Down Another Rabbit Hole

I love learning about new things.  I love learning about old things too.  I also love learning that some of what I thought I knew was incorrect once I learned more about it!  That may seem strange -- learning you are wrong -- but I would rather correct my incorrect knowledge than continue blithely in ignorance.

I have only minimal knowledge and likely some misconceptions about AI as it is currently being presented, but I have dived into that massive rabbit warren with both feet.  I suspect a Level A Hazmat Suit might be in order, but I'm not at that level of education on the subject as of yet.  You might take this paragraph as a warning that the subject will be reoccurring at times.

I have missed a couple of days of writing due to unexpected circumstances, but I hope to dive back in on a regular basis again.  Certainly, there will be occasional disruptions but hopefully they will be kept to a minimum.

When I begin looking into AI it is immediately obvious that it will be inescapable.  I deal with it as I type this blog entry.  We have dealt with it since some of the earliest versions of Word Processing programs.  Spell-check, Grammar-check and the words that magically appear ahead of where you are typing in a sentence in anticipation of that being where you were headed are some of the most basic versions of it.

What we are calling AI (artificial intelligence) is, to date, machine learning.  We are quickly advancing in the capabilities presented by machine learning but, in my opinion, we won't achieve true AI until we begin to see creativity and original ideas that are beyond the scope of current or historical human endeavor.  What we are seeing today is simply better organization of data, accumulation of massive amounts of data and mining that data in different ways.  It is still necessary that a human ask the correct questions.  That is part of what makes it so dangerous in my opinion.

Exploitative uses of data are just as likely, perhaps more likely, than benign or beneficial uses of data.  Analyzing the incidence and prevalence of measles cases throughout the world could be useful in prevention, or it could be used to enhance the spread of harm through the weaponization of some pathogen.  There must be some level of moral control on the use of AI.  That is scary because who is there that is trustworthy to develop such controls?

We have a tree in our front yard that I assumed was a Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum).  I confirmed that identification using iNaturalist which is my "go-to" identifier.  But when I looked up images of Bald Cypress using Google Search, I didn't see any that closely resembled the tree in our yard.  It made me question the identity.  So, I went back through the process again and came up with the same answer.  I did learn that there are over 400 varieties of cypress trees around the world.  I also learned that their wood is great for building due to disease resistance.  But because the images don't really match up there is still question in my mind that my identity is correct.  I think that is a danger we face with AI.  The answers derived through its use should be closely scrutinized.

Halftime Confusion

For some reason this photo of our Redbone Coonhound made me think of the half-time show of the Super Bowl.  I'll leave it to you to speculate why.

It was not a show that appealed to my taste; it was reminiscent of what one might expect at Carnivale in Rio de Janeiro -- which fits when you think about it.  You had a couple of Latina performers in a carnival atmosphere doing what they do -- performing.

Was it appropriate for television?  Hmmm....they put about anything and everything on television these days.  It used to be there were much tighter controls on language and content.  Those controls seem to have slipped until, unless you are watching an old show, you never know what might come across.

It was symptomatic of the confusion regarding sexuality in this country -- especially adding to the confusion for young people.  It's not alone in doing so.  It seems typical that costumes barely cover the ladies and are skin tight whereas the men (not many actors that can be put into that category any more) often wear loose-fitting clothes that adequately cover them.  That applies to swimwear also.  It seems the female gender is encouraged to wear as little as possible and the males are fully covered with lots of material.  It all sends the message to the youngsters, whose view of the opposite gender is in a formative stage, that the female has one purpose.

Add to that the number of single-parent and mixed parentage families and the confusion grows.  Moral boundaries have been crossed to the point that anything is fair game.  It's no wonder there is a global crisis in human trafficking.  Our kids are being raised to see other humans as objects to be used for their pleasure and therefore, their worth as humans is merely what they can do for you -- how they can be used.

I haven't stated any of this very clearly but, hopefully, my intended thoughts are coming through.  Simply put, you can't have it both ways; if you are to have value then you must value others on the same basis.  I suspect the intent of the halftime show was to convey "having fun" but, instead, to many it came across as the type of "fun" to be found in seedy joints in the less reputable part of town.  I don't know that it was meant to "shock" the sensibilities of those who adhere to the values that were once prevalent; it likely never occurred to the performers that it would do so. 

That halftime show was simply symptomatic of the deep cultural war in this country.  That cultural war is merely the latest iteration of the age-old war that began prior to Creation -- it is the war between good and evil -- right and wrong -- God and Satan.  It entered humanity in the Garden of Eden when man chose "self" over God.  Again, you can't have it both ways.  Our value is in the eyes of our creator and we should treat each other as a creation of God -- not an object to be used for our self gratification.

"Do to others as you would have them do to you." -- John 3:16

Clarification on Yesterday's Post

I think yesterday a few teachers thought my post was aimed at them; it wasn't.  It was a much broader quarry toward which I cast my net.  It was society in general and the U.S. economic system in particular.

First, let me clarify that I am a firm believer in free enterprise and capitalism.  They are two different approaches that usually overlap to a significant extent and combined, they work well within a society ordered by a clear and pervasive moral standard that believes no one should be left behind.  However, no matter the clarity of general moral purpose, there are always exceptions -- those who would take advantage of the system for the accumulation of personal power and wealth above that which is needed or, even desirable.  After all, power and wealth both corrupt.

The failures of our economic system are many and they are based in the self-centeredness of individuals.  They occur when actions are justified by the thought, "I deserve," rather than an awareness of the needs of others.  When the focus is on others, all are lifted and the result is multiplicative in the positive.  When the focus is on self, one is lifted above others and the result is subtractive -- it becomes mine at the expense of yours.

The opposite view is that there are those who would ride freely on the coattails of those who do the work.  This occurs for the same reason as the above -- a self-centeredness that values leisure above the accumulation of wealth and power.  It also is subtactive in nature rather than multiplicative and acts as a brake on the productivity of others.

Ultimately the issue is the age-old one so clearly defined in the Bible.  It is a question of personal value and control.  The question is, "Who is in control?  Who knows what is best for not only my life, but the lives of others?"  The answer must be God, because to answer self places the individual above his surroundings, or the totality of creation and the concept of ego-centrism enters.

Failure of any economic system rests simply in the fact that the individual sees himself as greater than the whole.  In a humanistic view, this leads naturally to socialism which dissolves into communism for the same reasons as all other systems fail -- the accretion of power to individuals.

Devaluing people -- treating them as interchangeable parts -- is at root the cause of the disintegration of our country.  We must see life -- human life -- as something of value in order to rise above the increasingly violent struggle between political philosophies.  We must first realize that ALL have failed -- ALL have fallen short -- before we can begin to rise.

Romans 3:23 -- ...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God....

Rockets Away!

It will be interesting to see how Mr. Obama responds to the North Korean rocket launch. I suspect we will see a repeat of Bill Clinton's do-nothing approach -- except with even more rhetoric.

The administration has somewhat painted itself into a corner. It appears that Mr. Obama has obtained some political capital among world leaders -- especially in Europe. Will he spend it in the U.N. Security Council? I doubt that he knows how to wield it effectively -- which begs the question -- who will he turn to for advice? Sarkozy? -- no -- Medvedev?? -- possibly -- Hillary? -- I wonder just how much power she truly has within the administration.... She might just ask Bill -- which brings us back to the first paragraph. Ultimately, I suspect it will be a matter of whatever "polls" best. Which again is reminiscent of Bill Clinton. I guess we should expect no less when we elect leaders who have no moral compass.

Now, the real question is what SHOULD we do????