Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

Monthly Archive June 2020

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Business Ethics
Type
post
Author
Jed Macosko and Bradley A. Alaniz
Date
June 9, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Ethics
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Artificial Ethics May Make Poor Choices

Whether or not AI can become powerful enough to follow its own rules is still an open question
Jed Macosko and Bradley A. Alaniz
June 9, 2020
5
Artificial Intelligence, Ethics

We’ve all heard about computers that make poor ethical choices. One of the most memorable is HAL 9000 in the 1968 classic, 2001: A Space Odyssey. In the film, HAL kills four humans and attempts to kill a fifth. The concurrently written book elaborates on HAL’s murderous plans, explaining that they were due to HAL’s inability to properly make the correct ethical choice: lie to the humans or kill them (and, thus, no longer be forced to lie to them). Poor HAL 9000! If only people had developed a new field of academic inquiry in time to help him (or should we say, “it”?) make better fictional ethical choices! Putting aside Hollywood’s imaginary universes, the real need for the new Read More ›

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Stack of papers isolated on white background
Type
post
Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
June 9, 2020
Categorized
Military, Peer Review
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Einstein’s Single Journal Paper Ended WWII

Does that mean that a thousand papers could multiply the effect? Think again.
Robert J. Marks
June 9, 2020
5
Military, Peer Review

It was Albert Einstein’s work on matter and energy, captured in e = mc2 that enabled the atomic bomb that ended World War II. Modern anonymous peer review today works well except that it is muddied with bias, incompetence, and ignorance. The review processes of Einstein’s day were better. A renowned expert’s approval was sufficient for a paper’s publication.1 The current system has only been in force since the end of World War II when pressure was applied to professors to write papers. The mantra “publish or perish” looks to have been coined soon after the war in 1951 by Marshall “The Medium is the Message” McLuhan.2 Earlier, professors were often discouraged from publishing. Karl Popper, one of the most Read More ›

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Young man shaving
Type
post
Author
Michael Egnor
Date
June 8, 2020
Categorized
Philosophy of Mind
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Nominalism: The Stubble Left by Ockham’s Razor

Ockham was a methodological minimalist, not a philosophical minimalist
Michael Egnor
June 8, 2020
6
Philosophy of Mind
Ockham did not say that complex metaphysical realities don’t exist. He said that we should trim our understanding of reality to the use of as few concepts as possible for reasons of efficiency, even at the cost of absolute precision. Ockham may thus be said to be a methodological minimalist. Read More ›
The concept of planet Earth similar to the COVID-19 virus
The concept of planet Earth similar to the COVID-19 virus
Type
post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
June 7, 2020
Categorized
Medicine and Health, Peer Review, Science
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Twenty Years on, Aliens Still Cause Global Warming

Over the years, the Jurassic Park creator observed, science has drifted from its foundation as an objective search for truth toward political power games
Jonathan Bartlett
June 7, 2020
5
Medicine and Health, Peer Review, Science

In 2003, author and filmmaker Michael Crichton (1942–2008), best known for Jurassic Park, made a now-famous speech at Caltech, titled “Aliens Cause Global Warming.” The title was humorous but the content was serious. He was not addressing some strange theory of global warming; he was warning about the politicization of science. Crichton (left, in 2002, courtesy Jon Chase, Harvard CC 3.0), noted that, over the years, science has drifted away from its foundation as an objective search for truth and given itself over to political power games. The first time that he witnessed that was with the famous Drake Equation, used to turn SETI speculations about space aliens into a science. The Drake equation was a series of probabilities multiplied Read More ›

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HUD Futuristic Screen Design Element Virtual Reality Aerial View Escort Security Technology. UI Information Interface In Cyberspace Scanning Landscape Geometric Wireframe..
Type
post
Author
News
Date
June 6, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Military
Tagged
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VR Was Invented by an Air Force Engineer

Real world concerns drove his inventions, long before Comic Con
News
June 6, 2020
10
Artificial Intelligence, Military

In a recent Mind Matters podcast, “Thomas Furness and the invention of virtual reality,” Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks interviewed Thomas Furness, an engineer who wanted American fighter pilots to be able to see what was really happening around them in the air. It seemed that they needed virtual reality to do it. And that’s how the technology that powers so many computer games today got started. The transcript can be downloaded at the bottom of the page here. https://episodes.castos.com/mindmatters/Mind-Matters-085-Thomas-Furness.mp3 Here is is a partial transcript of highlights from the interview: Virtual reality was pioneered by Thomas Furness during his Air Force service in 1966 when he served as a Second Lieutenant at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Much Read More ›

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A hand pointing at brain MRI on the light box
Type
post
Author
News
Date
June 6, 2020
Categorized
Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind
Tagged
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Why Brain Activity Doesn’t Reveal Our Minds

There is poor correlation between different scans of even the same person’s brain, experienced researchers say
News
June 6, 2020
4
Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

At one time, we were told that, one day, machines will read our minds. But, now researchers say, the more we know about the brain (set aside the mind for a moment), the more reasons we have for doubt: But a new analysis by some of the researchers who have done the most work in this area finds that those measurements are highly suspect when it comes to drawing conclusions about any individual person’s brain. Karl Leif Bates, “Studies of brain activity aren’t as useful as scientists thought” at Duke Today Brain scanning—functional MRI (fMRI)—tells us about general brain structures, says Duke University neuroscientist Ahmad Hariri, who led a team that reanalyzed the data. It doesn’t say much about the Read More ›

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hombre joven hundido en fondo tipo minecraft
Type
post
Author
News
Date
June 5, 2020
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind
Tagged
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Philosopher: Sims Do Not Understand Simhood

Richard Johns explains how you can know for sure that you are not a sim
News
June 5, 2020
2
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind

Recently, philosopher Richard Johns (left), whose work was profiled here at Mind Matters News in “A philosopher explains why thinking matter is impossible,” has now written a piece for Medium. In it, he explains why we cannot create a sim that is a conscious, rational being. He uses a dialogue between “Alice” and “The Programmer” to unpack the idea: The dialogue begins with Alice returning from school to find a strange little man in her apartment. He seemed not to notice her entering the room, and remained seated comfortably in Alice’s favourite armchair, reading her own copy of Nick Bostrom’s “Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?”. “Who the hell are you?” Alice shrieked. “What are you doing in my Read More ›

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Blue glowing multiverse in space
Type
post
Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
June 4, 2020
Categorized
Arts & Culture, Mathematics
Tagged
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Is Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Right re the Multiverse?

Sheldon Cooper insists that in no universe would he dance with Penny
Robert J. Marks
June 4, 2020
6
Arts & Culture, Mathematics

A collection of universes is called a multiverse. If there are enough universes in a multiverse, can almost anything happen? No. Common models of the universe aren’t big enough. The argument that anything can happen in a multiverse is nicely presented in a 2011 scene in the sitcom The Big Bang Theory (2007–2019) involving consummate nerd Sheldon Cooper and Penny, the girl next door (here). Penny: Morning, Sheldon! Come dance with me! Sheldon: No. Penny: Why not? Sheldon: While I subscribe to the Many Worlds theory, which posits the existence of an infinite number of Sheldons in an infinite number of universes, I assure you that in none of them I am dancing. Penny: Are you fun in any of Read More ›

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Sad wife holding wedding ring on coronavirus confinement
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
June 3, 2020
Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind, Science
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Does COVID-19 Lead Women to Cheat?

The “subpersonal” approach to human psychology is popular but is it valid?
Denyse O'Leary
June 3, 2020
7
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind, Science

It's an open question whether the mind evolved at all and therefore whether evolutionary psychology is any help in understanding it.

Read More ›
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walnut split on a white background
Type
post
Author
Michael Egnor
Date
June 2, 2020
Categorized
Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind
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My Right Hemisphere Is An Atheist! No, Wait …

In reality, split-brain surgery does not split consciousness in any meaningful sense
Michael Egnor
June 2, 2020
7
Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

The atheist neuroscientist who has made bizarre claims about the outcomes of split brain surgery appears not to know much about neurosurgery.

Read More ›
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driver uber car in black car in the street of new york
Type
post
Author
Jeffrey Funk
Date
June 2, 2020
Categorized
Business and Finance, Global Technology
Tagged
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Why Are There No New Googles and Amazons?

The internet has matured, making many new internet-based companies comparatively low-tech
Jeffrey Funk
June 2, 2020
5
Business and Finance, Global Technology

Today’s startups have targeted a much different set of technologies than did startups in past decades.

Read More ›
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Smart technologies in your smartphone, collection and analysis of big data
Type
post
Author
Gary Smith
Date
June 1, 2020
Categorized
Data Privacy, Surveillance, Technocracy
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The Birds Aren’t Real. But Maybe the Spying Is.

A defense of our fundamental right to privacy
Gary Smith
June 1, 2020
7
Data Privacy, Surveillance, Technocracy

Technology frees us from drudgery but also enable surveillance that enslaves us. Then, far from computers becoming more like humans, we may become more like computers.

Read More ›
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Cute pair of sitting French Bulldog dogs dressed up with unicorn costume headbands with flowers
Type
post
Author
Jeffrey Funk
Date
June 1, 2020
Categorized
Business and Finance
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Why Do Today’s Tech Startups Disappoint Investors?

Only 14 of the 45 recent Unicorns showed increases larger than those of the Nasdaq generally
Jeffrey Funk
June 1, 2020
7
Business and Finance

Companies we hear a lot about, like Zoom and Beyond Meat, are not profitable compared to an earlier generation of tech startups.

Read More ›
St-Francis-Outpatient-Center
St Francis Outpatient Center in Federal Way, Washington State
Type
post
Author
Michael Egnor
Date
June 1, 2020
Categorized
Medicine and Health, Religion
Tagged
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COVID-19: Atheism Went Viral As Well

Atheists are uniquely unsuited to accuse others of devaluing human life
Michael Egnor
June 1, 2020
6
Medicine and Health, Religion

Professor Steven Pinker’s quickly deleted tweet provides a window into anti-religious hate. In health and medicine, he is entirely mistaken. 

Read More ›