^ArchiveArticles

^{Type
post

Author
Eric Holloway
Date
April 10, 2024

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Military

Tagged
Albrecht Gessler, conflict, Endogenous information, Exogenous information, Goals in conflict, war, William Tell}

How Could Intelligent Design Help Us In a Conflict?

_{Well, what would happen if Daffy Duck teams up with Marvin the Martian?} _{Eric Holloway

April 10, 2024

4

Artificial Intelligence, Military}

In war, the goal is to eliminate a threat as quickly as possible, given available resources. We try to hit the center of a target with the fewest arrows. A key mathematical concept of intelligent design, active information, captures this dilemma. It also helps us understand the role of artificial intelligence might play in wartime. Active information Active information is the difference between two sources of information. Picture archers shooting at a target: 1. Endogenous information: What is the size of the target? And how difficult is the target to hit? It is the difference between hitting a squirrel and hitting the moon. 2. Exogenous information: How skilled the archer is who is firing the arrows? What difference does the Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Caitlin Cory
Date
April 9, 2024

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
AGI, AI, Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, Computer science, Consciousness, COSM, COSM 2023, Futurism, George Gilder, George Montanez, Technology, William Dembski, YouTube}

COSM 2023 Now on YouTube!

_{COSM 2023 explored the nature of artificial intelligence, as well as its future potential and risks.} _{Caitlin Cory

April 9, 2024

3

Artificial Intelligence}

You can now watch the 2023 COSM Technology Summit on YouTube. If you weren’t able to attend, or perhaps you want to revisit some of your favorite speakers, we are now releasing the second tranche of videos for your enjoyment. Click here to go to the COSM 2023 Playlist on YouTube! COSM 2023 explored the nature of artificial intelligence, as well as its future potential and risks. Stephen Wolfram spoke about his efforts to make the world more computable so that computers can help us understand the world. Afterward, George Gilder and Bob Metcalfe joined him in a fascinating discussion about Turing machines, neural networks, and AI-driven language models. A panel featuring William Dembski, Robert Marks, and George Montanez offered Read More ›

Front view, Capitol dome building at night, Washington DC, USA. Illuminated Home of Congress and Capitol Hill. Artificial Intelligence concept, hologram. AI, machine learning, neural network, robotics

^{Type
post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
April 9, 2024

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence}

The AI Bandwagon & Biden’s Executive Order

_{There are dangers and AI mitigation is needed. The question, though, is how .} _{Robert J. Marks

April 9, 2024

7

Artificial Intelligence}

On Oct 30, 2023, President Biden issued an Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence. A follow-up OMB Policy for management of AI was announced on March 28, 2024. Swallowing AI hype, the AI directive kills a fly with grenade just in case there are other flies nearby. AI remains an exciting often mind-blowing technology, but hyped futuristic depictions of AI in The Terminator and The Matrix are unrealizable science fiction. Unlike humans, AI will never understand what it is doing, be creative or experience qualia. AI is a tool. Like electricity or thermonuclear energy, it can be used for good or evil. Or can be the source of unforeseen accidents ranging from frayed house wiring to Chernobyl. Read More ›

Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and modern computer technologies concepts. Business, Technology, Internet and network concept.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
April 9, 2024

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence}

Is Sam Altman Losing Popularity?

_{People who know Altman are getting tired of his antics} _{News

April 9, 2024

2

Artificial Intelligence}

In November of 2023, just a year after the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Sam Altman was ousted from his post as CEO. Days later, he waltzed back in and retook the throne, snagging a new board in the process. Even though the talk of the drama has died down since then, with other issues, like the 2024 election, taking center stage, it’s still worth wondering why all that happened in the first place. According to Insider and Gizmodo, people familiar with Altman worry that he’s more in it for himself than for the good of humanity. Altman often uses grandiose rhetoric on how AI will enhance and perhaps even define the humanity of the future. (In a good way, of Read More ›

Big brother is watching you. Digital spy concept. Based on Generative AI

^{Type
post

Author
William A. Dembski
Date
April 8, 2024

Categorized
Ethics

Tagged
1984, Computers, Dystopian, George Orwell, lies, objective truth, Wokeness}

Orwell’s Cold Dystopia is Closer Than We Think

_{When we speak lies as truth, tyrants come marching in} _{William A. Dembski

April 8, 2024

23

Ethics}

The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. [Winston’s] heart sank as he thought of the enormous power arrayed against him… And yet he was in the right! They were wrong and he was right. The obvious, the silly, and the true had got to be defended. Truisms are true, hold on to that! The solid world exists, its laws do not change. Stones are hard, water is wet, objects unsupported fall towards the earth’s center. With the feeling that he was setting forth an important axiom, he wrote: Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. GEORGE ORWELL, 1984 Read More ›

Man praying on his knees against large smartphone

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
April 8, 2024

Categorized
Addiction

Tagged
Arts and Culture, David Foster Wallace, fiction, film, internet, novels, rolling stone, the end of the tour}

David Foster Wallace: If Screens Are Your Main Media Diet, You’re Going to Die

_{The novelist warned about the pitfalls of the online life} _{Peter Biles

April 8, 2024

2

Addiction}

“If we ate like this all the time, what would be wrong with that?” So asks David Foster Wallace, compellingly played by Jason Segel, in the 2015 film The End of the Tour. Wallace is in the car with a Rolling Stone reporter, David Lipsky, cramming down sweets from a gas station when he says that. After Lipsky quips back about obesity, Wallace says, “It has none of the substance of real food, but it’s real pleasurable.” The End of the Tour is set in 1996 shortly after Wallace’s gargantuan novel Infinite Jest hit the literary scene and impressed the nation with its length, wit, tragedy, and insight. A massive book about loneliness, Infinite Jest takes place in a semi-futuristic Read More ›

Soldier on top of the mountain with the Israeli flag

^{Type
post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
April 7, 2024

Categorized
Military

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, Featured, Military, Robert J. Marks}

Cyberwarfare in the Israeli War

_{Cyberwarfare is the new arms race where opponents try to outdo each other using computer technology} _{Robert J. Marks

April 7, 2024

2

Military}

Cyberwarfare is the new arms race where opponents try to outdo each other using computer technology. For example, some missiles are guided by the GPS I use daily and take for granted. Israel’s cybersecurity infrastructure has activated nationwide GPS jamming. The jamming seeks to disrupt drones and GPS-guided missiles aimed at the country. Nowhere is GPS jamming more concentrated than in the Middle East. HERE is a map of areas around the world where GPS is disrupted. Click and drag to rotate the globe. In developing weapons in the cyberwarfare back and forth, the United States remains aware of dependency on easily disreputable technology like GPS. If GPS is disrupted, what technology can take its place? One approach is Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
April 7, 2024}

Euthanasia is Not About Compassion

_{This movement will end up pressuring people to die} _{Wesley J. Smith

April 7, 2024

3}

Euthanasia isn’t really about compassion but fear of decline and a loathing of dependency — and of those experiencing them. That nasty truth has become abundantly clear with a new column published in the Times of London in which former Tory MP Matthew Parris argues that euthanasia/assisted suicide should not only be permitted — but encouraged. In “We Can’t Afford a Taboo on Assisted Dying,” he writes (my emphasis): I can’t dispute the objectors’ belief that once assisted dying becomes normalized we will become more apt to ask yourselves for how much longer we can justify the struggle. An Unjustifiable Life The word “justify” is telling. It does not only concern the suffering of the person who is ill, disabled, or elderly but the suffering Read More ›

astronaut in a ship with a giant spider in space

^{Type
post

Author
Gary Varner
Date
April 6, 2024

Categorized
Science Fiction

Tagged
Adam Sandler, Colby Day, Jaroslav Kalfař, Spaceman (2024 film), Spaceman of Bohemia (2017)}

Spaceman: World Is Ending. Worse, an Astronaut’s Wife Wants Out

_{It’s not clear just what role the threatening Chopra Cloud plays and that complexity dogs the story} _{Gary Varner

April 6, 2024

6

Science Fiction}

Netflix recently released a film called Spaceman, starring Adam Sandler. It’s… interesting. The first time I watched it, I hated it. The second time I watched it, I hated it less. I can appreciate what the movie was trying to do, and Adam Sandler puts on a fine performance… most of the time. But there were just too many plot holes and too much meaningless rhetoric for me to really enjoy the story. The movie is based on a 2017 novel, Spaceman of Bohemia by Czech author Jaroslav Kalfař. It begins with a Czech astronaut flying toward a mysterious, purple anomaly called the Chopra Cloud. The Cloud had appeared in the sky a few years previously, with no known reason. Read More ›

Modern fridge in room on the wooden floor, 3D rendering

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
April 4, 2024

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
AI, appliances, domestic life, fridge, Tech}

I Don’t Need an AI Refrigerator, but Thanks

_{We need to clarify what AI is good for and what it would only complicate} _{Peter Biles

April 4, 2024

2

Artificial Intelligence}

The AI hype seems to know no bounds. Is there any sphere of life the optimists will leave untouched? AI techies are coming for home appliances now, too, because it isn’t enough that our refrigerators store our food for us; we need them to refashioned top-down into AI bots that can spin out recipes for us. The main problem with this domestic infestation of AI is the simultaneous invasion of privacy, as noted in a recent Futurism article. Also, it’s just a hassle to keep up with. There’s no doubt there are certain things AI simplifies, like facial recognition on apps and generating an email via ChatGPT, but when I’m in the mood for a frozen burrito, there’s really only Read More ›

Abstract dot point connect with gradient line and aesthetic Intricate wave line design , internationalization social network or business big data connection technology concept .

^{Type
post

Author
William A. Dembski
Date
April 4, 2024

Categorized
Information Theory

Tagged
Artificial Intelligence, Information, intelligence, Tech, William A. Dembski}

What’s the Relation Between Intelligence and Information?

_{The fundamental intuition of information as narrowing down possibilities matches up neatly with the concept of intelligence} _{William A. Dembski

April 4, 2024

4

Information Theory}

The key intuition behind the concept of information is the narrowing of possibilities. The more that possibilities are narrowed down, the greater the information. If I tell you I’m on planet Earth, I haven’t conveyed any information because you already knew that (let’s leave aside space travel). If I tell you I’m in the United States, I’ve begun to narrow down where I am in the world. If I tell you I’m in Texas, I’ve narrowed down my location further. If I tell you I’m forty miles north of Dallas, I’ve narrowed my location down even further. As I keep narrowing down my location, I’m providing you with more and more information. Information is therefore, in its essence, exclusionary: the more Read More ›

Large Language Models - Generative AI illustration

^{Type
post

Author
William A. Dembski
Date
April 3, 2024

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
AI, Bill Dembski, ChatGPT, Dall-E, Generative AI, LLMs, Midjourney, trust, truth}

Can We Trust Large Language Models? Depends on How Truthful They Are

_{Just because a piece of tech is highly sophisticated doesn't mean it's more trustworthy} _{William A. Dembski

April 3, 2024

21

Artificial Intelligence}

The trust we put in Large Language Models (LLMs) ought to depend on their truthfulness. So how truthful are LLMs? For many routine queries, they seem accurate enough. What’s the capital of North Dakota? To this query, ChatGPT4 just now gave me the answer Bismarck. That’s right. But what about less routine queries? Recently I was exploring the use of design inferences to detect plagiarism and data falsification. Some big academic misconduct cases had in the last 12 months gotten widespread public attention, not least the plagiarism scandal of Harvard president Claudine Gay and the data falsification scandal of Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne. These scandals were so damaging to these individuals and their institutions that neither is a university president any longer. When I queried Read More ›

blur image background of corridor in hospital or clinic image

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
April 3, 2024

Tagged
Assisted Suicide, Depression, dying, Euthanasia, Mental illness, netherlands, psychiatry, the free press}

28-Year-Old Woman Schedules Euthanasia Appointment in the Netherlands

_{It's shocking, but more and more people are choosing to die to escape any kind of pain} _{News

April 3, 2024

2}

According to The Free Press, a shocking 5% of deaths in the Netherlands in 2022 were from euthanasia. Zoraya ter Beek, a 28-year-old woman from the Netherlands, was approved for euthanasia because of her struggles with mental health and is scheduled to die in May. It’s a dark and tragic story, but reflects how more and more people in the West are seeing death as the only way out of pain. Free Press reporter Rupa Subramanya writes, There won’t be any funeral. She doesn’t have much family; she doesn’t think her friends will feel like going. Instead, her boyfriend will scatter her ashes in “a nice spot in the woods” that they have chosen together, she said. “I’m a little Read More ›

Beautiful dunes in the Arabian desert of Abu Dhabi - UAE

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
April 3, 2024

Categorized
Arts & Culture}

Why Dune Might Be the Saddest Film I’ve Ever Seen

_{Are we saved through the love of power or the power of love?} _{Peter Biles

April 3, 2024

4

Arts & Culture}

If you’ve seen Dune Part 2 already, read on, but this commentary will include some spoilers, so beware for those who have yet to witness Denis Villeneuve’s visually stunning adaptation of the 1965 classic by Frank Herbert. I read Dune a couple of years ago, and enjoyed it, but J.R.R. Tolkien’s rumored distaste for the book soured some of my reception. Seeing the new films, though, illustrates why this story is so deeply tragic. Herbert drew much of his world and mythology from religion, and Dune is rich in religious allusion. Young Paul Atreides is the “Messiah” figure, and he “resurrects” after drinking the poison of the sandworm (a.k.a., the “Water of Life). There are fanatics in southern Arrakis ready Read More ›

AI chatbot - Artificial Intelligence digital concept

^{Type
post

Author
Richard W. Stevens
Date
April 2, 2024

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Language

Tagged
Chatbot training and bias, Chatbots and political bias, David Rozado, Political bias and chatbots}

Are Chatbots Biased? The Research Results Are In

_{The results are obvious and dramatic. Inject the preferred training materials and the chatbot will “believe” whatever the post-trainer intended} _{Richard W. Stevens

April 2, 2024

5

Artificial Intelligence, Language}

People have noticed political biases in artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot systems like ChatGPT, but researcher David Rozado studied 24 large language model (LLM) chatbots to find out. Rozado’s (preprint) paper, “The Political Preferences of LLMs,” delivers open access findings from very recent research, and declares: When probed with questions/statements with political connotations, most conversational LLMs tend to generate responses that are diagnosed by most political test instruments as manifesting preferences for left-of-center viewpoints. The Chatbots’ Landslide of Opinion As reported in the New York Times, the paper restates that “most modern conversational LLMs when probed with questions with political connotations tend to generate answers that are … left-leaning viewpoints.” Using the verb “tend to” makes the conclusion appear tepid. The Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
April 1, 2024

Categorized
Cryptocurrency

Tagged
cryptocurrency, Finance, Fraud, Sam Bankman-Fried}

Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced to 25 Years

_{The golden boy of crypto is on his way out of the picture} _{News

April 1, 2024

2

Cryptocurrency}

Former cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, who was convicted of financial fraud in late 2022, was sentenced to 25 years of prison last week. Bankman-Fried was convicted of defrauding investors and delegating monies to fund his own lavish lifestyle and to try and square away the debts of his hedge fund, Alameda Research. The scandal amounts to one of the largest in financial history, with some 11 billion dollars worth of assets lost. Bankman-Fried was once an up-and-coming favorite in the tech world. He donated millions to political campaigns, shot trailers with celebrities promoting his crypto exchange, FTX, and seemed to present to the world nothing short of the next generation’s spitting image of success. However, it all came crumbling down. Read More ›

Cyber network, data flow, open source. 3D illustration of digital hi-tech particles

^{Type
post

Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
April 1, 2024

Categorized
Computer Security

Tagged
cybersecurity, internet, open source, Software, Technology}

The Backdoor to Control the Internet

_{We almost lost the Internet last week, but open-source developers saved the day.} _{Jonathan Bartlett

April 1, 2024

4

Computer Security}

Few people are aware, but over the last several days, a perceptive developer foiled a multi-year plot to install a remote backdoor into, well, the entire Internet. Two years ago, a programmer known as Jia Tan (JiaT75) started helping out with a lesser-known compression library, known as xz. For those who don’t know, software today is not a monolithic entity. Every piece of software you use it built from a collection of tools, known as libraries, that make programming easier. For instance, most programmers never have to write the specifics of a sorting algorithm, because, somewhere, there is a library which performs sorting for them. This leaves programmers to focus on higher-level tasks, like actually making the software do what the users want. However, these Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Gary Varner
Date
March 30, 2024

Categorized
Science Fiction

Tagged
Alia (Dune 1984), Baron (Dune: Part Two), Chani (Dune: Part Two), Dune Messiah (1969), Dune: Part Two (2024), Emperor (Dune: Part Two), Feyd-Rautha (Dune: Part Two), Fremen (Dune: Part Two), Gurney Hallack (Dune: Part Two), Irulan (Dune: Part Two), Jessica (Dune: Part Two), Paul Atreides (Dune: Part Two), Rabban (Dune: Part Two), Sandworm (Dune: Part Two), Sardaukar (Dune: Part Two), Shield Wall (Dune: Part Two)}

Dune, Part Two: A Good Movie But a Bad Set-Up for Part Three

_{When Paul avenges his father and settles an old feud, the threads of the story start to connect} _{Gary Varner

March 30, 2024

9

Science Fiction}

Last Saturday, we talked about how the writers did an excellent job setting up Feyd-Rautha as a worthy adversary for Paul. However, their decision to make Chani a skeptical antagonist—opposing the man she supposedly loves—has already created numerous problems for the story, and those problems continue to stack up. By the time we reach the conclusion of the film, I don’t know how the writers expect to create a Part Three that will be in any way, shape, or form consistent with the source material. In Part Two, Paul and the Fremen finally launch their final assault on the emperor. As in previous retellings of the story, Paul uses his father’s stash of atomic weapons to blow a hole in Read More ›

Alma Mater statue near the Columbia University library.

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
March 29, 2024

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

Who Needs Teaching Assistants? Bring In the Bots, Please

_{In defense of a human-led humanities} _{Peter Biles

March 29, 2024

3

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

According to Philosophy Nous, the Dean at Boston University’s College of Arts and Sciences suggested that a group of teaching assistants going on strike be replaced conveniently by artificial intelligence. It would be a much cheaper option while the TAs demand higher pay and benefits, and would, apparently, accomplish the same desired ends. The dean, Stan Sclaroff, is a computer scientist. Another article from the same publication makes a list of reasons why philosophers are declining across the country, and why philosophy and humanities departments are getting cut. Justin Weinberg writes, Weinberg goes on to call for a renewed advocacy of philosophy and the study of the liberal arts more broadly. “Selling” philosophy as a worthy undertaking in and of Read More ›

Group of students using laptops and other devices in classroom.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
March 29, 2024

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence}

ChatGPT: The Enemy of Memorization

_{New research documents memory loss among frequent ChatGPT users} _{News

March 29, 2024

2

Artificial Intelligence}

Recent research has illustrated a troubling connection between the use of ChatGPT and memory loss and falling academic performance among college students. The logic of the linkage makes sense; when students rely on AI to write their papers or organize all of their information, they forego the need to ingest and memorize the material themselves. More than merely failing to remember what they learn, the ChatGPT addict risks never learning the material in the first place. Frank Landymore, speaking on a new study on the topic, writes at Futurism, Perhaps unsurprisingly, the researchers found that students under a heavy academic workload and “time pressure” were much more likely to use ChatGPT. They observed that those who relied on ChatGPT reported Read More ›