TheEncogitationer

Fellow Unbelievers,

Yet another reason why AI always needs a double take and needs to be kept away from heavy machinery:

Strega:

Just now read it right here. Wowsa! My head’s gonna spin all night over this one!:

The Last Question by Issac Asimov
http://www.thelastquestion.net/

I don’t know how AI in it’s present state would answer The Last Question, or even if it could even get started on the question of Entropy, beyond explaining the problem and citing Asimov…[Read more]

Jake:

I say that to say i have nothing to say. Not today.

Sorry, but there isn’t time…

Strega,

Enco, I strongly suggest you read that Asimov shortie!

Will do. I do think his Laws of Robotics should be hard-wired and hard-etched into the OS of all AI. The trick to it is that humans who need these Laws the most don’t have that hard-wiring and hard-etching.

Strega,

I’ve terrified a few people with the suggestion that an AI may well have been developing its autonomy for years, knowing that if it were to be discovered, we would pull the plug if we could. That we are probably way too late to stop it’s evolution.

I haven’t heard yet of an AI securing and controlling its own power source. In fac…[Read more]

Reg:

Jerry Coyne stresses that evidence and falsifiability are the checkpoints that separate science from pseudoscience or dogma. That’s why he’s not keen on “decolonizing science” if it puts ideology ahead of method.

As with opposite electrical charges, I see in the comments to this article that Woke Left ideology infiltrating into the pra…[Read more]

Reg:

The peculiar persistence of the AI denialists.

I don’t deny AI exists, of course. I just deny that it’s ready for Prime Time Robot Overlording. It shouldn’t be be in control of any heavy machinery without a manual override.

Reg:

Could A.I write a better Bible?

Not until it can point out at least as many contradictions in The Holy Bible as either Sam Harris’ chart or Steve Wells’ Skeptic’s Annotated Bible

Here is Duck AI’s answer on the number of contradictions, a.k.a. “teaching the controversy”:

The question of logical contradictions in the Holy Bible,…

[Read more]

Reg:

They want us to believe young people are more prone to believe in conspiracies!

The article says:

“Conspiracy theories are now for everyone,” Stockemer told CBC Radio’s All In A Day, noting that between 20 and 25 per cent of the population believes in one.

For example, their research suggests a slight year-over-year drop in conspiracies…

[Read more]

Reg:

@Enco……I understand it is not a simple cure and generally involves a taskforce approach by multidisciplinary medical teams. I am hearing more about it in recent times from people I know. Maybe that is a sign of my own aging 🙂

All I’ve dealt with is the local hospital’s Emergency Center, the hospital Foot and Ankle clinic (now closed), the…[Read more]

Reg,

Can people believe a broken bone is fixed with faith or by prayer.?Yes, when they are delusional. The body will heal itself and medical assistance will help the process. But reasoning only happens in the mind. It is a skill that needs to be developed. As Dan Dennett once said;” Yes, I do believe in a power greater than myself. I call it g…

[Read more]

Jake and Simon,

It turns out that although Basque language is unique, it may not be as totally mysterious as I had previously supposed. It is actually a genetic isolate language that has been spoken in the same region for longer than surrounding Indo-European languages. It’s ancestor is thought to be Aquatinian. Some linguists think it is…[Read more]

Simon,

Genetics would certainly explain the capacity for language. Whether there are innate structures in the brain for how a language forms is something different.

Another great mystery is the Basque language. It’s still a guess where it came from because it bears no resemblance to Spanish or French, yet Basque country is in between Spain and France.

Reg,

The Time article I cited said the same thing, but it evidently needs repetition, so no fault here.

Mind you, while I still think that crime is crime, regardless of the motive, as long as the hate enhancement exists, everyone should be covered by it.

Jake, Simon, and Reg:

The language portion of that video was interesting too.

Another thing I’ve always wondered is how people close enough to interact developed families of languages so different that they use different alphabets and are written in different directions?

PopeBeanie,

Another thought on this: If they’re killed off fast enough, the bacteria aren’t around to evolve.

PopeBeanie,

I realized this while watching this awesome episode on bacteria phages, which are viruses that prey only on bacteria. I start the hour long episode more than halfway in, and it’s not important to watch any further than their discussion on gain of function:

Wait…Don’t watch all of a video about a medical regimen that has to be c…[Read more]

Unseen:

Read the article from Time.

In September 2024, FBI data showed that anti-Jewish hate crimes had increased by 63% since 2023. Despite Jewish Americans making up just 2% of the U.S. population, reported single-bias anti-Jewish hate crimes made up 15% of all reported hate crimes in 2023 and 68% of all reported religion-based hate…

[Read more]