the night before, the tries were well balanced, throwing off sparkles as the sun’s rays traced through to his viewport. What a wonderful world, he mused, and to think it all came from a dovetail Turing Read More ›

silhouettes-of-people-observing-stars-in-night-sky-astronomy-concept-stockpack-adobe-stock
Silhouettes of people observing stars in night sky. Astronomy concept.
Type
post
Author
Peter Biles
Date
September 16, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind
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Another Non-Computable Trait: Spiritual Longing

You can't program spiritual longing into a computer, not matter how savvy the algorithm.
Peter Biles
September 16, 2023
2
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind

What makes human beings unique, compared to say, a piece of granite? What distinguishes us from advanced artificial intelligence? Robert J. Marks has argued that several characteristics set us apart from the machines in his book Non-Computable You. This week, scientist Eric Hedin, citing from the classic thought of Anglo-Irish writer C.S. Lewis, adds another trait to the list: spiritual longing for something greater than the material. Hedin writes, If physical desires, such as hunger, rightly indicate that we were meant to be satisfied with food, then the longing for something that transcends even our most lavish experiences of abundance must also indicate an attainable fulfillment we have never yet tasted and without which we cannot be fully satisfied. Stated Read More ›

neon-nanotech-in-cyberspace-a-3d-illustration-generative-ai-stockpack-adobe-stock
Neon Nanotech in Cyberspace: A 3D Illustration. Generative AI.
Type
post
Author
News
Date
July 31, 2023
Categorized
Technology
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From Nanoscale to Waferscale

Sean Lie on the challenges and promises of the future's computing power
News
July 31, 2023
1
Technology

In today’s featured video, watch Sean Lie, Chief Hardware Architect at Cerebras Systems, and Pierre de Rochemont, Founder of Frontier Nanosystems, give presentations on the challenges and promising techniques for advancing computing power into the future. We’ve been sharing a number of lectures from past COSM conferences. This video is just one of many you can find at the Bradley Center’s YouTube page. There you’ll find several lectures, interviews, and panels dealing with issues that range from economics, Big Tech, and artificial intelligence. Notable speakers include 2022 Kyoto Prize winner Carver Mead, venture capitalist Peter Thiel, and George Gilder, co-founder of Discovery Institute and author of Life After Capitalism: The Meaning of Wealth, the Future of the Economy, and the Time Theory of Money.

programming-code-writing-software-coding-developing-hands-typing-computer-script-stockpack-adobe-stock
Programming code writing, software coding developing, hands typing computer script..
Type
post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
June 28, 2023
Categorized
Programming
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Why Is Object-Oriented Programming Popular?

This method makes programmers think more systematically about their code
Jonathan Bartlett
June 28, 2023
7
Programming

Programming practice has gone through several evolutions in its lifespan. The first phase might be considered the “exploratory” phase, where there were no rules but a lot of imagination. People wrote code that was simultaneously amazing and terrible—amazing at what people got their slow computers to do, but terrible in that no one but the author would ever be able to maintain the programs. The lessons learned from the exploratory phase led to what is known as “structured” programming. The goal of structured programming was to be able to write programs that someone else had a chance of reading and understanding. Structured programming favored having really well-documented inputs and outputs to every function, very clear entry and exit points to each function, and Read More ›

the-robot-guard-on-the-dark-garbage-dump-a-surreal-3d-scenery-stockpack-adobe-stock
The robot guard on the dark garbage dump: A surreal 3D scenery
Type
post
Author
Andrew McDiarmid
Date
June 19, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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AI Could Take Us Over, But Not In the Way You Might Expect

Revisiting last year's article from tech critic Andrew McDiarmid
Andrew McDiarmid
June 19, 2023
5
Artificial Intelligence

As I reported last year, there’s been a lot of talk about a singularity in the last decade. That’s the point when machine intelligence (AI) exceeds human intelligence and begins to rule humanity and eventually the entire universe. It’s a scary proposition to be sure, but we can rest easy on that front, because it’s not going to happen. The futurists assume there’s a bridge between narrow applications of AI and the general intelligence humans possess. But no such bridge exists. As Erik J. Larson explains in his book The Myth of Artificial Intelligence, we’re not even on the right road to such a bridge. You can also take George Gilder’s word for it. One of the most influential thinkers on technology and economics Read More ›

the-variety-of-different-types-of-chips-and-electronic-components-on-the-printed-circuit-board-stockpack-adobe-stock
the variety of different types of chips and electronic components on the printed circuit board
Type
post
Author
News
Date
June 1, 2023
Categorized
Technology
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Celebrating an Internet Pioneer: Frederico Faggin

Faggin discussed his background and how he came to design the first commercial microprocessor at Intel
News
June 1, 2023
1
Technology

For today’s featured video from the COSM 2022, check out this interview between journalist Maria Teresa Cometto and Frederico Faggin. Faggin discussed his background and how he came to design the first commercial microprocessor at Intel. For more similar material, visit the Center’s YouTube page to enjoy more lectures and videos from past COSM conferences.

computer-microchips-and-processors-on-electronic-circuit-board-abstract-technology-microelectronics-concept-background-macro-shot-shallow-focus-stockpack-adobe-stock
Computer Microchips and Processors on Electronic circuit board. Abstract technology microelectronics concept background. Macro shot, shallow focus.
Type
post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
May 22, 2023
Categorized
Technology
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The Microservices Controversy from a Software Management Perspective

As projects get bigger, so do the reasons for having a microservice architecture
Jonathan Bartlett
May 22, 2023
6
Technology

A new report by Amazon has caused a bit of a stir on the Internet. In it, the Amazon Prime video team reported that changing their architecture from a microservice architecture to a monolithic architecture resulted in a 90% cost savings.  While the report itself was very mild (its only claim was that this architecture helped in this specific situation), it has caused the people who disliked the microservice trend to make some noise of their own. Here, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what I see as the benefits of the microservice approach from a software development management perspective. If you are not familiar with microservice architectures, you can find out more information in my book, Cloud Read More ›

computer chip
Artificial intelligence. Microchip connections, electric pulses and binary codes.
Type
post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
March 20, 2023
Categorized
Technology
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The Raspberry Pi Phenomenon

A Raspberry Pi is a full computer that is not much larger than a credit card, but still packs enough power to be usable as a desktop computer
Jonathan Bartlett
March 20, 2023
5
Technology

For the uninitiated, the Raspberry Pi is a single-board computer that runs the Linux operating system. It can be either operated as a desktop computer or as an embedded system (i.e., a custom electronic device), or both. Historically, computer systems were either general-purpose computers or embedded systems. General-purpose computers required too much hardware, too many chips, and too much power to work inside an electronic device. However, as manufacturers packed more and more functionality into less and less space using less and less power, eventually it became possible to have a computer that was small, cheap, powerful, and not especially power-hungry. The Raspberry Pi came about right as this was happening. A Raspberry Pi is a full computer that is not much Read More ›

art-collage-businessman-with-a-laptop-instead-of-a-head-online-research-concept-stockpack-adobe-stock
Art collage. Businessman with a laptop instead of a head. Online research concept.
Type
post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
February 13, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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The Need for Accountability in AI-Generated Content

Just because we live in a world of AI does not mean we can escape responsibility
Jonathan Bartlett
February 13, 2023
4
Artificial Intelligence

AI-generated content has become increasingly common on the web. However, as we enter this new era, we will need to think through the moral and social ramifications of what we are doing, and how we should negotiate the new ethical landscape. But first, a brief recap of recent history. The first major player to pioneer AI-generated content was the Associated Press. AP realized that many market-oriented articles were pretty monotonous and read like templates anyway, so they decided to fully commit and auto-generate many of them. If you read an AP story about a company’s earnings report and it sounds eerily like every other story about other companies’ earnings reports, there’s a reason for that. Templated content, while annoying, provides window-dressing to raw Read More ›

person at the internet
Business man works in office with laptop. Concept of internet network. double exposure
Type
post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
January 30, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Why ChatGPT Won’t Replace Google

With Google, the algorithm eventually leads you to content made by real people. With ChatGPT, you never leave the algorithm
Jonathan Bartlett
January 30, 2023
2
Artificial Intelligence

To some extent, ChatGPT is a newer, easier-to-use interface than Google.  Unlike Google, it doesn’t make you waste time by visiting those pesky websites.  It not only looks into its database for content, but it also summarizes it for you as paragraphs. There is a problem lurking in there, however.  Being computers, neither Google nor ChatGPT cares about the truth.  They are algorithms, and they merely do as they are told.  Additionally, you can’t code the human mind into algorithms.  However, there is a fundamental difference between what ChatGPT does and what Google does that will prevent content generators like ChatGPT from displacing search engines like Google: Google eventually lets you out of its system. Ultimately, the goal of search Read More ›

technology-and-network-concept-stockpack-adobe-stock
Technology and network concept
Type
post
Author
Eric Holloway
Date
January 10, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Programming
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Is ChatGPT Solely a Neural Network? I Tested That…

Changing the random number test to a "computer easy, human hard" test requires simply that we ask ChatGPT to reverse the random number. It couldn't.
Eric Holloway
January 10, 2023
9
Artificial Intelligence, Programming

ChatGPT is a direct descendent of GPT-3, and is a fancy form of a fancy machine learning algorithm called a neural network. For an overview of all of ChatGPT’s neural network complexity, here is a fun article. However, all that is beside the point. The important thing about a neural network: It can only generate what is in its training data. Therefore, ChatGPT can only produce what is in its training data. ChatGPT’s training data does not include the conversation you or I are having with ChatGPT. Therefore, if something novel occurs in the conversation, ChatGPT cannot reproduce it. That is, if ChatGPT is a neural network. Conversely, if ChatGPT reproduces novel text from the conversation, then ipso facto ChatGPT is not a Read More ›

reaching toward chatbot
Chat bot Robot Online Chatting Communication Business Internet Technology Concept
Type
post
Author
Peter Biles
Date
December 5, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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OpenAI Launches Impressive New Chatbot: ChatGPT

The sophisticated AI tool could revolutionize the internet, and come with big cost
Peter Biles
December 5, 2022
4
Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is making great strides in 2022. A few months ago, the company OpenAI introduced DALL-E, a text-to-image generator, which they made open to the public. Some have raised concerns over the future role of artists and copyright issues considering AI art generators. Does AI pose a threat to human creators? Well, that question just got weightier and more multifaceted. OpenAI just released ChatGPT, what writer Jacob Carpenter calls, “the most advanced, user-friendly chatbot to enter the public domain.” ChatGPT can “write lines of code, pen a college-level essay, author responses in the voice of a pirate, and write a piano piece in Mozart’s style.” Carpenter goes on to point out that some are wondering if the chatbot threatens Read More ›

a-salesperson-working-in-an-office-on-a-virtual-call-stockpack-unsplash
A salesperson working in an office on a virtual call
Type
podcast
Author
Wesley J. Smith and Robert J. Marks
Date
November 10, 2022
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Can a Computer Be a Person?

Wesley J. Smith and Robert J. Marks
November 10, 2022
1

Are we on the verge of the era of machines? Is AI destined to supplant most human endeavors and activities? Can a computer be deemed a person? And if so, should that computer be granted rights as part of the moral community? Will we ever attain immortality by uploading our minds into computers as transhumanists predict? And what the heck Read More ›

beautiful-night-sky-the-milky-way-moon-and-the-trees-elements-of-this-image-furnished-by-nasa-stockpack-adobe-stock
Beautiful night sky, the Milky Way, moon and the trees. Elements of this image furnished by NASA.
Type
podcast
Author
Michael Egnor
Date
August 26, 2021
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“If Nobody Looks at the Moon, Does It Exist?” and Other Metaphysical Questions

Michael Egnor
August 26, 2021
2

If no one is looking at the moon, does it exist? Why has materialism been around for so long? Will computers ever be conscious? What happens to our consciousness after we die? Bernardo Kastrup tackles these questions and more with Michael Egnor in another bingecast! Show Notes 0:00:28 | Introducing Dr. Bernardo Kastrup 0:01:22 | How quantum mechanics points to Read More ›

inner-life-of-super-human-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Inner Life of Super Human
Type
post
Author
News
Date
December 19, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind
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A Silicon Valley Psychologist Doesn’t Believe in Consciousness

Duncan Riach thinks that, with increasing complexity, computers will appear to be conscious too but it’s a misunderstanding for both humans and computers
News
December 19, 2020
3
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind

Duncan Riach, who believes that computers can become selves, doesn’t believe in consciousness. As he explains, I’ve lost friends over this because a denial of consciousness undermines a final refuge of the arrogance of selfhood: universal consciousness. But even most normal people are strongly insistent that consciousness is a real thing, a special thing, and that they possess it. The problem I have is that there’s not only no evidence for it, but what people seem to be referring to as consciousness is explainable as an effect no more unusual, no less materialistically explainable, than water flowing downhill… Rather than jumping to the conclusion that this body has a soul and/or that somehow this “I am,” this feeling of something Read More ›

colorful-quantum-world-fractal-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Colorful quantum world fractal
Type
post
Author
News
Date
December 2, 2020
Categorized
Science
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“Spooky Action at a Distance” Makes Sense—in the Quantum World

Einstein never liked quantum mechanics but each transistor in your cell phone is a quantum device
News
December 2, 2020
8
Science

In last week’s podcast, “Enrique Blair on quantum computing,” Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks talks with fellow computer engineer Enrique Blair about why quantum mechanics is so strange. The discussion turned to why Albert Einstein, a brilliant but orderly mathematical thinker, did not really like quantum mechanics at all and what we should learn from that: https://episodes.castos.com/mindmatters/Mind-Matters-110-Enrique-Blair.mp3 The discussion of Einstein and “spooky action at a distance” (his way of describing quantum particles’ behavior) starts at approximately 27:45. The Show Notes and transcript follow. Excerpts from the transcript: Robert J. Marks: Albert Einstein didn’t like quantum mechanics or certain aspects of quantum mechanics. Dd he die thinking that quantum mechanics was a fluke? Enrique Blair (pictured): That’s an Read More ›

a-mouse-with-a-tree-green-it-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
a mouse with a tree / green it
Type
post
Author
News
Date
November 18, 2020
Categorized
Economics, Global Technology
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Could Carbon Computing Make Computers More Environment Friendly?

As a key component of life forms, carbon is abundant and energy efficient
News
November 18, 2020
6
Economics, Global Technology

Carbon, a very abundant chemical element, is one of the building blocks of life, partly on account of its stability. It is a minimalist element, compared to the silicon used in computing today: … carbon dioxide is is a small gaseous molecule consisting of two oxygens both forming a double bond with a single carbon while silicon dioxide is a massive behemoth of a molecule made of huge numbers of alternating oxygen and silicon atoms and is more commonly known as sand. S. E. Gould, “Shine on you crazy diamond: why humans are carbon-based lifeforms” at Scientific American (November 11, 2012) But there’s something else about carbon. As George Gilder puts it, carbon-based life forms, like humans, consume very little Read More ›