"I" in AI? #1

 All this progress in artificial intelligence makes us think more deeply about what we mean by "intelligence." As you already know, AI is used all over today's culture - including diverse applications like farm management, your kitchen appliances, business and military virtual reality training, health care.

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It looks like real intelligence. But it's still "narrow" AI which simply performs a task it is commanded to do based on the data it collects and on the goal that it is designed to reach. 

Last November, ChatGPT was brought to the public by its creator Open AI. It generates text when given a command in ordinary language, and that makes it look like it has "general" AI (the human kind). But it doesn't. It is still just computing data as its programming dictates. 

It doesn't know what the words mean. It doesn't know or care whether its sources are true. When asked to reveal where it got the information it bases its claims on, it just makes them up. 

from Mind Matters

(cont'd tomorrow - ChatGPT  errors)

Church goer

It used to be that a majority of Americans were church goers. Not so today. In my neighborhood, and probably yours, church goers are in the minority.

Sometimes you hear the complaint that church people are hypocrites. But that's never made sense to me. Rich Mullens put it this way:

"I never understood why going to church made you a hypocrite, because nobody goes to church because they're perfect. If you've got it all together, you don't need to go. You can go jogging with all the perfect people on Sunday morning. 

"Every time you go to church, you're confessing to yourself, to your family, to the people you pass on their way there, to the people who will greet you there, that you don't have it all together. And that you need their support. You need their direction. You need some accountability, you need some help."

As a church goer, I'm saying that I need God in my life and that I need my church family. Church is for us who know that we're far from perfect.

Race over all

Certain things happened during the course of the covid pandemic (2020-2022) that changed us as a society. Working remotely from home is now preferred by people who are able to do that. Churches that were locked down now struggle to regain attendance. And parents discovered that they hotly disagreed with some things promoted in their kids' schools.

To the surprise and shock of many of us, we learned that racism - perversely called "anti-racism" - is often central to policy in our schools. Children are taught that they are inferior because of their race, or that they are hated because of their race. We have fought against that way of thinking for many, many years.

Parents don't like it. Sometimes teachers and administrators deny it. 

Here is one bright student who has seen it in his school, and explains it to his school board in very plain language. You'll have to follow this link to the Twitter video to see it for yourself.

Indispensable 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

America's independence was won and the peace treaty signed by 1783. The Commander-in-Chief, loved and respected by his troops, was a towering hero. Some wanted to crown him as the new king of America but he wouldn't allow it, since the point of the war had been to enable the people to rule themselves.

England's King George heard that The General intended to resign his command and retire to private life on his farm. Knowing that power is almost impossible to resist, he commented: "If he does that, he is the greatest man on earth."

But Washington did it, and enjoyed his private farming life for a short time. After the country was re-organized, after the Constitution was written, he was the obvious and popular candidate for our first president. He set the precedent to serve in that position for only two terms (1789-1787). 

Stories and legends sprang up about him, but Abigail Adams had it right when she said after his death, "Simple truth is his best, his greatest eulogy."

I highly recommend Washington: A Life, by historian Ron Chernow

Indispensable 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Today is George Washington Day in the state of Virginia, a holiday they established for his birthday. You may have heard what he was called by the people of his time: "the father of his country." The people of his own time described him that way, not just modern historians.

Many "founding fathers" contributed to America's founding, but he was considered to be the indispensable figure. 

Before he became the first president, the General was commander-in-chief of colonial forces in the Revolutionary War (1775-1783). Most of his troops had no training and their enemy was the premier military power of the world. Victories were few, hardships were abundant.

On the miserable Christmas Day of 1776, they were camped at Valley Forge PA. They broke camp and crossed the ice-choked Delaware River over night (losing not one man), and marched (some of them without shoes) several miles. The ensuing battle against Hessian mercenaries was one inspiring victory, and helped Washington hang on to his suffering, discouraged army.

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(cont'd tomorrow)

Indispensable 1

We celebrated a national holiday this week. Did you observe the big celebration? No, because there wasn't one. This is the holiday that passes with barely a notice. Some people had the day off at work and some places were closed. But it's certain that many went to the post office anyway and wondered why the doors were locked.

Presidents' Day is supposed to honor two of our greatest presidents, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, both of whose birthdays are this month. The birthdays were consolidated for convenience and placed on a Monday so that we can all have a long weekend. 

But these presidents are worthy of honor - despite the fact that they, being as human as you and me, were not perfect. Washington, like most landowners in his region, regrettably owned slaves (and eventually released them). 

Other, different parts of his character and his contribution to America are what we can admire. Historians have called him "the indispensable man" and we should know why. What else did he do besides own slaves? Plenty.

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(cont'd tomorrow)

Dunk

The National Basketball Association (NBA) held their "slam dunk" competition over the weekend with spectacular results.  For an NBA player, the winner is a little short at 6'2'. But this 24-year-old from Virginia defies gravity.

You won't get the full effect til you see the winning dunks in slow motion here.

H.O.O.D.

A rooftop tent is not a comfortable or convenient spot to spend 345 days, not in Chicago. But Corey Brooks did it to bring attention to Project H.O.O.D.

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Pastor Brooks started the project to help the people of Chicago's south side. He wants to give them hope for a good future, to “end violence and build communities, one neighborhood at a time. We are creating leaders, strengthening character, seeking to end violence and generational poverty in urban areas. Our goal is to nurture these human resources and provide them with positive and consistent adult interactions."

It's not a small vision and they need a lot of money to do it. So far they've raised $28.5 million toward the $35 million goal.

The pastor and his wife are driven by a conviction that God gave the vision to them, wants them to do it, and will provide what it takes. Listen to him, the "Rooftop Pastor," on this podcast.

Derailment 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

It happens more often than you might think. So far this year there have been a dozen train derailments nation-wide, and there were 54,539 from 1990 to 2021 (averaging 1704/year). 

But most are not as spectacular as the one at East Palestine, Ohio, thirteen days ago, and most don't spill hazardous chemicals into water sources or fill the air with a big dark plume of smoke.

Maybe most surprising, some happen by intentional design. According to this 2021 report, the FBI at the time was investigating at least 41 incidents of railway sabotage in the state of Washington.

It's not just railways either. A water treatment plant operator personally prevented the poisoning of local people in 2021 when he reversed a hacker's attempt to manipulate the acid content of the water supply in Oldsmar, Florida. 

We all depend on our public utilities, the infrastructure. It's probably not as secure as we'd like it to be. 

Derailment

Days ago, back on February 3, a train carrying dangerous material crashed in Ohio. Dramatic drone footage shows the scattered train cars, some burning.

East Palestine, Ohio, was the site of this fiery disaster. Chemicals got out into the local environment and more leakage was expected. So authorities took a bold step: they set the material on fire to keep it contained. 

Gov. DeWine ordered evacuation of the area, calling it a matter of life and death. Crews released vinyl chloride into a trough and ignited it. But fears abound that the water and air may still be unsafe.

from CBS News

(cont'd tomorrow)

Black success 3

(Sorry for the missing three posts! Technical problems😖. .)

As you know, even after slavery was outlawed in the United States, laws and restrictions worked to oppress black Americans. 

"But that same history is rife with stories of African Americans who embraced the institutions of family, religion, education, and perhaps most notably entrepreneurship to overcome dehumanizing discrimination and achieve enduring prosperity."

Though limited in the founding ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, these individuals used the free market economic system of America to rise above.

"Government—at all levels—failed to protect Blacks’ rights to life, liberty, property, freedom of contract, right to trial by jury, and more. [But] the market didn’t fail Black people. Indeed, Blacks prospered as entrepreneurs, professionals, and laborers within the free enterprise system."

Participation in the free market has been an avenue of prosperity for the black community in all of our history. 

As we obsess and agonize over our failures, it's imperative to study success.

from "A Vision of Black Success"

Fake sources

Follow up to this post

So, Open AI produced ChatGPT and it's being used to write text, like an essay (it can also generate art and music). You can tell it in your own words what to write, then it will survey some internet sources and come up with an article. 

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This author has been using it and noticed something interesting. He asked it to write a sample blog post and to include its online sources, where it got the information it used. It did give him sources, all right - fake, made-up websites and articles.

He tested it again, and it gave him a list of five links to articles at various URL's. They were all fake. He told it, "None of those articles actually exist." It apologized and gave him another list of fake links. 

Actually, I generate text too. Every weekday I publish a post I've written, and . . and . . give you the actual link to the actual article or book I based my post on. You can always check my sources because the links are real.

You're welcome.

from Mind Matters

Moral mockery

Follow up to last Friday's post

Just as Glenn Loury said, it takes bravery to speak the truth when you may have to pay a price for it. No doubt, you can easily think of a situation in which you stayed quiet about something you believe ("spiral of silence"). Why? 

Babylon Bee's CEO agrees with Loury that we need to be open about what we believe to be true. In fact, he thinks we need to laugh at outrageous, unsound claims in order to expose them.

Casual art

Enjoy this post from almost five years ago, maybe the most beautiful thing you will enjoy today:

Imagine a big extended family gets together. Just for the fun of it, just casually standing around in the living room, wearing t-shirts and jeans - they all break out into glorious harmonious song. 

How can everybody in this family all be amazing?

Black success 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post) 

This successful, intellectual man holds an honored place in the top levels of American higher education. Being of a racial minority did not prevent him from getting there. He probably had to overcome low expectations from his childhood environment. No doubt his life today is a far cry from his upbringing both in personal wealth and public respect.

His views have evolved over the years but the video below, just a month old, expresses his concerns today. Radical, unsound, untrue claims are being made (an example from this blog: sex-change surgery for kids on demand) -- while masses of people who know better censor themselves out of fear of being cancelled. 

We need to bravely speak up to end the "spiral of silence."

Black success

Chicago's south side was segregated for decades until housing laws were successfully challenged in the 1930-40's. Waves of black migration rose after the Civil War and again in the 20th century, creating vibrant black businesses and culture here. But gang activity and civil unrest eventually earned the south side a reputation of crime.

Born in 1948 and descended from slaves, Glenn Loury grew up in this environment. After taking some classes at a junior college, he won a scholarship to Northwestern University where he graduated with a math degree. He then moved on to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he earned his PhD in economics.

Since then his career has taken him to University of Michigan, Boston University, Brown University, Harvard  (where he was its first black tenured professor of economics). Quite the resume. His political views have changed from time to time.

Why the biography? "It’s time to tell the story of Black Success, not Black Victimhood."

From Wikipedia

(cont'd tomorrow)

Trans policy

(cont'd from Monday's post)

Going back to J. K. Rowland, she tweeted again about an absurd and terrible policy that came from a government affirming gender transition: 

A female former prisoner in Scotland was incarcerated in a women's prison. Out of the 40 inmates, two were "trans women" who looked like men (and were in the shower), one having committed domestic violence and one who committed  murder. 

She was terrified. See her story here.

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The Scottish policy was changed, thank God.