PJ @pj@social.cleverlibre.org
- Listening:
- https://radioparadise.com/listen/channels
Retired #systemsengineering professional and #organizationalchange coach with decades of experience in the #military and #aerospace domains.
WRT #STEM, I'm primarily interested in the #Science and #Engineering of #Systems. My stance towards #Technology is opportunistic (will use whatever works best for the occasion) and I consider #Mathematics a necessary evil to get things done properly.
My experience with #computing technology starts in the late '70s on a room-sized IBM machine running FORTRAN programs from buckets full of punch cards, turned hard towards HPL BASIC on a much smaller HP 9825A "fully algebraic desktop calculator" with a miniature magnetic tape cassette where to store programs, and abruptly ended a few years later after a couple of months of "peeking" and "poking" in ASM on an even smaller ZX81 connected to a BW portable TV.
Even if I was reasonably good at programming the moment I got my first DOS/Windows PC to play with at work and surf on something called the #Internet, I fell in love with things like #writing, #drawing, and #exploring new ideas, that could now be done much better and faster with this new gadget, so I soon decided that being a #user, doing the #design and #testing while dealing with other #people to define #product and #process #requirements is much more fun than the actual #development of the #software product itself.
I'm very glad I found this Mastodon #community where we can "Question Others to Teach Ourselves". Please feel free to ask questions and argue with anything I say. Be sure I'll be doing the same. Nothing is sacred. There are no stupid questions, just BS answers.
Stay safe and be nice to others.
PJ
Joined Oct 2022
No wonder the experiment failed
https://jacobin.com/2015/04/allende-chile-beer-medina-cybersyn/
The Future of #Democracy according to #noemamagazine is in the Chinese model of a "Civilization State" with no Italian food.🤔
PJ
boosted
People often interpret *Ashby’s Law* (after W. Ross Ashby) as if the *system*'s internal states must have the ***same level of variety*** as its *environment* in order to survive, which implies that the system should be able to *respond* (react) to every little disturbance from the environment.
This is not completely true because, on the lowest, #regulation, level, the system blocks #variety from an (environmental) #disturbance reaching the (internal, system protected) #EssentialVariables in two ways:
1️⃣ #Passive isolation (sheltering) from most environmental disturbances, and
2️⃣ #Active reaction to (parring with) the remaining disturbance that managed to *break through* this passive protection.
from "Intro to #Cybernetics"
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/ASHBBOOK.html
If you want to know what someone's #character **really** is, watch them when they are in a position of #power:
>Bonhoeffer’s argument is that the more someone becomes part of the establishment, the less an individual they become. A charismatic, exciting outsider, bursting with intelligence and sensible policies, becomes imbecilic the moment he takes office. It’s as if, “slogans, catchwords and the like… have taken possession of him. He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being.”
https://bigthink.com/thinking/bonhoeffers-theory-stupidity-evil
Arvind Narayanan:
>Even with something as profound as the internet or search engines or smartphones, it’s turned out to be an adaptation, where we maximize the benefits and try to minimize the risks, rather than some kind of revolution. I don’t think large language models are even on that scale. There can potentially be massive shifts, benefits, and risks in many industries, but I cannot see a scenario where this is a “sky is falling” kind of issue.
https://themarkup.org/hello-world/2023/01/28/decoding-the-hype-about-ai
People are needlessly concerned that the unavoidable #misuse of #AI (language and visual) tools will "break the #information landscape". The quality and quantity of "fake news" and other published BS may increase but people with the #knowledge and #tools to distinguish between #reality and #fiction will always have the upper hand.
Humanity was in this situation of "disruptive innovation" many times in the past, and it somehow managed to grow up of it a little bit better than before.
***Six Misconceptions About #Misinformation***
>1. Misinformation is just a social media problem
2. The internet is rife with misinformation
3. Falsehoods spread faster than the truth
4. People believe everything they see on the internet
5. A large number of people are misinformed
6. Misinformation has a strong influence on people’s behavior
The beauty of #automation (including #ai) is in that instead of #having to do something you are doing it because you are #wanting to do it.
Interesting exercise. I've got the rabbit sitting on top of a tree wrong. 9 out of 10, not bad 😎
Let me put it this way: I'm more concerned about the misuse of nuclear power or a(nother) virus "escaping" from some lab than I am about any damage #chatgpt or similar tools could make to society.
@dustcircle@home.social
Are the 'scarry moments' because all those "creations" look more like nightmares than dreams?
I meant physically break, like with a hammer.
It may break other, immaterial things we depend on, such as confidence, feelings, and self-worth though, depending on how you approach it.
As true for any other #tool the purpose of #AI is also the #augmentation of human capabilities. In the case of this particular tool the augmented abilities are #intellectual rather than #physical. It will augment in the same way wisdom as it will stupidity.
>The best things in #life we don’t choose — they choose us. A great love, a great calling, a great illumination — they happen unto us, like light falling upon that which is lit. We have given a name to these unbidden greatnesses — #genius, from the Latin for “spirit,” denoting the spirit of a universe we can only submit to but cannot govern.
https://www.themarginalian.org/2023/01/21/emerson-genius-shakespeare
>For subjectivists #life is meaningful, they say, but its value is made by us in our minds, and subject to change over time. Landau argues that #meaning is essentially a sense of worth which we may all derive in a different way - from relationships, creativity, accomplishment in a given field, or generosity, among other possibilities
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-secret-to-a-meaningful-life-is-simpler-than-you-think
Isn't it the same with all tools? I would be concerned about someone having a hammer and not knowing how to use it.
At least with *chatGPT* they can't break anything. 😀
I feel something is wrong with this line of reasoning but I can't quite put my finger on it.
It has something to do with the flawed assumption that it is social media that "rips the fabric of civil society".🤔 What about the effects of the growing #inequality between the rich becoming wealthier and the poor even more impoverished?
#SocialMedia, despite all its flaws, is actually the only democratic tool able to increase global awareness about the fact that such economic inequalities, despite being a global phenomenon do not originate from some "others" (race, nation, religion), but from your very "own people".
The excerpt is from:
https://www.eurasiagroup.net/issues/top-risks-2023
Lots of interesting articles in this issue of ***Collective Intelligence***
Do you agree with #Plato that
> *in a system where political power (‘cratos’) lies in the hands of the people (‘demos’) statecraft is not guaranteed? In fact, it is unlikely, that those best equipped to rule will get a chance to manage public affairs because the loudest voices will dominate, irrational, ill-motivated decisions will be made and the complex arena of politics is in need of careful ordering and management will turn into a crazy circus.*
https://philosophynow.org/issues/101/The_Ship_of_Fools
The follow-up to this bit:
>**Bezos**: "I'm going to space so you can go to space one day"
>**Me**: "I don't want to go to space. I want to go to Italy. Can you work on that?"
- Listening:
- https://radioparadise.com/listen/channels
Retired #systemsengineering professional and #organizationalchange coach with decades of experience in the #military and #aerospace domains.
WRT #STEM, I'm primarily interested in the #Science and #Engineering of #Systems. My stance towards #Technology is opportunistic (will use whatever works best for the occasion) and I consider #Mathematics a necessary evil to get things done properly.
My experience with #computing technology starts in the late '70s on a room-sized IBM machine running FORTRAN programs from buckets full of punch cards, turned hard towards HPL BASIC on a much smaller HP 9825A "fully algebraic desktop calculator" with a miniature magnetic tape cassette where to store programs, and abruptly ended a few years later after a couple of months of "peeking" and "poking" in ASM on an even smaller ZX81 connected to a BW portable TV.
Even if I was reasonably good at programming the moment I got my first DOS/Windows PC to play with at work and surf on something called the #Internet, I fell in love with things like #writing, #drawing, and #exploring new ideas, that could now be done much better and faster with this new gadget, so I soon decided that being a #user, doing the #design and #testing while dealing with other #people to define #product and #process #requirements is much more fun than the actual #development of the #software product itself.
I'm very glad I found this Mastodon #community where we can "Question Others to Teach Ourselves". Please feel free to ask questions and argue with anything I say. Be sure I'll be doing the same. Nothing is sacred. There are no stupid questions, just BS answers.
Stay safe and be nice to others.
PJ
Joined Oct 2022
