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Collaborative AI – part 2

c’mon… wait.  I did promise, and will do so as soon as I can sit quietly for an hour.  In the mean time send some suggestions to thomazbt@yahoo.com

“How Artificial Intelligence Will Give Birth To Itself” by George Dvorsky

Article posted on IEET:

“When it comes to understanding the potential for artificial intelligence, it’s critical to understand that an AI might eventually be able to modify itself, and that these modifications could allow it to increase its intelligence extremely fast.(…)

As an AI becomes smarter and more capable, it will subsequently become better at the task of developing its internal cognitive functions. In turn, these modifications will kickstart a cascading series of improvements, each one making the AI smarter at the task of improving itself. It’s an advantage that we biological humans simply don’t have.Continue reading→

“Wiring the world below” – The Economist

“The planet arrogantly dubbed “Earth” by its dominant terrestrial species might more accurately be called “Sea”. Seven-tenths of its surface is ocean, yet humanity’s need to breathe air and its inability to resist pressure means this part of the orb is barely understood.

In June a project designed to help correct that will open for business. The seven sites of the United States’ Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), scattered around the Atlantic, Pacific and Southern oceans, will measure physical, chemical, geological and biological phenomena from the seabed to the surface…” article from The Economist

Falling Fruit – Map the urban harvest!

Falling Fruit wants it to be a tool to the contemporary forager. 

Their ‘edible map’ is not the first of its kind, but it aspires to be the world’s most comprehensive. While Falling Fruit users contribute locations of their own, they also comb the internet for pre-existing knowledge, seeking to unite the efforts of foragers, foresters, and freegans everywhere. This so far amounts to 1,255 different types of edibles distributed over 787,116 locations. The map is open for anyone to edit, the database can be downloaded with just one click, and the code is open-source

“The Internet doesn’t make you smarter; you only think it does” by Cathleen O’Grady

fter using search engines, people overestimate their ability to explain ideas.

If you’ve ever lived with roommates, chances are you shared a “transactive” memory system with them. One person might have remembered to pay the bills, while another knew the contact details of the plumber. It’s common to find social systems that share the information needed by a group across all the members of that group. Systems like these make life easier for individuals, who need only keep track of who knows which nugget.

Transactive memory systems are a common feature of human social groups, but they can be technological, too—and in the case of the Internet, the relationship can be a pretty powerful one. There are already indications that we treat the Internet like a transactive memory partner, remembering only where to find information, rather than the content itself. But could we also be blurring the boundary between our own internal knowledge and the easily accessed knowledge available via search engines? A group of researchers at Yale University think that we are.

Their research, published this week in the Journal of Experimental Psychology….