First Blog

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 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

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  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

 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. 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.

  Will we witness the end of the legal profession in our days? With the advent of AI (Artificial Intelligence), there comes a serious challenge to this profession that celebrates its precision and logical arguments, almost always based on precedent. Let’s consider a few cases.   It seems certain that future lawyers will bring an AI assistant into the courtroom. It will listen to all testimony, look for irregularities, signal objection events, point out exceptions (with references), and help deliver closing arguments. Do you agree? The law office of the future will need no paralegals. AI will develop all the background knowledge the attorney of record needs. It will supply appropriate quotes with references. It will cite tangential issues, how they were decided, and accompanying arguments. The future law office will have no space for a law library – it being online in every office. Attorneys will dictate and AI will compose their letters in the correct legal language. The trusty leg

  What made Einstein so great? The best answer is nobody knows. However, there are conditions under which he learned. First, he had a home tutor who was mathematically and physics trained. This person probably insisted the young Albert think deeply about what he was learning and how to explain it thoroughly. This put Albert into a mode of internalizing everything he learned, and learning how to explain it. This is simply not taught in schools these days, but if you look at notables such as Richard Feynman, his father taught him to think similarly. Even Isaac Newton once said, “I think about a problem constantly until I can see clean through it.” The lesson learned here is that one key to understanding is to contain the entirety of your subject all within the mind. You’ll note, all his life he was concerned with the very foundations of physics by way of understanding and explanation. Next, we come to the man himself. He was obviously highly intelligent, and having learned to think

 What happens when the humidity is high has two edges with respect to temperature. A. When the temperature is high , high humidity clings to your skin and makes you feel warmer. Visit Miami in the summer and you'll know this first-hand. Body odor soars.  B. When the temperature is low , high humidity remains in your clothing making you feel colder. Everybody seems to know that sweaty clothing in the winter make you feel extra cold. 

The Silicon Valley Bank crisis has given us some lessons. It’s the regional banks that support the people through loans for commercial and residential real estate and for small businesses and homeowners. Big banks are purely profit machines, dependent on very low interest rates, supporting highly risky adventures like start-ups. They are the lottery players in the banking world, and now the public, through larger banking fees, will pay for their misguidance, incompetence, and greed. Summary, now we, as in you and me, bail out incompetence and greed.  Our return will be higher interest and more difficulty making loans. Wonderful.

  A Conversation between a Human and ChatGPT by Don Allen It’s time to compare humans with ChatGPT and/or any of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) learning codes now coming on the market. They look promising for AI, but for humans, the nature of intellectual contributions seems limited to those only of geniuses. Only for the more emotional topics do humans have an edge. Much talk these days have been given to the so-called Kurzweil’s Singularity [1] , the time when the computer’s ability exceeds that of humans. Kurzweil suggests the year 2045; it could come sooner. However, few ever discuss that computers with AI are a brand new species having little need for human functionality.   For example, humans talk plenty about love. AI does not need or even comprehend love. In our conversation below, we combine all known AI programs, but that is a mere detail overcome by simple links. We show differences and biases. Note that biases are perhaps the only component of human thinking, throug

  Why should I learn math when I won't use it in "real life?" Half of all parents are asked this question. You should learn math. Here are a few points to consider. These are all points I’ve made to students over the years who don’t see math class as relevant to their future life. ·         Learning math problems is good training for problem-solving, tasks on which you will spend your entire life. It helps with critical thinking in a simple environment. It forces you to think within a set of rules, and to be realistic rather than emotional ·         Most of the problems in real life are far more complex than the easy ones in math class. You have to learn the easy stuff before the complicated stuff. (That is, you have to learn to walk before you can run.) ·         Math is becoming more and more important in almost every area from science to business. Even bricklayers need to know quite a bit of math in planning a job. Try and schedule airlines to optimize profit