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Showing posts from April, 2023

Surviving AI

Surviving AI. The people smart enough to ask the right questions will survive the AI invasion. This implies the need to read the AI answers and determine what’s missing. Or is the answer relevant, or is the answer biased, or is the answer wrong? So, don’t throw away those books just yet. Keep sharp. Keep connected. Keep reading. Know what you’re doing. Know what’s important. Know what the problem truly is. Know how to solve problems. In general, up your AI survival ante. Remember: If you don’t know it’s there, you won’t know what to ask about. AI is not substitute intelligence , it is after all only artificial and just supplementary.

Illeism - The Lost Art of Problem Solving

                                               Illeism – The Lost Art of Problem Solving Introduction .  Often in the throes of problem-solving, we get emotionally involved or otherwise locked in. We want a solution, but subconsciously we want a particular solution and dwell on that outcome, to lasting frustration. When this happens, we don’t talk to ourselves asking, “What’s wrong here?” Not asking nor having a willingness to ask such basic questions is called cognitive freezing as opposed to flexible thinking . Overcoming this requires the objectivity of self-reflection, that is looking at the problems from the outside. Overcoming this requires an alternative to self-involvement, no matter how compelling. Witness if you will, the greatest of geniuses have been willing to ask and look for alternatives, which are among the hallmarks of genius. The most famous of all was Albert Einstein (1879-1955), who through his thought experiments explored new worlds of physical explanations, imp

Planet Earth Strikes Back

This exposition may seem a little odd, even weird. We are not advocating our planet is sentient, but that its layout has evolved to what has worked for billions of years.   Every year, many species become extinct, simply by their inability to survive. New species emerge. These are facts. In a sense, we are guests of our planet, which has very strict rules for survival. It will do what planets do everywhere. It survives and responds to threats. Fires burn out because it limits the extent of forests. If, for example, the planet was lush with forestation throughout, a single fire could  extinguish forests on a continental level.  Species die out because they destroy their own food supplies. Storms fade out because they cannot sustain their energy to continue. Plagues of locusts cease for lack of food, though they would destroy all life, themselves included, given a continuous food supply. Volcanos stop erupting because the exploding pressures are exhausted. Earthquakes end because of tect

The four dangers of AI

The Four Dangers of AI  OpenAI and other codes are now giving answers to questions that would make scholars proud. They are literate, organized, and work tirelessly. They even come up with unpredictable answers even their programmers don’t understand. AI codes with only millions of parameters do not exhibit this, but those with billions of parameters have produced unexpected results, something like overnight. Apparently, the baby’s brain develops in leaps and bounds according to neuroscientists as the brain develops functionality. AI is just a baby or maybe a toddler. Billions of parameters are approaching our brain’s capabilities. So perhaps the LLMs are beginning an assault on humans at a basic level. Here we summarize the four most fundamental dangers of AI. A. The biggest danger is  trust . When medical diagnostic programs become standard, what doctor will have the courage to contravene?  Imagine a government trusting LLMs for making decisions. It is then, as they say, "in t

The Rat and the Mouse - an AI Fable

 This fable was written by BARD.google.com. It took about 3 seconds, faster the Aesop. Try it and see for yourself the sheer power of AI. This fable was created with the command " Write a fable based on the rat and the mouse." Create stories for your kids, or yourself. The Rat and the Mouse Once upon a time, there was a rat who lived in a big city. He had everything he could ever want: plenty of food, a warm place to sleep, and lots of friends. But one day, the rat got bored. He decided to leave the city and explore the countryside. The rat traveled for many days until he came to a small village. He was tired and hungry, so he decided to look for food. He found a barn and snuck inside. The barn was full of hay and grain, and the rat was soon feasting. As the rat was eating, he heard a noise. He turned around and saw a mouse. The mouse was small and scared, and the rat could tell that it was lost. The rat felt sorry for the mouse, so he invited it to join him for dinner. The

Recognizing logical fallacies

  Recognizing logical fallacies. Here are a few tips . As an undergrad, I was always at odds with someone about something, usually based on logic (of some sort). So, Tip #0.  Listen very carefully . Don’t let fuzzy arguments sway you from genuine logic. Some will try. Let’s call this “blowing it past you.” Tip #1, Be certain you are both using the same set of axioms, i.e. thing you accept as true. Not close sets of axioms but identical sets of axioms. Know particularly well your own axioms. Tip #2. Be aware of the “stretch.” Your opponent, says A implies B. Well, maybe A implies B’, but to go to B is a stretch of logic, as in just beyond logical - not quite there. Something like sleight of hand. Tip #3. Is your opponent using “authority” to make conclusions? For example, one says that Bertrand Russell said that, and thus you must believe it. Authority is often a powerful argument, often used by religious and political persons, to end the discussion. Tip #4. Stand your ground.