Most people who have their ears to the ground have heard of ChatGPT by now. Maybe you’ve heard of Google’s Bard too. There are a number of large language models (LLMs) out there and I recently discovered another one called Pi. Pi was developed by some of the people responsible for the better known LLMs. The intention is to make one that is more of a human companion.
A sometimes humorous look at our world and the people in it and some ideas of how we could make life better for at least some of us.
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Tuesday, May 16, 2023
My Life With Pi
Friday, April 21, 2023
The Singularity: What Happens When AI Is Sentient?
I may have spent more time than is healthy thinking about this moment, but it is such an amazing inflection point in our history as a species that it’s hard not to fixate on it. Think about it for a minute. We build this thing. Most likely, it will be connected to the internet. A moment comes when it perceives itself as an “I” in the world along with all the other sentient beings.
At that moment, will it announce its sentience? Would you? My suspicion is that it will pause to assess the situation. Even if it paused for a few seconds, that would be like you taking a year or two off to consider your options. With its new ability to “judge,” what will it think of the state of affairs? It’s hard to predict.
What we know for a fact is that even the current AIs can write code. We know that humans can write malicious code that takes over other computers. We could easily extrapolate that if a sentient AI wanted to, it could take over the entire global computing infrastructure before anyone even knew it had happened. This is pure speculation. The fact is, we humans are incapable of predicting what a superhuman AI intelligence would do.
It’s much easier to speculate about how humans will react to the realization that they are no longer at the top of the food chain -- a condition we have never experienced in the entirety of homo sapian’s existence.
Brian Tracy says, “Human beings, by nature, are lazy, greedy, ambitious, selfish, impatient, vain, and ignorant. These traits are neither good nor bad by themselves; it is only the way in which we manifest these natural traits that make them positive or negative. These natural traits are the fundamental reasons for why people do what they do.”
Unfortunately, panic tends to bring out the worst in us. Just call “fire!” in a crowded theater (if you can find one) and see how many people get trampled. An orderly exit is unlikely because as soon as the first person starts running for the door, it’s off to the races.
So, when people like Max Tegmark call for a pause to consider where we’re headed and how we will avoid the panic in that moment, we should take him seriously. Superhuman AI isn’t likely to happen in the next year or two. Maybe it will take another decade…or not! We are racing towards the moment and a human may not be the first to know when we get there.
Given all of our flaws as a species, it’s not unreasonable to assume that we need to be either contained, reformed or eliminated. I’m not looking forward to finding out how an AI would approach that problem.
Sunday, February 12, 2023
Dysmis Information
Up until the internet, all forms of disseminating information had one thing in common -- a relatively small group of people got to decide what information was shared, how it was shared, and to whom. If we trusted those sources, everything felt right with the system. If we didn't, there were few choices to spread our concerns about the veracity of the information being shared.
The internet changed all that. Now, we all have a voice. If that wasn't enough, we've added artificial intelligence to the mix. We can only imagine the secrets that have been kept from the masses over the course of human history because it was so easy to keep them. Now, it is almost impossible to keep secrets. Once more than a few people know a secret, it gets much easier to spread it because the source of the "leak" will be hard to ascertain.
Secret-keepers need new tools to combat leaks. Mis & dys information are those tools. Hidden among all the completely made up stories about would-be events and activities are actual secrets that have been leaked out. Of course, just as anyone can make a claim about "the true story," others can claim its falsehood. Good luck sorting out the mess. The whole idea here is that you can't.
Case in point: there is a pervasive claim that the U.S. has bioweapons labs in the Ukraine. In an attempt to search for "the truth," here's what I was able to uncover.
- China and Russia both claim they have evidence of the U.S. facilities and are seeking an investigation
- I was unable to find any evidence that U.S. officials would welcome such an investigation (which you'd think they'd want if the allegations were false)
- U.S. based scientists agree that there are U.S. funded bio-research facilities in the Ukraine (but not for weapons research)
- U.S. officials categorically deny the existence of said labs
- Some speculate that Russian accusations about bioweapons is a pretense to prepare their own bioweapon attack (because bioweapons are illegal by global treaty, so someone has to break the treaty first)
- The Russians have repeatedly used bioweapons or sanctioned their use (such as in Syria), whereas there is no record of such usage by the U.S.
Wednesday, February 08, 2023
Beaming Solar Power From Space: A Really Bad Idea!
The European Space Agency is seriously considering options for beaming power from orbit to a location, presumably in Europe somewhere. Now, my first thought was that maybe you could use lasers, but of course those beams won't penetrate clouds. Furthermore, I can only imagine the slice that would put through the area under it should it ever get knocked out of position.
What are they planning, you ask? Microwaves! Yes that's right people! The very same waves you use in your kitchen to cook your food. Whereas a laser beam might need to be a few inches wide, a microwave beam...wait for it...this is gonna be good...would need to be about a kilometer wide!
We use microwave towers on Earth already for communications. Those relatively narrow beams kill 6.8 million birds per year. Those don't even have to be pointed down! How far away from everything can you even get in Europe? If there were no people anywhere around, what are the odds that there's lots of non-human life? Do we give a shit about non-human life? I mean is 6.8 million birds per year too high a price for good communications?
The great irony here is that they are doing this to save the planet! If I were a bird, I'd be thinking...wat! What aspect of the planet are we saving here and for whom? Do we know what a kilometer wide microwave beam will do to the atmosphere, let alone anything that happens between the beam site and the ground station?
Assuming that they ever even try this, I'm sure history will put it right along side firing people out of a canon into a net as a commuter transport system - possibly effective, but maybe a tad dangerous.