Gregg writes: "A central theme of this society is on how the human technology interface is going to change the landscape and essence of our beings in the next 50 years."

~ Every generation says that about "new technology". It's not a problem with technology. We're just getting old, and have pretty much become our parents. Emoji

~ Jason Bessey
On Saturday, May 19, 2018, 11:28:50 AM EDT, [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> wrote:


I would like to add a perception.
Computer programs, such as AI, do not think in the same way as human think.
That is, they collect, collate, compare, etc, as they are programmed to do.
Surely, AI does this in ways which are far more “insightful” and useful.
But, they (AI included) do not contrast the data they have collection into information and create knowledge in the same fashion that humans do.
And, I’m not at all sure that they produce knowledge in the sense of the DIKW spectrum - though, admittedly, I am not a computer/AI geek.
At the near end of the spectrum - ie, data & information - computers/AI are marvelously useful.
It is at the far end of the spectrum - ie, knowledge, wisdom, vision & change - where humans are marvelously useful - or, at least can be so.

Between us, human minds + AI, we could do some remarkable collection and classification of Big Data and Big Information.
Which suggests that the human mind could, with such a substrate, make some remarkable inroads into Big Knowledge, Big Wisdom, Big Vision, and Big Change.

Unfortunately, I fear John is correct.
Doing Big KWV&C is very hard work.
It is much easier to settle for D&I and go for the short term outcome.
Such as our recent, world-wide Big Recession.

Maybe, there’s a lesson in that?
Stopping at Big D and Big I leads to Big E (Error), rather than Big K, W, V or C!

Best regards,

Waldemar

Waldemar A Schmidt, PhD, MD
(Perseveret et Percipiunt)
503.631.8044

Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value. (A Einstein)






On May 19, 2018, at 7:53 AM, JOHN TORDAY <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hi Gregg, thanks for the additional materials to think about. As you know, I think that our conscousness/mind is the result of internalization of the environment on an ad hoc basis in order to remain in balance with it to survive. But if we are going to introduce artificial ways of thinking, which is a paradigm shift, how does that square with the arc of our evolution in synchrony with the 'natural' world.......seems like the two paradigms are at odds with one another, leading to that line in "2001, a Space Odyssey" when the computer says "I can not do that Hal". Seems to me AI should be a tool, not a lifestyle. As long as it is just adjunctive that's all to the better. But we both know that people are lazy, and will default to letting AI think for us. The brain's a muscle like any other, use it or lose it. Maybe we need to advocate for imaginative practices as a foil to autonomous thinking......what else are we going to be doing in our autonomous cars back and forth to work? 

On Sat, May 19, 2018 at 7:28 AM, Henriques, Gregg - henriqgx <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hi John,

 

  This is a good topic for discussion. From my vantage point on the ToK, the wave of information technology is upon us and will evolve and will change lots in the process.

 

  My call is for deliberately reflecting on what is happening and to be concerned with what is going to happen. That is, information technology is going to launch us into another dimension of behavioral complexity. We must seek to fuse that transformation with Wisdom (ala Waldemar’s comment).

 

  In my frame, AI is analogous to but definitely not equivalent with human understanding/knowing. We are organic/neuro/linguistic information processors/communicators with experiential and self-conscious reason giving/reflective capacities. Thus, I am in agreement with you here that there are important differences.  I like John Searle’s Chinese Room argument as a starting point for differentiating AI from human experience/consciousness/ intelligence/understanding.

 

  And, at the same time, I believe it is the case that our human minds will be increasingly enmeshed with and in many ways fuse with artificial intelligences going forward. This is already happening and nothing will stop it (see here, The Future of the Mind). It is simply too convenient, too enticing, too exciting for humans not to invest in it.

 

  For me, the question is: How can we dance wisely with the coming information tsunami? (i.e., while maintaining human values/dignity).  


Best,

Gregg

 

From: tree of knowledge system discussion [mailto:TOK-SOCIETY-L@ listserv.jmu.edu] On Behalf Of JOHN TORDAY
Sent: Saturday, May 19, 2018 8:59 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: two articles on technology and humanity

 

Dear ToK Society, the Kissinger article on AI is particularly disturbing because we don't understand how the mind works, yet we are willing to delegate it to machine decision making. Most telling to me was when Watson, the IBM AI computer competed against the two top Jeopardy players a while back. The machine won handily, but flubbed a question because it didn't 'parse' the difference between the U.S. and Canada. Watson missed one clue by a country mile -- better make that an entire country. During a Final Jeopardy! segment that included the "U.S. Cities" category, the clue was: "Its largest airport was named for a World War II hero; its second-largest, for a World War II battle."Watson responded "What is Toronto???," while contestants Jennings and Rutter correctly answered Chicago -- for the city's O'Hare and Midway airports". The reason for the error was because the question was nuanced in a way that required thought, not merely regurgitating facts. I submit that AI may be able to make up jokes based on an algorithm, but will not be able to understand a joke because that requires 'qualia', what David Chalmers refers to as 'knowing what we know'. Subscribing to AI is what mathematicians refer to as 'regression to the mean', or the gradual erosion of the quality of life. I'm thinking of the U.S. instituting the Marshall Plan at the end of WWII. To AI, rewarding the vanquished enemy would have been 'counterintuitive', yet we had learned from our recriminations against Germany after WWI that they had precipitated WWII, for example. 

 

I agree with Kissinger that we need to discuss the use of AI as a Society, but maybe we could start on a smaller scale and discuss it in the ToK Society?

 

On Thu, May 17, 2018 at 12:02 PM, Henriques, Gregg - henriqgx <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

A central theme of this society is on how the human technology interface is going to change the landscape and essence of our beings in the next 50 years. Here are two articles that highlight some of these issues. The first is by Henry Kissinger on how the information age is changing who we are and how we think. The second is on the molecular/protein nature of memories and how they might be transferred from one brain to another.

 

https://www.theatlantic.com/ magazine/archive/2018/06/ henry-kissinger-ai-could-mean- the-end-of-human-history/ 559124/

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/ 05/15/science/memory-transfer- snails.html

 

Happy reading J.

G

 

______________________________ _____________

Gregg Henriques, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Graduate Psychology
216 Johnston Hall
MSC 7401
James Madison University
Harrisonburg, VA 22807
(540) 568-7857 (phone)
(540) 568-4747 (fax)


Be that which enhances dignity and well-being with integrity.

Check out my Theory of Knowledge blog at Psychology Today at:

https://www.psychologytoday. com/blog/theory-knowledge

 

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