Author Archives

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As Technology Barrels Ahead—Will Ethics Get Left in the Dust? – Singularity HUB

Technology is moving faster than our ability to understand it, and there is no consensus on what is ethical. It isn’t just the lawmakers who are not well-informed, the originators of the technologies themselves don’t understand the full ramifications of what they are creating. They may take strong positions today based on their emotions and financial interests, but as they learn more, they too will change their views.

Source: As Technology Barrels Ahead—Will Ethics Get Left in the Dust? – Singularity HUB

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Here’s What Happened When Some Dude Ate Like The Rock For A Month | FiveThirtyEight

“That dude works really really hard,” he said about The Rock. “This is what this guy does; this is his livelihood, the fact that he looks like this and trains like this every day of his life while making his movies, being on set 14 hours — that kind of discipline to me is absolutely amazing. To me this is less about ‘Can I look like him?’ and more about ‘Can I work as hard as this dude?’”

Source: Here’s What Happened When Some Dude Ate Like The Rock For A Month | FiveThirtyEight

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The supremely intelligent rat-cyborg | PLOS Neuroscience Community

These findings from Yu and colleagues suggest that optimal intelligence may not reside exclusively in man or machine, but in the integration of the two. By harnessing the speed and logic of artificial computing systems, we may be able to augment the already remarkable cognitive abilities of biological neural systems, including the human brain. The prospect of computer-assisted human intelligence raises obvious concerns over the safety and ethics of their application. Are there conditions under which a human “cyborg” could put humans at risk? Is altering human behavior with a machine tantamount to “playing god” and a dangerous overreach of our powers?

Source: The supremely intelligent rat-cyborg | PLOS Neuroscience Community

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DOD officials say autonomous killing machines deserve a look | Ars Technica

[ … ] military officials are looking hard at the possibility of developing robotic systems that are capable of acting on their own if remote control is cut off and decisions must be made on when to deploy a weapon—whether it’s an armed drone dropping a bomb or launching a missile or a ground robot firing weapons. “These are hard questions, and a lot of people outside of us tech guys are thinking about it, talking about it, engaging in what we can and can’t do,” she said. “That’s important. We need to understand and know that it doesn’t necessarily need to happen, but we also have to put the options on the table because we are the worst-case scenario guys.”

Source: DOD officials say autonomous killing machines deserve a look | Ars Technica

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Computer science is the key to America’s skills crisis | TechCrunch

We must recognize that computer science is fundamental. Every student in the United States should learn about algorithms, how the Internet works or how to make an app. But more important, computer science teaches kids to be problem solvers and innovators. Helping students develop these skills will benefit them in every subject, in the classroom and beyond.

Source: Computer science is the key to America’s skills crisis | TechCrunch

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Apple and the FBI think iPhones are safes. A philosopher explains what they really are.

Our electronic devices—or at least many of the processes that occur within them—are literally parts of our minds. And our consideration of Apple’s and the FBI’s arguments ought to flow from that fact.

This may sound ridiculous. But in an important co-authored essay and then in a book, the philosopher Andy Clark argued for something called the extended mind hypothesis. The basic idea was that we have no reason to treat the brain alone as the only place where mental processes can occur.

Source: Apple and the FBI think iPhones are safes. A philosopher explains what they really are.

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Functional Programming Is Not Popular Because It Is Weird | Probably Dance

Imperative languages have this huge benefit of having implicit state. Both humans and machines are really good at implicit state attached to time. When reading the cake recipe, you know that after finishing the first instruction the oven is preheated, the pans are greased and we have mixed a batter. This doesn’t have to be explicitly stated. We have the instructions and we know what the resulting state would be of performing the instructions. Nobody is confused by the imperative recipe. If I was able to actually finish writing the functional recipe and if I showed it to my mom, she would be very confused by it. (at least the version that doesn’t use monads would be very confusing. Maybe a version using monads wouldn’t be as confusing)

Source: Functional Programming Is Not Popular Because It Is Weird | Probably Dance

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Your Letters Helped Challenger Shuttle Engineer Shed 30 Years Of Guilt : The Two-Way : NPR

“It’s going to blow up,” a distraught and defeated Ebeling told his wife, Darlene, when he arrived home that night.

And it did, 73 seconds after liftoff. Seven astronauts died. Cold weather and an O-ring failure were blamed, and Ebeling carried three decades of guilt.

“That was one of the mistakes God made,” Ebeling, now 89, told me three weeks ago at his home in Brigham City, Utah. “He shouldn’t have picked me for that job. But next time I talk to him, I’m gonna ask him, ‘Why me? You picked a loser.’ “

Source: Your Letters Helped Challenger Shuttle Engineer Shed 30 Years Of Guilt : The Two-Way : NPR

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Silicon Valley is broken and heading for social unrest, argues media theorist – Quartz

“Over the next ten years, I think we’ll see either a significant movement in that direction, or we’ll be in a bad place,” he says.

And what sort of “bad place” might we expect if Silicon Valley fails to change course?

“Basically everybody working for 16 to 20 hours a day for very little pay, doing repetitive tasks that for one reason or another, computers can’t do,” Rushkoff says. “And these will be the lucky people, because at least they’re employed.”

Source: Silicon Valley is broken and heading for social unrest, argues media theorist – Quartz