Lunch at the Labs

Various web links I found to be of interest recently.

• Why can't anyone agree on how dangerous AI will be?

  Researchers tried to get AI optimists and pessimists on the same page. It didn't quite work.

  There are people who deeply understand advanced machine learning systems who think they will prove increasingly uncontrollable, possibly "go rogue," and threaten humanity with catastrophe or even extinction. There are other people who deeply understand how these systems work who think that we're perfectly able to control them, that their dangers do not include human extinction, and that the first group is full of hysterical alarmists.

  How do we tell who's right? I sure don't know.

  Many cited the need for robotics to reach human levels, not just software AI, and argued that doing so would be much harder. It's one thing to write code and text in a laptop; it's quite another to, as a machine, learn how to flip a pancake or clean a tile floor or any of the many other physical tasks at which humans now outperform robots.

  -----

  I surmise that those who believe AI will threaten humanity think that humans are just equivalent to a physical machine, perhaps with some special properties that can be duplicated. (And btw the same goes for those who think people do not have free will.)

  Since no one has come close to creating a living organism from physical materials, it seems to me we are a long way from understanding what is life. Until we do, I think one has to be agnostic (and not religious) about the question is AI dangerous or not. Why don't discussions about AI ever mention what, if any, are the differences between a living person and a physical machine?

• How the Washing Machine Changed the World: The Far-Reaching Impact of Household Appliances

  A wave of new household appliances transformed the nature of domestic work and the lives of women. In the early 1900s-as vividly portrayed in 1900 House -housework was a full-time job, consuming an average of 58 hours per week, according to the new NBER working paper "The Household Equipment Revolution" by economists Effrosyni Adamopoulou, Jeremy Greenwood, and Nezih Guner. But by 1975, that figure had plummeted to just 18 hours, thanks largely to the widespread adoption of labor-saving devices like washing machines, dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, and microwave ovens.
  ...
  According to the economists, the driving force behind this household revolution was the falling "time price" of appliances-the number of hours of work needed to afford them. As prices dropped, more and more families were able to purchase these devices, which offered significant time savings and reduced the drudgery of housework.

• Proof News

  Proof provides data-driven reporting and analysis of the most important questions of our time.

  Proof believes that journalism can increase its rigor by learning from the scientific method. Rather than focus on the outdated notion of objectivity, Proof approaches its investigations by developing a hypothesis and collecting and analyzing the best available data to test its hypothesis. It is transparent about its findings and the limitations of its work, which are presented in an "ingredients label."

• Sci-Hub

  the first pirate website in the world to provide mass and public access to tens of millions of research papers

  At this time the widest possible distribution of research papers, as well as of other scientific or educational sources, is artificially restricted by copyright laws. Such laws effectively slow down the development of science in human society. The Sci-Hub project, running from 5th September 2011, is challenging the status quo. At the moment, Sci-Hub provides access to hundreds of thousands research papers every day, effectively bypassing any paywalls and restrictions.

• Standing Together

  Standing Together is a grassroots movement mobilizing Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel in pursuit of peace, equality, and social and climate justice. While the minority who benefit from the status quo of occupation and economic inequality seek to keep us divided, we know that we - the majority - have far more in common than that which sets us apart. When we stand together, we are strong enough to fundamentally alter the existing socio-political reality.

• Parrots love playing tablet games

  "Cognitive enrichment is a crucial component for parrot health and well-being, and tablet games are one method of providing this enrichment," McMahon says. "Designing apps specifically made for birds and their unique touchscreen tendencies makes this form of enrichment more accessible."
  ...
  Last year, the team showed a group of parrots how to video call one another, finding that the birds both overwhelmingly enjoyed the activity and could make the calls themselves, when given the option.

• Brilliance ratings of own field vs. brilliance rating among doctorate holders

  Joseph Bronski

  Most scientists see philosophy as unimportant. That guy arguing otherwise?
  Probably a philosophy grad.