Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

TagWilliam Dembski

wooden-chess-pawn-with-king-shadow-stockpack-adobe-stock
Wooden chess pawn with king shadow
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post
Author
William A. Dembski
Date
September 24, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Inferring the Best Explanation Using Artificial Intelligence

With its wealth of information at hand, how well can AI make accurate inferences?
William A. Dembski
September 24, 2023
14
Artificial Intelligence

Even with the rise of large language models such as ChatGPT in the last year, I was still convinced that a mode of reasoning known as inference to the best explanation (abbreviated IBE) was not within the competence of artificial intelligence. In fact, I thought it forever beyond the reach of artificial intelligence. I commended Erik Larson’s book The Myth of Artificial Intelligence (reviewed here) for making what in 2021 seemed like an ironclad case that artificial intelligence research was stymied in trying to model and implement inference to the best explanation, or what has also been called abduction (in contrast to deduction and induction).  This week, however, all that has changed for me. I posed a question to ChatGPT4 (hereafter ChatGPT), Read More ›

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robot with glass laptop
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post
Author
William A. Dembski
Date
September 21, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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ChatGPT is Getting More Impressive

Nonetheless, human intelligence remains qualitatively different from artificial intelligence.
William A. Dembski
September 21, 2023
12
Artificial Intelligence

A few months back I published two pieces (see here and here) where I was able to break ChatGPT4 (hereafter just ChatGPT). More recently I revisited some of the types of challenges I posed to it in the past that were able back then to break it. It handled the challenges with aplomb. The one challenge it still was unable to handle was finding patterns in numerical sequence, such as what is the next number after 2,4,6,8,… — this one is super easy, but more difficult ones that humans are well able to handle seem still beyond its capabilities, at least for now. Whether that ability can be trained into it remains to be seen, though the improvement I saw suggests that it Read More ›

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Bitcoin golden coin on computer circuit board
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post
Author
News
Date
July 25, 2023
Categorized
Cryptocurrency
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Is an Information-Based Currency Possible?

Two philosophers talk about the potential of digital, decentralized forms of money and exchange
News
July 25, 2023
1
Cryptocurrency

In 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 ›

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European telecommunication network connected over Europe, France, Germany, UK, Italy, concept about internet and global communication technology for finance, blockchain or IoT, elements from NASA
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post
Author
News
Date
July 10, 2023
Categorized
Cryptocurrency
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Can Crypto Reverse the Tech Decline?

Listen to a 2019 COSM panel on crypto and the blockchain
News
July 10, 2023
1
Cryptocurrency

For today’s featured COSM video, enjoy this panel from the 2019 conference on cryptocurrencies, the blockchain, and its potential for the tech world. The panel explores the future of cryptocurrency/blockchain technologies, and considers the implications for global money, global security, and internet architecture. 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 Read More ›

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NFT gallery hologram, cryptoart and metaverse
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post
Author
News
Date
July 5, 2023
Categorized
Cryptocurrency
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NFTS: The Reinvention of Property?

What makes NFTs valuable? And what does it mean to own them?
News
July 5, 2023
1
Cryptocurrency

Today we feature a video from the 2021 COSM Conference on blockchain, crypto, and non-fungible tokens featuring Jules Urbach and William Dembski. In the case of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum blockchain, actual ownership with legal standing is never in fact transferred for the underlying digital file. What makes NFTs valuable? And what does it mean to own them? 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 Read More ›

thinker-man-3d-illustration-the-thinker-statue-by-the-french-sculptor-rodin-stockpack-adobe-stock
Thinker man 3D illustration. The Thinker Statue by the French Sculptor Rodin.
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post
Author
William A. Dembski
Date
May 30, 2023
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Moving On to Breaking Google’s Bard

These AI systems lack the uniquely human capacity of self-transcendence
William A. Dembski
May 30, 2023
4
Artificial Intelligence

I’ve finally started playing around with Google Bard. With self-referential sentences, it seems even more at sea than ChatGPT. Here is an exchange from May 18: Me: Consider the following six sentences: This is the first sentence. Ignore this sentence. Why are these sentences being written down? The second sentence has exactly three words. The fifth sentence has at least twenty words. This, along with the preceding five sentences, have fewer than twenty times twenty words. Which of these last six sentences has a truth value and which are true? Bard: The last six sentences have the following truth values: The second sentence is false because it has 5 words, not 3. The fifth sentence is true because it has Read More ›

COSM2022-Nov10-174A0069-bob-marks
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post
Author
News
Date
December 15, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Non-Computable You: Bradley Center Celebrates Human Creativity in 2022

Humans are unique and will never be replaced by the machines they invent.
News
December 15, 2022
4
Artificial Intelligence

Note: Mind Matters News is made possible by support from the Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence, a project of the non-profit Discovery Institute. Here is a report of our activities for 2022. If you benefit from the work of Mind Matters News, could you donate to support our work in 2023? Humans are unique and will never be replaced by the machines they invent. That was the powerful takeaway from this year’s new book by Walter Bradley Center Director Robert J. Marks, Non-Computable You: What You Do that Artificial Intelligence Never Will. The release of Marks’ book was one of many ways that the Bradley Center advanced its mission in 2022 to defend human dignity and creativity Read More ›

COSM2022-Wed-174A9593-blockchain-panel-robinson
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post
Author
News
Date
November 16, 2022
Categorized
Cryptocurrency
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Could Crypto Be a Safe National Currency?

At COSM a panel of experts debated the future of crypto
News
November 16, 2022
5
Cryptocurrency

A panel moderated by blockchain expert Sam Yilmaz COO of Bloccelerate last week at COSM debated whether cryptocurrency could be a national currency. It’s a risk but then many current currencies are. From Wyatt Robinson — Principal Corporate Counsel, Microsoft: The whole premise behind blockchain as I understand it from my view as a former financial services attorney, is really to promote efficiency free up capital allow more money to be out there for end users to have in their pockets. And so when we think about what should we put on chain, what activities should be going on chain at the end of the day, think about the stakeholders, the users who are involved in that transaction or are Read More ›

asian-businesswoman-in-formal-suit-working-with-computer-laptop-for-polygonal-brain-shape-of-an-artificial-intelligence-with-various-icon-of-smart-city-internet-of-things-ai-and-business-iot-concept-stockpack-adobe-stock
Asian businesswoman in formal suit working with computer laptop for Polygonal brain shape of an artificial intelligence with various icon of smart city Internet of Things, AI and business IOT concept
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post
Author
News
Date
March 10, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Creativity
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Robert J. Marks: Zeroing In on What AI Can and Can’t Do

Walter Bradley Center director Marks discusses what’s hot and what’s not in AI with fellow computer maven Gretchen Huizinga
News
March 10, 2022
11
Artificial Intelligence, Creativity

What makes mankind special? And what does it mean to flourish on the frontier of a technological future? In a recent podcast, “What Does It Mean to Be Human in an Age of Artificial Intelligence?”, Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks discusses what artificial intelligence can and can’t do and its ethical implications with veteran podcaster Gretchen Huizinga This interview was originally published by Christian think tank, the Beatrice Institute (March 3, 2022) and is repeated here with their kind permission: https://mindmatters.ai/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/Mind-Matters-Episode-176-Beatrice-Institute-Rebroadcast-rev1.mp3 Here’s a partial transcript of the first segment, with notes and links: Gretchen Huizinga: Well, Bob, you’re not just a senior fellow and director of the Walter Bradley Center, but you’re also a co-founder and were instrumental Read More ›

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Monarch Butterfly Congregation 2
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post
Author
News
Date
January 31, 2022
Categorized
Information Theory, Natural Intelligence
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Can Animal Behavior Simply Be Transferred Into the Genome?

For example, how do Monarch butterflies from Canada get to the same trees in Mexico as their great-grandparents landed in?
News
January 31, 2022
13
Information Theory, Natural Intelligence

Recently, geologist Casey Luskin interviewed Eric Cassell, author of Animal Algorithms: Evolution and the Mysterious Origin of Ingenious Instincts (2021) on one of the central mysteries of biology: How do animals “know” things that they can’t have figured out on their own? Here’s the first part, with transcript and notes. Below is the second part, which looks at some “how” questions. Eric Cassell is an expert in navigation systems, including GPS whose experience includes more than four decades of experience in systems engineering related to aircraft, navigation and safety. He has long had an interest in animal navigation. His model for animal navigation is the natural algorithm: The animal’s brain is “programmed” to enable navigation. Here’s Part II of our Read More ›

nft-non-fungible-token-stockpack-adobe-stock
NFT | Non-Fungible Token
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post
Author
News
Date
December 3, 2021
Categorized
Business and Finance, Economics
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NFTs: Can They Help You Sell Digital Memorabilia Online?

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) like Jack Dorsey’s first tweet or Michael Cohen’s prison badge are creating a new market with a need for new rules
News
December 3, 2021
5
Business and Finance, Economics

At COSM 2021,William Dembski, a mathematician and philosopher who studies cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), offered some thoughts on whether NFTs (non-fungible tokens) can help artists and other creators make a living selling their work on the internet. Are NFTs just “rat poison squared,” as Warren Buffett calls cryptocurrencies? Well, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s first tweet sold for a reported $2.9 million. It’s complex but navigable. According to Dembski, it might be a way forward. But there are pitfalls. The non-tech part is easy to understand. Just as internet-based subscription services like Substack offer a way for talented writers to make a good living free from censorious mediocrities, so NFTs might help artists market their work in Read More ›

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podcast
Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
November 25, 2021
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Walter Bradley: For a Greater Purpose

Robert J. Marks
November 25, 2021
2

Mind Matters is published by the Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence, but who is Walter Bradley, and why does the Center bear his name? Listen in as Robert J. Marks and William A. Dembski discuss Bradley’s involvement in the Intelligent Design movement, share stories about his boldness of faith in academia, and talk about why they published Read More ›

Glücksspiel
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post
Author
News
Date
November 16, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Science
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Can Wholly Random Processes Produce Information?

Can information result, without intention, from a series of accidents? Some have tried it with computers…
News
November 16, 2021
13
Artificial Intelligence, Science

In Define information before you talk about it, neurosurgeon Michael Egnor interviewed engineering prof Robert J. Marks on the way information, not matter, shapes our world (October 28, 2021). In the first portion, Egnor and Marks discussed questions like: Why do two identical snowflakes seem more meaningful than one snowflake. Then they turned to the relationship between information and creativity. Is creativity a function of more information? Or is there more to it? And human intervention make any difference? Does Mount Rushmore have no more information than Mount Fuji? Does human intervention make a measurable difference? That’s specified complexity. Putting the idea of specified complexity to work, how do we measure meaningful information? How do we know Lincoln contained more Read More ›

smart-cars-with-automatic-sensor-driving-on-metropolis-with-wireless-connection-stockpack-adobe-stock
Smart cars with automatic sensor driving on metropolis with wireless connection
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post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
October 4, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence
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Nissan Develops Autonomous Taxi Service in Japan

Nissan recently chose to advance their pursuit of an autonomous vehicle by developing a taxi service to work in limited locations
Jonathan Bartlett
October 4, 2021
4
Artificial Intelligence

One of the quieter players in the development of autonomous technology over the last decade has been Nissan. They originally announced the development of their autonomous technology in 2013, claiming that it would be fully ready to bring to market by 2020.  While Nissan had a more realistic timeline than other companies touting autonomous development, it fell prey to the same failure to realize the actual complications that are inherent in truly autonomous scenarios. A graphic developed by Nissan in 2017 (shown below) shows the naïveté that was rampant during that time period. Nissan imagined that there were four stages to the development of autonomous vehicles— (1) single-lane highway, (2) multi-lane highway, (3) city driving, and then (4) full autonomy. The problem, as we have noted Read More ›

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ビジネスプラン
Type
post
Author
News
Date
July 26, 2021
Categorized
Information Theory, Philosophy, Science
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How Informational Realism Subverts Materialism

Within informational realism, what defines things is their capacity for communicating or exchanging information with other things
News
July 26, 2021
3
Information Theory, Philosophy, Science

Here are some brief excerpts from design theorist William Dembski’s chapter in a forthcoming book on informational realism: To see how informational realism dissolves the mind-body problem, we need first to be clear on what informational realism is and why it is credible. Informational realism is not simply the view that information is real. We live in an information age, so who doesn’t think that information is real? Rather, informational realism asserts that the ability to exchange information is the defining feature of reality, of what it means, at the most fundamental level, for any entity to be real. William A. Dembski, “Informational Realism Dissolves the Mind–Body Problem,” a chapter of the forthcoming Mind and Matter: Modern Dualism, Idealism and Read More ›

Coronavirus 2019-nCov novel coronavirus concept resposible for asian flu outbreak and coronaviruses influenza as dangerous flu strain cases as a pandemic. Microscope virus close up. 3d rendering.
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post
Author
Eric Holloway
Date
July 2, 2021
Categorized
Medicine and Health, Science
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COVID-19’s Origins: Uses and Misuses of the Explanatory Filter

How a critic of intelligent design theory misunderstands the application of design inference
Eric Holloway
July 2, 2021
8
Medicine and Health, Science

Last year in July a prominent critic of intelligent design theory, Dr. Adam Shapiro, took the Discovery Institute to task for not debunking the lab origin theory. He says, Behe seems to miss an opportunity to demonstrate that intelligent design theory shows how those pathways are not irreducible complex. Adam Shapiro, “Did Intelligent Design Just Miss Its Corona Moment?” at American Scientist and, How better to demonstrate its own apolitical nature than to apply its scientific process to debunk the Chinese lab myth? Adam Shapiro, “Did Intelligent Design Just Miss Its Corona Moment?” at American Scientist First of all, this is a fundamental misunderstanding of ID. ID theory is only resilient against false positives, not false negatives, as Dr. Ewert Read More ›

information-technology-background-network-business-infographics-it-computer-technology-concept-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Information technology background. Network business infographics. it computer technology concept.
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post
Author
News
Date
May 20, 2021
Categorized
Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Science
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It From Bit: What Did John Archibald Wheeler Get Right—and Wrong?

In a chapter in a forthcoming book, William Dembski explores the strengths and weaknesses of Wheeler’s perspective that the universe is, at bottom, information
News
May 20, 2021
7
Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Science

In his chapter in a forthcoming book, Mind and Matter: Modern Dualism, Idealism and the Empirical Sciences (Discovery Institute Press), information theorist William Dembski looks at the ways physicist John Archibald Wheeler (1911–2008, pictured) changed our understanding of reality. What did Wheeler, an early atomic bomb theorist who coined the terms “black hole” and “wormhole,” get right? What did he get wrong? Wheeler is probably best known for a catchphrase, “it from bit,” introduced in a 1989 paper where he explains, It from bit symbolises the idea that every item of the physical world has at bottom — at a very deep bottom, in most instances — an immaterial source and explanation; that what we call reality arises in the Read More ›

signal noise visualization.jpg
Futuristic heads up display blue green abstract interface
Type
post
Author
Eric Holloway
Date
April 26, 2021
Categorized
Philosophy, Science
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How the Explanatory Filter Can Help Quash Conspiracy Theories

I found Dembski’s explanatory filter quite helpful in investigating voter fraud claims
Eric Holloway
April 26, 2021
10
Philosophy, Science

William Dembski’s explanatory filter is a decision strategy for identifying events that are unlikely to have happened purely by chance. The filter proceeds in three main steps, which can be illustrated via the plot device in Contact, a novel (1985) by Carl Sagan, followed by a film (1997): Eliminate events of large probability (necessity): A radio telescope receives a pattern of beeps and pauses. Perhaps the pattern seems strange to us but we could just be overinterpreting inevitable space noise. Eliminate events of medium probability (chance): The pattern turns out to be a sequence of prime numbers. However, large randomly generated numbers sometimes feature apparent patterns (five 5s in a row, for example) that don’t signify anything. Specify the event Read More ›

White robot using floating digital network connections with dots and lines 3D rendering
White robot using floating digital network connections with dots and lines 3D rendering
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post
Author
News
Date
April 15, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind
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No AI Overlords?: What Is Larson Arguing and Why Does It Matter?

Information theorist William Dembski explains, computers can’t do some things by their very nature
News
April 15, 2021
7
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind

Yesterday, we were looking at the significance of AI researcher Erik J. Larson’s new book, The Myth of Artificial Intelligence: Why Computers Can’t Think the Way We Do, contrasting it with claims that AI will merge with or replace us. Some such claims are made by industry insiders like Ray Kurzweil. But more often we hear them from science celebs like the late Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins, who, on these topics, are more known than knowledgeable. So why does Larson think they are wrong? He offers two arguments. First, as information theorist William Dembski explains, is that there are some kinds of thinking that, by their nature, computers don’t do: With regard to inference, he shows that a form Read More ›

Intelligent robot machine pointing finger 3D rendering
Intelligent robot machine pointing finger 3D rendering
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post
Author
News
Date
April 14, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Media
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New Book Massively Debunks Our “AI Overlords”: Ain’t Gonna Happen

AI researcher and tech entrepreneur Erik J. Larson expertly dissects the AI doomsday scenarios
News
April 14, 2021
5
Artificial Intelligence, Media
AI researcher and tech entrepreneur Eric J. Larson has just published a book debunking the claims that AI is taking over. Read More ›