From out there on the moon, international politics looks so petty, you want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say
"Look at that, you son of a bitch."
Edgar D Mitchell
Apollo 14 astronaut
At a time when
people seem to be getting dumber and dumber, Artificial Intelligence is needed
more and more.
Let me clarify that statement:
We tend to laud
our achievements: that we have
developed technology and modern medicine, and we have sent men into space; but 98% of us have done fuck all. Two percent of our population (the bright 2%)
have envisioned and actually made these
advancements, while the rest of us have been dragged along, often kicking and
screaming.
For the last
two or three years, I have been hearing about AI (artificial intelligence), but
only vaguely understanding what all the hype was about.
I just finished reading The Age of AI, by Kissinger, Schmidt, and Huttenlocher, and still didn’t get my basic questions answered.
I don’t actually
give a fuck about the history, the math, or the philosophy of AI and
humanity. But to sate my curiosity, I
would like some simple answers.
My questions
are basic:
· Does AI think
· How is AI programmed
· How does AI learn
· Can AI teach itself
· Can AI experience
· Can AI become self-aware (alive)
· Will AI lie to us
· When we think of Singularity as
in The Matrix, will AI intelligence expand exponentially – become god-like
· Will AI ever be able to write its on codes –
no need for human input
· Can’t we just unplug AI if it becomes
too controlling
· What about power consumption
· How will it be used in war: make a
decision on its on to kill humans
· What are the positive aspects that might outweigh the danger of a machine that is smarter than its creator
I have found some of these answers on YouTube in the following Star Talk clip that includes input from Jeffrey Hinton, the Nobel Prize recipient in Physics.
Unless you
are interested in the concept, history, and mathematical concepts, I suggest
you fast forward (select to begin) at the thirty-five-minute mark of the
presentation.
Note: the
constant ad interjections are aggravating, but hang in there.
the Ol'Buzzard
What a privilege
it is to be alive.
I am an old
man of nearly nine decades, and the odds against my being here are so astronomically
large as to be uncountable.
Of all the
billions of galaxies with their billions of stars, circled by all the billions of
planets: in this particular solar system of a relative minor star, the third
planet from the sun happens to be in the Goldilocks zone, which allowed the
development of life, that through the chaos of evolution and happenstance
produced a me.
My mother
worked at a defense plant in Memphis, Tennessee. My father was in the military,
stationed in Louisiana. Strictly by
chance, they both attended Mardi Gras in New Orleans in the year before my
birth. They happened to meet and ended
up having sex. She didn’t practice birth
control, he didn’t use a condom, he didn’t pull out, it wasn’t a hand job, or a
blow job, or anal intercourse. She happened to be fertile at that particular
time. He ejaculated up to three hundred million sperm, and the only one of those
three hundred million carrying my particular DNA managed to penetrate and fertilize
that egg.
What are the
odds of that happening?
I have often
wondered why I wasn’t aborted; she was a single woman, and he was a married
man.
The odds of
my existence are uncountable (like pi).
In almost
nine decades, the beauties, sunsets and sunrises I have experienced: the sting
of an Arctic blizzard; the thrill of running a wild river or transiting the
Okefenokee swamps in a canoe; the women I have known, the motorcycles I have
ridden, the pleasures I have had; and most exciting of all, I married the most stunningly
beautiful woman I had ever met, who has shared almost fifty years of adventures
with me and has made my existence on this earth pleasurable beyond description.
And I could
have lost it all!
My second
twenty years of life were spent in the military. I flew as air crew on dangerous patrols over
the North Atlantic, sometimes in blizzard conditions; I survived a crash
landing in Turkey; twice in Vietnam, our aircraft was riddled by ground fire,
and we limped back to the base leaking oil and gas; I have facial scars and a permanent
limp from a military accident…
If you lived
through the Vietnam era, you remember the daily death toll announced on the
radio and television: 28 men died today… fifteen men died today…
I don’t
believe the official total death toll announced by our government: 58,000. It was much higher.
Some vets
died much later from war-related illnesses and injuries, people who committed suicide
or drank themselves to death, or died as a result of mental breakdowns…
In Vietnam,
the men who died accomplished nothing.
They were sent there at the whims of politicians playing partisan
politics, and more interested in keeping their illustrious jobs than caring for
the men and women of the military.
Where am
I going with this?
We have a
President talking about putting boots on the ground, in a war instigated by the
Israeli President, and ultimately about oil and natural resources that can make
the mega-rich more wealthy and powerful.
What a waste
it is to be young and die in a War; to squander these precious moments we have of
life; to never experience the pleasures of our brief human existence. To end up
as a name printed on some cold marble wall, as pawns of politicians who see the
military as boots, and not individual living men and women.
the Ol’Buzzard
There is a
difference between prejudice, bigotry, and political correctness. All three are personal opinions that shade a
subject according to the perceiver. And
each is intended to limit the freedom of action and expression of others.
Prejudice is
an attitude that prevents the objective consideration of an issue.
Bigotry is
intolerance linked to prejudice.
Political
correctness is an effort to avoid making others uncomfortable through actions
or language, regardless of whether such actions or language are correct. Political correctness also makes
it uncomfortable to express ribaldry - humor that borders on indelicacy - which
I find amusing.
Scientifically,
genetically, there are two genders, male and female, the inseminators and the progenitors;
but the blurring of sexual orientation has existed since the advent of
mankind. It even shows itself in our
closest cousins, the chimpanzees.
LGBTQ+ has
nothing to do with gender science, but identifies how an individual feels.
At a
personal level, I do find all of the gender categories confusing.
Lesbian: I
get it.
Gay men: I get it.
An aside: Gay men I have met are the nicest people. But
kissing some dude and seeing him necked is not on my bucket list. My brother-in-law is gay. He is
the most loving and considerate person I have ever known, and I love him dearly. I would hold him up as an example for any
young boy to emulate.
Bi: Why not?
Trans: Now
there is a perplexity. Attractive
looking, nice skin, nice breasts, all the correct orifices; never have periods,
never have PMS, never suffer menopause – I would think females would be
jealous.
Queer: now
what’s that? You already have LGBT –
What's the difference?
+ : Come on. How many categories do we need? You should watch who you associate with your
group. At some point, you will look
ridiculous.
It is all
about sexuality and our feelings and proclivities. Let’s not exclude heterosexuals. Make that group feel included. LGBTH
But the real
question might be: Why do we need to identify ourselves with any group? Groups divide us.
Like Popeye
says: I am what I am what I am….
I'm the Ol'Buzzard
The people who are sending us to war don’t have any skin in the game. To them, it is a game.
We destroyed their missile sights – we destroyed their navy – we are winning – we are invincible –
we have casualties? It happens.- We’ll force regime change – take their
oil – destroy their drone capability – destroy their nuclear capability
– I’m the greatest President – It’s over when I think it’s over in my bones… they say, Yes Sir Mr. President…
I would be willing to bet that Trump can not remember the name of one of the 13 military personnel who have so far died as a result of his war.
Remember suckers and losers?
Neil deGrasse
Tyson has written two books that further explore war and civilization: Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on
Civilization and Accessory to War.
We are now
at war in the Middle East: at war, not because Iran is a threat to the homeland;
not to protect Israel; not because of weapons of mass destruction; not to force
regime change; not to free the Iranian people.
Those are the excuses. We are at war in the Middle
East because that is who we are. We are
homo sapiens.
Look at the
history of the world. Humans make war because
it is in our DNA (see The Accidental Homo Sapiens by Tattersall and Desalle.)
When Australopithecus
Lucy walked across the African plains, the father of her child was probably
smashed in the head by his best friend, to acquire his food and his female.
The first battles were likely fought over food and females. Since that time, we have expanded our reasons for killing.
Though it is likely World War 4 will be fought over food and females.
This war began as a vanity move by Trump - it seems to have backfired.
the Ol'Buzzard
Trump likes his name on everything
Let's call it:
The Donald J Trump Israeli War
The pandemic
has wiped out most of the human race. Survival is not a problem. Stores
and facilities exist with adequate food and supplies, free for the taking, to
accommodate the remaining population for a hundred years.
IF you are
alone, the most dangerous entity on earth is another human.
So you look
to find and join up with a group of humans who will not rape or kill you, as
protection from other groups or individuals that might rape or kill you.
Then your
group can kill and rape those humans they see as a threat, because that is who
we are.
And it
starts all over again.
HOMO-SAPIENS.
