Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

CategoryBusiness and Finance

social-media-concept-social-networking-service-video-hosting-website-streaming-video-stockpack-adobe-stock
Social media concept. Social networking service. Video hosting website. Streaming video.
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post
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News
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August 30, 2022
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Business and Finance, Law, Social Media
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You Hate Twitter Already? But Did You Know About the Child Porn?

From a searing report at The Verge, we learn that it’s out of control but executives have just not prioritized the issue
News
August 30, 2022
4
Business and Finance, Law, Social Media

Recently, we’ve been covering Twitter’s court-destined squabble with tech entrepreneur Elon Musk about what he should pay for the edgy social medium. Labor writer Zoe Schiffer and tech writer Casey Newton published an article at The Verge today that will surely stir the pot. It’s about Twitter’s problems with child porn — and its efforts to get involved with adult porn. The story is complex as well as disturbing but here’s the outline: Early in 2022, Twitter, which has not been making much money in recent years, decided to allow adult content (porn) vendors to tweet their wares to paying customers (Adult Content Monetization or ACM). Twitter would, of course, get a percentage. The main competitor, OnlyFans, projects revenues of Read More ›

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WEB 3.0 abstract sign with blockchain 3d illustration
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post
Author
News
Date
August 24, 2022
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Business and Finance, Cryptocurrency
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Why Didn’t Decentralized Organizations Work in the Crypto World?

DAOs broke down when people tried to make them interact with the outside world
News
August 24, 2022
14
Business and Finance, Cryptocurrency

Here’s the second part of Episode 3 of the discussion between computer engineering prof Robert J. Marks and computer engineering grad students Adam Goad and Austin Egber on the wild new online world. They’ve been talking about non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and what sort of NFTs survived the crypto crater: Now, in the second part of “The NFT Anti-bubble” (August 18, 2022), they look at what happened to the decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) that grew up along with crypto and NFTs: https://mindmatters.ai/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/Mind-Matters-200-Adam-Goad-Austin-Egbert.mp3 A partial transcript, notes, and Additional Resources follow. Austin Egbert: Could you give an example of what one of these DAOs was maybe trying to do? What service were they providing? Or what was their business output, so to Read More ›

the-colossal-titan-is-comingattack-on-titan-stockpack-adobe-stock
The colossal titan is comingAttack On Titan
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post
Author
News
Date
August 24, 2022
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Business and Finance, Politics, Psychology, Relationships
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Big Tech Moguls vs. Historic Titans of Industry: What’s Changed?

Today’s Big Tech moguls were more likely to have been born into fractured relationships and may be seeking an eternal geek adolescence
News
August 24, 2022
4
Business and Finance, Politics, Psychology, Relationships

If we had to compare the giants of industrialization of the late 19th through early 20th centuries — Andrew Carnegie, Thomas A. Edison, Henry Ford, Henry Clay Frick,J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Cornelius Vanderbilt — with the giants of the contemporary tech world —Jeff Bezos, Jack Dorsey, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs,  Elon Musk, Larry Page, and Mark Zuckerberg — would we see significant differences? Fred Bech tackles that at Expensivity. He finds that the immense fame, power, and wealth are comparable, as is the fact that they took inventions created largely by others and — via business acumen — transformed our way of life.Of course, that means new problems as well as new solutions. Staying in touch with far-distant loved ones is a blessing; viruses, hacking, and Twitter mobs are Read More ›

bluebird-cat
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Author
News
Date
August 24, 2022
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Business and Finance, Social Media
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Ex-Security Head: Twitter Has Much Bigger Woes Than the Bots

Elon Musk’s buyout offer collapsed over the bots. Now, with a court case looming, we learn, bots were only a PART of Twitter’s problems
News
August 24, 2022
5
Business and Finance, Social Media

A new uproar at Twitter sheds an interesting light on Elon Musk’s on again-off again bid to buy the social media firm: Twitter has much bigger problems than bots, according to its former head of security, who just dropped a bomb in claims to the federal government that the site’s security is so lax it’s a risk to national security, and the company allegedly has foreign intelligence agents on the payroll… That former head of security submitted disclosures to those agencies, as well as Congress, detailing what CNN calls “reckless and negligent cybersecurity policies,” including that thousands of Twitter employees have access to central controls with no oversight, that executives have been knowingly lying to investors and regulators for years, Read More ›

metaverse-world-nft-art-gallery-avatars-and-vr-glasses-3d-illustrations-stockpack-adobe-stock
Metaverse world NFT Art Gallery Avatars and VR Glasses 3D Illustrations
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post
Author
News
Date
August 23, 2022
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Business and Finance, Cryptocurrency, Economics
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Are NFTs a Bubble That Has Just Plain Popped for Good?

Despite the crypto crash, they seem to be developing a life of their own — in ticket sales, for example
News
August 23, 2022
12
Business and Finance, Cryptocurrency, Economics

Here’s the first part of Episode 3 of the discussion between computer engineering prof Robert J. Marks and computer engineering grad students Adam Goad and Austin Egbert on that wild new online world. They’ve been discussing what gives NFTs (non-fungible tokens) their value. Now, in “The NFT Anti-bubble” (August 18, 2022), they are looking at how NFTs are faring in the vast crypto crater. What still sells?: https://mindmatters.ai/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/Mind-Matters-200-Adam-Goad-Austin-Egbert.mp3 This portion begins at 00:15 min. A partial transcript, notes, and Additional Resources follow. Robert J. Marks: We have talked about non-fungible tokens kind of hitting the skids. Is this a bubble pop? Are non-fungible tokens going to disappear as kind of an interesting thing in history? Or are they going to Read More ›

ransomware-stockpack-adobe-stock
Ransomware
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post
Author
News
Date
August 22, 2022
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Business and Finance, Computer Security, Crime
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What To Do If Your Business Is Hit With a Ransomware Demand

A roundup of advice for small businesses and their employees and contract workers, on site or remote
News
August 22, 2022
5
Business and Finance, Computer Security, Crime

Ransomware attacks have reportedly continued to grow in 2022, as criminals hone their skills in grabbing our data and wanting money to release it. Today, it’s not just government and large businesses that are at risk. Small to mid-size businesses are at greatest risk. That’s because a) they often don’t have enough security in place and b) let’s face it, today’s attacker might be content with $300,000 each from a cluster of them rather than $30 million from a giant firm. Attracts less attention, for one thing. Here’s Blackfog’s monthly list of publicly reported attacks in 2022. In the first 30 minutes… Don’t just panic and agree to pay: [Kevin] Epstein says international law enforcement and white hat hackers usually Read More ›

nft-non-fungible-tokenscrypto-art-on-colorful-abstract-background-pay-for-unique-collectibles-in-games-or-art-3d-render-of-nft-crypto-art-collectibles-concept-stockpack-adobe-stock
NFT non fungible tokenscrypto art on colorful abstract background. Pay for unique collectibles in games or art. 3d render of NFT crypto art collectibles concept
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post
Author
News
Date
August 18, 2022
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Business and Finance, Cryptocurrency, Economics
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What Gives NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) Their Value?

But first, a tour through the seamier side of the internet, supported in large part by the very blockchain that mints NFTs
News
August 18, 2022
16
Business and Finance, Cryptocurrency, Economics

Here’s the second part of Episode 2 of the discussion between computer engineering prof Robert J. Marks and computer engineering grad students Adam Goad and Austin Egbert on the wild new online world of digital money, fan gear, contracts, and art. In the first part, Adam and Austin explained how digital collectibles — non-fungible tokens (NFTs) — work (or don’t). In this second part, What are NFTs?, they look at how people use them, with a sidestep into the swashbuckling world of crypto crime: https://mindmatters.ai/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/Mind-Matters-199-Adam-Goad-Austin-Egbert.mp3 A partial transcript, notes, and Additional Resources follow. The discussion continued with the NBA’s use of NFTs as the new “trading cards.” How are NFTs like or unlike the iconic cards? Adam Goad: That one Read More ›

bank-stockpack-adobe-stock
Bank
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post
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News
Date
August 17, 2022
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Business and Finance, Economics, Law
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Debanking… When Your Bank Acts Like a Political Party

In Canada, ordered by the government, banks began to act like the party in power. Panic, chaos, and bank runs ensued
News
August 17, 2022
6
Business and Finance, Economics, Law

Earlier this year, we looked at debanking, during the Convoy protests in Canada. The government ordered the banks to freeze the private bank accounts of protesters against the federal government’s contested COVID-19 policies. As we’ll see, debanking, in various forms — where the bank decides, for political reasons — to freeze or end accounts, is becoming a “thing” in the United States too. What really happens? An investigation uncovered some sobering findings: The government invoked the rarely used Emergencies Act on February 14, insisting that doing so was constitutional (“Charter compliant”) and that freezing individuals’ bank accounts “did not amount to a seizure” of them. What happened afterward might give pause for thought: The banks were essentially handed a list Read More ›

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Close up of stock market trader looking at graph
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post
Author
News
Date
August 15, 2022
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Business and Finance
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Not All False Prophets Are Promoting Religions…

False finance prophets’ credentials or charisma are much more impressive than their track records — but we need a way to tell
News
August 15, 2022
3
Business and Finance

Recently, our authors Jeffrey Lee Funk and Gary Smith alerted MarketWatch readers to the problem of “false prophets” in the investment world: We could write a long book about false prophets on Wall Street. What is interesting is how easily people are enchanted by charismatic personalities — some who peddle advice, some who run companies. A decade ago, for example, Yahoo tried to save itself by paying almost $1 billion to five charismatic CEOs (Terry Semel, Jerry Yang, Carol Bartz, Scott Thompson, and Marissa Mayer), four of them outsiders, who were hired over a five-year period and arguably did more harm than good. Jeffrey Lee Funk and Gary N. Smith, “Sensible stock investors put their money on a company’s real Read More ›

information-field-around-the-earth-stockpack-adobe-stock
Information field around the Earth
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post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
August 12, 2022
Categorized
Business and Finance, Global Technology, Politics, Social Media
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Musk’s Starlink Tied to Traffic Chaos in Orbit and on Earth

If nothing else, Elon Musk’s SpaceX has brought public attention to the future of space, who it belongs to, and how it is paid for
Jonathan Bartlett
August 12, 2022
3
Business and Finance, Global Technology, Politics, Social Media

This week has seen quite a struggle for Elon Musk’s SpaceX and its satellite-based internet service Starlink. SpaceX had recently pocketed some interesting wins for Starlink. Its offer to keep Ukrainians online in the midst of the recent crisis earned Starlink favor in the eyes of both the military and Eastern European nations. It has also started launching operations in Latin America. Just days ago SpaceX performed its 35th launch of the year, adding 52 more Starlink satellites. However, Starlink has also faced a number recent headwinds which could spell trouble for the service. While its public beta test performed well for many users, as the service has expanded, the capabilities of the network appear to be stretched. Despite promises Read More ›

business-finance-savings-money-wages-payroll-or-accounting-concept-calendar-with-pink-marker-circle-in-word-payday-for-remind-stockpack-adobe-stock
Business, finance, savings money, wages, payroll or accounting concept : Calendar with pink marker circle in word payday for remind
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post
Author
News
Date
July 29, 2022
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Business and Finance, Data Privacy, Economics, Surveillance
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Can Your Social Media Posts Sink Your Credit Rating? Maybe…

With AI tools, your posts or the time of day you apply for a loan might matter. Is that fair to you? Did you even know?
News
July 29, 2022
5
Business and Finance, Data Privacy, Economics, Surveillance

University of Georgia law prof Lindsay Sain Jones and Virginia Tech law prof Janine Hiller offer what should be startling news: What does your SAT score mean for your ability to pay off a car loan? What does your Facebook feed say about your chances of landing a mortgage? And, what does your propensity for snacking on road trips mean for your credit score? The answers: More than you think. Traditional credit scoring is based on a person’s demonstrated ability to take on debt and pay it off. But with the dawn of larger data pools and access to more sophisticated modeling programs, lenders and credit agencies are taking more nonfinancial factors into rating creditworthiness, particularly those without an extensive Read More ›

boy-standing-on-the-opened-book-and-looking-at-other-books-floating-in-the-air-digital-art-style-illustration-painting-stockpack-adobe-stock
boy standing on the opened book and looking at other books floating in the air, digital art style, illustration painting
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post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
July 25, 2022
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Arts & Culture, Business and Finance, Creativity
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Can a Computer Write Your novel? Well, What Do You Want To Say?

These tools are sure to become a staple in the hot and time-sensitive market for boutique formula fiction
Denyse O'Leary
July 25, 2022
5
Arts & Culture, Business and Finance, Creativity

Jennifer Lepp was behind schedule with her latest detective novel, Bring Your Beach Owl (2022), featuring a detective witch in central Florida. Through Kindle Direct, under the pen name of Leanne Leeds, Lepp independently publishes what she calls “potato chip books”, making over US$100k annually. Amazon creates “microclimates” for readers so that genre writers can tailor their work precisely to a market, as she does: “paranormal cozy mystery.” But it’s a business where deadlines matter. Readers have many other choices. As Josh Dzieza tells it at The Verge, Lepp begged developers for a beta test of Sudowrite, aimed at fiction writers. It’s one of the programs created from OpenAI’s language generator GPT-3: Authors paste what they’ve written into a soothing Read More ›

bitcoin-and-cryptomoney-stockpack-adobe-stock
Bitcoin and cryptomoney
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post
Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
July 25, 2022
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Business and Finance, Cryptocurrency
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Just As Cryptocurrencies Went Mainstream — a Huge Collapse!

A central weakness is that investors must go through exchanges which have none of the safeguards established for the blockchain itself
Jonathan Bartlett
July 25, 2022
4
Business and Finance, Cryptocurrency

The cryptocurrency markets have been in total upheaval for the last several months. The blowup essentially started when the stablecoin UST (provided by Terra) suddenly lost its peg to the US dollar. A stablecoin is supposed to maintain a 1:1 trading match to an underlying currency, so 1 UST is supposed to be worth $1. Most trading in crypto is trades between stablecoins and other coins rather than actual cash transactions using stablecoins. Due to some unforeseen (but not necessarily unforeseeable) issues, UST lost its peg; between May and June its value dropped from $1 to just over two pennies. This near erasure of value affected Terra’s other cryptocurrency, LUNA, which dropped from $80 to effectively zero over the same Read More ›

cheerful-attractive-young-female-graphic-designer-smiling-and-working-at-her-desk-in-modern-office-stockpack-adobe-stock
Cheerful attractive young female graphic designer smiling and working at her desk in modern office
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post
Author
News
Date
July 22, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Business and Finance, Work
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New OpenAI Art Program Does NOT Claim Copyright for AI

As DALL-E 2, which generates blended images in response to key words, moves into the art world, a key question has just been settled
News
July 22, 2022
5
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Business and Finance, Work

A case currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals must decide if artificial intelligences should have patent rights on processes they were used to design. Throwing a wrench into the works, OpenAI has announced that artists using its new DALL-E beta software can sell the work: “Starting today, users get full usage rights to commercialize the images they create with DALL·E, including the right to reprint, sell, and merchandise. This includes images they generated during the research preview.” (July 20, 2022) First, here’s what DALL-E can do: Some worry about its impact on jobs in the arts: OpenAI’s press release for DALL-E 2 markets the advanced tech as a “powerful creative tool” that will speed up and inspire the creative Read More ›

icon-group-as-speech-bubble-cloud-stockpack-adobe-stock
Icon group as speech bubble cloud
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
July 18, 2022
Categorized
Business and Finance, Censorship, Social Media
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Twitter vs. Musk: The Many Different Ways the Story Could End

Twitter, which didn’t really want Musk, is now suing to make him its boss. They all hate each other. Can this work?
Denyse O'Leary
July 18, 2022
5
Business and Finance, Censorship, Social Media

In the most recent episode of the Musk and Twitter show, Twitter was suing driverless car entrepreneur Elon Musk to compel him to buy the company at the original posted price — despite the fact that earlier, many employees didn’t want him to buy it at all. Also despite the fact that he says he no longer wants to. Readers, this is happening only because Big Tech stock values are way down. A useful article by technology reporter Alex Sherman at CNBC (July 11, 2022) identifies eight ways the saga could end, namely 1 and 4: Musk just ends up paying the $1B breakup fee or some other settlement and Twitter continues with its meltdowns and bot problems, as long Read More ›

black-male-person-in-warm-denim-jacket-uses-smartphone-to-pay-for-purchase-at-self-checkout-point-in-supermarket-close-view-stockpack-adobe-stock
Black male person in warm denim jacket uses smartphone to pay for purchase at self-checkout point in supermarket close view
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post
Author
News
Date
July 13, 2022
Categorized
Business and Finance, Crime, Law
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Could the Self-Checkout Ruin Your Reputation?

As Big Retail’s war on shoplifting goes digital, honest customers risk getting nabbed for goofs — and then facing a shakedown
News
July 13, 2022
6
Business and Finance, Crime, Law

In 2018, it was noted at The Atlantic that shoplifting via self-serve checkouts was common. How does it work? Self-checkout theft has become so widespread that a whole lingo has sprung up to describe its tactics. Ringing up a T-bone ($13.99/lb) with a code for a cheap ($0.49/lb) variety of produce is “the banana trick.” If a can of Illy espresso leaves the conveyor belt without being scanned, that’s called “the pass around.” “The switcheroo” is more labor-intensive: Peel the sticker off something inexpensive and place it over the bar code of something pricey. Just make sure both items are about the same weight, to avoid triggering that pesky “unexpected item” alert in the bagging area. Rene Chun, “The Banana Read More ›

big-eye-watching-a-group-of-people-3d-rendering-stockpack-adobe-stock
Big eye watching a group of people 3D rendering
Type
post
Author
Gary Smith
Date
July 11, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Economics
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AI Would Run the World Better Than Humans, Google Research Claims

Don’t believe the headlines: Google’s inhouse game does not show that AI is ready to rule the world
Gary Smith
July 11, 2022
5
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Economics

Sixty years ago, conservative provocateur William F. Buckley wrote, “I would rather be governed by the first 2,000 people in the telephone directory, than by the Harvard University faculty.” Buckley was a Yale man, but his barb was not intended to compare Harvard to Yale. He later explained: Not, heaven knows, because I hold lightly the brainpower or knowledge or generosity or even the affability of the Harvard faculty: but because I greatly fear intellectual arrogance, and that is a distinguishing characteristic of the university which refuses to accept any common premise. Now may be the time to update Buckley’s incendiary remarks: I would rather be governed by the first 2,000 people in the telephone directory, than by a black Read More ›

twitter handle with care.jpg
Twitter handle with care
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post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
July 9, 2022
Categorized
Business and Finance, Censorship, Social Media
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Elon Musk Has Walked Out on Twitter … Or Has He?

Some think it’s all theater. Others that he is compelling a price reduction “by other means”
Denyse O'Leary
July 9, 2022
4
Business and Finance, Censorship, Social Media

Yesterday, Elon Musk announced that he was backing out of the deal to buy Twitter, which he was hoping to turn into more of a free speech platform: Elon Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla (TSLA.O) and the world’s richest person, said on Friday he was terminating his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter (TWTR.N) because the social media company had breached multiple provisions of the merger agreement. Greg Roumeliotis, “Twitter vows legal fight after Musk pulls out of $44 billion deal” at Reuters (July 9, 2022) Twitter plans to fight: The Twitter Board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the Read More ›

Go-game
Type
post
Author
News
Date
June 14, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance
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Would AI Still Win at Go If the Board Shrunk: 19 to 17 Spaces?

No, say Jeffrey Funk and Gary Smith — and would-be investors need to grasp AI’s weaknesses as well as strengths, for success
News
June 14, 2022
3
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance

Statistician Jeffrey Lee Funk and business prof Gary N. Smith offer a warning for investors: Some AI stocks have been good investments but most high tech unicorns never pay off. It’s a not surprising, they say, when we consider that AI is powerful but brittle. An example they offer: AI easily beats humans at the game of go which features a 19 × 19-square board. If the game switched to a 17 × 17-square board, humans would quickly adjust but AI would flounder. They offer examples of how this sort of limitation plays out in the real world, including the true tale of a hapless AI-driven insurance company: An insurance company with the quirky name Lemonade was founded in 2015 Read More ›

ai-stockpack-adobe-stock
AI・人工知能
Type
post
Author
Gary Smith
Date
June 13, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Law, Work
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AI: Is Thinking Humanly More Important Than Acting Rationally?

I have documented many examples of GPT-3 AI’s failure to distinguish meaningful from meaningless correlations — and invite readers to contribute their own
Gary Smith
June 13, 2022
6
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Law, Work

The potential power of artificial intelligence (AI) has been touted for more than 60 years though a generally accepted definition is elusive. AI has often been defined in terms of human-like capabilities. In 1960, for example, AI pioneer Herbert Simon, an economics Nobel laureate and Turing Award winner, predicted that “machines will be capable, within twenty years, of doing any work a man can do.” In 1970 Marvin Minsky, also a Turing Award winner, said that, “In from three to eight years we will have a machine with the general intelligence of an average human being.” More recently, in 2015, Mark Zuckerberg said that, “One of our goals for the next five to 10 years is to basically get better Read More ›