Taginternet
No, the AI Bubble is Nothing Like the Dotcom Bubble
Don't listen to the tech bros on this oneMichael Dell, founder of Dell Computers, said recently on LinkedIn: “The skepticism around AI’s ROI today feels a lot like the doubts people had about the internet in its early days. Back then, no one could fully grasp how much the web would transform our lives, and now AI is on the same path. Yes, it might be tough to measure immediate returns, but if history teaches us anything, it’s that game-changing technologies take time to show their true impact. By embracing AI, we’re not just adopting a tool — we’re investing in a future where human potential gets a major boost, and new opportunities are unlocked. Just like the internet became the foundation of our digital world, AI has Read More ›
Are We Close to Peak AI Hype?
Outrageous statements are proliferating.
Kingsnorth: How to Stay Sane in the Deepfake World
A lesson for modern people from the desert monks of antiquity
Bob Metcalfe on Our Connected World
Discovery Institute Senior Fellow Jay Richards interviews Bob Metcalfe, inventor of EthernetThe Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence is pleased to be able to share the videos from the 2023 COSM conference, now available on YouTube. This annual conference explores the status and the future of our era-defining technologies, from artificial intelligence to electric vehicles to new developments in biotech. Today’s video features a conversation with Bob Metcalfe, a pioneer in the field of computer science and the inventor of Ethernet. Discovery Institute Senior Fellow Jay Richards interviews Bob Metcalfe, inventor of Ethernet and recipient of the prestigious Turing Award, about the predicted pathologies of the internet and the reversals associated with the rise of connectivity.
The Crisis of Identity That Tech Doesn’t Help
Consumerism works well but leaves us emptyWriter and cultural commentator Aaron Renn wrote recently about the dissolution of identity in the United States, contending that if we don’t know who we are, we will never know what to do. Renn writes frequently on issues facing young men in America and the challenges of living well in the secular world. He writes, The reality is that a lot of people in top positions of our society act as if they want you living like Simba. They want porn available for you to watch. They want you betting on the big game on your phone. They want you focused on “experiences” and consumption, like hitting the latest hot travel destination or going to the new farm-to-table restaurant that Read More ›
David Foster Wallace: If Screens Are Your Main Media Diet, You’re Going to Die
The novelist warned about the pitfalls of the online life“If we ate like this all the time, what would be wrong with that?” So asks David Foster Wallace, compellingly played by Jason Segel, in the 2015 film The End of the Tour. Wallace is in the car with a Rolling Stone reporter, David Lipsky, cramming down sweets from a gas station when he says that. After Lipsky quips back about obesity, Wallace says, “It has none of the substance of real food, but it’s real pleasurable.” The End of the Tour is set in 1996 shortly after Wallace’s gargantuan novel Infinite Jest hit the literary scene and impressed the nation with its length, wit, tragedy, and insight. A massive book about loneliness, Infinite Jest takes place in a semi-futuristic Read More ›
The Backdoor to Control the Internet
We almost lost the Internet last week, but open-source developers saved the day.Few people are aware, but over the last several days, a perceptive developer foiled a multi-year plot to install a remote backdoor into, well, the entire Internet. Two years ago, a programmer known as Jia Tan (JiaT75) started helping out with a lesser-known compression library, known as xz. For those who don’t know, software today is not a monolithic entity. Every piece of software you use it built from a collection of tools, known as libraries, that make programming easier. For instance, most programmers never have to write the specifics of a sorting algorithm, because, somewhere, there is a library which performs sorting for them. This leaves programmers to focus on higher-level tasks, like actually making the software do what the users want. However, these Read More ›
Online Training: Real Education or Going Through the Motions?
Not all online trainings are bad. But many are procedural and pointless.
Napster, Spotify, and AI: How Will AI Escape Copyright Woes?
Robert J. Marks on AI and learning from past copyright cases.Copyright lawsuits are abounding against generative AI. Since the advent of ChatGPT in late 2022, various companies, artists, and writers have raised concerns over AI’s plagiaristic tendencies. Robert J. Marks, host of the Mind Matters podcast, has the story over at Newsmax. Marks recalls the debacle of Napster, a music streaming service that provided music for “free” without payment to the artists. Not surprisingly, it was soon shut down. So how will it fare with generative AI? What’s the solution to all the impending legal woes in the realm of AI? Marks writes, Today’s Spotify keeps automatic records of song frequency and, from subscriber’s payments, distributes royalties accordingly. Similar methods could be applied to compensate content creators by generative AI. It’s not Read More ›
How Do We Define Successful Use Cases for Generative AI?
Current generative AI systems are designed to give us the most common solutions, instead of the new ones we need.
Why ChatGPT Is Killing Off Traditional AI
We're living in another AI "winter"
Reading in the Digital Age
Writer Joseph Epstein argues compellingly on behalf of the novel.
Welcome to Digital Pottersville
From homey Bedford Falls to greedy Pottersville: how "It's a Wonderful Life" reflects the dangers of the Internet age
What is the Future of the Internet?
Jay Richards interviews University of Texas Professor of Innovation Bob Metcalfe regarding the future of the internetIn today’s featured video from a past COSM conference, Discovery Institute Senior Fellow Jay Richards interviews University of Texas Professor of Innovation Bob Metcalfe regarding the future of the internet. Be sure to register now for the COSM 2023 conference, which will be held in November in Bellevue, Washington. COSM is an exclusive national summit on the technologies remaking the world as we know it. The mission of the conference is to stimulate debate and deliberation amongst industry leaders, illuminating the synergy between Seattle and the world and providing a scene of civilized conversation and exchange. 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 Read More ›
AI Influencers Are Starting to Explode
Seeing how artificial and impersonal the influencer lifestyle already is, maybe it was inevitable.AI avatars are starting to flood the social media “influencing” sphere. Seeing how artificial and impersonal the influencer lifestyle already is, maybe it was inevitable. The “Instagram influencer” is a relatively new phenom: an attractive, usually young, person flaunts certain brands on social media for revenue. The phrase “digital creator” is a common tag on bios, and countless young women have made a living off of selling their looks on Instagram. So how might AI play into all this? Well, there are now hundreds of AI internet personalities flooding social media. And they look pretty convincing. Victor Tangermann reports, Thanks to the advent of AI-powered image generators like Stable Diffusion and Midjourney, some are now fabricating entire feeds of internet Read More ›
Is an Information-Based Currency Possible?
Two philosophers talk about the potential of digital, decentralized forms of money and exchangeIn today’s featured video, enjoy an older but essential interview on the topic of alternative forms of money like cryptocurrency. Philosopher Jay Richards interviews mathematician, entrepreneur, and philosopher Dr. Bill Dembski about his unique thought experiment regarding how one could create a decentralized, DIY, information-based currency. Richards also explores with Dembski the concepts of natural and artificial intelligence. 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 Read More ›
Revisiting the Mission of Mind Matters
Robert J. Marks on why Mind Matters (still) mattersOriginally posted in 2018. Mind Matters is a podcast and a news and commentary site where “artificial and natural intelligence meet head-on.” That’s a great slogan, but what does it mean? As your host for the podcast part of the site, I thought I’d take advantage of my role to talk you about some of our exciting plans for both the podcast and the online journal (the latter to be edited by science journalist Denyse O’Leary). Here’s a quick run-down: Topics Mind Matters will track the latest developments in applied AI and technology. How will AI continue to augment human performance and abilities? What are the latest innovations of AI? And how does AI affect you? How is AI applied in pricing Read More ›
What is the Future of the Internet?
In the age of data harvesting and Big Tech monopolies, what will the Internet look like in a decade? In today’s episode, Robert J. Marks speaks with computer engineer Adam Goad about “Web 3.0,” decentralization, cryptocurrency, and the future of the blockchain. Additional Resources
That Hideous Strength, A.K.A. Transhumanism
C.S. Lewis's classic science fiction tale is about the temptation to reject being humanC.S. Lewis’s 1946 science fiction novel That Hideous Strength is almost eighty years old now. Written during the throes of World War II, the novel is the culmination of Lewis’s cosmic trilogy, preluded by Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra. There are hosts of other articles attending to the prescience of Lewis’s terrifying novel, and for good reason; That Hideous Strength is a warning against using technology to dehumanize people and ultimately cripple the world into submission. It’s a great book as a novel, but it seems especially appropriate to revisit in lieu of the growing interest in transhumanism and the rapid acceleration of AI development. It feels like much of the talk on AI in recent months involves Read More ›