AI is Dumb, Says Latest. Are We Dumber?

What's really going on today? Why does the world feel so.... unstable? No holds barred, I want to hear from Colligo readers.

Here’s a media gem. A great compilation of “AI gone bad” stories: tech.co/news/list-ai-failures-mistakes-…

(It’s a good read, to see all the failures and mistakes.)

Now. Big unwieldy question: newspapers were subversive in their day as well, and for that matter the printing press helped folks start upending culture everywhere—eventually Luther was nailing his famous 95 Theses on the door of a German church, which led to an eventually-termed Protestant (as in: “protest”) backlash spreading like fire against frustration with corruption in the Catholic Church. John Calvin later explained how only some folks are going to heaven no matter what you do, so maybe not you (but definitely him) will get a ticket. Novels once were, well, “novel,” and scared the wits out of folks used to bewildering exposition and drawn out sagas.

So on and so forth with the written word. In the earlier oral tradition, folks no doubt had to contend with the shaman and storytellers, who might mix the blood of a virgin and birch bark along with some shade tree fungus to come up with a new arrangement where he gets all the virgins. AI is no different, long view. It’s communication, and someone is directing it. Let’s look at science, where the AI folks are constantly declaring victory around the corner.

Science. Blinded With It!

Big Data is data on a larger scale, which is akin to saying it’s the era of “Big Cars” because they have a bench back seat and trunk space for a dead body… errrr…. for a picnic basket and Johnny’s toys. There’s nothing particularly magical about “big data,” but it DOES put what we call “AI” on steroids, as AI is nothing but statistical analysis, and that typically works better with larger sample sizes (I’m perpetually amazed at how even smart folks don’t seem to get this. It’s not SMART, dammit, there’s a bunch of data now). Anywho, let’s dig into our latest fetish with “big data” and AI, and I want to ask ALL OF YOU whether we’re in a totally new world, or just another one which requires course-correction. Kill a few sacred idols. Vote someone out of office. Or are we really really screwed?

Let’s go to Newton, as in Isaac Newton.