“How We Shape What We Call Reality” by Maria Popova
Posted on brain pickings:
“David Bohm: Reality is what we take to be true. What we take to be true is what we believe. What we believe is based upon our perceptions. What we perceive depends on what we look for. What we look for depends on what we think. What we think depends on what we perceive. What we perceive determines what we believe. What we believe determines what we take to be true. What we take to be true is our reality.
Matthieu Ricard: No matter how complex our instruments may be, no matter how sophisticated and subtle our theories and calculations, it’s still our consciousness that finally interprets our observations. And it does so according to its knowledge and conception of the event under consideration. It’s impossible to separate the way consciousness works from the conclusions it makes about an observation. The various aspects that we make out in a phenomenon are determined not only by how we observe, but also by the concepts that we project onto the phenomenon in question.”
Jobless future
If you’re worried about your kids and the fact that More than half of students chasing dying careers you are probably right. If you think that electing a career that is not dying will help them you are probably wrong. Of course this and other Odradeks will outlive parents, but the dismissal is not a kafkan one. Problem is it is likely the case that the problem is not which careers, but more likely ‘careers’ itself is becoming an obsolete term.
Colleagues seem to be there for a while, though we might have to be Ready for a Robot Colleague.
In a broader view on workmate, A.I. may give us a ride in preparation for a new time occupation future. Perhaps it’s better for us to Don’t Worry, Smart Machines Will Take Us With Them. remember those kids chasing dying careers? That’s only part time – the rest of it they are drooling obsessively at smart phones as much as we let them. It may well be that the case that this is their robot education in the making.
Intelligence Design – natural selection and technology
Starting from a no-fun that more people have died from selfies than shark attacks this year as a anecdotal case for interaction between natural selection and technology. It’s too far a shot, since anyone may well ponder that shark killing were never a key driver of human selection to begin with.
Having sex, tho, have always been a key driver. And looking good to potential mates does have a play in this. In this light the selfie-selection link start being not so naive. Even then, selfie is too short a fling to make an impact in the big picture. As a further analogy, though, it is arguable that selfie is the current mode of a mediated relation that has for a long time being around in human kind reproduction.
If we consider the big impact some fundamental technological innovations such as tool making, language, and culture have had in human survival and reproduction abilities, then the evidence turns around; it is very hard to deny technology has not been one of the key drivers of evolution even before homo sapiens.
A few short, recent articles on this discuss Is Technology Unnatural—Or Is It ‘What Makes Us Human’? makign the point that technology is part of us. Looking forward, A Genomics Revolution: Evolution by Natural Selection to Evolution by Intelligent Direction points to the fact that if in the role of technology in human evolution was rather passive, genomics can shift that into a very active designing. But then if Science Says the Internet Is Turning Us into Shallow Thinkers, what sort of evolution would technology-driven world lead us to?
What Happens Next Will Amaze you – speech by Maciej Cegłowski
Transcript of IdleWords.com’s Maciej Cegłowski talk at FREMTIDENS INTERNET conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.
This is a very good speech but not too short – brevity is for the weak in top of Idle Words page goes as a reminder. Topics covered:
- The corporate side of our culture of total surveillance – The odd story of how advertisers destoyed our online privacy and then found themselves swindled by robots.
- Six fixes Maciej Cegłowski thinks could restore Internet privacy.
- Capitalists who act like central planners, and an industry that insists on changing the world without even being able to change San Francisco:
“The Struggle to Define What Artificial Intelligence Actually Means” by Gary Lea
“When we talk about artificial intelligence (AI) – (…) – what do we actually mean?
(…) having a usable definition of AI – and soon – is vital for regulation and governance because laws and policies simply will not operate without one.
(…) Defining the terms: artificial and intelligence
For regulatory purposes, “artificial” is, hopefully, the easy bit. (…) , leaves the knottier problem of “intelligence”.
From a philosophical perspective, “intelligence” is a vast minefield, especially if treated as including one or more of “consciousness”, “thought”, “free will” and “mind”. (…)
Let’s take a step back and ask what a regulator’s immediate interest is here?
I would say that it is the work products of AI scientists and engineers, and any public welfare or safety risks that might arise from those products.
Logically, then, it is the way that the majority of AI scientists and engineers treat intelligence” that is of most immediate concern.(…) read full post
The Next Wave – A Conversation With John Markoff
Interview with JOHN MARKOFF; a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who covers science and technology for The New York Times. His most recent book is the forthcoming Machines of Loving Grace: The Quest for Common Ground Between Humans and Robots.
New acciddent with Google’s self driving car. Again, stationary. Now with injuries
Chris Urmson, from Google’s self driving car project, posted a new ‘chapter’ about their experience in learning about self driving vehicles.
Far from celebrate the accidents, such events are critical to understanding how accidents really happen. Even when you are stationary, or it’s not your fault. As all drivers learn (or know intuitively one may argue) if a car comes the wrong way straight to your car you’ll be sorry for the outcome – no matter who to blame.
This video is part of the post as an output of information car’s system was dealing with.