^TagInformation

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 8, 2023

Categorized
Surveillance

Tagged
aliens, Extraterrestrials (ET), Information, New York Post, Pentagon, space, Top secret, Unidentified flying objects (UFOs)}

Just in Case You Were Wondering, Aliens Exist (Allegedly)

_{The whistleblower report is out: aliens are real! At least, that's the rumor.} _{News

June 8, 2023

2

Surveillance}

The whistleblower report is out: aliens are real! At least, that’s the rumor. And the government has been hiding it for decades, apparently. If you needed another bizarre headline in your feed, we’ve got you covered. Although to be fair, the extraterrestrials have been in the news pretty often over the last couple of years. In 2021, the Pentagon confirmed that images of an unidentified flying object were taken by Navy personnel. Even earlier photos of similar “UFO” looking aircraft surfaced, going against strong winds and having all the appearance of highly advanced technology. Now, the whistleblower, Air Force veteran David Grusch, says that the US government recovered an alien spacecraft and has been hiding the fact for years, even Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
May 26, 2023

Categorized
Technology

Tagged
Artificial Intelligence, Carver Mead, COSM 2022, George Gilder, Information, Kyoto Prize, Tech, truth}

Tackling the Big Questions with Carver Mead

_{Mead said that COSM attendees argued in good faith in order to reach the truth} _{News

May 26, 2023

1

Technology}

Dr. Carver Mead, Professor Emeritus and California Institute of Technology and recipient of the prestigious 2022 Kyoto Prize for Advanced Technology, gave the closing remarks for last year’s COSM conference. “We’ve tackled the big questions,” Mead said. Mead noted that in a system where free information is bountiful, our adversaries will try to set us at odds against each other. “That’s the one thing that can cripple us,” he said. “Is when we get at odds with each other. This COSM has been a wonderful example of us arguing over things not because we have a fixed idea and we don’t want to change because of some preconceived notion, but because we want to get to the truth.” You can Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
May 9, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness, Information, John Lennox, mind, mind matters, Online, Oxford, Smartphones, Technology}

AI is Closer Than You Think

_{Most of us carry powerful AI in our pockets every single day} _{News

May 9, 2023

2

Artificial Intelligence}

Sometimes AI seems a bit of a niche idea, relegated to dystopian prophecies or sentient robots. But AI is much more pervasive and influential in our present world in more ways than we might assume. Oxford mathematician John Lennox reminds us in this recent podcast episode that our society teems with AI. Lennox commented, Now, the final example I would give you is the fact that we’re all involved in AI. That is any of us who own a smartphone, it’s tracking us all the time. What many of us don’t realize is that, for example, we make a purchase at Amazon. A few days later, we’ll get a pop-up saying, people that bought this book were interested in that Read More ›

businessman hand writing a business graph on a touch screen inte

^{Type
post

Author
Gary Smith
Date
March 27, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
Artificial Intelligence, Charts, ChatGPT, GPT-3, Graphs, Information, LLMs, Optical Illusion, Quantitative}

A Graph Can Tell a Story—Sometimes It’s an Illusion

_{Mistakes, chicanery, and "chartjunk" can undermine the usefulness of graphs} _{Gary Smith

March 27, 2023

5

Artificial Intelligence}

A picture is said to be worth a thousand words. A graph can be worth a thousand numbers. Graphs are, as Edward Tufte titled his wonderful book, the “visual display of quantitative information.” Graphs should assist our understanding of the data we are using. Graphs can help us identify tendencies, patterns, trends, and relationships. They should display data accurately and encourage viewers to think about the data rather than admire the artwork. Unfortunately, graphs are sometimes marred (intentionally or unintentionally) by a variety of misleading techniques or by what Tufte calls “chartjunk” that obscures rather than illuminates. I have described elsewhere many ways in which mistakes, chicanery, and chartjunk can undermine the usefulness of graphs. I recently saw a novel Read More ›

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

Tagged
AI, algorithm, ChatGPT, Computers, Google, GPT-3, Information, intelligence, truth}

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 ›

power line NP background of the sunset, a lot of supports for wires

^{Type
podcast

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
August 12, 2021

Tagged
1989, academia, China, data protection, electromagnetic pulses, electromagnetic pulses (EMPs), emps, entrepreneuship, flashdrives, fried circuts, government, Information, microwaves, nuclear weapons, Power Grid, protect your data, protection power grid, Robert J. Marks, Sarah Seguin, solar flares, solar storms, Technology}

EMPs. Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.

_{Robert J. Marks

August 12, 2021

1}

Sarah Seguin and Robert J. Marks discuss what might happen if someone tried to attack the United States using an EMP. What kinds of groups might use EMPs for terrorism? Are steps being taken to protect the country’s power grid? Show Notes 00:13 | 1989 Solar Storm 01:31 | HEMP Disruption 04:34 | Introducing Sarah Seguin 05:39 | The United Read More ›

Abstract background of science and technology

^{Type
podcast

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
August 5, 2021

Tagged
academia, China, data protection, electromagnetic pulses, electromagnetic pulses (EMPs), emps, entrepreneuship, flashdrives, fried circuts, government, Information, microwaves, nuclear weapons, protect your data, Robert J. Marks, Sarah Seguin, Technology, the cloud}

Sarah Seguin on EMPs and How to Protect Your Data

_{Robert J. Marks

August 5, 2021

1}

With society’s ever-increasing dependence on technology, a growing concern is the threat of EMPs. Sarah Seguin and Robert J. Marks discuss EMPs, the physics behind such attacks, and potential ways you can protect your electronics and your data. Show Notes 00:12 | Introduction 02:12 | Electromagnetic Capability 04:18 | Defining EMPs 05:17 | The Physics behind EMPs 07:43 | EMPs Read More ›

St. Basil's Cathedral. This was taken during my first night in Moscow. Decided to take a stroll down the Red Square to see all the sights.

^{Type
podcast

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
July 29, 2021

Tagged
academia, Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous drones, Autonomous lethal weapons, Autonomous weapons, Deepfakes, entrepreneurship, facial recognition systems, facial recognition technology, government, image recognition software, image recognition system, Information, investment russia, military technology, research, Robert J. Marks, Russia, Samuel Bendett, speech recognition software, STEM fields, Swarm intelligence, swarm intelligence software, Venture capital, warfare, Weapons}

Samuel Bendett on AI Development in Russia

_{Robert J. Marks

July 29, 2021

2}

What is happening in Russia right now with regards to development of artificial intelligence? In today’s bingecast, Samuel Bendett and Robert J. Marks discuss Russian military and non-military development of AI including autonomous weapons, entrepreneurship, and free enterprise. Show Notes 00:46 | Introducing Samuel Bendett, advisor with the CNA Adversary Analysis Group 01:37 | Samuel Bendett’s background 02:14 | Russian non-military development of AI Read More ›

Oumuamua is a mildly active comet, and the first interstellar object detected passing through the Solar System.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
February 27, 2021

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science

Tagged
Avi Loeb, Caleb A. Scharf, Caleb Scharf, Extraterrestrial (book), Information, Oumuamua, Specified Complexity}

Astrobiologist Cautions Against Jumping the Gun in Spotting ET

_{Scientists he says, are cautious with good reason. There are many weird natural phenomena like Oumuamua out there.} _{News

February 27, 2021

4

Arts & Culture, Science}

At Nautilus, astrophysicist (and astrobiologist) Caleb A. Scharf offers some sobering reflections on the diligent search for extraterrestrial intelligences (ET) in recent decades: Despite this effort, there has been no evidence to date of extraterrestrial life. But that lack of evidence is not because the scientific enterprise is uniformly conservative, rigid, and close-minded, as implied by [astronomer Avi] Loeb and uncritically echoed by some columnists. It’s because no discovery or event has risen to the level where it is inexplicable in any other way. Could greater funding and support change that story? Perhaps, but the same could be said for almost any other ambitious scientific enterprise, and the answer cannot be known beforehand. Caleb Scharf, “The Alien-Haunted World” at Nautilus Read More ›

^{Type
podcast

Author
Michael Egnor
Date
January 21, 2021

Tagged
algorithm, algorithmic specified complexity, anthropic principle, Artificial Intelligence, dead man syndrome, evolutionary computing, Information, Intelligent Design, no free lunch theorem, Randomness, survival of the fittest}

Robert J. Marks On AI Evolutionary Computing (Part III)

_{Michael Egnor

January 21, 2021

2}

Can artificial intelligence algorithms prove Darwinian evolution? Why won’t some scientists admit the design inherent in evolutionary computing? Do random processes disprove intelligent design? Dr. Michael Egnor discusses evolutionary computing, the no free lunch theorem, and the role of purpose in chance with Dr. Robert J. Marks. Show Notes 00:41 | Introducing Dr. Robert J. Marks 01:10 | The role Read More ›

^{Type
podcast

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
December 3, 2020

Tagged
algorithmic specified complexity, Analog computers, Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), Artificial Intelligence, causation, Claude Shannon, Correlation, Correlation vs causation, Creativity, design in nature, Information, information science, Information Theory, Jacob Bernoulli, Kolmogorov information, Meaningless correlations, Norbert Wiener, physical information, Robert J. Marks, Rolf Landauer, Shannon information, Specified Complexity}

Robert J. Marks on Information and AI (Part I)

_{Robert J. Marks

December 3, 2020

1}

What is information? How is information created? Will artificial intelligence ever be creative? Dr. Michael Egnor discusses information theory, correlations, and creative artificial intelligence with Dr. Robert J. Marks. Show Notes 00:27 | Introducing Dr. Robert J. Marks 01:14 | What is information? 06:44 | Exact representations of data 08:29 | A system with minimal information 09:27 | Information in Read More ›

Cat looking to little gerbil mouse on the table. Concept of prey, food, pest.

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
November 20, 2020

Categorized
Information Theory, Neuroscience, Science

Tagged
Agency, Animals, Erwin Schrödinger, hard problem of consciousness, Information, mind, Philip Ball, Plants, Purpose, Susan Still}

Can We Find Purpose in a Universe With No Underlying Purpose?

_{That’s the ambitious goal of a prominent science writer} _{Denyse O'Leary

November 20, 2020

8

Information Theory, Neuroscience, Science}

British science writer Philip Ball offers us a guide to a very interesting project: an attempt to “naturalize” the idea of agency, that is, make the desire to do things—the mouse’s desire to escape the cat— explainable from a fully materialist perspective. That’s much harder than it seems. Rocks don’t desire anything. So we can’t just start from the bottom. It’s also not enough to say that the mouse wants to avoid getting killed. That’s true but it doesn’t really explain anything. For example, a person looks both ways before crossing the street to avoid getting run over. But, by itself, that doesn’t explain why she tries to avoid getting run over. One must factor in her memory, background knowledge, Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
October 20, 2020

Categorized
Information Theory, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind, Science

Tagged
Alien hand syndrome, Benjamin Libet, Contact (film), free will, George Ellis, Information, Justice, Materialism, Michael Egnor, Minority Report (film), Physics, Precrime, reason, Sabine Hossenfelder, Sean Carroll, Surprisal, Tim Andersen}

Do We Really Have Free Will? Four Things to Know

_{Free will makes more sense of our world than determinism and science certainly allows for it} _{News

October 20, 2020

7

Information Theory, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind, Science}

Free will is a contentious topic in science these days. Theoretical physicists weigh in sharply on one side or the other. Just this month, based on quantum mechanics, mathematician Tim Andersen says maybe and theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder says no. Based on cosmology, the study of our universe, physicist George Ellis said yes last June. With free will, as with consciousness, we don’t fully understand what’s involved. All insights from science are partial so we can’t look to science for a definitive answer. But maybe science can offer some hints. Here are four that might be helpful: 1.Has psychology shown that free will does not really exist? Psychological research on free will has supported the concept of free will but Read More ›

Tank gun on Red square in Moscow on background of St. Basil's Cathedral. Concept for russian military and weapons

^{Type
podcast

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
October 15, 2020

Tagged
Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous drones, Autonomous lethal weapons, Autonomous weapons, Deepfakes, image recognition system, Information, military technology, research, Russia, Samuel Bendett, speech recognition software, Swarm intelligence, warfare, Weapons}

AI Development in Russia — Part 2

_{Robert J. Marks

October 15, 2020

1}

What is happening in Russia right now with regards to military development of artificial intelligence? Samuel Bendett and Robert J. Marks discuss Russian military development of AI, academia, and autonomous weapons. Show Notes 00:46 | Introducing Samuel Bendett, advisor with the CNA Adversary Analysis Group 01:17 | How does the Russian military define artificial intelligence? 03:20 | Deepfakes 04:30 | Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Eric Holloway
Date
October 1, 2020

Categorized
Information Theory

Tagged
Featured, Form, Information, Information economy, Kolmogorov complexity, Patterns, Shannon information}

They Say This Is An Information Economy. So What Is Information?

_{How, exactly, is an article in the news different from a random string of letters and punctuation marks?} _{Eric Holloway

October 1, 2020

4

Information Theory}

We know information when we see it. An article contains information. A photograph contains information. The thoughts in our mind contain information. So does a computer program and so do our genomes. Yet other things we see around us clearly do not contain information. A handful of toothpicks dropped on the ground does not. Nor do the swirling tea leaves in a cup. Neither does a pair of tossed dice nor a sequence of 100 coin flips. But mere disorder is not the clue. An intricate snowflake does not contain information either. Can we state the difference between the article and the scattered toothpicks precisely? That’s tricky. Both Claude Shannon and Andrey Kolmogorov came up with information metrics. But the Read More ›

Coronavirus disease COVID-19 infection 3D medical illustration. Floating China pathogen respiratory influenza covid virus cells. Dangerous asian ncov corona virus, dna, pandemic risk background design

^{Type
podcast

Author
Robert J. Marks and Daniel Andrés Díaz-Pachón
Date
April 23, 2020

Tagged
air quality, autocorrect, binary digit, Coronavirus, COVID-19, DNA, Information, mutation, Shannon information}

COVID-19: How 900 Bytes Changed the World

_{Robert J. Marks and Daniel Andrés Díaz-Pachón

April 23, 2020

1}

Human biology is so finely tuned that less than a kilobyte of information can stop the world. Robert J. Marks and Dr. Daniel Andrés Díaz-Pachón discuss COVID-19, DNA, and information. Show Notes 01:09 | Introducing Dr. Daniel Andrés Díaz-Pachón, Research Assistant Professor in the Division of Biostatistics at the University of Miami and Senior Researcher at the Evolutionary Informatics Lab Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
January 14, 2019

Categorized
Ethics, Social Factors

Tagged
fake news, Featured, Information, journalism, Retraction, retractions, Social Factors, social media, studies, truth}

Research Showing That Fake News Easily Fools Us Collapses

_{A recent paper claiming that low-quality news (“fake news”) spreads as quickly on social media as accurate news has been retracted by its authors.} _{News

January 14, 2019

5

Ethics, Social Factors}

A team from the Shanghai Institute of Technology sought to study whether accuracy made any difference to whether a post goes viral on social media. They cited a concern about “the digital misinformation that threatens our democracy.” Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Eric Holloway
Date
December 27, 2018

Categorized
Machine Learning

Tagged
Featured, Information, Kolmogorov information, meaning, Order, Randomness, Shannon information}

How Can We Measure Meaningful Information?

_{Neither randomness nor order alone creates meaning. So how can we identify communications?} _{Eric Holloway

December 27, 2018

4

Machine Learning}

Dropping a handful of toothpicks on the table seems to produce a different sort of pattern than spelling out a word with toothpicks. Surprisingly, this intuitive distinction is harder to make in math and the sciences. Algorithmic specified complexity (ASC) enables us to distinguish them. Read More ›