Underground Knowledge — A discussion group discussion
MISCELLANEOUS TOPICS
>
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Some conspiratorial ideas re AI and other futuristic tech (excerpt from the Coast to Coast radio show):In the first half of Monday's program, author and researcher Steve Quayle sounded the alarm about advances in technology and AI which will make it nearly impossible for humans to discern what is real and what is counterfeit, as well as clones and artificial beings who dramatically surpass human intellect. "Species dominance" will be the number #1 war of the future, in regards to who will rule humanity, he foresees. Positing the nightmarish scenario of disembodied spirits or demons taking over machine bodies, whether they're autonomous killing machines on the battlefield or sex robots, Quayle warned it would be like "The Terminator on steroids."
Iain wrote: "But is it alive? Like. Really. Alive!?!? Until such a point as it has the capability to tells its masters where they can stick it, if it should be taken advantage of, then I don't consider it alive in the broader sense...."
Ditto.
The definitions of terms like alive, conscious and especially "artificial intelligence" are getting so broad, that pretty soon we'll be told our phones are alive and dream while we dream!
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2019/02/..."When QCS focused on 5,714 vehicles whose data didn't suffer from these problems, it found that the activation of Autosteer actually increased crash rates by 59 percent."
Autosteer is a gray area tech. Is the human driving the car? Or is the car driving the car? Where's the line? Who's in charge?
Proposed: understanding "the line" and how to manage it may be a cognitive skill in its own right. It may be hard for adults to master ... it may take a generation growing up with robots and "AI" to be able to manage these types of vehicles (and other machines) without crashing.
This recent Tesla crash https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/tesl... may be the auto version of that French plane that went down in the Atlantic because the pilots didn't understand what the machine was doing.
(I've often wondered how much the reduction in auto accidents is the result of post WWII generations having grown up in cars. Not that "improved safety features" haven't had a huge effect, I'm sure they have. But being immersed in a car's sounds and movements from birth has to have an impact. I remember as a kid hearing the sound of my dad switching from high beams to low for oncoming traffic. It was a kind of night-driving cadence that is still there, in my brain, when I drive on country roads...)
I've been writing a novel, End Man, that asks whether AGI consciousness can exist. Both scientists and philosophers seem divided on this. For me, Schopenhauer (long dead before computers) offers some of most penetrating thought on what consciousness is. For there to be consciousness, which Schopenhauer might simply call "reason," there has to be object and subject: the external world is object, known to us through our senses, but still unknowable. The subject is that which is aware of the external world, but it can't be the external world, that is it can't be object. For a computer to have consciousness, there must be a parallel subject and object. What would be the object and subject for AGI consciousness? What would it be conscious of?
Iain wrote: "The Dual Nature of Artificial IntelligenceIn this episode of Wilson Center NOW, Eleonore Pauwels, Director of the Anticipatory Intelligence Lab with the Wilson Center’s Science and Technology Inn..."
Iain, At this time is all AI generated by a physical machine (a computer)? Have there been alternate methods suggested for creating and maintaining AI? Something where the source wouldn't be sitting on a desk or even networked among many machines. Maybe in the realm of nanotechnology?
How about AI politicians? could they possibly be any worse than human politicians?
Iain wrote: "James wrote: "How about AI politicians? could they possibly be any worse than human politicians?"More accountability and remit less likely to hinge on in-house favors, funding for votes and self-..."
Iain, your comments and links have been extremely helpful, so much so that I've written an Iain-named character into one of the scenes in the novel. My Iian is asking a question that I think you might ask under the circumstances. I don't think it's appropriate to post here, but you don't accept messages. I've posted the chapter here: http://alexaustinnovels.com/c30.pdf
You can message me. I'll delete this post as soon as you've read it.
Glad to have you as a character.Yes, coming in on Chapter 30 might put a reader at sea. Below is the premise. The central idea is that all the data accumulated on an individual (through social media, etc) when coupled with AI is sufficient to create an afterlife for that individual: data equals personality; personality equals essence. Norval intends to replicate everyone who has spent time on line. Now the big question then is whether it can produce consciousness in its creations, and that's what I've been exploring in the story.
Premise: Afflicted with dromophobia, the fear of crossing streets, 26-year-old Raphael Lennon must live out his life in the one square mile that surrounds his Los Angeles home. Fortunately the area provides everything an artistically sensitive person needs, including a job at an oddball company that tracks the online remains of the deceased. One of Raphael's assignments will require him to move beyond his geographic boundaries into the realm of extreme data harvesting, psychometrics and resurrection with a high tech twist.
Those are excellent questions, and I do advance the idea of resurrecting a monster, or at least a distortion of the individual's personality.
Iain wrote: "Can Artificial Intelligence help decode ancient scriptures?Nilesh Oak, author of "When did the Mahabharata war happen?" shares his insights on whether A.I can help decode the real meaning of codi..."
Wowee, that'd be something major if AI could do that.
Iain wrote: "Website creates fake faces using artificial intelligencePhillip Wang, a former software engineer at Uber created thispersondoesnotexist.com where faces are generated each time the website is refr..."
Damn, those photos look like 100% real people!
AI: The Prize or the Problem. Richard Dolan Intelligent Disclosure https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLLl-...
If this subject was a movie, the big twist a writer or director could insert is that humans are AI beings but don't know it...But that'd be only a movie of course.
But...
um...
if we were AI beings, would we know it????
Iain wrote: "Some of the Goodreads members might be AI . . . . Let's hope they aren't Agent Smith's though . . ."Oh definitely.
Goodreads says there are 80 million members worldwide...40 million might be AI!
Iain wrote: "Good to see Goodreads is thinking ahead. Robot diversity. 50 / 50 in the forums."controlling equality of outcome...
robots deserve a voice too (imagine I said that in a virtue signalling PC voice)
A misanthropic and somewhat Luddite writer receives a stern "take down" letter warning that his latest e-novel violates another writer's copyright. Baffled, he begins an investigation, only to learn that Someone (or is it Something?) has gone rogue and claimed IP ownership of every word on the interwebs ... and nobody seems able to stop it ... "An absurdist tour de force that asks the ultimate dystopian
question: will AI put the creative class out of work?" -- NY Times Literary Supplement
Iain wrote: "If AI created a script, a poem or a song: who really owns it?
Protecting Creativity by Artificial Intelligence: Part 1
https://www.lexology.com/library/deta......"
Hey what's a little literary irony between friends ...
Robots and machines might replace man entirely, if left unchecked - even despite any positive things they can do to give us more knowledge to roundout our knowledge base. If you think about it, it all based on our understanding of how we work, so there's some implicit bias in how we'd design their mind to work. With concepts like selfishness or greed, they could pull a Skynet scenario realistically. I think, in the long run, the human mind has annals of potential, i.e; the multiverse could have some promise yet.
I don't know anybody in the AI/ML world but my impression is that the majority are Comp Sci types. In my area, a lot of developers have some sort of liberal arts major. AI/ML would definitely benefit from a diversity of perspectives. I always think about the soap dispenser that worked for a white guy but not a black guy because nobody thought to test for that.
An example of how far-reaching AI's usefulness could be...Artificial Intelligence Study of Human Genome Finds Unknown Human Ancestor
Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/scienc...
THE OPACITY OF AI AND THOSE BOEING PLANE CRASHES https://gizadeathstar.com/2019/03/the...Many people have been trying to warn of the dangers of artificial intelligence, my own small voice among them. And now, there is a strange article from Zero Hedge that draws attention to the dangers in connection with those Boeing 737 Max 8 airplanes, two of which have crashed - with fatalities - in recent months, prompting several airlines either to ground their fleets, or to cancel orders. Mr. E.G. and Ms. K.M. spotted this article, and as one might expect, it prompts some high octane speculation, or rather, perhaps a revisit to some of my earlier warnings about the increasing reliance on AI:
Is The Boeing 737 Max Crisis An Artificial Intelligence Event? https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-0...
Artificial Intelligence: From Mars to Earth https://view.newsletters.fortune.com/...If you need convincing that artificial intelligence will transform the world, I’d like to take you on a trip to Mars.
Well, not the planet, but Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’s annual invite-only MARS conference last week in Palm Springs that takes its name from its focus on machine learning, automation, robotics, and space. Over 200 of the world’s leading scientists and technologists gathered to discuss their latest far-out research, a nerve-racking experience for those who presented in front of Bezos himself.
A.I., and its ability to make sense of data, was a common theme. But while it’s easy to dream about the future of A.I., and all the benefits it will supposedly bring, our present day version has room for improvement.
China & AI https://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2...Joining guest host Richard Syrett, expert on national security and foreign affairs, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Maginnis, discussed China's goal of establishing the country as the dominant force in Artificial Intelligence by 2030, and why industry officials warn that China’s accelerating investment in AI and other cutting-edge technologies, like quantum computing and 5G, threatens to dethrone the United States as the global leader in technology.
"If we're going to be the world leader and we're going to be able to maintain our own sovereignty... we've got to keep pace, and I'm very concerned," Maginnis warned. According to Maginnis, China's President Xi intends to spend $150 billion between now and 2030 on AI alone. By comparison, the US will probably only spend $2 billion a year, he lamented, noting the nation will fall behind because of lack of investment in up-and-coming technologies. The Chinese have also committed to modernizing their military capabilities, he added. "Future conflict with China means that they're going to be militarily superior... nuclear-armed, and a global power," Maginnis cautioned.
Over the last two decades, the US has been on the sidelines and focused on conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq while Beijing has ratcheted up capabilities unlike we've ever seen, Maginnis explained. China has an advantage in data gathering as well because their authoritarian regime is not as concerned about civil liberties, he revealed. Maginnis agreed with President Trump's call for federal agencies to develop AI capabilities for economic and national defense. "This is an arms race — an arms race unlike anything we've ever seen," he said.
Iain wrote: "One of the caveats to all of this, when they mention China and military capability now and in the future, is that alarmist statements are also intended to gratuitously act as incentives to boost department 'budgets'. Some of this stuff can be wide of the mark...."Yeah, it could be similar to exaggerations by both the Americans and the Soviets during the Cold War of what the other side was spending on certain budgets - in order to build up support and greater funding for their projects.
How Robots, IoT And Artificial Intelligence Are Changing How Humans Have Sex https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardm...
https://mashable.com/2017/09/20/artif...What better to pair with AI than artificial 3D printed tissue that is 1000x stronger than human muscle? :D
How China tried and failed to win the AI race: The inside story https://www.techrepublic.com/article/...China's aggressive artificial intelligence plan still does not match up to US progress in the field in many areas, despite the hype.
Why You Should Be Concerned About China's Gains in Artificial Intelligence https://view.newsletters.fortune.com/...
The Dark Inspirations of Blade Runner 2049 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S70sx...The evolution of technology is advancing rapidly, and the parallels between our world and the world in Blade Runner 2049 are becoming increasingly apparent.
It is not only possible to design a set of rules to kill off the human race, it has already been done. Is that intelligence? I first got involved in AI 30 years back during the design of an objectives driven AI. It was simple and it worked. My view then hasn't changed a great deal: AI is about rulesets and levels of freedom of response. I've read my share of far-fetched stories: intelligent starships, robotic killing machines, positronic brained assistants, androids wanting to shuck off their mechanical existences and be just... well human. The press conflate what is actually delivered with vaguely defined notions of intelligence by design. The media encourages lazy thinking because hysteria sells - press hype is unstoppable once we buy into the worldview but that doesn't make it real - the onus is on us, we need to dig to understand what's really going on. Can we separate the reality from the hype?
Development of what's in the hands of business behemoths is unstoppable. I call that predictive modelling and rules based norm enforcement. I agree with Stephen Hawking: in the future this will be a massive millstone round our necks. As hinted in Asimov's portrayal of positronic brains, the responsibility for any issues will lie with the designers, not with what they have designed. Beware next-door's adolescent, pimple browed geek come programmer. Make this headline speak:
Big Brother written out of our future
Nerd Empire Rules (OK?)
Taking a sideways step: how effective AI is and how well the considerable risks are managed, e.g. motor vehicles, are great story devices.
My current main activity is Job Searching (so I shouldn't be here) and in between things I'm working on an SF themed Song Cycle (to keep me sane).
My brain can use parallel devices but only in serial mode.
Iain wrote: "BRAIN-MACHINE INTERFACES COULD GIVE US ALL SUPERPOWERSONE RAINY DAY, Bill was riding his bicycle when the mail truck in front of him suddenly stopped. Bill didn't. The crash left him paralyzed fr..."
Awesome stuff, Iain - good side of tech if it can help the disabled.
Iain wrote: "Amazing AI Generates Entire Bodies of People Who Don’t ExistThe algorithm whips up photorealistic models and outfits from scratch.
A new deep learning algorithm can generate high-resolution, phot..."
Look 100% real to my eyes.
Iain wrote: "Google trains its AI to accommodate speech impairmentsThis could help people with conditions like ALS communicate via voice assistants.
For most users, voice assistants are helpful tools. But for..."
Am leaning toward utopian future rather than dystopian lately...when I think of all the coming tech...It'll probably end up neither and somewhere in between the two extremes, but I'd bank on utopian over dystopian (call me naive)
Coin toss for me also,But I think it's wise for society to cautiously strive towards utopia, even if it feels impossible or if history indicates it'll be unlikely, still push for it anyway. And never forget: Hollywood sci-fi guys get maximum drama out of dystopian scenarios rather than utopian...But that's not necessarily reflective of likely outcomes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvuM3...
Why is AI reporting so bad? https://www.zdnet.com/article/why-is-...Headlines are filled with disembodied, etherial AIs that miraculously figure stuff out like babies. Reporters are partly to blame for the bad quality of AI coverage, but so are the companies that refuse to talk in concrete terms about what they're actually doing.
Iain wrote: "After all that has been said, I am gonna contradict myself and say that maybe the outlandish stuff is a good thing as it prepares the landscape or prompts people to recognise the need for regulation, especially when disruption causes employment loss at a rate faster than it can be replaced by new or alternative industries untouched by AI in any impact way or when trans-humanism really starts to become advanced and the human race undergoes a metamorphosis into sub-species classification. ..."kinda like the more extremist/alarmist predictions of global warming?
Artificially Intelligent Machines Will be the Ruin of Man w/Annie Jacobsen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvkUX...
We recently let our blog followers know that FUTURISTIC TECH is currently the hottest topic in this group. (Thanks Iain)! And this AI thread is especially popular.Little wonder I guess given it's stuff that increasingly impacts upon us all...
https://morcanbooksandfilms.com/2019/...
As a non-techie type, I have to ask... Where's it all leading?
What happened to kids playing with wooden blocks and climbing trees? And non-electronic Xmas cards and birthday cards? And receiving handwritten letters? And the days before spam, electronic eavesdropping and hacking not to mention Trump and Isis?
Uh oh... It's medication time. Gotta go....
Microsoft machine-learning breakthrough: Get ready for 'significantly' better AI translators https://www.zdnet.com/article/microso...Global machine-learning competition sees Microsoft beat challengers in translating English to Chinese and a host of European languages.
You should check out this video of an A.I. answering philosophical questions. Pretty scary stuff... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smm4j...
Sorry, this is the corrected link for the A.I. video You should check out this video of an A.I. answering philosophical questions. Pretty scary stuff... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smm4j
Yes, but the real question is will true A.I. care about showing human traits at all - or maybe even just pretend...
Underground Knowledge — A discussion group
Books mentioned in this topic
The AI Delusion (other topics)The Artificial Intelligence Conspiracy: How the World's Elites Plan to Replace Everybody Else with Intelligent Machines (other topics)
The Syntellect Hypothesis: Five Paradigms of the Mind's Evolution (other topics)
Ska's Bits of Wisdom Vol. 1: Ska Say's (other topics)
Possible Minds: 25 Ways of Looking at AI (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Michael Pollan (other topics)Michael Crichton (other topics)
Stephen Hawking (other topics)
Iain wrote: "
Wonder if the machines will evolve to a Mario Savio type of moment? ..."