ethics. technology. society.
Tech needs better definitions As the curtain fell on 2024, I had a baby. It was Friday the 13th, a date often associated with bad luck thanks to European superstitions stretching back a couple of hundred years. There is even a specific term to describe the “fear of Friday the 13th”: paraskevidekatriaphobia. Although urban legend … Continue reading A Birth, a Bereavement, and the Essence of Snoop…
While there is a natural tendency to focus on the mechanics of how very clever the AI is, at the end of the day it’s a tool. A tool’s job is – and always will be – to foster human happiness and flourishing. Let’s have more illustrative examples that draw a clear line from the system to this objective.
While it’s to be expected that some researchers will remain dedicated to earth shattering breakthroughs, ultimately the crowds at Davos – and at every other AI gathering this year – will be much hungrier for examples of how LLMs will change the world in the near-term, beyond drafting emails and writing marketing materials.
I haven’t posted in a while. In truth, there hasn’t been a lot that’s piqued my interest, and there are now elaborate global mechanisms and a squadron of eager commentators prepped and ready to address the issues I used to point at on this humble blog. In November, I could’ve written something predictable about the … Continue reading ChatGPT: A Cautionary Tale (With Some Positive Takeaways)
With the claim that the pernicious effects of misinformation are typically overstated in public commentary, The Royal Society implores us to tread carefully when dealing with the problem. In bowing to overblown perception, we risk "throwing the baby out with the bathwater."
Everyone has an opinion on Web3 right now. But who is right, and why should we care? If you just got your head around the metaverse then you’ll be exhausted to learn that there’s another hard-to-understand buzzword to bone up on: Web3. Web3. Not Web 3.0. That’s what your parents would call it. The next … Continue reading What is Web3: Decentralized Utopia or Cultish Irrelevance?
Not content with constructing and controlling our internet news feeds, search results, and shopping experiences, our tech masters have set their sights on architecting whole new realms for us -- their subjects -- to inhabit.
While Renaissance women agonized about achieving Simonetta's bodily proportions and alabaster skin, their 21st century counterparts are turning to technological, and even surgical correction to emulate the new, algorithmically dictated standards for attention-worthy good looks.
We’re fast becoming accustomed to clandestine observation. Quietly, in the background, algorithms have been watching our facial expressions, features, and behavioral mannerisms to try to establish a supposed “understanding” of such things as our job suitability, our sexuality, what “subcategory of person” we fit, and even our propensity for criminality. Of course, that’s on top … Continue reading…
ameras that not only monitor and sometimes identify us -- but seek to pre-empt our very movements. Though on occasions this might mean helpfully reuniting a parent with a lost child or preventing a suicide, how often will it also cause us to unknowingly come under suspicion of criminality?