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 ›
Recently, Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks interviewed human dignity advocate Wesley J. Smith on the seeming science fiction question of “Can a computer be a person?” (November 10, 2022, podcast 212): https://mindmatters.ai/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/11/Mind-Matters-212-Robert-Marks.mp3 Here are a couple of highlights: About Alexa: Wesley J. Smith: I was going to ask you about Alexa because she may come on in behind me. Of course, she’s not a she. That’s just a female-sounding voice. But I can ask, we’ll call her A, so she doesn’t come on, what time it is and she’ll tell me immediately. I can tell her to play certain music and she’ll play it immediately. How does that operate? I mean, she’s not… That program is not intelligent, Read More ›
Should a computer program ever be listed as an inventor of a patent? Would AI have any right to sue for patent infringement? The US Patent Office has ruled that only “natural persons” can own patents, not machines, but should that change? Robert J. Marks discusses patent law and artificial intelligence with attorney and author, Richard W. Stevens. Additional Resources Read More ›
A new invention has to produce unexpected or surprising new results that were not anticipated by existing technology in order to be patented. Can computers generate something outside the explanation or expectation of the programmer? Robert J. Marks discusses patent law, creativity, and artificial intelligence with attorney and author, Richard W. Stevens. Additional Resources
In a recent episode at Mind Matters News podcasting, “Can a computer be a person?” (November 10, 2022), Robert J. Marks and Wesley J. Smith discussed that in connection with Marks’s new book, Non-Computable You: https://mindmatters.ai/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/11/Mind-Matters-212-Robert-Marks.mp3 Some excerpts: Wesley J. Smith: Let me ask the question in a different way. Can an AI ever be irrational? Robert J. Marks: Yes. Irrational in the sense of being irrational from the point of an observer. A classic example, and this happened a number of years ago, was that the Soviets during the Cold War developed a high technology to decide whether the US was being attacked by… I’m sorry, whether the Soviet Union was being attacked by the United States. And so Read More ›
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 ›
In Podcast 211, Larry Nobles reads an excerpt from Chapter Two of Robert J. Marks’s Non-Computable You: What You Do That Artificial Intelligence Never Will (Discovery Institute Press, 2022). The book is now available in audiobook form as well as Kindle format and, of course, paperback. Chapter Two addresses the question, “Can AI be creative?” Pablo Picasso didn’t think so. He is reported to have said, “Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.” Nobles reads Dr. Marks’s account of how he and a colleague got a “swarm” of little programs (Dweebs) to evolve a solution to a problem that required a good deal of creativity on his and colleague Ben Thompson’s part — but not on the part Read More ›
What You Do That Artificial Intelligence Never Will by Mind Matters podcast host Robert J. Marks is now available in audiobook form. Listen now to an excerpt from the second chapter as read by Larry Nobles. Will machines someday replace attorneys, physicians, computer programmers, and world leaders? What about composers, painters, and novelists? Will tomorrow’s supercomputers duplicate and exceed humans? Read More ›
In podcast Episode 209, Robert J. Marks continues the discussion with Brian Thomas and Kayla Garrett of JustEnergy about appropriate technology for energy-starved Haiti: Solar powering hospitals, orphanages & schools (October 20, 2022): Robert J. Marks: I was informed that people [in Haiti] on average make a dollar a day and they have to go out and they have to buy gas sometimes on the black market for $20, $30 a gallon. It’s just crazy.. So one of the things that you’re concentrated on as engineers is to increase the energy access to Haitians. So what’s the technology that you use to increase the energy access? Brian Thomas: Haiti doesn’t have any petroleum — any oil, gasoline, diesel… or even Read More ›
Yesterday, we looked at the first part of the “Appropriate Technology: the Haitian Energy Problem” podcast (October 13, 2022). Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks interviewed engineers Brian Thomas and Kayla Garrett of JustEnergy on the current shortage of energy sources in Haiti. In the second part of the podcast, they look at what might be done: https://mindmatters.ai/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/10/Mind-Matters-208-Brian-Thomas-Kayla-Garrett.mp3 A partial transcript, notes, and additional resources follow. Brian Thomas: Let’s stop and think. If gasoline is $20, $25 a gallon — even if it’s $10 a gallon — and you make very little money or you don’t have a job at all… tThen gasoline is like cash. You can sell that. You can turn around and sell that. So gasoline Read More ›
In “Appropriate Technology: the Haitian Energy Problem” (October 13, 2022), Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks interviewed engineers Brian Thomas and Kayla Garrett on a critical question: meeting the energy needs of a developing nation like Haiti sustainable — the only way it can be done: https://mindmatters.ai/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/10/Mind-Matters-208-Brian-Thomas-Kayla-Garrett.mp3 A partial transcript, notes, and additional resources follow. Robert J. Marks: Not all countries need the latest technologies. Those in Third World countries don’t need high powered computers or the latest car from Tesla. They have more fundamental concerns like, how do I feed my family tomorrow? Where do I get clean water? And where can I get power? These needs typically do not involve the latest edge cutting technology. Supplying needed Read More ›
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other optimistic futurists think the metaverse is our collective future. We will exist in virtual nonexistence. We will eat, shop, worship, communicate, and marry in the metaverse. This is where progress is taking us. So, we’d best go along for the ride if we don’t want to get left behind. But “living” in a metaverse may be much more complicated than you might think. The question of identity, and who has the power to distribute identities at will, haunts the metaverse project, and there doesn’t seem to be an easy solution. In September, a Russian deepfake company called “Deepcake” (the name strangely makes me hungry for dessert) pasted the face of Bruce Willis on a Read More ›
Will machines someday replace attorneys, physicians, computer programmers, and world leaders? What about composers, painters, and novelists? Will tomorrow’s supercomputers duplicate and exceed humans? Are we just wetware, natural computers doomed to obsolescence by tomorrow’s ultra-powerful artificial intelligence? Non-Computable You: What You Do That Artificial Intelligence Never Will by Mind Matters podcast host Robert J. Marks is now available in Read More ›
Recently, Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks was a featured guest on Pastor Greg Young’s Chosen Generation Radio, in regard to his new book Non-Computable You: What You Do That Artificial Intelligence Never Will (Discovery Institute Press, 2022) . The nationally syndicated talk show on USA Radio networks, which can be found on stations including KTRB in San Francisco, KDIS in Little Rock, and KYAH in Delta, Utah. The topic turns to artificial intelligence and patents for inventions: Here he is with Dr. Marks, discussing artificial intelligence and patents. https://mindmatters.ai/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/Mind-Matters-205-Robert-J-Marks.mp3 (The discussion started out with talk of beards.) Pastor Greg Young: Well, one thing that AI doesn’t have is beards. Robert J. Marks: They don’t have beards, among a Read More ›
Recently, Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks was a featured guest on David Krieger’s The Power Hour (KCXL in Liberty, Missouri, and KTRW in Spokane, Washington, September 22, 2022). Despite a short-lived religion based on the idea: https://mindmatters.ai/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/Mind-Matters-205-Robert-J-Marks.mp3 Robert J. Marks: In fact, there are entire religions which are based on artificial intelligence. One of the most incredible ones is a guy named Anthony Levandowski, who founded an AI church. In the AI church, here’s some examples. We are told that someday we will be able to be uploaded to a computer, and we can be reborn into an eternal life of silicon. And so that’s kind of copying from the Christian church about immortal life. That’s the way Read More ›
In recent weeks, WBC director Robert J. Marks has done a number of interviews for his new book, Non-Computable You: What You Do That Artificial Intelligence Never Will (Discovery Institute Press, 2022). At The Cat’s Roundtable, he was asked by host John Catsimatidis about the hype around AI and whether AI could, for example, predict school shootings. https://mindmatters.ai/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/Mind-Matters-205-Robert-J-Marks.mp3 Robert J. Marks: It’ll continue doing great and exciting things, but there’s a lot of hype associated with it. People think, “Well, is the Terminator going to come alive? Are we ever going to face a scenario like we see in The Matrix?” And the answer is, “No. There are certain brick walls, which artificial intelligence will never go through,” and we Read More ›
Matt McIlwain, managing director of Madrona Venture Group a venture capital consortium, will be moderating a most interesting panel at COSM 2022: It includes ex-Googler Blake Lemoine — yes, he’s the one who started the global uproar around that Google chatbot LaMDA, which he claims is a real person. Google HQ didn’t agree… which is why he no longer works there. But is that because it is not true or because it is not popular? What Lemoine believes is still definitely out there. The main point: On McIlwain’s panel, Lemoine will be facing off against Baylor University pioneer in swarm intelligence Robert J. Marks and with George Montañez, an up-and-coming machine learning pro at Harvey Mudd College. Can he convince Read More ›
Walter Bradley Center Director and Mind Matters podcast host Robert J. Marks discusses artificial intelligence and predicting school shootings with John Catsimatidis on The Cats Roundtable. He talks about religions based on artificial intelligence and artificial general intelligence with David Krieger on The Power Hour. Finally, he examines the idea of issuing patents to AI with Pastor Greg Young on Read More ›
In Episode 10 of Science Uprising (September 21, 2022 10:35 min), we get a look at why — despite ultra-fashionable TED Talk-style doomsday claims — computers are not taking over. The short film starts with Sophia the Robot, that some hope will play a big role in health care for seniors: “Hello, world.” (0:13) “What emotion do you feel being awake in life?” “Curious.” Great. (Yikes…!) The film then cuts to the Oxford Future of Humanity Institute’s Nick Bostrom who announces to an enthralled gathering, “Machine intelligence is the last invention that humanity will ever need to make. Machines will then be better at inventing than we are now, as superintelligence with such technological maturity would be extremely powerful and Read More ›