[LINK] Talking about AI

[Janet Hawtin]

It would be nice if we could understand the data from other species. They
do not necessarily speak a language we would recognise but if we had better
fidelity data about the behaviour of other species and ecologies that would
help us to understand the planet, otherwise I think we can be blinded by
our own abstractions like austerity economics and account deficit phobias.

On 22 February 2016 at 12:00, Roger Clarke <Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au>
wrote:

> At 11:23 +1030 22/2/16, Glen Turner wrote:
> >The essential argument was between artificial intelligence (John
> >McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Herbert A Simon, based around MIT, CMU and
> >Stanford SAIL) and computer augmentation of human thought (Vannevar
> >Bush, Douglas Engelbart, based around Stanford's SRI and, later, Xerox
> >PARC). There was some bad blood between the two groups; bear that in
> >mind if you read historical documents.
> >
> >Good Old Fashioned AI is now widely seen as having limited success. The
> >predictions of practitioners of the time now look a little fantastical.
> >Many of the algorithms of the era are today learned and used without
> >the related claims of 'intelligence'.
> >
> >Augmentation of human thought was a dramatic success. The smartphone is
> >pretty much an implementation of Bush and Engelbart's wildest dreams.
>
> All very nicely put.  (What else would I expect??).
>
> I recently repeated my nasty comments about Simon, Minsky & co. (this time
> in the context of drones), and tried yet again with the 'complementary
> intelligence' meme:
> http://www.rogerclarke.com/SOS/Drones-I.html#CSD
>
> >In reaction against the reductionism of decision systems, decision
> support systems emerged. These effectively adopt the position that what
> human decision-makers need is not artificial, humanlike intelligence (which
> is already available in great quantity), but rather an alternative form of
> intelligence that humans exhibit far less, and that can be usefully
> referred to as 'complementary intelligence' (Clarke 1989): "Surely man and
> machine are natural complements: They assist one another" (Wyndham 1932).
> Together, the collaborative whole would be, in the words of Bolter (1986,
> p. 238) 'synthetic intelligence'.
> >
> >To function as a decision support system, however, software must produce
> information useful to human decision-makers (such as analyses of the
> apparent sensitivity of output variables to input variables).
> Alternatively, a decision support system might offer recommended actions,
> together with explanations of the rationale underlying the recommendations.
> But is this feasible?
>
>
> --
> Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/
>
> Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
> Tel: +61 2 6288 6916                        http://about.me/roger.clarke
> mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/
>
> Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law            University of N.S.W.
> Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University
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