Catholic Culture Liturgical Living
Catholic Culture Liturgical Living

By Thomas B. Fowler

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Artificial Intelligence: Summary and Conclusions

The threat from AI comes not from any possibility that it will become sentient and smarter than humans, but from complexification issues associated with use of AI-based systems to control critical infrastructures. The threat is that programming errors, encounters with unanticipated situations, or hackers will disrupt the AI system and cause malfunctions. AI will also pose ethical problems as well as important legal and societal issues.

The human paradigm of knowing, how it is different, why it is not replicable with AI

AI can of course generate random “ideas”, understood in the rather limited sense of data structures or random chatbot statements; but that is not how humans develop new theories or deal with unexpected situations, as anyone who has done either can attest. This means that our impression of reality is different than what can be achieved by any sort of paradigm based on separation of functions.

The AI paradigm of knowing and its problems

In order to do things that manifest “intelligence”, any AI system has to be based on a paradigm of knowing. How does the computer “know” about its task or subject? This is something about which AI engineers and theorists do not think, because there isn’t much choice. AI is perforce based on algorithmic processes that utilize inputs (data or sensors) and output instructions or text. Essentially, modern AI is based squarely on ideas that stem from the British empiricist tradition.

AI, its capabilities and threats

Artificial Intelligence has become a catch-all phase that sums up belief in the power of machines. The thrust is that computers can now do many things formerly reserved to humans alone, thus duplicating and exceeding human intelligence, allowing AI systems to “take over”. But the real danger lurks in the complexification of society. As computer-based systems are used to operate functions spanning more components of society, the dangers associated with malfunction increase.

How scientific is the theory of man-made global warming?

In conclusion, we can say that the theory of anthropogenic warming is based on rather long-range extrapolation from a data set much shorter than known climate cycles. The basic assumption of the theory is very problematic and not reflected in the historical record.

Climatism’s Mad, Mad World: A Review

[The Mad, Mad, Mad World of Climatism, Steve Goreham, New Lenox Books, 2012, vii+301 pp, paperback and Kindle (see links following review)] The theme of this book is the unsound science behind “global warming” and “climate change”, and the irrational behavior that it has...

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