Category Archives: Technology

THE BEADY EYE ASKS: IS RELIGION DISAPPEARING IN THE QUICKSILVER OF TECHNOLOGY.

19 Monday Jun 2017

Posted by in Religion for a digital age., Technology

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( A five minute read)

We all know the way religious scriptures are read can influence how they are interpreted.

Apps like YouVersion, which has been installed more than 260 million times worldwide since its launch in 2008 and similarly popular apps exist for the Torah and Koran are tweeting out filtered Bible verses which are allowing a private expression of faith to take place between a person and their phone screen.

A new kind of mutated religion for a digital age.

It’s no longer necessary to set foot in a church or a mosque.

The ubiquity of smartphones and social media makes them hard to avoid, but are they both changing the way people practise their religion.

The importance of the web in everyday life – from banking to shopping to socialising – means that religious organisations must migrate their churches and temples to virtual real estate in order to stay relevant and to be where the people are.

(Credit: Getty Images)

Azerbaijani Muslims pray at the end of Ramadan (Getty Images) (Credit: Getty Images)

 

 

 

 

Religion was important just a century or so ago, but now it is at lowest rates of belief in the world. Very few societies are more religious today than they were 40 or 50 years ago.

Now we have more and more societies following many of the ethics of the secular world. Known as moralistic therapeutic deism, this form of belief is focused more on the charitable and moral side of the Bible – the underlying tenets of religion, rather than the notion that the Universe was created by an all-seeing, all-powerful leader.

These Societies are being supercharged by the internet and social media creating a sort of Pick-and-mix religious beliefs which means people can avoid doctrines that do not appeal to them.

Quite how interacting with the Bible or the Koran in bite-sized nuggets might affect people’s views of either remains somewhat unknown, but reading the Bible or Koran or any religious writings in this way is changing people’s overall sense of it.

If you go to the Bible/ Koran as a paper book, they are quite large and complicated and you’ve got to thumb through it to find what you are looking for. With the mobile phone Bible or Koran we have more access to more information, more viewpoints, and we can create a spiritual rhythm and path that’s more personalised.

Although Capitalism, access to technology and education also seems to correlate with a corrosion of religiosity in some populations. Technology is shaping religious people themselves and changed their behaviour. You just go to where you’ve asked it to go to, and you’ve no sense of what came before or after. A lot of people who consider themselves to be active Christians may not strictly even believe in God or Jesus or the acts described in the Bible.

A rabbi reads during Purim festivities (Getty Images) (Credit: Getty Images)

It is becoming less about the preacher in the pulpit,and more about the Tweet.

When you read the Bible on a screen you end up reading the text as though it was Wikipedia.

The text read on screens is generally taken more literally than text read in books. It’s a flat kind of reading, which the Bible or the Koran or for that matter any Scriptures were not written for.

Overly literal interpretations of religious texts can lead to fundamentalism. The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace, as “a new kind of realm for the mind”.

(Getty Images) (Credit: Getty Images)

Even if we lose sight of the Christian, Muslim and Hindu gods and all the rest, superstitions and spiritualism will almost certainly still prevail, and as climate change wreaks havoc on the world in coming years and natural resources potentially grow scarce, then suffering and hardship will fuel religiosity.

The greatest danger of the web is not that it will kill or change religion, but that, we will see the differences in our faiths because of our desire to find our own kind.

The web has not de facto increased inter-faith communication. It is not being used for inter-religious dialogue or diversity.

Religious leaders will have to get used to the idea of being more accountable and transparent in their dealings and of having to engage, on equal terms, with those who stand outside the traditional hierarchies.

Can it be, then, that the more information at our disposal, the more we stop to wonder whether our God, our church, and our supposedly holy books are really as believable as they once seemed?

People become their Internet selves to such an extent that these selves become their “real” selves. Does this somehow switch them off from their former core beliefs? Or could it be that some religions are so rigid, so literal, so supposedly inviolable that they don’t sufficiently allow for critical thought?

Pope Francis has 3.8 million Twitter followers. Miley Cyrus has almost 17.7 million.

When a new technology, such as the printing press or the Internet, unleashes massive cultural change, the challenge to religion is immense. Cultural developments change how God/Mohammed , or the ultimate, is thought of and spoken about.

If there is a battle between generations about the shape of the future, it is one played out not in public life but within families.

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THE BEADY EYE ASKS: WHAT IS THE TRUTH WHEN IT COMES TO ENERGY.

14 Sunday May 2017

Posted by in Energy, Modern day life., Oil, Sustaniability, Technology, The Future, The world to day., Unanswered Questions., What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage.

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( A Six minute read)

It’s easy to pick the dominant environmental issue of the last decade. It has been the issue of climate change and what—if anything—the countries of the world can do to limit, or reduce, carbon dioxide emissions.

It took hundreds of millions of years to create the world’s oil reserves.

It took less than a century before oil became the commodity on which world power turned and it was little more than a century before fears were raised that we would run out of oil.

Day in, day out, human beings are dependent upon it more than any other resource—and yet most rarely think about it.

For instance, most plastics are derived from oil. The medications taken by millions of people requires oil to produce.

Today, producing, distributing, refining and retailing oil is the single largest industry, in terms of value, on earth!  Yet, like most, you probably give little if any thought to the black liquid.

So the world needs to come to a common understanding that:

  1. The alternative energy is not mature enough to replace fossil sources any time soon.
  2. Energy security means a diversified and balanced portfolio inclusive of every bit of resource, fossil as well as renewables, just to meet the projected demand. No single form of energy will be able to entirely replace it.
  3. Real “green” energy is easier said than done.
  4. Gold and Oil are the commodities most heavily invested in by Hedge Funds.

Now consider.

Oil is a nonrenewable, finite resource.

What if there were no more oil?

What if the lifeblood of modern civilization stopped flowing?

The global economy would collapse in a heap of ruin—and fast! Life as we know it would come to an end. All the everyday items made from oil would no longer be produced. Virtually all transport would stop, and so would nearly all manufacturing. Scores of millions would be unemployed. Millions in colder climates would freeze. Food production would come to a grinding halt. Scores of millions would starve to death because 99.99…% of people don’t have the faintest grasp of the historical technology required to revert to a pre-oil era.

So where there used to be a strong link between economic growth and the increasing demand for oil, is that link now being broken by alternative energy sources.

Many are touting a number of alternative forms of energy as potential replacements to oil.

The key rationale for reducing petroleum consumption lies in the fact that the market price does not account for its full social cost: the negative externalities or consequences associated with petroleum use-such as greenhouse gas emissions and national security issues-are not incorporated in the market prices.

But is all of this true.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "biofuels images"

Biofuels: Corn-based ethanol.

A biofuel-gasoline mixture is already being used in many automobiles. Making biofuels requires large amounts of land. If these fuels were to become the “new oil,” nations would face a choice between growing crops for food and growing crops for fuel, as there is not enough cultivable land on earth to satisfy man’s need for both.

More carbon dioxide is actually released through biofuels than gasoline.

Résultat de recherche d'images pour ":Hydrogen fuel cells:"

Hydrogen is a non-polluting alternative fuel. Hydrogen fuel cells directly convert the chemical energy in hydrogen to electricity and release water and useful heat as by-products. Hydrogen fuel cells are pollution-free and have greater efficiency than traditional combustion technology.

The most abundant element in the universe but, it does not occur naturally as a gas in the Earth it is quite expensive to produce.

The systems used for delivering gasoline from refineries to gasoline stations cannot be used for hydrogen.

NASA is the primary user of hydrogen resources for its space program.

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are currently very expensive than conventional vehicles or any hybrids.

Résultat de recherche d'images pour "Nuclear energy :"

Is efficient and clean, but the more reactors that are in use around the world, the more likely a nuclear disaster will occur.

Nuclear fusion: Résultat de recherche d'images pour "what is nuclear fusion"

Is an atomic reaction in which multiple atoms combine to create a single, more massive atom. The long allure of nuclear fusion is simple: clean, safe, limitless energy for a world that will soon house 10bn energy-hungry citizens. But despite 60 years of research and billions of dollars, the results to date are also simple: it has not delivered.

The world record for fusion power – 16MW – was set in 1997 at the JET reactor in the UK. The longest fusion run – six minutes and 30 seconds – was achieved at France’s Tore Supra in 2003.

The world needs to know if this technology is available or not.

Solar and wind power:

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Are unlikely to produce enough energy to match that of oil.

New motor technologies:

Electric or Fuel cell cars to expensive.

So where are with energy.

Here’s the bottom line:

Renewables will remain niche players in the global energy mix for decades to come. The past—and the foreseeable future—still belong to hydrocarbons. And we can expect natural gas, the cleanest of the hydrocarbons, to garner a bigger share of the global energy pie in the near term and in the long-term.

Most alternative technologies rely on rare earths for efficiency.

However, the radioactive waste produced by rare earths mining process makes oil sands look like a green energy. This overlooked (or ignored) fact just now received some attention due to the sudden shortage caused by China’s embargo and export quotas on rare earths.

It Will Take 131 Years To Replace Oil, And We’ve Only Got 10.

Carbon dioxide emissions will continue rising because hundreds of millions of people are transitioning to a modern lifestyle, complete with cars, TVs, and other manufactured goods.

Renewable sources like wind and solar have their virtues, but they cannot compare with hydrocarbons when it comes to economics. If renewable sources of energy were dramatically cheaper than hydrocarbons, then perhaps we could be more optimistic about their ability to capture a larger part of the global energy mix. But even if that were true, a wholesale change in our energy mix will take a long time.

There is one thing all energy transitions have in common: they are prolonged affairs that take decades to accomplish.

If petroleum didn’t exist, we’d have to invent it. Nothing else comes close to oil when it comes to energy density, ease of handling, flexibility, convenience, cost, or scale. Electric vehicles may be the celebrity car du jour, but modern batteries are only slightly better than the ones that Thomas Edison developed. Gasoline has 80 times the energy density of the best lithium-ion batteries.

The entire global economic foundation is still built upon oil.

However China and India are among those facing major problems with urban air pollution.

We can talk about wind, solar, geothermal, hydrogen, and lots of other forms of energy production. But the question that too few people are willing to ask is this one: Where, how, will we find the energy equivalent of 25 Saudi Arabia’s and have it all be carbon-free?

The hard reality is that we won’t.

We need a simpler measure for global energy use, which now totals about 241 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. That sum is almost impossible to comprehend, but try thinking of it this way: It’s approximately equal to the total daily oil output of 29 Saudi Arabia’s.

Furthermore, over the past decade alone, global energy consumption has increased by about 27 percent, or six Saudi Arabia’s. Nearly all of that new energy came from hydrocarbons.

Scientists and policymakers can claim that carbon dioxide is bad but here is no urgency for an accelerated shift to a non-fossil fuel world: The supply of fossil fuels is adequate for generations to come; new energies are not qualitatively superior; and their production will not be substantially cheaper.

The supply chain required to run a modern society is oil.

The inability to lubricate moving parts to have no power the Internet and most technological development based on it (the “Internet of Things”) would cease to exist.

Most world currencies would collapse. Over 90% of

U.S. dollars exist electronically;

with no electricity to power the computers that track

these financial transactions and balances, most

records of ownership would be unavailable for the

foreseeable future.

Within a couple of weeks all the food in the cities would

be exhausted. Mass unemployment,

all the trees will probably be chopped down to

make coal to make energy.

 

Energy is too important for its development to continue in such a random manner. Thus society seems to be caught in a dilemma unlike anything experienced in the last few centuries.

Despite many claims to the contrary—from oil and gas advocates on the one hand and solar advocates on the other—THERE IS  no easy solution to these issues.

If any resolution to these problems is possible it is probable that it would have to come at least as much from an adjustment of society’s aspirations for increased material affluence and an increase in willingness to share as from technology.

Unfortunately recent political events do not leave us with great optimism that such changes in societal values will be forthcoming. With Donald Trump the debate over whether climate change is for real, and why it might be happening, has not gone away.

It’s less clear than ever how much oil is left but thanks to technology and changing climate change which is pushing car manufacturers towards more hybrid and electric cars, is seen as less of a threat than even ten years ago.

All comments appreciated. All like clicks chucked in the bin.

 

 

 

 

THE BEADY EYE SAYS: IT WILL NOT BE LONG BEFORE HUMAN LIFE IS NOT THE MOST SACRED THING IN THE UNIVERSE.

05 Friday May 2017

Posted by in Artificial Intelligence., Humanity., Life., Scientific., Technology, The Future, The Obvious., Unanswered Questions.

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( A Five minute read)

Since death violates the right to life we ought to wage war against it.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "images of life and death"

Death and attendant matters have been seminal topics of reflection, disputatious debate, and other modes of social discourse since the dawn of civilization and, presumably, also among the people who predate civilization.

Philosophers and non-philosophers stand on a level of equality with respect to death.

There are no experts on death, for there is nothing to know about it. Not even those who study the death process have an edge on the rest of us. We are all equals in thinking about death, and we all begin and end thinking about it from a position of ignorance.

The concept of death has a use for the living, while death itself has no use for anything.

Whether we think of death as a wall or a door, we cannot avoid using one metaphor or another. We often say that a person who dies is relieved of suffering. However, if death is real, then it is metaphorical even to say that the dead do not suffer, as though something of them remains not to suffer.

Death is always described from the perspective of the living. All we see when we look at death is a reflection of our own lives. The concept of death is absolutely without any object whatsoever. There is no method for getting to know death better, because death cannot be known at all.

Birth and death are the bookends of our lives.

The young have an intellectual understanding that death comes to us all, but their mortality has not become real to them. Ignoring death leaves us and them with a false sense of life’s permanence and perhaps encourages us to lose ourselves in the minutiae of daily of life.

In the twenty-first century, death and dying will be more visible, more omnipresent, more seminal topics of social concern, and a much more pressing economic reality.

All this had and is still having an impact on our culture and our social lives.

In short, in the future people can be aided to die slowly instead of dropping dead or dying quickly. More persons will be dying slowly, and more attention will be given to dying.

We are now entering an age where the tolerance of death is no longer a one way ticket to afterlife. It is a technical problem to be overcome, that can and should be overcome.

The Flagship of Science and technology is to defeat death.

The human declaration to life has no expiry date.

Google company called Calico state mission is to solve death. “We’re tackling aging, one of life’s greatest mysteries.” Calico is a research and development company whose mission is to harness advanced technologies to increase our understanding of the biology that controls lifespan.

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There are less and fewer reasons to accept death.  A world without death could well put pay to religion as we know it.

The writing’s on the wall:

Equality is out – immortality is in.  Upgrades or are we on the way that will make our lives as a young person only a distant memory.

The big question is with humanity destined becoming a ripple in the cosmic data flow will it make any difference?

Not really if we have destroyed the planet.

Long life will definitely trigger bitter political conflicts and wars as it will cause misery not happiness.

We might well conquer the pain of death  but misery is another matter.

Like most things, death has both a good side and a bad one.” Life and death depend on each other.  You can’t have one without the other, and if you think life is a good thing, you have to see death as desirable as well.

However if death did not exist, life would continue by definition.

Death might be necessary for uncontrolled procreation under constrained resources, but it is not “absolutely necessary for the continuance of life.”

In truth mortality will be still with us:

Once gone, gone forever or maybe not. If the normal lifespan were a thousand years, death at 80 would be a tragedy. As things are, it may just be a more widespread tragedy. If there is no limit to the amount of life that it would be good to have, then it may be that a bad end is in store for us all.

Each one of us will die, yet the individual’s death is merely a part of the human continuum.

So death is only an unknown, unperceivable or experienceable idea of consciousness. Death of consciousness can’t be perceived by itself. However, if the Consciousness is unfragmented, there is no conditioning and hence no fear at all, and hence the need of coming to terms with death also doesn’t arise.

Greek philosopher Epicurus:

So death, the most terrifying of ills, is nothing to us, since so long as we exist, death is not with us; but when death comes, then we do not exist. It does not then concern either the living or the dead, since for the former, it is not, and the latter are no more.

It is useful to think about death only to the point that it frees us to live fully immersed in the life we have yet to live. 

I certainly don’t want to die any time soon, and you probably don’t either. This is not merely because we can’t see the future. Death deprives us of many futures, good, bad, and middling.

One might argue, future lives could benefit from the knowledge, but why should that matter to us?

For the dead, death is nothing. The best thing about death is that you don’t know you’re dead.

Perhaps it will all come down too: Within this urn my ashes dwell add H20 and stir them well. A pinch of salt perhaps and then I’ll walk upon this earth again.

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THE BEADY EYE SAYS: COMPUTER ALGORITHMS THAT ARE FILTERING CONTENT ARE STARTING TO ISOLATE US FROM ONE ANOTHER. 

30 Sunday Apr 2017

Posted by in Artificial Intelligence., Big Data., Facebook, Google Knowledge., Humanity., Privatization, Social Media., Technology, The Future, The Internet., The Obvious., The world to day., Twitter, Unanswered Questions., What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage.

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( A five-minute read)

We all know or at least we should all be aware that our world is becoming less and less transparent thanks to what we call Artificial Intelligence.

Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of cloud computing"

The challenge there is:

The false promise of the Internet was that it can connect people from different backgrounds, with different beliefs and across disparate locations.

The trend toward personalization by AI is impeding the fulfillment of that promise?

What is becoming more and more apparent is that while most personalization on the web is algorithmically driven, aren’t we implicitly, informing the algorithms based on the choices we’ve previously made interacting with content?

Couldn’t you then, in theory, manipulate the filter so you see what you want to see or are there too many factors beyond our control?

Consider:

Even if you’re completely logged out of Google, on a new computer, the company can track 57 signals about you — from what kind of laptop you’re using to what your IP address is to what the font size in your browser is. Already, that gives a lot of important clues about age, income and demographics.

It’s ironic — the promise of personalization is that it gives us our own personal view of the world.

But the challenge is that a lot of the time, it’s actually pushing us toward a stereotyped, simplified version of ourselves: “This person is male, so we’ll show him more gadget and car news.”

So let me ask you.

Many of the major social, discovery and media sites on the Internet now implement some type of personalization. Do you feel these sites have a responsibility to educate consumers about how their information is being filtered? Do you think users should be able to opt out of personalization?

I would say Yes, on both counts.

In an increasingly complex and vast media landscape it is crucial that me maintain our private lives.

Why?

Because: Algorithms of all shapes and sizes are monitoring, analyzing, making
decisions, dictating our credit scores etc.  They are shaping our lives and economies, our future, so shouldn’t we know what code and mathematical equations, or deep learning go into making them work.
However Transparency alone won’t help.
Algorithms are complicated so exposing the code behind them won’t make them more understandable. Knowing how an algorithm is coded is useless without knowing the data that has being fed into it in the first place.

There is only one solution and that is the:

The Creation of a New World Organisation that is totally transparent, and self financing:  To vet all Technology. To ensure that they comply with the core world gold standard of human values.
(See previous Posts)
Let me ask you two further questions.
Can some level of personalization be useful?
What are we missing that we need to see?
Some amount of algorithmic personalization is necessary — there’s just too much stuff to sort through for humans to do it all. However you don’t know who Google thinks you are or on what basis it’s editing your results, and therefore you don’t know what you’re missing.

A lot of the personalization that exists today just serves up information junk food, but a growing portion is being curated by robots — computer algorithms that are filtering content and deciding what we get to see.

It may be delicious, but it doesn’t feed the soul.

Now it’s possible to live in a bubble where that stuff doesn’t ever show up — you’d never know it’s happening.

Take the Facebook “Like” button — the main way that information gets spread on Facebook. “Like” isn’t a neutral word — it’s easy to Like “I just finished a marathon,” and hard to Like “cell phones may cause cancer.”

So some kinds of information get through, and others don’t, and when that’s happening in the Facebook News Feed, where an increasing number of folks get their news, it’s a real problem.

Most people aren’t aware that their Google search results, Yahoo News links, or Facebook feed is being tailored in this way.

Filters can provide relevance and combat information overload, but with so much riding on automated decisions to ensure algorithms deal with humans fairly is now more relevant than ever.

I recently read that in five-year your smartphone could be reading your mind.

Brain- computer interface.

Personalization couldn’t exist without the massive dossiers of personal data being collected by big companies online these days. And it’s a problem because consumers don’t have much control over that.

The current laws around personal data just don’t contemplate a world in which a click on one website changes what you see on an entirely different one.

Almost all popular websites, from search engines to social networks to media outlets, are now utilizing filters in some way to personalize content for visitors.

When websites show us only what we like, we get cut off from the diverse points of view that can enrich our understanding of the world.

We get Donald Trumps.

Privacy is about controlling what the world is allowed to know about you. This is about controlling what you’re able to see of the world — what your filters let through and what they don’t.

Its time to wake up.

We can lose sight of our common problems, but they don’t lose sight of us.

It’s only a matter of time before our Fidelity/ Loyalty cards are linked up to our personal data held by banks, e-commerce sites and social media. If not already.

We will then be looking at citizen character score, which will bring credit scores to a whole new level, turning them more into to life scores, by tracking anything and everything we do. The scary bit is what is tracked and by who.  

I hear you saying that this will never be accepted.

It is already on the cards for people living in China and Singapore. Humans and robot algorithms, living in peaceful harmony. Where you go, what you buy, who you know, how many points are on your driving licence, how your friends rate you.

The scores will serve not just to indicate an individual’s credit risk, but could be used in a vast array of applications and organisations such as Governments, Benefits, Hospital Operations, Visa, Education, down to all fields that makes Society including prison sentences, landlords, employers, and even romantic partners to gauge an individual’s character.

Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of cloud computing"

All stored in the Cloud. Which comes in many different models forms.

Ubiquitous access to the network: Self-service and on-demand access to computing capabilities. This service will most often be performed by the service provider automatically without the need for human interaction.

Cloud Computers is not the easiest of terms to define, or explain what it all actually means. Owned by Google, Twitter, Gmail and Facebook the Cloud is elusive as grabbing a cloud itself.

Perhaps we can blame it all on Leonhard Euler one of the most prolific mathematicians in history, and also a prolific inventor of canonical notation.

( An Euler path is a path that uses every edge of a graph exactly once.)

One way or the other to use a Trumpetism:  It’s ain’t going to be great unless we build algorithms that have a sense of civic purpose embedded in them, giving us both entertainment and the information we really need, not profit.

All comments appreciated. All like clicks chucked in the bin.

O sorry about the line spacing in this post just cannot figure out how to correct it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE BEADY EYE SAYS: HERE IS WHAT WORLD LEADERS AND ALL OF US SHOULD BE CONCERNED ABOUT.

28 Friday Apr 2017

Posted by in Artificial Intelligence., Climate Change., HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Humanity., Life., Our Common Values., Technology, The Future, The Obvious., The world to day., Unanswered Questions., What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Leaders

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( A survival read of eight minutes)

 

These question have plagued mankind down the ages.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "images of earth from space"

While some may consider such a discussion a waste of time, more and more people are coming to the conclusion that preparations of some sort are warranted in our current troubled environment — on many fronts.

What exactly are the “existential risks” that threaten the future of our species;

How do we measure them; and what can we do to prevent them?

Or to put it another way: In a world of multiple fears, what precisely should we be most terrified of?

Any single event or combination of events could cause terrible and debilitating circumstances for a short or long period of time: but what is the one to most likely to wipe us out?

The Philosophical answer is:

For the most part that mankind itself is the by far the most threatening threat to our existence we creating two more in the last blink of evolution. A cursory glance around the world reveals that, given the enormous problems facing our planet, it would be surprising if climate change did not crack a list of the top 10 immediate concerns.

Perhaps threat is not climate change, nor pandemic, nor nuclear winter; it is the possibly imminent creation of a general machine intelligence greater than our own.

However the rise of the machines isn’t the biggest threat to humanity.

It’s climate change, extreme weather and other environmental factors.

To be sure, the machines, rise of illiberalism, income inequality and a raft of other problems all could disrupt the global order, but they will not destroy it.

Here is my list:

The single biggest threat facing humanity is Climate Change > in terms of water crises, fresh air, food shortages, constrained economic growth, weaker societal cohesion and increased security risks resulting in large-scale involuntary migration.

The impacts of climate change are becoming clearer with each passing day as we continue to pour carbon pollution into our atmosphere at an unprecedented pace.

What are we doing about it?

Little or nothing. We appear to be passing the problem on to Technology.

Next: We have Technology. Not in itself but the unregulated software called Algorithms

What are we doing about it?

Nothing. We are in a hype cycle with expectations far beyond the technical reality.

Happy to hand our future to the black box of machine learning systems. Plug and play while we allow algorithms exploit the world for profit creating technological black holes around the globe.

Sophisticated algorithms can complete tasks we once thought impossible. Whether they decide to pulp us into human meat paste, or simply make our work completely unnecessary we will have to wait and see. ( See previous post re: A new world Organisation to vet all Technology to ensure it abides by our core human values)

Next: The terrifying rise of multi-drug resistant bacteria, as well as the ever-present threat of deadly viruses going pandemic, such as influenza and MERS.

What are we doing about it. Creating genetically modified crops, fiddling with DNA. Antibiotics do not create resistance per se.The rate of development of new antimicrobial agents has failed to keep pace with the “ingenuity” of bacteria to mutate and become resistant to antibiotics. When we should be minimize antibiotic usage and sneezing into our elbows.

Next: Nuclear proliferation, terrorism, weapons of mass destruction.

What are we doing about it.  Not much. Nuclear warfare is not necessary to cause a breakdown of our society. Our society is so fragile, so dependent on the interworking of things to provide us with the goods and services that you don’t $1.25 r warfare to fragment us anymore than the Romans needed it to cause their eventual downfall. What is more likely is a coordinated cyber-attack. Money becomes worthless. We should ban all countries that sell arms from Trade deals.

Next:  Poverty. One of the $1.25 realizations you see firsthand as you travel extensively worldwide is the extreme wealth, extreme poverty, and extreme corruption that exists in all of its world flavors. About 1.3 billion people don’t have electricity never mind food.

What are we doing about it.

We turn a blind eye to High frequency trading, and Sovereign wealth funds that are blundering the earth resources.

We raise the poverty line from $1.25 to  $1.90. Just over 900 million people globally lived under this line in 2012 (based on the latest available data), and the project that in 2015, just over 700 million are living in extreme poverty. According to the most recent estimates, in 2013, 10.7 percent of the world’s population lived on less than US$1.90 a day, compared to 12.4 percent in 2012. That’s down from 35 percent in 1990. This means that, in 2013, 767 million people lived on less than $1.90 a day, down from 881 million in 2012 and 1.85 billion in 1990. Moreover, for those who have been able to move out of poverty, progress is often temporary: economic shocks, food insecurity and climate change threaten to rob them of their hard-won gains and force them back into poverty. It will be critical to find ways to tackle these issues as we make progress.

Next: Global financial panic. Derivative, debt crisis, economic collapse and/or bond implosion will cause  currencies to implode and governments to topple.

What are we doing about it. We are propping up Finical Institution with quantitative easing while subjecting the rest of us to Austerity.

Next:  Problems with the exploration, deliver

y, or production of oil, the lifeblood of modern economies is coming to an end.

What can we do about it.  Nothing, except to go back to bartering.

Next: Religion Beliefs.

What can we do about it. Adopted Dave Allen saying,  “goodnight, thank you and may your God go with you”

Next: Asteroid Impact or an Electromagnetic pulse event.

What can we do about it:  Get rid of all our nuclear weapons in an attempt to destroy or deflect the Asteroid.  Electromagnetic pulse event. Nothing.

Last: The Sun.

What can we do about it. Sweet Fanny Adam, other than have left earth as transhuman.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "images of earth from space"

 

With any of these scenarios listed above (and there is a host of others I have probably not even thought about), you could have localized, national, or global unrest and even war for an indefinite period of time depending on the scope and duration of the event(s).

The world in general seems afflicted on so many different fronts.

When you look at the list above, any rational person could easily see one or more of these scenarios occur within their lifetime. Aside from the geophysical things that seem to be going haywire, and could be explained simply as the planet’s cycles, there are plenty of man-made catastrophes that loom on the horizon…

Take your pick.

Never has the planet had as many people as it does now. With increased population numbers, there is increased pressure for resources, like water for example.  As a result we are beginning to see the rise of extreme political parties as a consequence of the total and utter desperation of the populace.

However the main event is staring us in the face, and the whole of the world has front-row seats. Climate Change. 

If things unravel at the core we can kiss our arse good-bye, Donal Trump nor religion will preserve life.

So I will sign off this post with this thought.

These events are never properly covered by the news media, Social media, (what a surprise!) my intent is to at least get you thinking about the most important things.

Individuals can still hope for the best (that things can and will eventually work out), but what good is your prosperity going to do if you don’t have anything to eat or a safe place to hang out for an extended period of time?

Risks appeared to be rising. After the shit hits the fan people will not behave normally.  There’s no place like home. Most risks are rising. It’s a riskier world right now.

No matter how you slice it, things worldwide are getting very strange very quickly.

Ayn Rand: “Man’s mind is his basic tool of survival.”

USE IT.

Otherwise, robots may end up owning the world after all.

Feel free to add to the list. All comments appreciated and needed. All like clicks chucked din the bin.

By the way this is what home looks like from 1.5 billion kilometers away complements of  Cassini.

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THE BEADY EYE SAYS: DEMOCRATIC EMPOWERMENT NO LONG REST WITH POLITICAL PARTIES.

26 Wednesday Apr 2017

Posted by in Artificial Intelligence., Big Data., Elections/ Voting, Google, HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Humanity., Modern Day Democracy., Modern day life., Our Common Values., Politics., Populism., Technology, The Future, The Internet., The Obvious., The world to day., Twitter, Unanswered Questions., What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Leaders, World Politics

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(A Ten minute read)

You might be asking yourself like many why it is that we are inflicted by the like of Donald Trump, Madame La Pen, Brexit, ect.

Any fool on the street can tell you that technology is changing at a whiplash-inducing pace. What’s much more difficult to predict is which technologies specifically are about to hit big.

To me it is obvious: Artificial Intelligent.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "PICTURES OF DEMOCRACY EYE"

Platforms that serve manipulative interests of political elites, in which leaders do most of the conversing and democratic discussion is reduced to campaigning for elections and the casting of votes.

The result of elections and referendums are becoming more individualistic than they are democratic with Democracy becoming, trivial, incoherent, or manipulative across all sorts of domestic debates, military interventions, consumer advertisements, and television specials.

Democracy use to stirred up by:

The public relations agencies, the direct-mail companies, and opinion-polling firms work in concert with the infrastructure of think tanks, tax-exempt foundations, and other centers.  With the press and television industry as the principle gatekeepers of political debate. Other channels of political information are almost nonexistent.

Today, tremendous changes in advanced computing technologies are giving rise TO A NEW DEMOCRATIC EMPOWERMENT, THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH VOTING.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "PICTURES OF DEMOCRACY"The smart phone rules as to which party is the best in more way than one.

On-line computer services and networks, which are oriented toward spontaneous communication among citizens is limiting their exposure only to the affairs that match their interests.  Populist appeal.

The application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology will and is expanding this type of public involvement with information-driven politics, the politics of knowledge, not necessarily the politics of winning elections.

But does the public really want a daily digest of political information?

IN WHICH IT HAS LITTLE OR NO SAY.

We are witnessing an ominous trend toward political dysfunction as the number who vote in national elections continues to slide below fifty percent.

One possible reason for this trend is that many people believe that political representatives have little to offer in terms of solving the immediate daily concerns of employment, health care, education, housing, transportation, drugs, crime, social decay, injustice, and so on.

Maybe, if the right tools were available, people would have a better chance to communicate with representatives, know and protect their own rights, engage in deliberation, test hypotheses, discover knowledge, discuss theory, and better understand world events

At the moment AI is all about analyzing the content of candidate appeals and making informed guesses about candidates.

Obviously, merit exists in the public becoming more politically astute and “awakening from the dormant state.” Success may depend partially on whether participation can be achieved in such a way as to impinge minimally upon the matters of private life.

The old politics often depicted as canned debates and public spectacle is becoming unacceptable to an intelligent populace.

New politics demands semantic understanding and identifying the chains of reasoning. These goals require building new tools and networks for the next generation of machine politics.

We are in the middle of a technological upheaval that will transform the way society is organized. We must make the right decisions now.

Every minute we produce hundreds of thousands of Google searches and Facebook posts. These contain information that reveals how we think and feel. Soon, the things around us, possibly even our clothing, also will be connected with the Internet. It is estimated that in 10 years’ time there will be 150 billion networked measuring sensors, 20 times more than people on Earth. Then, the amount of data will double every 12 hours.

Many companies are already trying to turn this Big Data into Big Money.

Soon we will not only have smart phones, but also smart homes, smart factories and smart cities.

Should we also expect these developments to result in smart nations and a smarter planet?  ALL EVIDENCE POINTS TO THE OPPOSITE.

Today 70% of all financial transactions are performed by algorithms.

This all has radical economic consequences: In the coming 10 to 20 years around half of today’s jobs will be threatened by algorithms. 40% of today’s top 500 companies will have vanished in a decade.

Society is at a crossroads, which promises great opportunities, but also considerable risks. HERE I A NOT TALKING ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE BUT OUR INABILITY TO EXPRESS OURSELVES AT THE BALLOT BOX.

If we take the wrong decisions it could threaten our greatest historical achievements.

Super-intelligence is a serious danger for humanity.

Search engines and recommendation platforms are beginning to offer us personalised suggestions for products and services.

But it won’t stop there.

Some software platforms are moving towards “persuasive computing.

These platforms will be able to steer us through entire courses of action, be it for the execution of complex work processes or to generate free content for Internet platforms, from which corporations earn billions.

The trend goes from programming computers to programming people.

These technologies are also becoming increasingly popular in the world of politics.

Under the label of “nudging,” and on massive scale, governments are trying to steer citizens towards healthier or more environmentally friendly behaviour by means of a “nudge”—a modern form of paternalism.

Singapore is seen as a perfect example of a data-controlled society.

It won’t be long before Every chinese citizen will receive a so-called ”Citizen Score”, which will determine under what conditions they may get loans, jobs, or travel visa to other countries.

This will be a sort of digital scepter that allows one to govern the masses efficiently, without having to involve citizens in democratic processes.

Would this overcome vested interests and optimize the course of the world?

If so, then citizens could be governed by a data-empowered “wise king”, who would be able to produce desired economic and social outcomes almost as if with a digital magic wand.

God forbid.

Lets hope we remain influenced by issues as much as by perceived. Résultat de recherche d'images pour "PICTURES OF DEMOCRACY EYE"

Democracy is not for Hire or Sale. In order for us to retain control of our lives, these networks should be controlled. I am talking about Google, Twitter, and Facebook.

All technology and associated algorithms should be given a World Health Certificate in as much that they are serving the common good and human values.( See previous Posts)

Creation of computer applications to enhance democratic discussion is now a pressing problem.

Echo’s ability to represent “aggregate behavior” might be useful.

All Common Sense comments appreciated. All like comments chucked in the Bin.

WE CAN NO LONGER OR AFFORD TO LEAVE COMMON SENSE LYING IN A DORMANT STATE.

Starry-eyed cyber optimism [which suggests] a new form of technological determinism according to which the Internet would be the hammer to nail all global problems, IS BULL SHIT.  SAY NO TO:Résultat de recherche d'images pour "PICTURES OF DEMOCRACY"

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE BEADY EYE ASKS: Before we welcome our AI overlords, Do you really want to give control over your life and your loved ones’ lives to a worm?

15 Saturday Apr 2017

Posted by in Artificial Intelligence., Big Data., HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Humanity., Innovation., Life., Our Common Values., Technology, The Future, The Obvious., The world to day., Unanswered Questions., What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage.

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( A ten minute read)

BEFORE WE: Hand over our lives and jobs to robots, we ought to pause and think about the kind of intelligences we are creating.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of AI"

Every day countless headlines emerge from myriad sources across the globe, both warning of dire consequences and promising utopian futures – all thanks to artificial intelligence.

We don’t really understand what interacting with AI will be like – or what it should be like.

How we ought to think about, approach and interact with artificial intelligence

How we can properly conceive of their limitations, even as we celebrate AI’s new possibilities.

Technologists often try to explain AI in terms of how it is built. Take, for instance, advancements made in deep learning. This is a technique that uses multi-layered networks to learn how to do a task. The networks need to process vast amounts of information. But because of the volume of the data they require, the complexity of the associations and algorithms in the networks, it is often unclear to humans how they learn what they do.

AI researchers are working on teaching computers to reason, perceive, plan, move and make associations. AI can see patterns in large data sets, predict the likelihood of an event occurring, plan a route, manage a person’s meeting schedule and even play war-game scenarios.

A benevolent super intelligence might analyze the human genetic code at great speed and unlock the secret to eternal youth. At the very least, it might know how to fix your back.

By the time a machine develops the ability to speak and think it will be too late.

When a computer became capable of independently devising ways to achieve goals, it would very likely be capable of introspection—and thus able to modify its software and make itself more intelligent.

In short order, such a computer would be able to design its own hardware.

Such machines would have the insight and patience (measured in picoseconds) to solve the outstanding problems of nanotechnology and spaceflight; they would improve the human condition and let us upload our consciousness into an immortal digital form.

All wonderful.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of AI"

BUT PRESENT DAY REALITY IS:

The company that controls A.I. could and will steer the tech industry for years to come and at the moment  60 percent of applications run on the platform software of four companies — Amazon, Google, IBM and Microsoft.

Because Google, Facebook, and other companies are actively looking to create an intelligent, “learning” machine, it just seems daft that we all turn a blind eye to aligning computers and AI with human needs and not profit.

How, then, do we program values into our (potential) super intelligences? What sort of mathematics can define them?

AI might show us the way to Mars, and since humans will never fully agree on anything, we’ll sometimes need it to decide for us—to make the best decisions for humanity as a whole.

This will be impossible if we don’t vet all Technology.

After all, if we develop an artificial intelligence that doesn’t share the best human values, it will mean we weren’t smart enough to control our own creations.

Our AI systems must do what we want them to do and if not,does that created them in the first place must be held responsible.

A platform, in technology, is essentially a piece of software that other companies build on and that consumers cannot do without. Become the platform and huge profits will follow. Microsoft dominated personal computers because its Windows software became the center of the consumer software world. Google has come to dominate the Internet through its ubiquitous search bar. It wants to capture all human knowledge and then to make us pay for it.

It’s early days, but the long-term goal is to have hundreds of millions of people useing platforms is already happening.

Microsoft offers 18 machine learning services, including face recognition, text analysis and product recommendations.

Google is opening its A.I. technology to outsiders, seeking to attract developers.

Facebook’s image-recognition software was now used to select what pictures or videos to show in a user’s news feed, based on a person’s friend network and interests.

Today, only about 1 percent of all software apps have A.I. features.

The next million+ years of human lives are all quietly looking at us, hoping as hard as they can hope that we don’t mess this up. We have a chance to be the humans that gave all future humans the gift of life, and maybe even the gift of painless, everlasting life. If we manage to get there, we’ll be impervious to extinction forever—we’ll have conquered mortality and conquered chance.

I want is for us to take our time and be incredibly cautious about AI.

Nothing in existence is as important as getting this right—no matter how long we need to spend in order to do so.

WE NEED TO ESTABLISH A INDEPENDENT NEW WORLD ORGANISATION: TO VET VERIFY AND APPROVE ALL TECHNOLOGY AGAINST WHAT MAKES US HUMAN.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of AI"

The first ASI we birth will also probably be the last.

All intelligent comments appreciated all AI like clicks chucked in the bin.

THE BEADY EYE SAYS MAYBE IT’S TIME TO SET NEW CRITERIA TO SELECT COUNTRIES LEADERS.

14 Friday Apr 2017

Posted by in Artificial Intelligence., Evolution, Humanity., Life., Modern Day Democracy., Modern day life., Politics., Sustaniability, Technology, The Future, The Obvious., The world to day., Unanswered Questions., What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Leaders, World Politics

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( Eight minute read)

There is no doubt that the work of modern-day leaders is complicated
around the world. Leaders will need to demonstrate a different set of behaviors IF WE ARE TO SAVE THIS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENT DRIVEN WORLD FROM GOOGLE, FACEBOOK, TWITTER, AND SOCIAL MEDIA.

It is  true that today’s leaders are already facing challenges and changes that are rapidly transforming where, how, and with whom they do business.

WHY?

Because of the shrinking talent pool.

Unfortunately with climate change the world now needs:

Agility, Authenticity, Talent, Sustainability, with better deliver value that embrace social responsibility, all combining to give a distinctive leadership framework of connectivity for the further.

 

Résultat de recherche d'images pour "Pictures of the current world leaders "

 

We all know that in the past the world has seen some good, some rotten to the core, however some of the current bunch take the biscuit.

So let’s have a look at a few of them.

Résultat de recherche d'images pour "Pictures of the current world leaders "

Donald Trump: Age 71. Elected by the power of money, twitter, and social media. Woman grouper. A real estate developer, reality television star. Turned his name into a brand. Three marriages. 5 children. Filed for bankruptcy several times. Represents 325 million people.

 

Résultat de recherche d'images pour "Pictures of the current world leaders"

Chinese President Xi Jinping: Installed.  Undergraduate degree in chemical engineering and a doctorate degree in law. Not much is known about Xi’s policies. Supports the large state-owned enterprises that have allowed high-ranking Communist Party officials to make millions of dollars. Represents 1 billion 342 million people.

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Vladimir Putin: Age 65. Married Divorced. Two children. KGB.Appointed acting president after Boris Yeltsin’s resignation. Named Time Person of the Year. Represents 143 million people.

 

 

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Narendra Modi. Age Teetotaler. Bachelor’s degree in Political Science.Unsuccessful arranged marriage. Childless. Poet. 26 million followers on Twitter. Represents 1 billion 342 million people.

 

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Kim Jong-il  World’s youngest head of state, believed to be turning 33 on 8 January. Married to Ri Sol-Ju. Move over Jesus. Based on Kim Jong-iI’s official biography, he was born on Korea’s most sacred mountain, Mt. Baekdu. Fashion icon. Invented The Hamburger. Never used a toilet.  Head of one of the largest armies in the world. Awarded an honorary doctorate in economics by a private Malaysian university called the HELP University.To break from its “imperialist past”, North Korea announced it would follow “Pyongyang time” in August 2015 – which is half an hour later than the previous time zone it shared with South Korea and Japan. In 2014, a UN report found: “The gravity, scale and nature of these [human rights] violations reveal a state that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world.” Represents 25 million people.

 

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Bashar al-Assad : Age 52. Married 3 children. Elected unopposed. The second son of former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad. Study medicine at the University of Damascus, graduating in 1988. Leader of the Ba’ath Party and commander-in-chief of the military. Using chemical weapons against civilians with assistance from Russian president Vladimir Putin. April 2017, following news of another round of chemical weapons unleashed on civilians, new U.S. president Donald Trump ordered airstrikes on a Syrian airbase. By February 2016, the conflict had led to an estimated 470,000 deaths in Syria. Controls 25 percent of Syrian territory, and he’ll hold on to it as if his life depends on it. Controls 25 percent of Syrian territory, and he’ll hold on to it as if his life depends on it. 4 million people have left the country and another 7.6 million Syrians have been forced from their homes but remain inside Syria. Turkey highlights the fundamental problem with the war in Syria: every actor has his own agenda. Turkey wants to fight Kurds, Iran wants to beat back Syrian rebels backed by Saudi Arabia, the US is focused on ISIS, and Putin gains political ground by “standing up to the West.” Alliances and rivalries overlap, with just one clear winner: Bashar al-Assad. He may be fighting ISIS for control of Syria, but it’s the rise of ISIS that’s keeping him in power. Represents himself.

Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of the iran leader"

Ayatollah Khamenei:  Age 78. Married  6 children. The supreme religious leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, now the religious and political leader of Iran for life.Well known for releasing a fatwa (a legal document issued by a Muslim cleric) calling for the death of Indian-British author Salman Rushdie for his book The Satanic Verses in 1989. No friend of Israel.  Recently stated “We however thank this new guy in the White House, since he largely did the job we had been trying to do in the past decades: to divulge the true face of the US. We had been working to show the world the depth of corruption in US government and ranks and files of the ruling elite; Trump did it in few days after coming to the White House.” Represents 81 million people.

 

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Angela Merkel: Chancellor of Germany, Age 53. Married divorced. No Children. University of Leipzig, B.S., 1978; German Academy of Sciences, Ph. D, 1986. Named Person of the Year by Time magazine 2015. Forbes named her as the “Most Powerful Woman in the World” in May, 2016. A former research scientist. The only leader in the history of G20, to have attended every meeting, since the first in 2008. The longest-serving incumbent head of government in the history of European Union, as of March 2014. Described as the “Liberal West’s Last Defender.” Honored with the Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the highest class of the Order. Awarded with the President’s Medal the highest civil medal given by the State of Israel, in the year 2014. Awarded the title Doctor Honoris Causa, by the Comenius University in Bratislava in 2014, the University of Bern in 2015 and the Ghent University and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in the year 2017. Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the United States.Had “private and informal talks,” with the 14th Dalai Lama in the Chancellery in Berlin in the year 2007, amid China’s protests. Following this meeting, China cancelled any kind of separate talks with all the officials from Germany. Opened the doors to Syrian Refugees. Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the United States. Represents 81 million people.

 

Image associéeFrancois Gerard Georges Hollande. Age 53. Married divorced. 4 children.  First Socialist president since Francois Mitterrand left office in 1995. Taught economics at the elite Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris, or Sciences Po.Receives 28.6% of the vote in France’s presidential election in April 2012. Won in runoff election for the presidency of France by 51.62% of the vote. Enjoys a wide range of holiday residences. Commander-in-Chief of the French Armed Forces and may order the use of nuclear weapons. At the forefront of securing a global climate deal and after the Paris attacks he persuaded Europe and the US to step up the fight against Isis. One of the very last European leaders to believe in Europe. Represents 65 million.

 

Résultat de recherche d'images pour "Pictures of the current world leaders "

Theresa May:  Age 60. Married. No children. Incumbent Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. A graduate in Geography from Oxford University. Suffering with Type 1 diabetes and Brexit. Worked at the Bank of England. Head of the European Affairs Unit of the Association for Payment Clearing Services. The second longest-serving home secretary in the past 100 years. Fashion-conscious. Instinctively secretive and very rigid. Holds herself at one remove.. Her wider political appeal is, as yet, untested. Mrs May will not have to face a general election until May 2020 unless she decides to seek a fresh mandate – something she has seemingly ruled out but the folly of brexit ill see her overseeing the brake up of the UK.One does not know unless one is educated about or knows the culture. Represents 65 million people. 

Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of dilma rousseff"Dilma Rousseff. (suspended) Age 70. Married,divorced twice. One child. Democratized Brazil’s electricity sector through the “Luz Para Todos” (Light for All) program, which made electricity widely available, even in rural areas. Her chairmanship of the state oil company Petrobras and misuse of election funds, all of which she denies, soon plunged her presidency into crisis. Impeach. Petrobras are accused of illegally “diverting” billions from the company’s accounts for their personal use or to pay off officials. Rousseff served as chair of Petrobras during many of the years when the alleged corruption took place. Did Represent 211 million people. 

Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of Turnbull"

Malcolm Turnbull. Age 63. Married Two children. The country’s fourth Prime Minister since 2013. One of Australia’s wealthiest and most prominent lawmakers. Prone to remind the people of his intelligence and their stupidity. A journalist, a barrister, a banker, a developer of shopping centres, a businessman, a politician, a Rhodes scholar, a student at Oxford. Represents 25 million people.

 

Résultat de recherche d'images pour "facts about Muhammadu Buhari."Muhammadu Buhari. Age 73. Married Divorced. 10 Children. A farmer, cattle rearer. Retired Major General in the Nigerian Army Latest in a family of 23 children. He contested four times (2003,2007,2011 and 2015) under the platform of CPC, ANPP and APC. The first man to overthrow (by the poll) a sitting Nigerian president. He was one of the two African “not in government ” individuals invited to President Barack Obama’s inauguration. Represent 175 million people.

 

Turkish President Erdogan on Syria ISIS and PKK _00013804.jpg

Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Age 53. Married. 4 children. Semi-professional football player. Accused of autocratic tendencies, corruption and extravagance, including the 1,000 room-plus palace he built on publicly protected land. Erdogan has also been heavily criticized for failing to protect women’s and human rights, curbing freedom of speech and attempting to curb Turkey’s secular identity. Mayor of Istanbul. Co-founds the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP). Elected president during the first-ever direct elections. Recent attempted coup by a faction of the military squashed, at least 161 people are killed and 1,140 wounded. Says that women and men are not equal “because their nature is different. Wants to transfer power from parliament to the presidency. Represents 81 million people. 

Prime-minister of Samoa Tuilaepa_Sailele_Malielegaoi

Susuga Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi  Age 63. Married has been in office for eighteen years and is the leader of the Human Rights Protection Party. Bachelor of Commerce and Master of Commerce degrees. He holds Chairman positions in many organisations and corporations in Samoa as well as in international organisations. Represents 195 thousand people. 

 

Considering there are 195 countries in the world, 6,909 distinct languages and  4,200 different religions, it’s no wonder that the world is in a mess. 

Some behaviors may be the norm in one country but different in another.

What is accepted in one culture may be unacceptable or taboo in another.

It is essential to be aware of the cultural nuances. One does not know unless one is educated about or knows the culture

All existing human speech is one in the essential characteristics which we have to consider, even as humanity is one in its distinction from the lower animals; the differences are in nonessential.

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

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THE BEADY EYE SAYS: WE NEED TO BE SUPER CAREFUL WITH AI.

08 Saturday Apr 2017

Posted by in Artificial Intelligence., HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Humanity., Modern day life., Technology, The Future, The Obvious., The world to day., Unanswered Questions., What Needs to change in the World

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( A seven to eight  minute read)Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of AI eyes"

There are a lot of things that can go and have gone wrong throughout history — earthquakes and wars and plagues and whatnot.

The present state of our planet does not have to be highlighted by me in this post but a major change is coming, over unknown timescales but across every segment of society, and the people playing a part in that transition have a huge responsibility and opportunity to shape it for the best.

What is triggering this change?   Artificial intelligence.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of artificial intelligence court"

Although most of us are unaware of it, AI systems are everywhere, from bank apps that let us deposit checks with a picture, to everyone’s favorite Snapchat filter, to our handheld mobile assistants.

While many countries’ laws are deficient in terms of artificial intelligence (“AI”) – which is defined as the simulation of human intelligence processes by computer systems and other machines,should we ignore the risks of any technology and not take precautions?

Until we have concrete evidence to confirm what an AI can someday achieve, it’s safer to assume that there are no upper limits – that is, for now, anything is possible and we need to plan accordingly.

How do we prepare for an AI more intelligent than we can imagine?

We can imagine all sorts of catastrophic risks from AI or robotics or genetic engineering. The task of developing this technology therefore calls for extraordinary care.

Since machine learning is at the core of pretty much every AI success story, it’s really important for us to be able to understand *what* it is that the machine learned.

I think it’s really important for us to develop techniques so machines can explain what they learned so humans can validate that understanding. …

Of course we are all so preoccupied with our own lives,  turning a blind eye to the world of technology. Given the expectation that advanced AI will far surpass any technology seen to date — and possibly surpass even human intelligence we do this at our peril.

Even if these things are still far off and we’re not clear if we’ll ever reach them, even with a small probability of a very high consequence we should be serious about these issues.

Staving off future catastrophes (assuming that is possible) would bring far more benefit to far greater numbers of people than solving present-day problems such as cancer or extreme poverty.

Regulation and control instruments need to be thought of and established beforehand, not subsequent to the invention a powerful AGI.

There is no governing world body with the goal of keeping AI’s impact on society beneficial, to vet and hold those how create software, responsible.

Human history is rife with learning from mistakes, but in the case of the catastrophic and existential risks that AI could present, we can’t allow for error – but how can we plan for problems we don’t know how to anticipate? AI safety research is critical to identifying unknown unknowns, but is there more the AI community or the rest of society can do to help mitigate potential risks?

When AI becomes very general and very powerful, aligning it with human interests will be challenging. If we fail, AI could plausibly become an existential risk for humanity.

Automation threatens millions of jobs and this is only the beginning. It’s important to remember that AI is a tool and, as such, not inherently good or bad. As with any other technology or tool, there could be unintended consequences.

If I were ranking the existential threats facing us, than runaway ‘superintelligence’ would not even be in the top 10. It is a second half of the 21st century problem with its seeds being sown now.

We don’t know what the future of artificial intelligence will look like. However if we allow it to exploit us and the planet for Greed and profit we are the same as Og standing in front of his cave.

Almost every sector of society is feeling the headwinds of the digital revolution and it is hard to find sectors where robots or technology cannot take humans’ jobs.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of AI eyes"

The immaturity of our conduct is mind-boggling. AI is not just a cool gadget or a nifty little thing called a smart phone, an I Pad, Google, Facebook, Twitter, or the Internet of Every think run by system’s with no autonomy.

The mismatch between the power of our playthings and the benefits they may well impart now and in the future should not be up for negotiation.  As long as we manage to keep the technology beneficial to all and not to itself, learning human values and doing things humans would consider good upon sufficient reflection – 

We might avoid a world not worth living in. It’s not profitable to discuss the might have been.

Now is the time to make all technology responsible to our core values.

The extraordinary promise of machine intelligence will be worthless if we do not understand what it learned.

The real threat with advances in AI will stem from our failure to create a policy framework for emerging technology.

AI is not simply an extension of our culture and values. “The problems and solutions are us. AI enhances human power — it’s just a way of making us smarter, of letting us know more things sooner.”

AGI system that are not task-directed, without a defined goal are a nightmare scenario.

One can imagine [AI] outsmarting financial markets, out-inventing human researchers, out-manipulating human leaders, and developing weapons we cannot even understand, that chose their own targets and cannot be recalled.

It is unlikely that we will enter a dystopian future where AI is held responsible for its own actions > given personhood and hauled into court.

Oversight is called for because, over the coming decades, AI equipped (‘smart’) machines will increasingly acquire two unique attributes: some degree of autonomous decision-making and the ability to learn from experience. As a result, over time, smart machines could stray from their programmers’ instruction further than happens at present.

AI use will need some kind of oversight but hardly a regulatory regime.

Why?

Because AI by design is artificial, and thus ideas such as liability or a jury of peers appears meaningless.

It will be impossible to control.

Because with reinforcement learning AI integrated with more hardware and software solutions and there is no legal system that can treat reinforcement learning?  Whether and when a machine can have intent is more a metaphysical question than a legal or scientific one, and it is difficult to define “goal” in a manner that avoids requirements pertaining to intent and self-awareness without creating an over-inclusive definition.

The world will need to adopt a standard for AI where the manufacturers and developers agree to abide by general ethical guidelines, such as through a technical standard mandated by treaty or international regulation. And this standard will be applied only when it is foreseeable that the algorithms and data can cause harm.

Meanwhile the complexity behind the creation of the AI, when paired with the automation and machine learning of the system, could make it difficult to determine who is at fault if something catastrophic goes wrong.

However if we create a world organization that bans the production of uncertified AI systems, it will provide a strong incentive for AI developers to incorporate safety features and internalize the external costs that AI systems generate

For such an Organisation to actually have any power, we will most likely need some sort of government interference

It is vital that careful scrutiny of the ethical, legal and societal dimensions of artificially intelligent systems begins now.”Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of artificial intelligence court"Our smartphones are increasingly giving us advice and directions based on their best Internet searches.

Regardless, we are entering an era where we will rely upon autonomous and learning machines to perform an ever-increasing variety of tasks. At some point, the legal system will have to decide what to do when those machines cause harm and whether direct regulation would be a desirable way to reduce such harm.

It will be very interesting to see the position being taken by the insurance industry in relation to AI and robotics as both the technology and the law develops.

(Once the parties bearing the ultimate responsibility have been identified, their liability should be proportional to the actual level of instructions given to the robot and of its degree of autonomy.)

Increasingly capable and ubiquitous AI systems will have a huge effect on society over the coming decades.

Deal more comprehensively with AI cannot be let to itself, to the free marketplace, to anyone set of values, to anyone country, to anyone of the Tech monopolies Company, to anyone obsolete world organisation, to anyone algorithms, to anyone post.

There being no consensus, we should avoid strong assumptions regarding upper limits on future AI capabilities.

I for one have no ambition to live in a world run by GOOGLE.

All comments and suggestions welcome. All like clicks chucked in the Bin.

Unfortunately like most problems in the world, GREED’ drives just about everything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE BEADY ASKS: WHY IS OUR WORLD SO COCKED UP.

28 Tuesday Mar 2017

Posted by in Modern day life., Our Common Values., Populism., Sustaniability, Technology, The Future, The Obvious., The world to day., Unanswered Questions., United Nations, What needs to change in European Union., What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Leaders, World Organisations.

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( A five-minute follow on read:  Broadening the Subject of Brexit to a Global view)

Because we never see or experience time and space; they are like glasses through which we view the world. Each day, we hear about countless instances of greed, hatred, violence, and destruction, and all of the pain, suffering, and sorrow that ensues.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of a global eye"

About 100 years ago, the world sleepwalked into World War 1, which lead to world War 11.

Today the world sleepwalking  into the next global disaster.

WE ARE INCAPABLE OF ACTING TOGETHER FOR THE COMMON GOOD.

BRIXIT BEING THE MOST RECENT EXAMPLE.

Take your choice CLIMATE CHANGE or UN-REGULATED ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.

Technology increasingly prevents us from seeing ourselves in others – we increasingly see others as data, which tell us all about their employment outcomes or what degrees they have, but which keeps their dignity out of plain sight.

How is it that technology has and still is superseding human intelligence, when it’s the humans that are discovering new technologies?

The question is how to change human being, since we are the root cause of everything.

The earth is on the brink of environmental disaster because human beings (at least those in power during the modern age) have drawn sharp distinctions between the human and non-human world.

The world is and has always been divided into two opposing camps: female/male; non-white/white; haves/have-nots; young/old; conflict theorists/functionalists; developed nations/less developed nations; oppressed/oppressors; industrialized/non-industrialized; Western/non-Western, etc.

They all stem from a mindset that envisions a world of you versus me, us versus them, self versus other.

We can look at almost any social problem—racism, sexism, poverty, homophobia, ableism, bullying, terrorism, domestic violence, human trafficking, slavery, religious fundamentalism, immigration —and at the core, is a dualistic orientation.

A dualistic orientation is one that focuses on our differences instead of our similarities, promotes arbitrary divisions at the expense of social cohesion, neglects our interdependence by nurturing our sense of independence, and fashions a deeply polarized world where if you are not with us (or like us) then you are against us (and therefore, we are against you).

The world is certainly a mess of socially created divisions. And while these differences seem real, and have very real effects, we must not forget that they are indeed social creations.

When we speak about problems between women and men, people of color and whites, Christians and Muslims, or any of the other numerous dualisms that we regularly invoke, we are implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) suggesting that these two groups are essentially and inherently distinct, that at the core of these two groups is some fundamental difference.

Although the ubiquity of these problems makes them seem so normal and ordinary that we may not even question.

We need to question and challenge the way we unreflectively describe and divide the world into dichotomous and opposing camps.

In both our words and our actions we need to construct real alternatives to these arbitrary constructions, emphasize our similarities instead of our differences, build bridges instead of borders, and recognize that interdependence sustains us while independence tears us apart.

It may seem fruitless to try to identify a single contributing factor to all of society’s collective dilemmas. Ultimately, the challenge is to see others as us.

We first need to recognize ourselves in others before we can treat them like we would want to be treated.

Treating everyone equal, but in a real scenario, this is not possible.

Leave apart treating humans equal, we do not even spare the nature that lets us live or wildlife that maintains the ecological balance.

We destroy them all if it is serving our purpose.

We need to end the era of easy money. We need to stop subsidizing financial markets. We need to let our economy reorient itself from its short-term and transactional focus back to one based on long-term investment and long-term relationships.

We must encourage not discourage immigration. Immigration is morally correct, is good foreign policy and is economically beneficial. Immigrants must be viewed as assets, which they are, not liabilities.

Populists continue to come to power but it has no long term objectives.

The rich stay rich, the powerful stay powerful and the poor stay poor. Trade suffers, immigrants are shunned. Economic growth is weak. Capitalism continues to be viewed as the problem, big government as the solution. Maybe another financial crises that we can inflate our way out of. Maybe another financial crises that we can’t.

Sooner or later the music stops. It’s time for us to be better.

We are nowhere near as free as everyone thinks, and that makes my skin crawl.

All in all, of course there is a lot of good in this world, but even with all that good, the bad shines, so bright and with that brightness it sometimes gets hard to see the good.

Why settle other planets when ours is in danger of an impending doom?

It’s easy to assume that we’ll charge into our new home disregarding the existing ecosystem or any potential inhabitants. We’ll change shit around so it works for us and in doing so we’ll make the same mistakes we’ve made for centuries on Earth.

What the hell is going on in the world?

IT’S TIME WE PUT ON Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of a global eye"

IT’S TIME TO REVANT THE UNITED NATIONS. TO ESTABLISH A NEW WORLD ORGANISATION TO VET ALL TECHNOLOGY, ARTIFICIAL NOR NOT TO ENSURE IT COMPLIES WITH CORE HUMAN VALUES AND NOT PROFIT.

IT’S TIME TO GET OFF YOUR SMART PHONES AND PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR REAL WORLD.

All comments appreciated. All like clicks chucked in the bin.