We have been on earth 300,000 years or maybe even longer.
WHAT HAS BEEN ACHIEVED IN THAT TIME- OTHER THAN INVENTING NEW WAY OF KILLING EACH OTHER.
I suppose the answer is we still exist.
Anyway, there is now compelling evidence THAT WE ARE ON THE THRESHOLD OF OUR GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT TO DATE.
Humanity’s impact on the Earth’s atmosphere, oceans and wildlife are pushing the world into a new geological epoch.
Humans have introduced entirely novel changes, geologically speaking, such as the roughly 300m metric tonnes of plastic produced annually.
Wildlife, meanwhile, is being pushed into an ever smaller area of the Earth, with just 25% of ice-free land considered wild now compared to 50% three centuries ago.
As a result, rates of extinction of species are far above long-term averages.
We [the public] are well aware of the climate discussions that are going on.
But there is more than one aspect of the changes happening to the entire planet.
The Earth is now on course for a sixth mass extinction which would see 75% of species extinct in the next few centuries if current trends continue.
Increased the concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere by about 120 parts per million since the industrial revolution because of fossil fuel-burning, leaving concentrations today at around 400ppm and rising
Nuclear weapon tests in the 1950s and 60s left traces of an isotope common in nature, 14C, and a naturally rare isotope, 293Pu, through the Earth’s mid-latitudes.
We have put so much plastic in our waterways and oceans that microplastic particles are now virtually ubiquitous, and plastics will likely leave identifiable fossil records for future generations to discover.
We have doubled the nitrogen and phosphorous in our soils in the past century with our fertiliser use. According to some research, we’ve had the largest impact on the nitrogen cycle in 2.5bn years.
We have left a permanent marker in sediment and glacial ice with airborne particulates such as black carbon from fossil fuel-burning.
We will reach the hard reality whereby the planet we call home cannot keep us.
Even if like in the past we are able to get ourselves of this quite uncomfortable position with the developing technology we are going to see our civilization strained.
We are already using Earths resources that cannot and will not be replenished.
Granted we have come a long way from our biggins but with the human population set to continue to grow exponentially, there is no sense whether your black, white, rich, poor, Trump or Putin, Muslim or Christian, in the EU or out not cooperating together to share what we all need.
IF WE CANNOT ADDRESS THE OBVIOUS WITHOUT TURNING THEM INTO COMMODITIES TO BE SOLD ON THE STOCK EXCHANGE FOR PROFIT WE CAN REST ASSURED WHEN YOU ARE DEPARTED AND GONE THAT YOU WILL BE THE LUCKY ONE.
All the rhetoric without funds without the distribution of wealth and technology will achieve nothing.
THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO ACHIEVE ANYTHING – TAP INTO GREED.
(See: Previous posts re A World Aid commission)
All human comments appreciated. All like clicks chucked in the bin.
I have posted many articles concerning Algorithms that are plundering our lives and the world for profit.
Although governments and world organisations are only just waking up to the power of these algorithms giving the changes we are witnessing to society there are little, or no conscientious efforts as to how to introduce regulations to limit the damage they are doing.
With every click, power is shifting to the Google’s, the Microsofts, the Apple, the Amazon, the eBay’s, the Netflix’s, to machine learning recommendations, to Social Media rhetoric, to right-wing politics disguised as populism nationalism.
ALL CREATING A PLANET IN CRISES.
So In this post, I am hoping to create an online pressure group to lobby the relevant powers to effect change.
Life is not only trade, consumption and markets.
THE SUGGESTED NAME FOR THE GROUP IS # WHAT IF.COM
SO IF THERE IS ANYONE READING THIS THAT KNOWS HOW TO GO ABOUT SETTING UP SUCH A WEBSITE I AM ALL EARS.
WHY SET UP SUCH A GROUP.
BECAUSE:
Markets are not faceless forces.
All markets have some sort of morality.
Buyers and sellers need to consider the consequences which their actions and decisions may have on the environment and on society itself.
Today a simple one-dollar-one-vote principle dominates the world economy.
International organizations ought to impose sanctions upon countries which condone immoral practices, such as the use of child labour, environmental destruction, the selling of arms or the persecution of trade unionists.
The detrimental effects of international money markets and the crises caused by speculation can be alleviated by international legislation such as levying taxes on international currency exchange.
Free markets do not guarantee adequate conditions of life to all people. Therefore we need states and organisations that protect the weak and defends social justice.
The eradication of poverty presupposes equalization of income. This means, for example, that the strong and well to do must assume a proportionally greater burden of taxes than the weak and the poor.
We need services which citizens themselves initiate and generate, and the new potential, which they can contribute to the life of our congregations and local communities.
The ultimate responsibility for ensuring that local communities have the resources to guarantee basic security for all their members use to rests with the national governments.
Basic security must, in the future, also include healthcare and adequate, living standards, so that all people are reasonably covered regardless of their wealth and position in society.
All contributions and comments appreciated. All like clicks chucked in the bin.
If you look at the news, it looks like the entire world will be run by artificial intelligence (AI) in just a decade or two.
Humans need increasingly smarter, machine-assisted ways to navigate the ever-growing mountain of scientific knowledge and to help researchers keep pace and come up with new and better theories and ideas.
However when it comes to A.I. (not to mention blockchain or genetic- engineering) most of us including A.I. itself still have no clue what the repercussions or benefits will be in the future.
In recent years more has been written about artificial intelligence in technology and business publications than ever before: the current wave of artificial intelligence innovations has caught the attention of virtually everyone, not in the least because of artificial intelligence fears.
Knowing the power of sudden shifts in human behaviour, essentially the main cause of what we call digital disruption and the digital transformations that occur as a consequence, people’s trust, values, beliefs and most of all actions are of extreme importance.
None of us is exempt from the impact.
There is one thing for certain we are all noticing how A.I. is changing our lives.With smartphones, I pad’s humans are far more willing than most people realize to form a relationship with AI software. It is going to impact every single industry and everything that we do.
On a bigger level, areas like sustainability, climate change, environmental issues — they are becoming more at the forefront of everybody’s minds as we move more into the 21st century and think about the huge challenges we need to tackle like population increases, urbanization, and energy, climate change, the sustainability of our ecosystems. A. I. will bring along new challenges.
If not managed now it is going to increasing inequality and possibly unemployment as routine.
AI feeds on raw data and we are the willing participants. Even today’s relatively simple programs can exert a significant influence on people—for good or ill.
Data mining companies are wading through the emotional sludge of social media for profit.
As exciting as all this technology might be many questions remains.
Will we all end up in a world of total surveillance. The AI’s Pandora Box.
How is A.I. going to change our laws, our ethics?
Will A.I. improving our lives or not?
Whatever happens, these changes are currently being decided in our absence.
AS SPECIES WE HAVE POSITIONED OURSELVES OUTSIDE THE ENVIRONMENT POLLUTING THE ATMOSPHERE, OUR SEAS, OUR AIR, OUR FRESH WATER, AND WE ARE NOW IN THE PROCESS OF DOING EXACTLY THE SAME WITH A.I.
LOSSING CONTROL OF OUR OWN EVOLUTION.
Unfortunately, the commercial forces driving technology development are not always benevolent. The giant companies at the forefront of AI—across social media, search, and e-commerce—drive the value of their shares by increasing traffic, consumption, and addiction to their technology.
Technology carries the philosophies of those that create it and the nature of capital markets may be pushing us toward AI hell-bent on influencing our behaviour toward these goals. Our tendency to become emotionally attached to chatbots will and could be exploited by companies seeking a profit.
We have seen how technology like social media can be powerful in changing human beliefs and behaviour. By focusing on building a bigger advertising business—entangling politics, trivia, and half-truths—you can bring about massive changes in society.
The big global player Google, Apple, Microsoft etc philosophy is based on profit.
They have systems specifically designed to form relationships with a human and will have much more power than governments, and our out of date world organisations.
AI will influence how we think, and how we treat others.
If you can get users addicted to spending 30 hours a week with a “perfect” AI companion that doesn’t resist abuse, rather than a real, complicated human, A.I. will win.
With face recognition, iris id, blanket video surveillance, GPS tagging, every move will be watched and ultimately our lives.
In a world of surveillance, if there are no impediments applied by technologists, customers, investors or regulators rest assured we can kiss our butts goodbye. So we must begin to build rules into our systems, to make sure user behaviour moved in a positive direction.
We need to deliberately and consciously build AI that will improve the human condition—not just pursue the immediate financial gain of gazillions of addicted users. We need to consciously build systems that work for the benefit of humans and society.
In the future, having these really intelligent ways of surfacing information are going to move from ‘nice-to-haves’ to essentials. We cannot have addiction, clicks, and consumption as their primary goal.
AI is growing up and will be shaping the nature of humanity.
AI needs a mother.
Ultimately, training an AI platform — it is very much like moulding a child.
If you treat it the right way and teach it the right things, train it to know what’s right and wrong, it will inherently grow up to become a productive member of society that cares about people and the future. Just like any one of us.
We must think about AI as a tool for the augmentation of human thought and creation and make every effort not to turn the reigns of creativity or ethics over to the machines.
Why?
Because we humans seem to want to maintain the illusion that the AI truly cares about us.
Finding a way to address these issues on behalf of humanity will soon be one of the defining challenges for the coming decades.
Why?
Because trust barriers are decreasing, and as a result, dependence on AI-powered algorithms and machines is increasing.
There are no algorithms that try and explain what the A.I. ‘Thought’.
Why? Because this would defeat the power of it.
When you live in a world where your computer is not just bound to a specific device but can be anywhere you want to put it, it means computers will have to react to humans much more intelligently than they do now.
As humans we value our being human. And one of the ‘holy grails’, as it has been cherished for ages, is our “intelligence”.
So, the question remains who defines these human values and how you prove alignment with such a human and personal/cultural given.
It might be that human values will forever remain somewhat mysterious. But to the extent that our values are revealed in our behaviour, you would hope to be able to prove that the machine will be able to “get” most of it.
We emphasize it as a way to distinguish ourselves from other beings. We fear superintelligence as we see it as a risk to what we believe sets us apart. We fear it because we don’t know what it will or might be and become.
At the same time, however, while we try to protect what many believe defines our being human for the future, we risk not understanding the benefits and challenges of what is today the fourth industrial revolution.
If we look at the bigger picture of AI for good, then it connects us with more purpose and meaning.
Whether it concerns the use of artificial intelligence, the use of personal data or anything else for that matter A.I. most serve us all equally. Because in today’s world, it’s not a man vs. machine, it’s a man with a machine vs. man without.
THERE IS NO POINT TO TECHNOLOGIES THAT ENRICH THE FEW.
From current A.I. debates, it’s clear that people are acting today, not in the future, debating about values and risks. Let these debates and the rich diversity of human values remain human.
Unfortunately, human values are fickle at the best of times, and usually only become a value after the event.
It appears that the only thing we have in common in the world is our brains, lose them to A.I. and if this happens we might as well go back to the Stone Age.
One final point:
It seems that the developed world politics is shifting to identity politics how comical this is when one considers that we are selling not just our ID to A.I. but the identity of future generations.
All human comments appreciated. All like clicks chucked in the bin.
Do you take pride in being a member of the most intelligent, crafty and resilient species dating back 300,000 or maybe even longer on the planet that crawled out of the water to destroy the earth?
Yes!
EVEN IF HUMANS CURBED DESTRUCTIVE ACTIONS WITHIN THE NEXT FIFTY YEARS, IT WOULD TAKE BETWEEN FIVE TO SEVEN MILLION YEARS FOR MAMMAL BIODIVERSITY TO RECOVER.
We have managed to erase a staggering 2.5 billion years of evolutionary development by driving more than 300 mammal species into extinction by the 16th century. Since then the pace of destruction has speeded up and it is projected that if we don’t do something about it we will lose another 1.8 billion years within the next five decades.
There are plenty of other things going on in the world that make me weep for humanity, Greedy, short-sighted parasitic consumers of the planet.
But when we actually look there is a lot of good in this world can we be proud of?
(Pride has perplexed philosophers and theologians for centuries, and it is an especially paradoxical emotion in most culture.)
THE LIST IS VAST FROM FIRE, THE WHEEL, NUCLEAR POWER TO WALKING ON THE MOON not to mention our Artistic and Scientific Achievements.
However, we are unable to shake off tribalism even though we have mapped the complete genome, of the human, which could have us on the cusp of creating genetic discrimination through eugenics.
CRISPR has the distinct ability to alter the course of human evolution—to improve society for the greater good or, in the wrong hands, to diminish the human experience.
On the other hand, disaster looms as humans exceed the earth’s natural carrying capacity. The conditions that sustain humanity are not natural and never have been. Since prehistory, human populations have used technologies and engineered ecosystems to sustain populations well beyond the capabilities of unaltered “natural” ecosystems.
Nature doesn’t need people. People need nature.
Nature will go on, no matter what. It will evolve.
The question is, will it be with us or without us?
Our current technological world is reducing awareness and diminishing our ability to find meaning in the life around us. We need to spend more time unplugged and find ways to let nature balance our lives. The natural world’s benefits to our condition and health will be irrelevant if we continue to destroy the nature around us. That destruction is assured without a human reconnection to nature.
In a world where technologies will soon think, act, and behave
like humans, what can humans learn from machines?
If we build personalized digital coaching solution, a «Habit Installing» Platform, that facilitates the generation of new habits who knows what will be possible with the technologies of the future?
However, we still have a long way to go to understand there are aspects of how our planet evolves that are totally out of our control.
Artificial Intelligence is more than reality. The so-called “Technological Singularity” ― the moment when machines will be equal to and then surpass human brainpower ― is getting closer.
In the meantime, we continue to destroy, hurt, and belittle people for reasons that are mind-boggling.
On the other hand, we also have people with amazing abilities and intelligence using their gifts to better our world rather than try to make a quick buck.
Perhaps Ai greatest achievement will be to get rid of religion.
If there was no religion, then yes, I would be proud.
The terrible crimes which humans have committed on each other, have been driven and are being driven by God is on our side.
Do we have a lot we still need to work on? Yes, definitely. But we can stop giving ourselves such a hard time because every day, we’re trying to become better than we were yesterday.
We are beginning to clear up all the waste we carelessly have thrown away and finds its way into the ocean.
Deforestation is decreasing on a global scale.
Sexual discrimination is been removed.
However, Social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are saturated with posts of political opinions and are matched with comments that express not only disagreement but too often, words of hatred. Many who cannot understand others’ political beliefs rarely even respect them.
It doesn’t matter if you’re an American, a Canadian, or a Papua New Guinean. You don’t even have to be particularly fond of the ocean or have a soft spot for elephants to know that murdering a tiger for ts penis so men can have an imaginary bigger mental sexual drive is personified madness.
Cutting shark fins off to make soup is a matter of taste.
We must align our vision and strategy with our culture, thereby impacting people’s mindset and behaviours.
This is simply about all of us coming together to do what needs to be done.
Because if we don’t, nature will continue to evolve. Without us.
With our thoughts and words, with our ideas and values, with our beliefs and emotions, we with the help of social media must design, and implement a greenfield world that shapes the future of change management through digitalization.
We’re about to send people to another planet! We might not be so bad after all.
Nearly 1/2 of the world’s population — more than 3 billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day. More than 1.3 billion live in extreme poverty — less than $1.25 a day. 1 billion children worldwide are living in poverty. According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty.
Half of the world’s prison population of about nine million is held in the US, China or Russia. Prison rates in the US are the world’s highest, at 724 people per 100,000. In Russia, the rate is 581. At 145 per 100,000, the imprisonment rate of England and Wales is at about the midpoint worldwide.
All human comments appreciated. All like clicks chucked in the bin.
It can be nearly impossible to credibly predict all the positive possibilities and negative implications for how we live, work, govern, and organize arising from the deployment of AI.
The fact that we are deeply uncertain about how technologies will evolve in the years and decades ahead makes human rights due diligence of AI very challenging.
The fact that the rapid development of AI raises challenges for securing access to remedy, which can be especially challenging when humans often can’t cognitively understand how a decision is made by AI systems:
The fact that Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is increasingly being used by businesses, governments, and other institutions to augment many fields of human endeavor.
The fact that Methodologies for implementing respect for human rights may need to integrate strategic tools such as strategic foresight, futures thinking, and scenario planning.
The fact that the global “platformization” of content (i.e., the rise of Video on Demand and online streaming platforms) shows us that guarantees of people’s access to the culture of their selection may now become beholden to digital intermediaries.
Proponents believe that the further development of AI creates new opportunities in health, education, and transportation, will generate wealth and strengthen economies and can be used to solve pressing social issues. However, the rapid growth of AI raises important questions about whether our current policies, legal systems, business due diligence practices, and methods to protect rights are fit for purpose.
The significant expansion of data collected and analyzed may also result in increasing the power of companies with ownership over this data and threaten our right to privacy.
HERE ARE A FEW OF PROBLEMS THAT ARE NOT DISCUSSED.
As the digital paradigm evolves, the pathway for human rights is likely to become more complicated, making appropriate regulation more important than ever. The realization of ESCR and the right to development centers on data democracies that are accountable.
Global policy discourses and frameworks around data have skewed the digital innovation tide in favor of developed countries… the global “platformization” of content… shows us that guarantees of people’s access to the culture of their selection may now become beholden to digital intermediaries.
Data and technological arrangements in the global South and North worryingly point to a wholesale private capture and consolidation of critical data regimes in the developing world: trade, agriculture, health, and education.
Not only does this leave citizens in developing countries vulnerable to acute privacy violations, but it also bears decisively on their economic, social and cultural rights (ESCRs). For example, in India, the acquisition of homegrown successes, such as Wal-Mart’s purchase of the domestic e-commerce unicorn, Flipkart, poses very serious outcomes for the livelihoods of small producers and traders.
Algorithm-based decision-making by companies could also perpetuate human bias and result in discriminatory outcomes, as they already have in some cases.
An algorithm is meant to complement and not necessarily displace human discernment, it is not hard to imagine a future where humanitarian assistance to refugees becomes predicated on their (technology proven) ability to viably assimilate and contribute to their host economies.
Could the trade-off for a smoother resettlement process be the exclusion of those that the algorithm will one day write off as “inadmissible” and “unsolvable”?
Technology-based decision-making also raises important questions on how the right to development will be realized.
Artificial intelligence is undermining society by promising unimaginable benefits without any intervention from governments or other world organizations.
As always we humans react to crises when it’s too late.
Governments must create policies for effective data sharing between governments and the private sector for sectors that are of critical social importance.
More importantly, governments must create a data commons with independent oversight.
For example:
The municipality of Curitiba in Brazil, for instance, has taken the lead in passing local legislation that mandates anonymized data sharing between the local government and the ride aggregator Uber. The intention is to tap into Uber’s large and rich data sets towards better city planning and traffic management outcomes.
Governments must invest in the idea of “data as a public good” so it can work to enhance human rights.
Although nascent, experiments with models for managing big data repositories are increasing. Such repositories can encourage domestically led innovation, with local start-ups and public agencies taking the lead in developing appropriate AI-based solutions for social problems.
These are pressing policy challenges, and such prediction models need to be closely and continuously tracked for possible social distortions and subject to institutional audit. The biases in AI is often the bias of humans. People will not rely on technology they do not trust.
Society needs to come together to consider these questions, explore solutions, and deploy AI that puts people first, protects human rights, and deserves the public’s trust.
Breakthroughs in technology—including artificial intelligence—can help fulfill the right to development, but digital technologies are not magic bullets; there is a strong role for governance.
The security of digital bits cannot be left to the cloud nor the internet of things, promoted by Amazon, Facebook, and Google with home hubs that can be hacked.
Civil society groups, governments, and others are rightly asking questions regarding the risks to human rights. In this age of global corporate presence and influence, we need to ensure that ordinary people and communities are able to stand up for their rights.
But the danger with artificial intelligence is greater than just our rights.
Everything that makes who we are comes from our brains. Without brain power, we would not have gone from flint arrowheads to the space station.
DESTROY THE BRAIN WITH AI AND WE DESTROY CREATIVITY.
All human comments appreciated. All like clicks chucked in the bin.
Every moment of our lives is now being governed more and more by AI.
We live in a sprawling technological of surveillance networks that are monitoring every move to allow the trustworthy deemed by algorithms to roam on leads of recommendations and face recognition. HUMANITY AS WE KNOW MELTING INTO MACHINES.
YOU COULD SAY THAT BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION IS COMING TO AN END WITH HUMANITY ITSELF IS BECOMING MEANINGLESS.
Rest assured we’re going to get a collective case of AI implementation indigestion due to algorithms sprawl.
There is no reason for AI to be interested in the things that we humans are interested in.
So will the future be fantastic? or will we eventually have machines that are so intelligent they will have to turn themselves off for humanity to survive?
Let me ask you this:
Are we all becoming so blind, deaf, and dumb, that we are promoting algorithms to governance? Digital Dictatorship.
If AI develops into the realms of emotions will we consider it cruel to turn it off?
They may or may not talk to us. Who knows what comes after Smartphones.
HOWEVER, WE NEED TO REALIZE NOW NOT IN THE FUTURE THAT THIS IS THE TIME THAT WE NEED WORLD REGULATIONS GOVERNING PROFIT SEEKING ALGORITHMS.
AI MIGHT WELL BE LOWERING THE COST OF PREDICTIONS BUT AT THE MOMENT IT IS DRIVEN BY FOLLOW THE MONEY RATHER THEN FIGURING OUT WHERE THE TRUTH LIES.
As we promote the use of data technology we should ensure that there is a common taxonomy so even if the data itself remains federated, it is capable of being accessed interoperably.
If we continue to design a technological world of haves and have not the headaches are only just about to begin.
THERE IS A EXPLORATION BIAS INHERENT IN THE TRAINING DATA THAT MACHINE-LEARNING ALGORITHMS USE.
New regulations can promote shared mobility in the world of the merging of the real and virtual worlds. Furthermore, it is now that we have the opportunity to engineer around the mistake that has plagued humanity since the dawn of capitalism – INEQUALITY.
The big questions are:
HOW DO WE MANAGE TECHNOLOGY THAT WE LIKELY DON’T UNDERSTAND?
IS IT REAL OR FABRICATED?
In the theory of evolution and natural selection perhaps George Price equation IS NOW TURNING INTO AN ALGORITHM.
( As I understand it deals with any selection process. It says nothing in particular about biological or genetic evolution and is not tied to any particular biological scenario. Therefore it has immense power but it is also quite possible to apply it incorrectly to the real world.)
THE RULES OF PROBABILITY THEORY AND STATISTICS OR ANY OTHER MATHEMATICAL MANIPULATION DESCRIBE THE ACTUAL WORLD IS SYNTHETIC.
Some will say why hurt our brains when we can trust Einstein, Alex, Google Assistant and other software tools to think for us?
WHY INDEED.
IF WE WANT A WORLD RULED BY THOSE THAT OWNS THE DATA WE ARE WELL ON THE WAY. WHAT HAPPENS ONLINE IMPACTS OUR ECONOMIES, OUR GOVERNMENTS, AND US.
TO IGNORE THIS COMPLEX QUESTION WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WHICH NOW IS REVOLUTIONIZING EVERYTHING WITHOUT A UNDERSTANDING OF ITS RISKS AND THE NEED FOR GOVERNING REGULATION LAWS IS BEYOND MADNESS.
TO ALLOW AI TO REMAIN IN THE HANDS OF A FEW COMPANIES IS SUICIDAL.
NOT TO BE ABLE TO HOLD THE CLOUD ACCOUNTABILITY IS LEAVING THE DOOR WIDE OPEN FOR THESE COMPANIES AND OTHERS TO COME TO EXPLOIT US. WITH THESE COMPANIES DECIDING WHAT IS ACCEPTABLE OR NOT.
WE NEED TO COMMIT TO TECHNOLOGIES THAT UPHOLD THE VALUES OF HUMANITY OPEN TO ALL.
NOT CLOUDED BY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE BUT TOTALLY TRANSPARENCY INTELLIGENCE.
You don’t need me to tell you that we are living through an era of tremendous transition and disruption and whether or not we are comfortable with AI may already be moot:
HOWEVER, THE THREE BIGGEST PROBLEMS FACING THE WORLD CLIMATE CHANGE, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE FORM OF PROFIT SEEKING ALGORITHMS, AND NUCLEAR WAR REMAIN VIRTUALLY IGNORED DUE TO OUR STUPIDITY.
NONE OF THESE PROBLEMS CAN BE SOLVED BY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE OR ON A NATION BY NATION APPROACH.
THEY ARE GLOBAL AND NEED GLOBAL COOPERATION TO BE SOLVED.
IT MAY BE HARD TO BUY INTO THESE PROBLEMS AFTER HAVING GROWING UP IN THE ERA OF INDUSTRY BUT UNFORTUNATELY GOVERNMENTS, WORLD INSTITUTIONS, AND BUSINESS AND US WILL FIND OURSELVES AT THE HELM OF THE PAST IF WE PERSIST WITH THE BELIEF THAT ECONOMIES, CONSUMPTION, AND PROFIT IS THE HOLY GRAIL OF OUR EXISTENCE.
Unfortunately, human stupidity is perhaps the most powerful force humanity has at its disposal to combat the direction we are going to- Extinction.
WHEN IT COMES TO IDENTIFYING ITS EFFECTS THERE IS NO PROBLEM FINDING EXAMPLES IN THE PAST.
WE ARE NOW TRANSFERRING STUPITY INTO THE FUTURE IN THE FORM OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE THAT NO ONE UNDERSTANDS OR WILL BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND.
Remembering that there are no defenses against stupidity. The more pertinent question now is whether we can and ought to build trust in systems that can make decisions beyond human oversight that may have irreversible consequences.
In the internet era, technology is changing at an alarming rate. We, humans, are becoming increasingly reliant on the World Wide Web. This is leading to a decrease in the retention capacity of the human brain and an overall downfall in the intelligence quotient of Homo sapiens.
The only way a society can avoid being crushed by the burden of its idiots is if the non-stupid work even harder to offset the losses of their stupid brethren.
If we take a critical look at the three global problems starting with the current global position on climate change:
Reduce carbon emissions on a national promises bases – stupid.
The bottom line is, take action to cool your planet or the planet will take action and cool your life – forever.
The development of AI:
Turn a blind eye by continuing to feed human existence data into algorithms for profit and power thus concentrating both into the hands of a few Clouds- stupid.
Nuclear Power:
Elect Facebook and Twitter leaders, while Social media feeds us personal recommendations and false News- stupid.
IS IT TIME TO GET OUR HEAD OUT OF THE SAND AND DEMAND SOME GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE TO TACKLE THE GLOBAL PROBLEMS.
RATHER THAN TRADE WARS, PROMISES, NATIONAL ASPIRATIONS, PROFIT FOR PROFIT SAKE, WARS, INEQUALITY, WE COULD LOOK AFTER EACH OTHER AND THE EARTH WE ALL LIVE ON BY ENSURING THE AI SERVES US ALL EQUALLY NOT THE FEW.
All human comments appreciated. All like clicks chucked in the bin.
BUT VERY FEW OF US KNOW WHAT IT IS WHERE IT IS OR WHAT WE ARE DOING ON IT OR TO IT.
IT IS 6.378KM IN RADIUS, 6.6 SEXTILLION TONS IN WEIGHT, WITH A SURFACE AREA OF 197 MILLION SQ MILES MADE UP OF 71% WATER, 29% LAND OF WHICH 5% IS LIVABLE ON.
IT IS 4.54 billion years old, plus or minus 1%.
We humans speaking 7, O97 LANGUAGES of which 23 accounts for half the world’s population has been on it for a mere 0.004% of the Earth’s history.
IT HAS 15,000 BIRTHS PER HOUR. 360,000 PER DAY, 132 MILLION PER YEAR WITH 56 MILLION DEATH PER YEAR.
IT HAS 10.7 percent LIVING IN EXTREME POVERTY WITH 68.5 MILLION DISPLACE PEOPLE, OF WHICH 25.4 million are refugees, over half of whom are under the age of 18 with 1% OF RICH PEOPLE owning half the world’s wealth.
IT IS THE 5TH LARGEST PLANET IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM WITH ABOUT 10 BILLION WITH TONS OF CONCRETE POURED ON IT EVERY YEAR.
3% OF THE WORLD IS COVERED IN URBAN AREAS WITH 33 BILLION METERS OF ROADS.
After water concrete is the single most widely used material in the world – and it has a carbon footprint to match.
As you read this, there are more than 40 conflicts unfolding in countries around the world. Yet these are just the most visible look beyond them and there are plenty more.
Total world military expenditure rose to $1739 billion in 2017.
We can blame terrorism and the fear it inspires despite the statistically unimportant number of casualties it inflicts, or the contemporary media and the breathless cycle of “breaking news”, but the truth remains that the wars that seem to inspire the fanatics or have produced so many headlines in recent years prompt deep anxiety.
And with climate change and profit-seeking algorithms things are only going to get worse.
Surely the needs of humanity should always come first. While there are people on Earth who need help, they should be helped, rather than seeing money spent on sending robots onto other planets. Humanity is the number one priority; keeping the human race alive is a necessity.
But we cannot live without the other species we share the earth with. Okay, guess quickly: how many species do you think we share the earth with.
A trillion.
While that may (or may not) be true, the next sentence is spuriously precise: “Every hour three species disappear. Every day up to 150 species are lost.”
Even putting aside the apparent mathematical error in that claim (on the face of it, if three species are disappearing every hour, 72 would be lost every day) there is an obvious problem in generating any such number. No-one knows how many species exist. And if we don’t know a species exists, we won’t miss it when it’s gone.
BP claimed the earth has enough oil left for about 53 more years at current production levels
So far Nasa has spent trillions on trying to get off it.
Science may well give us good things.
We all know Velcro came from NASA.
But why bother spending all this money exploring space and finding out there was water on Mars at some point in the last few thousand years (we have water in Earth) when these same great minds could be applied to finding better ways to power humanity’s insatiable desire for energy, to feeding the starving millions around the globe, and generally making life down here better before looking up into the heavens.
It seems the authoritative powers have their heads way, way up in the clouds.
Earth first:
14 billion pounds (6B Kg.) of garbage are dumped into the ocean every year. Most of it is plastic. Americans make up 5% of the world’s population, and yet, produce 30% of the world’s waste and use 25% of the world’s resources.
More than 95 percent of the world’s population is breathing polluted, unsafe air.
THIS IS THE EARTH YOU NOW LIVE ON SURROUNDED BY JUNK.
NOT THE EARTH ON YOUR SMARTPHONE NOR THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENT EARTH.
IF YOU WANT TO GROW UP ON THIS BEAUTIFUL PLANET LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD.
All human comments appreciated. All like clicks chucked in the bin.
We now live in a world where bite-sized chunks of mathematical data have become central to how we live our daily lives.
When programs pass into code and code passes into algorithms and then algorithms start to create new algorithms, it gets farther and farther from human agency.
The resulting software is being released into a code universe which no one can fully understand.
The results so far are becoming more and more apparent, with the legality of these algorithms in the long term no longer fit for purpose given the size, complexity, and interdependence of the algorithm systems we increasingly rely on.
It won’t be long before they are writing themselves.
The present-day digital economy is affecting not just how we live but when and where we live. The era of digital transformation is everywhere and the next phase is just around the corner Privacy and cyber warfare.
Despite the wide-reaching impacts of AI, there is no mechanism or body that is charged with accessing its increasing impacts on day to day life.
Here I am not talking about whether it is ethical for Google to know where you are or where you are going but rather the lack of transparency on how this information is being used by governments etc.
IF INFORMATION IS TO BE SHARED WORLDWIDE IT HAS TO BE MADE DO SO BY ETHICAL LEGAL FRAMEWORKS.
THIS IS HAPPENING BUT ON A FRAGMENTED BASES.
WHAT WE ARE GOING TO END UP WITH IS AI REGULATIONS OF ONE COUNTRY CONFLICTING WITH THE OTHERS.
THE END RESULT WILL BE: AI TECHNOLOGIES FAILING TO OPERATE IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT with the likely outcome that we will see AI technologies misappropriated, and misused.
THIS IS NOT A JOKE:
BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF EDUCATION AND AWARENESS ON THE ETHICAL AND SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF AI WE ARE WITNESSING THE CREATION OF VAST INEQUALITY IN A WORLD PLAGUED BY DISASSOCIATION AND PERSONALIZED NEWS BUBBLES.
Furthermore since AI is seen to have a global impact regardless of the specific geographical location it is employed – from Wall Street to the current global wars to whether you get medical help or a loan, if we are not careful it will allow individuals and the current Facebook’s, Twitter, Amazon, Google, of this world to use AI to suppress, oppress and control.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXPONENTIAL TECHNOLOGIES CAN NOT BE LEFT TO SELF DEVELOPMENT.
NON OF THESE TECHNOLOGIES HAS AT THEIR HEART A WORLD ASPIRATION FOR PEACE-BUILDING, HUMAN RIGHTS, OR SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE.
THEY ARE DRIVEN BY PROFIT FOR PROFIT SAKE.
ALL OWNERS OF ANY SOFTWARE THAT DRIVES ANY PROGRAMS OR ALGORITHMS ASSOCIATED TO PROFIT SHOULD BE OBLIGED BY LAW TO DEPOSIT A COPY OF THE SAID PROGRAM IN A WORLD DEPOSITORY WHERE IT IS VETTED AGAINST OUR COMMON VALUES.
UNLESS WE DEVELOP AI POLICIES AND REGULATIONS IN A COLLABORATIVE ENVIRONMENT AI IS UNLIKELY TO FOSTER A SUSTAINABLE WORLD AND WILL INSTEAD REINFORCE NORMS OF COMPETITION.
All human comments appreciated. All like clicks chunked in the bin.
I AM NOT TALKING HERE ABOUT DEMOCRACY THAT IS FOUND AT THE
BOTTOM OF A BOTTLE OF WHISKY BUT REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY THAT
MAY HAVE RUN ITS COURSE.
Technology is fundamentally shifting how government works and how it relates to the citizens it ostensibly represents. In the wake of fake news, algorithms operated by business are shaping a world in which earthly government is becoming less and less functional.
Smartphones with their ease of use and constant accessibility are changing our social networks and reshaping our political world.
Because Social Media companies, not Governments are launching new policies. We need to take a more critical look at the role of social media in society.
The biggest challenge is technology that could potentially help end corruption and lobbying, allow people to delegate votes to trusted friends rather than politicians, and empower experts in a field to meaningfully impact policy cannot be achieved while the content of social media has no legal means of ensuring transparency or verification of authenticity prior to any posting.
WHILE THIS STATE REMAINS Representative democracy may have run its course.
Social Media companies like Facebook, Twitter, U Tube and their like are now shaping a world in which earthly government is becoming inoperative.
SO HOW MIGHT SOCIAL MEDIA – ALGORITHMS – AI – MACHINE LEARNING – ALTER THE CAPACITY OF CITIZENS TO GOVERN THEMSELVES?
As unprecedented numbers of people channel their political energy through this medium, it’s now being used in unforeseen ways with societal repercussions that were never anticipated.
We should all be very wary news feeds which are being personalized.
ONE OF THE GREATEST PROBLEMS for the future is the worldwide existing inequality in access to new communication technologies. It threatens to aggravate existing social inequalities.
How does social media influence a democratic society?
By allowing us to create our very own feeds and essentially live in them.
By allowing algorithms to design communication packages just for individuals with each component full chosen in advance.
By allowing advertising without checking their source of purchase.
By allowing petitions to be voted on.
By allowing algorithms to create what’s called polarization, or an information cocoon.
By allowing another communication channel between voters and politicians.
If there’s one fundamental truth about social media’s impact on democracy it’s that it amplifies human intent — both good and bad. At its best, it allows us to express ourselves and take action. At its worst, it allows people to spread misinformation and corrode democracy.
One way or the other we are arriving rapidly to a crossroads whether we want true freedom of choice or short-term data-driven decisions to rule the roost.
If we can bank online, we can vote online.
We can now publish online, shout online, share music and ideas online, expose new knowledge online, regroup and connect online, bank online. The only thing we still can’t do online is voting on our own laws. No, instead we’re still living under a bizarre psycho-political industrial-era system that wants us to believe we’re represented by elected officials.
The structure of a direct democracy government is simple, and yet profound, giving rise to several questions that need a wide-reaching topic for debate.
SUCH AS.
The people have the final say in every decision that the government makes. That is because, in this government structure, the people are the government.
This can only work if everyone is involved in the voting process in some way. WHICH IS TOTALLY UNWORKABLE.
WHO WANTS MOB RULE.
Voters cannot authentically decide a course of action to take if they are not presented with complete and accurate information. This structure of government requires that all citizens be given the same information and shared within an equal time frame.
It could also allow a majority of people to oppress certain groups in a harmful manner.
IT CAN ONLY WORK IN THE VILLAGE HALL.
Once we count on AI to decide what we do our concept of life will have to change.
Democratic elections and free markets might cease to make any sense, as with most art and religions.
Can parliaments and political parties overcome the challenges?
At the moment it does not seem so. Technological disruption is not even a leading item on the political agenda.
Google and Twitter are attention merchants. They capture our attention and resell it to advertisers. We are becoming their product.
Governments need to nationalize our data.
It is now or never that regulate the ownership of data if we don’t want to end up living in a digital dictatorship.
All human comments appreciated. All like clicks chucked in the bin.
With smartphones, I pad’s humans are far more willing than most people realize to form a relationship with AI software. It is going to impact every single industry and everything that we do.
