patrick.net

I am not sure if the author of the article even understands artificial intelligence. Most people, under the influence of modern philosophy, mistakenly views as a rule-based information processing apparatus. This is incorrect. In fact, such approach unnecessarily hindered the development of AI.

Machines are more than capable of becoming generalists. They can learn on their own with or without supervision.

Recently, it has been shown that computers can using the same underlying program to play different Atari games.

We live in an exciting time.

Yeah but what happens when you change the blip on the screen in Pong with the Pac Man avatar? Or what happens when you present the computer with a new game board or stage with in the game it was playing.

Also 8 bit games are not much of a challenge, let's see an AI computer complete Legend of Zelda without calling the Ninetindo tipline.

People worry too much about existential risks. Everybody dies in the end, due to natural causes or otherwise.

Furthering the development of artificial intelligence provides excellent reward versus risk. Imagine the technological advances and social order that will become attainable.

On the other hand, sending messages into deep space is a really stupid bet. It invites possible extraterrestrial invasion yet it yields little to no profit.

Space exploration should be curtailed. Artificial intelligence must go forward.

CaptainShuddup says

Yeah but what happens when you change the blip on the screen in Pong with the Pac Man avatar? Or what happens when you present the computer with a new game board or stage with in the game it was playing.

The computer will take some time to learn the changes. Then it can go ahead without reprogramming. It is that amazing.

Rin says

For me, this is a perplexing conundrum. The potential for a Skynet is so remote and so out there, in terms of a future timeline, that it ceases to make a dent in my day to day life for at least another century. On the other hand, if the jobs of diagnostic doctors, actuaries, auditors, truck drivers, paralegals, pharmacists, janitorial services, and pretty much 80-90% of the work out there are handled by automatrons, then we'll have a true collapse in our society.

This is because several movies talked about SkyNet but not the economic consequences.

We will never know if machines can achieve consciousness because I cannot even prove if anyone other than myself is conscious.

Rin says

I do and I was told that electrical engineers (EEs) will be in demand forever, because the demand for electronic goods is ever growing.

You need to see a therapist about this, because you are tormenting yourself.

I know dozens of people in the arts and sciences whose first-choice careers did not pan out due to market changes, lies from the faculty or bad luck. The miserable ones are those who haven't moved on mentally.

Rin says

Well, fast forward a few decades and many EEs have switched to IT programming or some other area of work. In reality, much of what the EE industries needed was either outsourced or automated. The so-called predicted headcount shortage never came to fruition.

Those smartphone and smart TV circuits don't create themselves.

CaptainShuddup says

Those smartphone and smart TV circuits don't create themselves.

But computer programs help create them. In the near future, machines will be fully capable of designing and manufacturing improved versions of themselves.

Rin says

Well, fast forward a few decades and many EEs have switched to IT programming or some other area of work.

And soon enough, much IT programming will be switched to AI programming. At least in the beginning, we will still need people to do data transformation and problem statement.

Rin says

The potential for a Skynet is so remote and so out there, in terms of a future timeline, that it ceases to make a dent in my day to day life for at least another century. On the other hand, if the jobs of diagnostic doctors, actuaries, auditors, truck drivers, paralegals, pharmacists, janitorial services, and pretty much 80-90% of the work out there are handled by automatrons, then we'll have a true collapse in our society.

I think Skynet is not a danger.
And automation is not a danger either: if everything is automated, humans may be free of work, or choose to work on quality endeavors rather than the grinding commercial labor we're doing now. As long as we are willing to jettison capitalism, and place humanity at the center, we'll be fine.

The real risk of AI is what humans will do with it: computer assisted dictatorships, and automated warfare.

Heraclitusstudent says

The real risk of AI is what humans will do with it: computer assisted dictatorships, and automated warfare.

You are still under the delusion of a humanist utopia.

AI fits perfectly in a global, post-capitalistic, neo-feudalistic society. That may be a good thing.

The oldest profession will thrive in the new world.

HydroCabron says

Rin says

I do and I was told that electrical engineers (EEs) will be in demand forever, because the demand for electronic goods is ever growing.

You need to see a therapist about this, because you are tormenting yourself.

I know dozens of people in the arts and sciences whose first-choice careers did not pan out due to market changes, lies from the faculty or bad luck. The miserable ones are those who haven't moved on mentally.

I'd moved onto financial services from engineering ... so my future is set. I'm not worried about money anymore.

What I want, however, is revenge against those lying faculty members and their sycophants.

Once these lying academicians are publicly humiliated and then, defecated on by their postdocs, I'll be content. And then, this information needs to be shared to all the K-12 students out there so that the academic machine comes to a grinding halt within a generation.

My hope is to see a skidrow of formerly tenured professors out there on the streets. Once that occurs, then I'll feel vindicated.

I only have respect for philosophy professors.

I knew a guy who went into a profession with honors, became a victim of the times and wasn't able to use his advanced degrees.

He started a carpet business and is financially better off than he ever would have been in his original avocation. Having a flexible and pragmatic outlook really helps for survival.

I participated in a talk at a graduate program (98K per year tuition and expenses) about six weeks ago. The dean and the staff were adamantine cheerleaders. My only feeling was gloom and pity for the prospects of the students. A lot of them were foreign princesses and princelings, anyway, with Maseratis, Taliban SUVs and Jensen Healeys in the parking lot.

Rin says

What I want, however, is revenge against those lying faculty members and their sycophants.

Once these lying academicians are publicly humiliated and then, defecated on by their postdocs, I'll be content.

My hope is to see a skidrow of formerly tenured professors out there on the streets

Yeah, that seems healthy.

Ceffer says

I knew a guy who went into a profession with honors, became a victim of the times and wasn't able to use his advanced degrees.

Very few graduate degrees are directly useful.

Rin says

Once these lying academicians are publicly humiliated and then, defecated on by their postdocs, I'll be content.

Wow, you're letting them off easy!

Now if you give the the post-docs a feast of cuttlefish and asparagus the night before then you'll have the beginning of a proper revenge.

Spoiler alert - the administration gets punished too.

Are academicians as nutty as macadamians?

Another retarded article ...

http://hechingerreport.org/content/theres-no-thing-f-computer-science_18590/

Excerpt

Whatever their origins, these perceived challenges in studying computer science too often act as a disincentive for students, and increase the likelihood that only students with a strong natural aptitude will learn computer science if it’s not a core subject offered in their schools.

Even if students are fortunate enough to be in one of the less than 10 percent of U.S. high schools that offer computer science, they’re unlikely to elect to study computer science if they don’t have a strong background in math, if it only counts as an elective or has the potential to hurt their GPA, or if the teacher and the other kids in the class don’t look like them.

This is where educators and role models come in.
Ayanna Howard is systems and controls professor, Georgia Institute of Technology.

Teachers can take an unknown, scary subject and make it interesting and fun. They can help students develop confidence in their math, logic, and problem solving skills.

WTF! How many people went to college for electrical, chemical, biomedical, mechanical, industrial, civil, and nuclear engineerings? Yes, ALL hard STEM majors and then later, leave them for some other occupation?

What percent of EE grads, in the past twenty years, are still employed in the non-defense, electronics industries?

Seriously, it's 2015 and we still have these sorts of insipid articles?

HydroCabron says

Yeah, that seems healthy.

If I can stop one child or a group of kids, from being exploited by the academic machine, then yes ... it's healthy.

Since it's Christmas, what's not healthy is 'turning the other cheek' or 'forgive thy enemies'. Here's why ... the enemies or in this case, the liars, will not stop the lies.

Where ppl like Mohandas Gandhi [ who was inspired by the Sermon on the Mount ] got their mojo was the fact that the western press was on their side. At the same time, the British Empire was in decline, as a result of the resources wasted on WWI and WWII. If Gandhi was not a media darling, he could have either been forgotten or quietly taken out, without fanfare.

Likewise, the actual STEM graduates and worker bees are being silenced by a cacophony of a media blitz, claiming a STEM shortage. This is the opposite of the Gandhi effect.

APOCALYPSEFUCKisShostikovitch says

Wharton?

Looks like a lot of executive MBAs: Wharton, Columbia, Harvard, Stanford, etc, have this one year ~$100K price tag, for some connections to management consulting or financial services. The problem is that many of these fellas are already in those fields, so it's really little more than hobnobbing.

I once interviewed a candidate with an MBA. He kept trying to complicate simple questions. Was he trying to impress me? I certainly wasn't.

Peter P says

I once interviewed a candidate with an MBA. He kept trying to complicate simple questions. Was he trying to impress me? I certainly wasn't.

The big thing is the frequent overuse of the term ... synergy.

I'd bagged two ppl interviewing at our firm, the moment I'd heard that one. I said, "Look, we're not some uninvited prospect, we're the place you're interviewing for; cliches are not appreciated."

Chemistry PhDs from world-class universities are tutoring HS kids online for $20/hr.

What a waste of talent.

The interest rates are in the toilet and the financial markets are awash in tons of cash, so there is no "Starving for Capital" excuse this time.

Rin says

he big thing is the frequent overuse of the term ... synergy.

I love that word, but only because it irritates my wife. :-)

thunderlips11 says

Chemistry PhDs from world-class universities are tutoring HS kids online for $20/hr.

Is it a guy with permanent head damage, or a gal who is a pretty hot dimwit?

thunderlips11 says

Chemistry PhDs from world-class universities are tutoring HS kids online for $20/hr.

From my limited prior experience in biopharma ... Chemistry PhDs were at most, used in separation technologies or analytical instruments. In other words, they were basically high end technicians, calibrating equipment.

The code word there was assay development. I think that's how they get to feel proud about their prior graduate studies. It's sad to have worked in an industry, where a 31-33 year old PhD holder is entry level, by virtue of having been a prisoner in PhD/postdoc land. The only difference between them and myself, given the age delta, was that as a BS holder, I had a fixed R&D glass ceiling, if I didn't onto the business side of the house.

Since I'm a career changer, my story doesn't really matter but I can say one thing ... those who'd started in finance, straight out of college a/o b-school, are rather seasoned by the age of 32. The only reason why many of them don't retire at 45 is because they didn't squirrel away the bonuses and got into the lifestyle thing.

From the article ...

if students are fortunate enough to be in one of the less than 10 percent of U.S. high schools that offer computer science

Ok, STOP right there!

This is the year 2015, the entire curricula for most undergraduate majors are available online.

https://www.coursera.org

And MIT OCW and YouTube also have streaming courses. This is free material!

Today, if a kid (with too much time on his hands) wants to learn programming, mathematics, physics, chemistry, even electrical engineering, there is nothing stopping him from getting that information.

Before, he'd have to sneak into a university classroom, hide in the back rows, so that security doesn't see an underaged kid lurking about, and he'd have no way of gaining any assessment on what he'd heard in class.

Today, it's the opposite. In today's world, I could have gotten a GED in the 9th grade and then, proceeded to work on a bachelors degree, all in the comfort of my home, periodically signing up for an on-campus lab section, ala carte, and completing that degree around age 19.

Rin says

Today, if a kid (with too much time on his hands) wants to learn programming, mathematics, physics, chemistry, even electrical engineering, there is nothing stopping him from getting that information.

Only if he also takes many other "useless" humanities courses. :-)

A programmer is worthless if he cannot operate in multiple contexts. In fact, IMO programming is an art of intertextuality.

Peter P says

Rin says

Today, if a kid (with too much time on his hands) wants to learn programming, mathematics, physics, chemistry, even electrical engineering, there is nothing stopping him from getting that information.

Only if he also takes many other "useless" humanities courses. :-)

A programmer is worthless if he cannot operate in multiple contexts. In fact, IMO programming is an art of intertextuality.

Sorry, but many humanities courses in HS are memorization of the events of WWII or some idiot's interpretation of Thoreau or Chaucer. The notion that a vast majority of HSers do highly analytical work on Goethe, Kant, etc, is simply not the case.

Rin says

Sorry, but many humanities courses in HS are memorization of the events of WWII or some idiot's interpretation of Thoreau or Chaucer. The notion that a vast majority of HSers do highly analytical work on Goethe, Kant, etc, is simply not the case.

They need college-level humanities courses like philosophy, psychology, political economy, literature etc. Also, training in abstract math is highly useful.

Most people who taught themselves programming are overly task-oriented. A good programmer is a well-rounded individual with quirky personality.

Peter P says

hey need college-level humanities courses like philosophy, psychology, political economy, literature etc. Also, training in abstract math is highly useful.

What are you, a University of Chicago faculty member?

The world doesn't need more analytical ppl, it needs ppl who follow orders.

Rin says

The world doesn't need more analytical ppl, it needs ppl who follow orders.

Nah, I rather have robots that follow orders. I want my people to make artisan pizza and pasta.

Even the most loyal people get confused.

Peter P says

Rin says

The world doesn't need more analytical ppl, it needs ppl who follow orders.

Nah, I rather have robots that follow orders. I want my people to make artisan pizza and pasta.

Even the most loyal people get confused.

Being creative, making artisan pizza and such, doesn't require The Chicago Core Curriculum.

The purpose of 'The Core' is to create a standardized undergraduate study body for the sake of assessment. Thus, graduate programs in let's say Philosophy, History, etc, can pigeonhole a person, based upon his grades and evaluation letters, from those course selections.

Obviously, the university doesn't want to say out loud that their students have been *pigeonholed*, so instead they use this expression ...

"The 'Core' is intended as an introduction to the tools of inquiry used in every discipline: science, mathematics, humanities, and social sciences. The goal is not just to transfer knowledge, but to raise fundamental questions and to become familiar with the powerful ideas that shape our society." --- Chicago's web site

Sorry, but ppl do not ask fundamental questions, even those so-called geniuses at Chicago. Ppl are sycophants for ways of thinking. In Chicago's case, it's about being seen and assessed as an intellectual. For example, at a b-ball game, the normal fans are those who watch the game. When Chicago students arrive, they shout 'Aristotle, Plato, Hume, etc' thinking that their reading list is having some impact on the opposing team's fan base. Sorry, but all that does is make the U of C students look like a bunch of dorky losers. BTW, that was an embarrassing moment for me, as I couldn't chant with my friends there at U of C because it was pathetic attempt at self-adulation.

More BS ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/27/us/college-science-classes-failure-rates-soar-go-back-to-drawing-board.html?_r=1

Article excerpt:

Employers and government officials have spent years complaining that there are too few people — and especially too few women and blacks — with degrees in math and science.

In fact, there is no shortage of interested students, but failure rates in the beginning classes are high. At four-year colleges, 28 percent of students set out as math, engineering and science majors, but only 16 percent of bachelor’s degrees are awarded in those fields. The attrition rate is highest among women and blacks.

WTF! I'd gotten A-'s and A's in every single introductory science class but I'd still left for finance. Many others are in postdocs today, with no hope for a full time faculty position.

None of the ppl, short changed by the academic machine were C, D, or F students!

WTF is the matter with all these articles?! It's not to the benefit of every person out there, to study science and engineering.

Many ppl should learn a trade and find a job as a machinist, electrician, or plumber. We don't need a million unemployed engineers or scientists out there, looking for part-time gigs.

Rin says

Sorry, but all that does is make the U of C students look like a bunch of dorky losers

Wasn't it Chicago that started having students wear white lab coats in the Economics department?

From the quoted article:
Rin says

At four-year colleges, 28 percent of students set out as math, engineering and science majors, but only 16 percent of bachelor’s degrees are awarded in those fields.

We mint ~300,000 STEM undergrads, that's one third of a million, every year.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/TCbFEgFajGU#t=36

Deserves a repost: Immigration and Employment Lawyers hold a seminar for HR on how to get skirt requirements regarding advertising job positions in order to hire the H1-B.
"Our goal is NOT to find a qualified and interested US Worker" - starts around 1:40

At 3:10, the lawyers discuss a chart to help HR disqualify job applicants, even to the point of having a manager - if necessary - interview them for the purpose of disqualifying them.

thunderlips11 says

Rin says

Sorry, but all that does is make the U of C students look like a bunch of dorky losers

Wasn't it Chicago that started having students wear white lab coats in the Economics department?

It wouldn't surprise me one bit.

thunderlips11 says

"Our goal is NOT to find a qualified and interested US Worker" - starts around 1:40

This is yesteryear's story. It's obvious the STEM wages are depressed by the arbitrage of using H1-B labor against US nationals and Green Card holders.

STEM shortage and what K-12 should do ..

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/educationlab/2014/12/30/project-lead-the-way-toppenish-vince-bertram/?syndication=rss

From the Article

former school superintendent Vince Bertram, and one that riles anyone who sees education as a zero-sum game: Nurture one area of study and you necessarily starve another.

Bertram sees no need for such a siloed approach. What if we explained to students who dream of becoming NBA stars or millionaire musicians that rappers use technology to mix their singles, that athletes need engineering for better sneakers?

Barf bag pleaz!!!

If I were a kid and heard the above, I'd say "Hmm .... as a rookie, I'm guaranteed $1.4M for the first two years in the NBA, even if I'm a complete bust and sit on the bench the whole time versus studying like hell, so that my sneaker design/schematics (that is if that job even exists), is done somewhere in Indonesia and I'm working a $60K/yr job, verifying the lacing specs to our regional distributors before I sent those specs off to Indonesia so that a team there, can perform all the work."

Seriously, this is pure nonsense, this is what I'd tell these kids ... get on the net, starting 5th or 6th grade, start streaming courses like the Analysis of Algorithms below ...

http://www.youtube.com/embed/JPyuH4qXLZ0&index=1&list=PL28045DE32CB7B098

If the material makes sense or is interesting, consider studying for a STEM degree, while preparing for the Patent Agent exam or the Medical School Admissions Test (MCAT), at the same time.

thunderlips11 says

Chemistry PhDs from world-class universities are tutoring HS kids online for $20/hr.

What a waste of talent.

The interest rates are in the toilet and the financial markets are awash in tons of cash, so there is no "Starving for Capital" excuse this time.

It's a clear case of misapplication of capital: the chemistry Ph.D should not have wasted the educational resources earlier in his career when there would be no job prospect. Low interest rate and government subsidy do not create capital. On the contrary, they produce wrong signals that confuse market participants and that leads to destruction of capital. In this case, the young Ph.D's time and the resources that went into the Ph.D program.