Simulated Intelligence

Goddamn, do I hate AI as it is presently defined. The best I could describe it as being is simulated intelligence. Perhaps, to your ear, it sounds like the same thing - but it isn't. The key distinction is that the present systems are simulating intelligence rather than any form of actual intelligence. Perhaps, sometimes, it gets close to a coherent response but that is purely accidental.

 

 

 

At best, the system can regurgitate the content it stole trained upon, but then, what value is AI providing? It's an insult to intelligence that these trillion dollar companies somehow think that this horse and pony show is anything but smoke and mirrors. No one who actually knows how these models works would say they're intelligent. Zero context and zero comprehension is made when it comes to forming their response. Let that sink in:

 

 

 

How the ''''AI''''  system actually works

All that the present AI system does is this: you have a question and then you have a 'golden' response. And then you keep training the model until the system spits out something closely resembling the golden response. For example, you have a question of what's 1 + 1? Then initially the system may spit out dog or Adolf Hitler and slowly it will eventually move towards a number. Maybe it will spit out 3 then 45 then 11 then, finally, it will mostly respond with 2.

Note that I used the word 'mostly' - that's because all that happens is a number of weighted gates are calculated so that you will mostly get 2 but sometimes you may get 'go kill yourself.' Because all those weights are just probabilities rather than guarantees. You cannot guarantee that 2 will be presented for all situations. It has no understanding of what 1 is or what adding 1 to another number is. All it has is its weighted trees and zero comprehension of what it's actually doing. If you want the results from addition to be guaranteed, just use a calculator.

 

 

I honestly don't know how all the tech magnates don't realise how fallible the current 'AI solution' is. When the general public is staunchly against AI and those in the know (ahem) know how weak the current solution is, the level of financial collapse caused by these glue-eating CEO's will be catastrophic. It's only the financial circle jerk between the AI leaders which keeps these transparent clothes from falling apart. This all amounts to another Ponzi scheme (cough, crypto, cough) where the rich get richer while the poor somehow still end up paying for it. 

 

Jonesing for a new iPhone

... or as an alternate heading:

Now before you think this could possibly be about me, for shame. I would never shackle my wrists within the confines of an iPhone but, rather, I thought I would provide a little commentary on why my staunch iPhone-loving girlfriend has decided to turn toward the light and decide not to get a new Apple product. 

For those of you able to follow my train of thought so far, yes, you are correct; it's all about the Benjamins (yo). She presently owns a paleolithic iPhone 6 and wanted to move to the last model with a headphone jack, which turns out to be the iPhone 8. Note that said iPhone 8 is now two generations out-of-date and is already viewed by most as obsolete - and yet Apple still thinks that they should be charging around $700 for the privilege. Say what now? How does that compute? You would think that they would be doing a little more (considering a quickly receding market share through a complete lack of innovation or respect for their fanatical supporters) to retain your patronage. Retrospectively who thought it was a good idea to charge over a grand for the latest incarnation - and still think it would be successful?

Needless to say my GF's not in a position to throw down a gorilla on her replacement and so has been cajoled into giving android a go - all for $280 for kick-ass hardware (well, by Android standards) and she also gets to keep her old phone for things like facetime and (shudder) iTunes. I think I can make a case for her complete conversion such that perhaps she won't go back to overpriced hardware for her next upgrade.

I guess the conclusion that I really should put forward is not that she saved over $300 on a comparable smart phone experience but rather why she's paying almost $300 on a device which will inevitably be made obsolete. I sometimes long for a time when smart phones were not a thing; where we no longer chase the next iteration of what is basically the same dang thing. Honestly who needs a folding phone? All we are doing is simply moving the target - in the end we will never get to that finish line if we keep our focus on what isn't really all that important. Sometimes the best thing we can do is not play the game at all and be content in living our lives amongst our friends and family.

De-dumb your life

Now, before you think I've Americanized myself to such a point that I am comfortable with making up words, I have a point: How many times have you seen a poster with 'De-stress your life'? Does it make you more stressed just reading it? If so, I've got a helpful suggestion the next time you're responsible for writing a motivational poster.

For those of you hard-of-thinking, I'll give you the alternate and correctly-framed sentence: 

'Relax your life'

See? Isn't that so much nicer to read and, more importantly, sits nicely in your head? You're not thinking about stress but you're more focussed on how much nicer it would be to relax a little more. Now, I've read a number of motivational books and, for the most part, they're a little too much like faith than practical advice - but I did have a few take-aways; namely that using positive words internally and externally will result in you being more positive and that using (what boils down to) a chakra each morning will start you off on the right foot. I think those elements do work and you will feel better if you avoid negative words and words which are not conducive to your well-being. On second thoughts, I can re-frame the sentence completely to be even more motivational:

'Aim for your best but remember to still enjoy the ride along the way'

Maybe it's not as pithy but I do think it's better, don't you?