“Belief sloshes around in the firmament like lumps of clay spiralling into a potter's wheel. That's how gods get created, for example. They clearly must be created by their own believers, because a brief resume of the lives of most gods suggests that their origins certainly couldn't be divine. They tend to do exactly the … Continue reading New Gods for a New Age – Losing Our Religion and Finding it Again in (Unlikely) Places
Category: artificial intelligence
I don’t like the look of your face
There is a problem with automated governance and outsourcing decision making to artificial intelligence. And that problem is probability. And the probable problem at hand is that the innocent are flagged as guilty, the right candidates flagged as wrong, at an unacceptably high probability. As we use - even highly reliable - automated systems such … Continue reading I don’t like the look of your face
The Emperor Has No Clothes
In Hans Christian Anderson's famous tail, The Emperor's New Clothes, a vain ruler is tricked by a pair or shrewd into walking around naked, in the belief that he was wearing clothes so fine and luxurious that only those with exquisite taste could see them. Today, we are all close to sharing that Emperor's delusions. … Continue reading The Emperor Has No Clothes
Cheek to cheek, brain to brain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOYzFKizikU Dancing cheek to cheek may have been "the" way to get close to someone's thoughts back in Fred Astaire's day, but these days you can literally get into someone else's head. Matrix-style brain-to-brain internet (aka the Internet of People) is here. Mind reading? No problem! Japanese scientists can now de-code your thoughts into visuals that … Continue reading Cheek to cheek, brain to brain
Zero to One
"A great company is a conspiracy to change the world." "Darwinism may be a fine theory in other contexts, but in startups, intelligent design works best." "Computers are compliments for humans, not substitutes. The most valuable businesses of coming decades will be built by entrepreneurs who seek to empower people rather than try to make … Continue reading Zero to One
The WIFI Curtain: Dystopia Now? – The Future of Digital Dictatorships and Totalitarian Technocracies
There is no doubt in my mind that we will all shortly by ruled by machines in some variation or the other. I am not talking about robo-cops and terminators (just yet), but rather about technology-powered governments with increasing, omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience over their subjects - building and enforcing some form of a WIFI curtain … Continue reading The WIFI Curtain: Dystopia Now? – The Future of Digital Dictatorships and Totalitarian Technocracies
Artificial Art
Creativity is a sign of intelligence, and artificial intelligence is getting creative. In 2016, a novel authored by an algorithm nearly won a prestigious Japanese literary prize. (The novel was, creatively, titled The Day a Computer Writes a Novel.) AI has only got more creative (although, perhaps, not more talented depending on your definition of artistic … Continue reading Artificial Art
With robot rights, come robot responsibilities
Person or Property? - That is the Question... “From a legal perspective, this is a complicated area, as the algorithms of an AI act as a “black box” — even the creator of the artificial intelligence is not always sure why the algorithm made a certain decision," ~ Marten Kaevats, Adviser of the Strategy Unit of the Government … Continue reading With robot rights, come robot responsibilities
Sophia the Robot’s getting upstaged by a younger hotter fembot (just like a real woman)
Shame. It looks like Sophia the Robot's five minutes of fame as the world's favourite fembot drawing to a close, as a younger, sexier, humanoid fembot, who goes by the name of Ms. Erica Aoi, takes center stage. Erica, who is fully humanoid, just landed a plum job as a news anchor at Nippon Television Network … Continue reading Sophia the Robot’s getting upstaged by a younger hotter fembot (just like a real woman)
Homo Deus – A Brief History of Tomorrow
Following on from Sapiens, Homo Deus is as illuminating as its predecessor. This volume looks at transhumanism, that is the evolution of homo sapiens (that's us) into an entirely new species: Homo Deus, the first terrestrial species to emerge to have created itself, though a combination of biological, genetic engineering and technological enhancements, rather than to … Continue reading Homo Deus – A Brief History of Tomorrow