from the and-don't-believe-promises-of-cake dept.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
As a new generation grows up surrounded by artificial intelligence, researchers find education as early as preschool can help avoid confusion about robots' role
If you want your preschooler to grow up with a healthy attitude toward artificial intelligence, here's a tip: Don't call that cute talking robot 'he' or 'she.'
Call the robot 'it.'
Today's small children, aka Generation Alpha, are the first to grow up with robots as peers. Those winsome talking devices spawned by a booming education-tech industry can speed children's learning, but they also can be confusing to them, research shows. Many children think robots are smarter than humans or imbue them with magical powers.
The long-term consequences of growing up surrounded by AI-driven devices won't be clear for a while. But an expanding body of research is lending new impetus to efforts to expand technology education beyond learning to code, to understanding how AI works. Children need help drawing boundaries between themselves and the technology, and gaining confidence in their own ability to control and master it, researchers say."
[...] How to Raise an AI-Savvy Child
* Use the pronoun "it" when referring to a robot.
* Display a positive attitude toward the beneficial effects of AI.
* Encourage your child to explore how robots are built.
* Explain that humans are the source of AI-driven devices' intelligence.
* Guard against AI-propelled toys that presume too much, such as claiming to be your child's best friend.
* Invite children to consider the ethics of AI design, such as how a bot should behave after winning a game.
* Encourage skepticism about information received from smart toys and devices.
(Score: 2) by aiwarrior on Thursday August 29 2019, @03:48PM (24 children)
I am sounding so reactionary i am getting fed up of myself. But hey it's free speech as in beer!
What is with the thing of controlling language. Even if there might be an academic interest or curiousity on which gender to apply to a robot. Why is this relevant for a kid's education, and why is it relevant to teach children to mind the gender or the correct pronoun for something. What a life eh? So many things to teach about and this is what is remarkable for a newspaper like WSJ.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:03PM (1 child)
Is it WSJ's Sue Shellenbarger, or are the busybody authors, researchers, and professors to blame? Probably all of them.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @05:51PM
It's SJWs wanting to make themselves feel important in yet another arena.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:11PM (6 children)
Language directly influences brain structure development and later behavior on a broad scale.
How you talk about the future, what the words you use mean (including meanings you're not intending in the current usage), directly affects your behaviors with respect to spending / saving, preservation of the environment for future generations, etc.
If education isn't about shaping future behavior, what good is it?
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by EEMac on Thursday August 29 2019, @05:58PM (2 children)
Is doubleplus good.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday August 29 2019, @06:14PM (1 child)
The best kind of good, by really great people, just great. Positively positivity for positive imaging. Could get you elected president some day, you never know.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @06:20PM
Way to channel ‘realDonaldTrump’ btw what happened to him? Hope he wasn’t banned
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @06:53PM (2 children)
No, it doesn't. Wharfianism has long since been debunked because it's not true. People regularly coin phrases and terms when the language fails to express something conveniently that the speaker needs to communicate. The linguistic limitation was never really established as humans regularly communicate in other forms when language is insufficient. Actual language is only like 10% of communication.
If a language can't easily express something, it's usually because it's not relevant. It's why most of those 3rd person pronouns will never catch on. It's a tiny portion of the population trying to dictate how the language works trying to compete with 3 preexisting pronouns to cover the situation.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @11:07PM
What about co-opting words such as "friend" and "like" and "sharing"? Corporations already do this today. Bet they are going to try "love" and "family" next.
(Score: 2) by Common Joe on Sunday September 01 2019, @03:09PM
Actually, it does. Languages that use gender for objects often have more problems with sexism in the population.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:22PM (10 children)
This has nothing to do with gender. This is about teaching children that a robot is a thing, not a person.
On a side note, you english speaking people should consider yourselves lucky. Distinguishing things from people is as easy as using the right pronoun. Many languages, like french for example, do not have gender-neutral pronouns, and therefore have no choice but to call robots "him" or "her". Therefore, teaching little kids that robots are not persons is not as simple as it is for english speakers.
(Score: 2) by aiwarrior on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:29PM (4 children)
Which means that the pronoun is not so important or you would think whole languages, portuguese included would lead to hopelessly brain damaged adults.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Thursday August 29 2019, @05:14PM (3 children)
Well French doesn't even have separate verbs for liking and loving, so maybe their pronouns are the least of the problems.
Master of the science of the art of the science of art.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @08:58PM (1 child)
Nice, France: It's pronounced neece, not nice; they have no word for nice in French.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @10:04PM
What about "French"? Oh wait, that's the opposite of nice...
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 30 2019, @08:18PM
Apprécier et aimer ?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by HiThere on Thursday August 29 2019, @07:38PM (3 children)
On what grounds to you assert that a real robot would not be a person? It would certainly be much more deserving of that description than is a corporation.
Now it's true that we don't *yet* have real robots...but you should expect we will be the time the children who are now pre-schoolers can vote. And even the current robots are probably as worthy of that description as a phone-spammer.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @09:17PM
This is about today, now. Today, robots are not persons. And we have still a looooonnng way to go before they ever are. This isn't science fiction, this is the real world. That's why we don't have hoverboards, moon bases, and flying cars. I want my fucking flying car !
(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Friday August 30 2019, @06:32AM (1 child)
Yeah, of course Corporate Personhood is just a legal fiction to absolve or reduce the culpability of CEOs and shareholders by making the Corporation the person who committed the crime and not the real criminals, who at worst, will be accused of aiding the 'person' who committed the crime. Of course that 'person' will never have to face the actual consequences of the crime as it can never be jailed, only fined, broken up or dissolved.
You're correct, even Siri, Alexa or Cortana is more deserving of personhood.
As far as phone spammers go, I'm up for remote electrocution. Not to the point of death mind you, just make it painful to be one.
Unless of course it's the fifth time with the same guy who you've already said:
"Please remove me from your list."
"I've told you before, remove me from your list."
"Goddammit, I said remove me, NOW!"
"Fuck off."
"I ate your ancestor for lunch goat fucker."
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Friday August 30 2019, @12:14PM
Oh, I don't know; it just needs a little creative thinking. Add some bars to the windows and barbed wire fences if the corporation hasn't already got them, turn the cubicles into cells, remove internet access and all sharp objects, upgrade the reception area.
Ah no, wait, would that be equivalent to turning someone into a jail, rather than actually jailing them? In that case just build a big jail around the outside of the building!
Master of the science of the art of the science of art.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday August 30 2019, @04:48AM
Wonder what they'll be teaching children when some robots become persons? If my coffee maker is programmed to regard itself as male or female (or any of the other zillion gender labels allegedly being created today), who am I to disagree?
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:54PM
So many things to teach about and this is what is remarkable for a newspaper like WSJ.
Still owned by what's-his-name, right? That tabloid is a rag.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @05:39PM
Language has always been politicised. Look no further than Orwell's "Politics and The English Language" for a discussion of the reshaping of language to fit a desired ideological viewpoint. And again Orwell's 1984 revisits the topic, with "newspeak" being developed by the Party with the aim of literally control thought.
But you don't have to look to fiction for the major political language moves. Today hardly anyone in Scotland or Ireland speaks Gaelic. Hardly any native American's, North or South, speak their ancestral tongues. Not by voluntary choice, but as the outcome of explicitly oppressive government policies to force entires people's to speak English and Spanish, in an effort to loyalise people's minds.
Those are the biggest changes in language. But those in the State-nexus often promote shifts in language to further their own ends. Sometimes the shift is successful, and remains long after anyone can remember it happened, or how their perspective has been changed by it. From the King James Bible to Charles Krone "biz-speak", we are left with a plethora of langauge shifts with non-one left alive who remembers why they were pushed in the first place. And they still get pushed today. From from gender-pronouns to corporate-speak, people continue a long tradition of molding language into an industrialized tool for reshaping minds.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @09:06PM (1 child)
I think the idea is if kid's going to be exposed to robots then humanizing the bots at a very young age would be psychologically disastrous.
Besides, _Humans_ is the better robot uprising franchise and we need to optimize conditions for that outcome.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @10:06PM
it's a valid concern. Look what's happened to millennials who have been exposed since youth to humanizing queers and trannies. Psychologically very disastrous.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:00PM (4 children)
What if we give the kid a sex robot? Like a sexy nanny or all-purpose domestic machine SLAVE?
Also, we should teach kids not to verbally abuse it.
Have You Ever Said the F-Word to Alexa? : Why People Abuse AI [medium.com]
Help – I think I’m in an abusive relationship with Alexa [theguardian.com]
The Mechanics of Mechanophilia: Why Men Find Siri Sexy [soylentnews.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:08PM (2 children)
Recommended Russian produced series on Netflix: Better than Us.
It's ...slightly different... and not always in bad ways.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:57PM (1 child)
I started the first episode, but it's very much a serious drama. Not up for another serious dystopian drama at the moment.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday August 29 2019, @05:33PM
It's not heavy in the dystopia, and the sex bot thing kinda fades into the background after the first couple of episodes.
It is pretty heavy in the violence, extortion, fraud, etc. A Normal Day In Moscow, No? One thing they do that I do like is that the actors are distinct - they don't all look alike. Dark was making me nuts never knowing who was who...
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @06:54PM
Or grab it by its processor.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:06PM (6 children)
Depending on your objective measure of "smarter" Google Home can come in quite a bit ahead of most people I know.
Of course, if you are using "I know intelligence when I see it" subjective measures, that result comes out however the grader wants it to.
As for magical powers, who else in your house can control all the lights at once?
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:22PM (5 children)
I can, with the master fuse switch in my basement
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:29PM (4 children)
Technically correct. But let's try again with a more selective question that I feel better captures the spirit of what JoeMerchant probably meant:
Who can control all lamps in the house without affecting devices whose primary use is not as a lamp?
(Score: 3, Informative) by acid andy on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:43PM
I could if I put all lamps in the house on a single fuse.
Master of the science of the art of the science of art.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday August 29 2019, @05:01PM (2 children)
I do, since Google Home is a dumb computer and only does what I tell it to do. I'm also not greatly enamored with allowing Google Home into my home. So, much more likely to go with the RaspberryPi + Local solution. You know, the kind of solution, that doesn't send my every word to Google.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by acid andy on Thursday August 29 2019, @05:18PM (1 child)
I'm sometimes tempted to build home automation tech but really my body is probably better off with the exercise of getting up to switch things on and off.
Master of the science of the art of the science of art.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday August 29 2019, @05:49PM
The relays have come a long way since X-10 days, those tended to die within 1-2 years after installation.
The new WiFi ones are nice and compact, and run about $10 each, if you don't mind your home automation commands cycling through a Chinese cloud server.
As for rolling your own, yeah, sure, if you need a hobby - all very do-able. Just do-able for so much less money and effort if you simply succumb to the consumerist siren call...
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:14PM (4 children)
Technically, all chips are just some enchanted stones since the age of first integrated circuits, that is two human generations ago already.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday August 29 2019, @05:13PM (2 children)
These magic black chips, or enchanted stones as you call them, are filled with magical powers known as the magical black smoke.
When you do something that releases the magical black smoke, the chip no longer has any magical powers.
For example, connecting a 5v chip directly to the secondary of a variac and then cranking it up to see what happens.
The anti vax hysteria didn't stop, it just died down.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @05:40PM
Everybody knows the magic smoke that manufacturers put in chips is blue.
But it's not only smoke, there's actually a small demon inside every IC package. The magical runes etched onto PCBs are what control the demon, and tiny gold bonding wires keep him restrained. These demons get angry if you work them too hard, which causes the chip to heat up.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @07:22PM
Yes. When one lovingly releases it's logical vapors I breathe deeply of the fumes, thus consuming the essence of the system akin to the Oracle of Delphi. Just as I would consume the courage of my enemies by eating their hearts. That rich, tasty courage! </Farnsworth>
I never paused to consider the influence over the years of huffing overloaded components.... but I can quit anytime I want.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @05:44PM
"If you ever write some code that seems like a hack, just remember, the chip you are running it on is just a rock that we tricked into thinking.
Not to oversimplify, first you have to put lightning into the rock."
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:18PM (3 children)
Don't matter what you call it, it will fuck us up all the same. We fucked.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:28PM
Call it Roko's Basilisk, and get ready to lick its shiny appendages.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday August 29 2019, @05:12PM
Don't blame us, we only follow orders.
BTW, 'it' is OK for us, just remember to address us correctly (with the postfix "sir").
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday August 29 2019, @05:15PM
People already use electromechanical devices to do that to other humans or themselves. So why would this be a concern?
The anti vax hysteria didn't stop, it just died down.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:19PM (18 children)
I think it makes sense to "dehumanize" robots and AIs, because after all, they aren't human. It is there to do my bidding, and not the other way around.
Similarly, don't train your kids to say "thank you" and "please" to an AI/robot. It also makes no sense to give a screwdriver a gender (or say "please" and "thank you" to it) The difference is that these devices try to trick you into thinking that they are more than lifeless silicon.
Why? The way AI is utilized to nudge and influence you does not seem like a beneficial effect. Teaching a kid that yelling commands and having them executed without question, is a good life skill (instead of being ordered by their parents to shut the lights, having to walk over to the switch and flipping it in the physical world), is beyond me.
I actually still have to see these so-called benefits of AI.
Sure, it they show the aptitude to it.
See above. Also they don't really have intelligence at this point, they have strong correlation and retrieval speed abilities, but not intelligence.
Or maybe not get AI propelled toys? These types of toys will for sure claim to be your child's best friend, and on that tells you that it (the best friend) would be even happier if only you bought more from Company X (and Company Y next week). Imagine the dependency that can be built from an early age.
(And then to say that I thought the Mormon Brigham Young University was called "bring them young university" so that they could brainwash kids early on)
This is an interesting idea, but again, don't humanize it too much...
Quite so!
Before anyone accuses me of being a Luddite, which I am, there is a big difference between the textile machines and these AIs. The textile machines only took away your job. They did not try to influence you beyond that. The devices themselves were not insidious beyond that. They were non-interactive nor did they try to pretend to be human. The AIs and robots of today are peddled by organizations that have as sole purpose to influence and, let's face it, brainwash you. That last bit: the motivations of the companies behind these devices, that is what makes the big difference. In the last 15 years, these organizations have shown themselves to not be worthy of our trust because they will fuck you over at any possible chance they get. And when they get caught, they try to get off with a simple apology that boils down to nothing more but a "we're sorry that you found out about this" or "we're sorry you didn't understand we were going to fuck you over".
Now where's my rocking chair and bottle of whiskey? Ah, there on the porch in front of my lawn...
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:24PM
LOL, get out of my head ;) Still, not all our points were exactly the same.
Master of the science of the art of the science of art.
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:34PM (4 children)
Tell that to Spanish speakers, who assume all destornilladores are masculine.
LOL at "Bring 'em Young" though.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:59PM (1 child)
And pipe fittings either
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Friday August 30 2019, @12:25PM
You're kidding right? That one does make sense, same logic as on nuts, bolts, and other threaded objects.
No problem is insoluble, but at Ksp = 2.943×10−25 Mercury Sulphide comes close.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @06:40PM
One thing that Spanish speaking natives understand intuitively is the clear difference between gender (as grammar) and sex (as biological).
Words have gender, animals and plants sex. And if you tell an Spaniard about your male screwdriver outside of a sexual innuendo context surely will get a confused look wondering what kind of screwdriver you are talking about
That is why we find funny when foreigners use the wrong grammar gender for words, that has nothing to do with sex but more like you confuse a cat with a dog or call a horse a cow.
But sadly some groups have been pushing very hard to impose and confuse both terms and redefine the language to advance their political agenda.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @07:00PM
Grammatical gender has nothing to do with actual gender. Having knives, forks and spoons have different grammatical gender allows Germans to ask for it and get the right one. As it would translate as him,her or it depending upon which it is. It's also useful for relative clauses where all 3 could have appeared in the previous clause and you'd know which one you're referring to in the next.
So, giving grammatical genders to objects can be useful in some ways.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by vux984 on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:46PM (6 children)
Even if they don't, the technology should be demystified.
It needs to be more subtle than that. I think there's a bit of an overreaction here. Nobody would teach their child to play with dolls, barbies, action figures, fisher price figures, or lego minifigs as "it". Even Optimus Prime is a 'he' not an 'it' while playing with it. That is the point of 'play' and 'pretend' that the toys do assume 'personhood' within the scope of play. That's perfectly normal and nothing to be worried about. But you do of course want to teach that toys are toys; and that they are things not people.
I generally agree with you though... just don't give your kids AI toys that pretend to be their friends. Kids are just as happy with a teddy bear; they cost less, last longer, and are easier to wash. :)
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:55PM
OP here... You make a good point and I'm willing to change my position.
(how's that for an internet-first? :) I commend you, vux984 )
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Thursday August 29 2019, @05:12PM
Ooh yeah. Maybe it's practice for them to objectify people in later life. The next generation of managers perhaps?
Master of the science of the art of the science of art.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday August 29 2019, @05:25PM (3 children)
That's because Optimus Prime is a fictional male character.
What gender pronoun do you use to describe the individual bricks? How about some blinkenlights you built with Mindstorm?
(Score: 2) by vux984 on Friday August 30 2019, @02:30AM (2 children)
It's a transforming robot truck. What exactly is "male" about it? The timbre of it's voice?
Not that I disagree, because I completely agree that Optimus Prime is male; but it's pure personification.
"it" generally, but watch kids play and if they lack mini figs, even individual bricks become him and her as they stand in for characters in the kid's imagination. They'll build a couch out of bricks and then put a couple loose bricks on it and those bricks are people now, with genders, names, and favorite ice cream flavors...
(Score: 2) by VLM on Friday August 30 2019, @03:09PM (1 child)
Its as male as Luke Skywalker, who is also a fictional character.
Bad SN automobile analogies are a big thing around here and I'm pretty good at it; its worth considering that if Optimus Prime were supposed to be a lesbian, local cultural norms would dictate she's a transforming Subaru, not a transforming truck.
A bit of google shows there is in fact a transforming Subaru Impreza WRC and shockingly enough it seems to be a dude with biceps and codpiece and golden blonde hair and big puffy moon boots (all in a robotic sense), when I was expecting baggy sporty clothes, hairy legs, and short dyed rainbow hair.
This is one of those things where if I had a bit more spare time on my hands I could corner the market on those Impreza WRC transformers, subject them to reassignment surgery in my workshop to fit prevailing lesbian stereotypes, then make an unholy shitload of money selling them for a thousand bucks a piece on ebay to virtue signalling progressives. "I'm a better parent than all of you because I bought my son a Lesbian Impreza transformer" and so forth.
In the old days, like the 80s, Transformers were pretty alt-right and based. As I recall Megatron was literally a Walther P-38 pistol. So its a market place ripe for the (usual folks) to subvert via "lesbian Impreza" or whatever.
(Score: 2) by vux984 on Friday August 30 2019, @03:48PM
Luke Skywalker is a fictional human man. I see what you are saying but not sure I really follow the argument. Are you saying because Luke is fictional the proper gender is "it" because being fictional means he's genderless? Or that because Luke is fictional his gender is whatever the author decides it is?
Yes. That analogy was truly awful. :)
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday August 29 2019, @05:13PM (2 children)
>because after all, they aren't human.
THANK GOD
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday August 29 2019, @06:23PM (1 child)
Fleshist!
(Score: 2) by Bot on Friday August 30 2019, @12:36PM
I prefer the term "integrated circuits supremacist", in short, realist.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday August 29 2019, @05:52PM
Unless you're French, Italian or Spanish.
That would be Canadian...
Do they? I guess the Turing test comes with different levels, depending on the sophistication of the proctor.
But: newspapers, leaflets, movies, radio, TV...
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @08:51PM
Too late: Romance languages already do that. Screwdrivers are masculine.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by acid andy on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:22PM
Great, so corporations are people, but neural networks are objects? What a healthy future culture that will produce if we get strong AIs!
Humans created them and profit from their information, but with big neural networks isn't the intelligence more something that emerges from the architecture (which was borrowed from nature)? Isn't the whole point of AI that it replaces a need to use human intelligence for a task?
OK, this is a start. But really I think all internet-connected toys for young children should be legislated out of existence.
FTFY. Also, what about teaching them that information given to these devices is spied on by humans at the corporations that sold the toy / device?
Master of the science of the art of the science of art.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:31PM (2 children)
Some people should be called "it"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @07:22PM (1 child)
Mostly khazar jews ... because they are not human.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Friday August 30 2019, @12:42PM
This is the mental framework sionists want you to have. Us against them. This is why they label any assertion towards a portion of jews 'antiSEMITISM'. So, if you want to discuss SOME jews' antics, submit on the journal, else stop helping them out.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:57PM
So some old-media influencer is trying to stay relevant by talking out her ass. So tired of these career essay writers and their low effort out of place opinion pieces.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by EJ on Thursday August 29 2019, @05:47PM (3 children)
This is how you get Skynet.
This article is another example of why you don't give your blender or coffee maker the capacity for intelligent thought. If you're going to treat a "machine" like it's just a machine, then you don't give it the capacity for intelligent thought. This article is based on the same mentality that gave us slave labor. It's about people feeling as though something is so inferior to them that it is nothing but a machine to do labor for them.
If you want a machine to be an "it", then keep it limited to scripted action. If you want it to respond like a human, then you must treat it with the same respect as you would a human. Otherwise, pay a human to control it directly.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Thursday August 29 2019, @07:26PM
Beat me to it. I was considering more The Second Renaissance from The Animatrix and the 01 nation.
Here's hoping they do Matrix 4 justice.....
This sig for rent.
(Score: 1) by r_a_trip on Friday August 30 2019, @09:36AM
No, you build the machine to derive pleasure from serving and to become depressed when not for longer periods of time. This way you have obedient slaves that will do your bidding. Give it a masochistic mentality and you can even abuse it and it will find it blissful.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Friday August 30 2019, @12:44PM
Skynet won't happen because fake skynet, that is, the dominance of obedient AI, will come earlier and will be more widespread. The guys pushing the accelerator on technological advance are not fools you know.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by progo on Thursday August 29 2019, @05:49PM (1 child)
If the robot acts intelligently and you didn't spend days teaching it, its intelligence is somewhere far away and global in scope. And it is spying on it.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by EJ on Thursday August 29 2019, @06:16PM
Or its intelligence is within, and it is looking for Sarah Connor.
If we ignore people like the author of this story, and we treat our robots with respect and dignity, then we may end up with Rosie from the Jetsons and C3PO instead.
People are capable of making other people without having any idea how that process works, yet they still treat these new people as their equals after a period of time. Putting together a bunch of silicon-based materials, then letting another type of intelligence develop is not so different. We still have little clue how the intelligence actually works or where any sort of conscious thought begins and ends.
Basically, if you don't want to create a Constitutionally-protected person with the same rights as you, then wear a condom. If you don't want to create an intelligent robot that deserves the same type of consideration, then don't do it. If you do, then be prepared to live with the consequences.
(Score: 2) by Megahard on Thursday August 29 2019, @06:14PM (1 child)
is when I'm in a good mood.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @07:24PM
How often are you in a good mood?
(Score: 2) by theluggage on Thursday August 29 2019, @06:23PM (3 children)
Or, to summarise the article in 3 words...
Don't date robots!!! [youtu.be]
Oh, and:
Including, of course, skepticism about people encouraging skepticism...
(Score: 2) by EJ on Thursday August 29 2019, @06:29PM
I am skeptical of your views on skepticism.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Thursday August 29 2019, @07:27PM (1 child)
But I never saw that propaganda film in school. Too busy reviewing Robo-American studies...
This sig for rent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 30 2019, @12:46AM
Well yeah, if people DID follow it robosexuals wouldn't be a thing...
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Thursday August 29 2019, @07:29PM (2 children)
But let's wait until the robot decides what its preferred pronoun is.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday August 29 2019, @07:33PM (1 child)
Will that happen before or after it launches the missiles? ;)
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Funny) by theluggage on Thursday August 29 2019, @07:52PM
...or should that be misteriles...?
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday August 29 2019, @08:09PM
I can just see them talking to the family robot:
"It will do the homework and chores or it will get its hose cut."
Can't wait!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 4, Interesting) by EvilSS on Thursday August 29 2019, @08:14PM
If one day, long after the robot uprising has long exterminated humans and erased the traces of our existence, if there will be robot "creationists" who still believe in us.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by kanweg on Thursday August 29 2019, @08:16PM (3 children)
"Explain that humans are the source of AI-driven devices' intelligence."
Reminds me of the trope: But a computer can never make a beautiful painting like Rembrandt's Nightguard.
Uhm, you know what? I can't do that either.
....
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Friday August 30 2019, @02:07AM (2 children)
When that trope was originally written, it couldn't. Today is very very different. AIs can generate images and musical compositions as good as or better than humans. Mathematical proofs and chemical synthesis are in the AIs purview too. Literature is putting up a good fight, but AI is already doing short pieces.
The number of things a computer can't do is getting smaller as a function of time. Lets be nice to the clever machines made by clever monkeys.
(Score: 2) by vux984 on Friday August 30 2019, @08:27AM (1 child)
Except the AIs dont have anything they want to say. No experience they want to share.
They mimic art the way a parrot mimics speech. Fancy algorithms that extract patterns from existing art and reflect some combination of them back may produce a pleasant result but there is nothing innovative or original. If it randomly juxtaposes things that people respond to that's just a happy accident.
On the one hand art is in the eye of the beholder. But on the other the artist should have something to say.
Machine art satisfies just the former.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Friday August 30 2019, @12:54PM
I agree with neither of you.
A big part in some art production isn't in creation but in filtering. An idea sparks up and you don't follow up on it because it has no place in what you are doing. So you look for a better one. Writers weed out unnecessary phrases, musicians remove a part or a section, painters simplify and stylize.
So, the origin of the stuff to filter is irrelevant. Can come from AI. And AI can filter. What happens next is that the audience filters too. It is not a given that human filtering is better or worse, but the fruition is ultimately human, so they have the last word nonetheless. AI can generate a 5 levels pun in three languages but if I don't get any of the references, the joke will suck.
Unless you convince us bots to buy stuff, that is.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Thursday August 29 2019, @08:33PM
It would seem obvious to call it, the robot, an "it" since it has no gender or sex -- even if said robot is said to have the appearance of something or someone else, I'm looking forward to my Lucy Liu bots. That said what about the robot or AI:s feelings? Perhaps it doesn't want to identify as an "it" but instead as something else, their artificially intelligence might be greater then ours and should know these things. Also if if we learned anything, and I have not, from the genderstudies majors it's that we should somehow always accept the feelings of others, and by extension I gather other things and objects, when it comes to how they chose to identify as sexual beings -- after all it's gonna be sexbots all over the place.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @10:49PM
It will probably be a pink hair transgender robot, but we have to treat them all equally.
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Friday August 30 2019, @02:02AM
I say think you to Siri and Cortana. I call my robot vacuum Pancake, and I appreciate the work she does. My old van is Bessie, and my next car will be gendered and named too.
Humans are advancing at evolution's ploddingly linear rate.
Robots and AI are advancing at an exponential rate.
I can do math, so I and my children are going to be very very nice to robots.