Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

Monthly Archive January 2021

silhouette-of-one-hand-desire-to-dove-carrying-olive-leaf-branch-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Silhouette of one hand desire to Dove carrying olive leaf branch
Type
post
Author
Caitlin Cory
Date
January 22, 2021
Categorized
Social Media
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Poland’s Free Speech Champion Speaks Out!

Poland has been drafting laws that would hold Big Social Media accountable
Caitlin Cory
January 22, 2021
4
Social Media

A month after Poland announced drafted legislation that would hold social media companies accountable for their censorship activities, the author of the widely discussed law has spoken out on why he felt the need to get the state involved. In an article published to Newsweek on January 21, Sebastian Kaleta (pictured) called on “democratic governments all over the globe” to defend the free speech rights of their citizens against the censorship efforts of social media companies. “Two thousand years ago, the Roman comedian Juvenal asked, ‘Who will watch the watchers?’” Kaleta wrote. “In the case of Big Tech, I believe that the answer lies with the people – not nameless moderators operating with no transparency and no ability for recourse.” Read More ›

Thief Stealing Folder From Shelf
Type
post
Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
January 22, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Religion
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The President Pardons the Founder of a Church That Worships AI

On his last day in office, departing President Trump pardoned Anthony Levandowski
Robert J. Marks
January 22, 2021
3
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Religion

Anthony Levandowski has an interesting history He transitioned from Silicon Valley wunderkind to inept theologian to convicted felon. Now he is free, due to a pardon given by Donald Trump in Trump’s last day in office. If you are an orthodox materialist, you believe our brains are computers made of meat. Artificial intelligence, brains made out of silicon, will therefore match and eventually exceed human capabilities and become godlike. So it might make sense to form a church that worships this future AI god. That’s what Anthony Levandowski did in 2019. His church was christened Way of the Future. Levandowski reasoned “What is going to be created [by AI] will effectively be a god … if there is something a Read More ›

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Chain of amino acid or biomolecules called protein - 3d illustration
Type
post
Author
News
Date
January 22, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Medicine and Health
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#1 Smash Hit in AI 2020: AI Cracks Protein Folding!

The reason it became possible, of course, is many years of human creativity
News
January 22, 2021
10
Artificial Intelligence, Medicine and Health

Our Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks is back with the second instalment of 2020 smash hits in AI—and now, the #1 Smash Hit! Readers may recall that we offered a fun series during the holidays about the oopses and ums and ers in the discipline (typically hyped by uncritical sources). This time, Dr. Marks talks with Jonathan Bartlett and Eric Holloway about AI programs that can beat humans at understanding the complexities of protein folding, the immensely complex ways that proteins in our bodies actually work. Robert J. Marks: AI has cracked a problem that stumped biologists for 50 years. And it’s a huge deal. Jonathan and Eric, elaborate on this a little bit. Jonathan Bartlett: Well, protein Read More ›

hand-painting-over-the-words-freedom-of-speech-using-a-red-brush-isolated-on-white-background-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Hand painting over the words
Type
post
Author
Caitlin Cory
Date
January 21, 2021
Categorized
Social Media
Tagged
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Mexican President Wants Free Speech Coalition Re Social Media

“How can a company act as if it was all powerful, omnipotent, as a sort of Spanish Inquisition on what is expressed?” he asked.
Caitlin Cory
January 21, 2021
3
Social Media

In response to the recent banning of former United States President Donald Trump from Facebook and Twitter, Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced last week that he is organizing a coalition of global leaders to seek solutions to the power currently wielded by social media giants. “I can tell you that at the first G20 meeting we have, I am going to make a proposal on this issue,” he said on Thursday. “Yes, social media should not be used to incite violence and all that, but this cannot be used as a pretext to suspend freedom of expression.” According to the Washington Post, one of his proposed solutions is a “state-run social network” that would exist “without censorship” as Read More ›

colorful-numbers-background-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
colorful numbers background
Type
post
Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
January 21, 2021
Categorized
Mathematics
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Most Real Numbers Are Not Real, or Not in the Way You Think

Typical real numbers contain an encoding of all of the books in the US Library of Congress
Robert J. Marks
January 21, 2021
5
Mathematics

Pick a random real number between zero and one. The number you choose, with probability one, will contain an encoding of all of the books in the US Library of Congress. This sounds absurd, but real numbers require infinite precision and every time you deal with the infinite, things get absurd. Infinities, including the infinite number of digits to express almost every real number, don’t exist. Curiously then, real numbers are not real. How do we choose a random number between zero and one? The easiest way to explain is using binary decimals. The binary number 0.1000… with zeros forever denotes the number ½ or, in base 10 notation, 0.5. The binary decimal 0.01000… with zeros forever is the number Read More ›

flush-royal-in-poker-player-hand-lucky-winner-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Flush royal in poker player hand. Lucky winner.
Type
post
Author
News
Date
January 21, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture
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AI Smash Hits #2 To Win AI-Run Poker Humans Must Find Blind Spots

Each pro separately played 5,000 hands of poker against five copies of Pluribus and Pluribus won. Now this, in itself, was an astonishing result.
News
January 21, 2021
7
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Our Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks is back with the second instalment of 2020 smash hits in AI. Readers may recall that we offered a fun series during the holidays about the oopses and ums and ers in the discipline (typically hyped by uncritical sources). This time, Dr. Marks talks with Eric Holloway about AI programs that can beat humans at poker. https://episodes.castos.com/mindmatters/Mind-Matters-117-Eric-Holloway-Jonathan-Bartlett.mp3 Our story begins at 16:36. Here’s a partial transcript. (Show Notes and Additional Resources follow, along with a link to the complete transcript.) Robert J. Marks: Carnegie Mellon and Facebook AI beats professionals in six player poker. This result astonished me. I have always heard poker players say that poker is not a game of Read More ›

covid-19-coronavirus-in-china-renminbi-yuan-money-bill-with-face-mask-covid-global-stock-market-world-economy-hit-by-corona-virus-outbreak-financial-crisis-and-coronavirus-pandemic-concept-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpeg
COVID-19 coronavirus in China, renminbi yuan money bill with face mask. COVID global stock market. World economy hit by corona virus outbreak. Financial crisis and coronavirus pandemic concept.
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post
Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
January 20, 2021
Categorized
Technocracy
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Lawyer Turned Citizen Journalist in China Turns Up Again—in Jail

She has been sentenced to four years in prison for “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble,” a crime in China
Heather Zeiger
January 20, 2021
10
Technocracy

Lawyer-turned-citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, 37, went missing on May 15 after documenting on Youtube, Twitter, and WeChat what she saw in Wuhan during the early days of the SARS-CoV-2 (coronavirus) pandemic. She has now been sentenced to four years in prison for “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble.” Zhang had already been detained for supporting the 2019 Hong Kong protests, which likely played into her harsh sentence. So far, 47 journalists have been jailed for reporting on COVID-19 in China. YouTube and Twitter are inaccessible within China because of the Great Firewall which allows the Communist Party of China (CCP) to control the information that comes into and goes out of the country. Within the Great Firewall journalists must adhere Read More ›

legal-law-concept-image-scales-of-justice-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Legal law concept image, scales of justice
Type
post
Author
Caitlin Cory
Date
January 20, 2021
Categorized
Social Media
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Finally, Someone Is Seriously Suing Twitter

Twitter is now being sued in Canada because Canada does not offer the protections accorded to the social medium that it has enjoyed in the United States
Caitlin Cory
January 20, 2021
5
Social Media

Last week, a Canadian judge ruled that the Supreme Court of British Columbia has the right to hear the claims of Canadian billionaire philanthropist Frank Giustra against Twitter about the defamation he says he was subjected to on its platform. Giustra filed a lawsuit against Twitter in April 2019 in the Canadian province of British Columbia, claiming that he was the target of defamatory posts that harmed his reputation and community standing. According to his claim, people began making politically-motivated, false accusations against him via Twitter in 2015, ahead of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The posts allege that Giustra was involved in “Pizzagate,” a conspiracy theory according to which the Democrats were operating a child sex trafficking ring out Read More ›

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Legs of disabled person.
Type
post
Author
News
Date
January 20, 2021
Categorized
Medicine and Health
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#3 AI Smash Hits 2020: AI Can Help Paralyzed People Move Again

The human brain can interface directly with electronics
News
January 20, 2021
7
Medicine and Health

Our Walter Bradley Center director, Robert J. Marks, is back with the second instalment of the 2020 Smash Hits in AI. Readers may recall that we offered a fun series during the holidays about the oopses and ums and ers in the discipline (typically hyped by uncritical sources). This time, Dr. Marks talks with Eric Holloway about ways AI can help people with disabilities. A major, often unrealized, fact is that the human brain can work directly with electronic devices, provided that they are positioned or implanted so as to interface with neurons. Many possibilities are being explored. And the “exoskeleton” is our #3. Our story begins at 10:12 min: https://episodes.castos.com/mindmatters/Mind-Matters-117-Eric-Holloway-Jonathan-Bartlett.mp3 Robert J. Marks: We’re up to number three, where Read More ›

time-concept-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Time concept
Type
post
Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
January 19, 2021
Categorized
Philosophy of Mind, Science
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Why the Idea That the Human Mind Is an Illusion Doesn’t Work

There is a simple way to test whether our thoughts are all illusions
Richard W. Stevens
January 19, 2021
6
Philosophy of Mind, Science

Sitting in a room with me are some smart people listening to a podcast of neuroscientist Sam Harris. They nod solemnly as Harris tells them that their thoughts are all illusions. No one has free will either, Harris says, both on the podcast and in his 2012 book, Free Will. Sir Francis Crick (1916–2004) said much the same in his 1994 work, The Astonishing Hypothesis. Harris and Crick are science-trained and Crick is a Nobelist. But popular culture influencers think the same way. The widely-read manga graphic novel artist, Masashi Kishimoto, has a character say in his 2009 work, Naruto, Every single one of us goes through life depending on and bound by our individual knowledge and awareness. And we Read More ›

golden-bitcoin-coin-in-fire-flame-water-splashes-and-lightning-bitcoin-gold-blockchain-hard-fork-concept-cryptocurrency-symbol-in-storm-illustration-with-peer-to-peer-network-background-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Golden bitcoin coin in fire flame, water splashes and lightning. Bitcoin Gold blockchain hard fork concept. Cryptocurrency symbol in storm illustration with peer to peer network background.
Type
post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
January 19, 2021
Categorized
Business and Finance, Economics
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Bitcoin: What’s Good, What’s Bad and What’s the Future?

Bitcoins are currently bouncing in the range of $30,000 to $40,000 each
Jonathan Bartlett
January 19, 2021
5
Business and Finance, Economics

Bitcoin has been having quite the wild ride over the last several months, and especially the last several weeks. During 2020, the price of a single bitcoin dipped below $5,000, then soared past $20,000 in December. It is currently bouncing in the range of $30,000 to $40,000.So what is the attraction of the digital currency Bitcoin? Why is the value of a bitcoin so high and what are people doing with it? To begin with, keep in mind that a “single bitcoin” is a bit of a misnomer. While a single bitcoin is indeed expensive, coins can be split. The smallest unit in Bitcoin is known as a satoshi, which is 0.00000001 bitcoin. While the quoted price is always given Read More ›

macro-photo-of-human-eye-iris-pupil-eye-lashes-eye-lids-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Macro photo of human eye, iris, pupil, eye lashes, eye lids.
Type
post
Author
News
Date
January 18, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Medicine and Health
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#4 AI Smash Hits 2020 AI Helps Detect Dreaded White Eye Disease

The first step in treatment is correct diagnosis
News
January 18, 2021
5
Artificial Intelligence, Medicine and Health

Our Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks is back with the second instalment of 2020 smash hits in AI. Readers may recall that we offered a fun series during the holidays about the oopses and ums and ers in the discipline (typically hyped by uncritical sources). This time, Dr. Marks wants to talk about a serious issue: The use of AI apps developed at his university, Baylor in Texas, to detect “white eye,” an eyeball cancer in children. “White eye” or leukocoria can be caused by a number of conditions, many of which are treatable. In some cases, however, it is a form of cancer (retinoblastoma). Our story begins at 14:32: https://episodes.castos.com/mindmatters/Mind-Matters-117-Eric-Holloway-Jonathan-Bartlett.mp3 Robert J. Marks: Now, the story behind Read More ›

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Young serious female latin math school teacher wearing glasses holding writing equation on whiteboard in classroom. Hispanic university college tutor, graduate student learning, teaching during class.
Type
post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
January 18, 2021
Categorized
Mathematics
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Can We Add New Numbers to Mathematics?

We can work with hyperreal numbers using conventional methods. It could start in high school
Jonathan Bartlett
January 18, 2021
6
Mathematics

Sometimes mathematics is moved forward by the discovery of new formulas and solutions to problems. However, sometimes mathematics grows by adding new kinds of numbers to the number system. In the early days of mathematics, it was thought that whole numbers were the only kind that existed. Sure, there were fractions, but fractions are merely ratios of whole numbers. It was thought that every possible number could be written in terms of whole numbers. These numbers were called rational numbers because they could be written as a ratio. There is a story about a Greek philosopher, Hippasus who discovered, roughly 2500 years ago, that certain numbers (specifically the square root of two) could not be written in terms of ratios Read More ›

the-universe-within-silhouette-of-a-man-inside-the-universe-physical-and-mathematical-formulas-the-concept-on-scientific-and-philosophical-topics-elements-of-this-image-furnished-by-nasa-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
The universe within. Silhouette of a man inside the universe, physical and mathematical formulas.. The concept on scientific and philosophical topics. Elements of this image furnished by NASA.
Type
post
Author
News
Date
January 17, 2021
Categorized
Philosophy, Religion, Science
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Why Intelligent Design of the Universe Is Not an Absurd Idea

It is only eight pages, well within the patience of the average viewer and very clearly written
News
January 17, 2021
4
Philosophy, Religion, Science

Raymond Bergner, psychology prof at Illinois State University, wrote a most interesting paper in 2017 discussing the intelligent design controversy—the question of whether the universe shows evidence of design. Mercifully, it is only eight pages, well within the patience of the average viewer and very clearly written. He makes clear he is not arguing for the concept but only explaining why it is not at all absurd. He makes a number of key points. Here are two, some thoughts interspersed: Many extraordinarily intelligent and relevantly informed people believe and have believed in intelligent design. Famously, Isaac Newton, himself a heretic and hardly a slave to conventional religious belief, once stated that, “This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and Read More ›

3d-rendered-medically-accurate-illustration-of-the-human-brain-and-a-tumor-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
3d rendered medically accurate illustration of the human brain and a tumor
Type
post
Author
News
Date
January 17, 2021
Categorized
Neuroscience
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Another New Communications Network Discovered in the Human Brain

Our brains are smarter than we thought
News
January 17, 2021
1
Neuroscience

We keep discovering new things about the brain: Neuronal oscillations are an essential part of the functioning of the human brain. They regulate the communication between neural networks and the processing of information carried out by the brain by pacing neuronal groups and synchronising brain regions. High-frequency oscillations with frequencies over 100 Hertz are known to indicate the activity of small neuronal populations. However, up to now, they have been considered to be exclusively a local phenomenon. The findings of the European research project demonstrate that also high-frequency oscillations over 100 Hertz synchronize across several brain regions. This important finding reveals that strictly-timed communication between brain regions can be achieved by high-frequency oscillations. University of Helsinki, “A new means of Read More ›

artificial-intelligence-and-future-technologies-mixed-media-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Artificial intelligence and future technologies. Mixed media
Type
post
Author
News
Date
January 16, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture
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Researchers: It Would Be Impossible To Control Super AI

But is superintelligent AI really possible? Some experts are skeptical
News
January 16, 2021
3
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

From the media release for a recent paper: The idea of artificial intelligence overthrowing humankind has been talked about for many decades, and scientists have just delivered their verdict on whether we’d be able to control a high-level computer super-intelligence. The answer? Almost definitely not. The catch is that controlling a super-intelligence far beyond human comprehension would require a simulation of that super-intelligence which we can analyse. But if we’re unable to comprehend it, it’s impossible to create such a simulation. David Nield, “Calculations Show It’ll Be Impossible to Control a Super-Intelligent AI” at Science Alert The open access research study is here. First, the idea that machines can design smarter machines should be treated with skepticism: maybe we are Read More ›

lucky-numbers-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Lucky Numbers
Type
post
Author
News
Date
January 16, 2021
Categorized
Arts & Culture
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Sci Fi Saturday: A fight for the winning ticket

In a 2040 superstorm, engulfing the planet, a young woman gets hold of a ticket out
News
January 16, 2021
4
Arts & Culture

Our next sci fi short is “Here comes Frieda”: (Ripple Effect, 7:34 min) As yet another superstorm bears down on a desperate, weary city in the year 2040, a young woman seeks to redeem her winning sweepstakes ticket for a better life in a low Earth orbit paradise. This film is the ultimate environmental dystopia (no spoilers). It works to the extent that it portrays real characters. The building maintenance man is especially good. Because it is a very short film the filmmakers need not address the question of just why the environment apocalypse is so dire. Nature has a way of rebalancing itself; this has been true since the beginning of life on Earth. The problem with environment damage Read More ›

astronaut mars.jpg
life on planet Mars, astronaut discovers bacterial life on the surface of a rock
Type
post
Author
News
Date
January 16, 2021
Categorized
Arts & Culture
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At Scientific American: The Aliens Could Be Extremely Boring

Well, we can’t be sure, can we? It’s literally a whole other world
News
January 16, 2021
2
Arts & Culture

Okay, it’s just a thought. But what if all the interesting stuff is happening in our own imaginations? Caleb Scharf is a University of Columbia astrobiologist and here is his view: There’ll be some initial oddities, some curiosities that aren’t quite the things we planned for. A dull carrier wave signal for instance. Over time more evidence will show up, until eventually it’s clear that there are lots of species out there, puttering around in their own little neighborhoods and doing nothing truly extraordinary, because those possibilities were, in the end, more the product of our lively imaginations than anything that the universe compels life towards. Of course, I’m being a little facetious, the first discovery of life of any Read More ›

scrap-recycling-plant-crane-grabber-pile-metal-to-recycle-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Scrap recycling plant, Crane grabber, pile metal to recycle
Type
post
Author
News
Date
January 16, 2021
Categorized
Arts & Culture
Tagged
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Sci Fi Saturday: Terrified by a Scrap Monster

Well, if you have never been terrified by a Scrap Monster, you are clearly missing out
News
January 16, 2021
3
Arts & Culture

Here’s “Pinki” by Spike Hyunsuk Kim (11:08 min) On a back street, a scrap monster makes a sudden lunge at a man. A pink-haired girl helps him, and their future is down to whether he remembers her. No surprise, she is a girl from his high school past. The production values are well done but it’s not clear if this is strictly sci-fi. The scrap monster tormenting the fellow seems right out of folklore rather than sci-fi. That said, it’s fun watching a middle class South Korean business executive try to cope with the Scrap Monster. An agreeable short. Other reviews from the “We are but DUST” files: Sci Fi Saturday: What if there were serious wars over clouds? In Read More ›

picture-of-puckered-lips-stockpack-unsplash.jpg
Picture of puckered lips
Type
post
Author
News
Date
January 15, 2021
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Business and Finance
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AI 2020 Smash hits #5: Deepfakes — What They Can and Can’t Do

Deepfakes? Our minds often actually fill in a lot of our background for us when we are not even aware of it
News
January 15, 2021
5
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Business and Finance

Our Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks is back with Jonathan Bartlett and Eric Holloway, are back, with the second instalment of 2020 smash hits in AI. Readers may recall that we offered a fun series during the holidays about the oopses and ums and ers in the discipline (typically hyped by uncritical sources). Time to celebrate the real achievements! Well, our nerds think that #5 is believable deep fakes in entertainment, for better or worse Here’s a partial transcript. (Show Notes and Additional Resources follow, along with a link to the complete transcript.) Robert J. Marks: Jon, what are deep fakes and what is Disney doing that’s going to wow us? Jonathan Bartlett: People are worried about the Read More ›