AI is turning us into de facto cyborgs

“If smartphone use is any indication, there is cause for worry. Nicolas Carr wrote in The Wall Street Journal about research suggesting our intellect weakens as our brain grows dependent on phone technology. Likely the same could be said for any information technology where content flows our way without us having to work to learn or discover on our own. If that’s true, then AI applications, which increasingly present content tailored to our specific interests, could create a self-reinforcing syndrome that not only locks us into our information bubbles through algorithmic editing, but also weakens our ability to engage in critical thought by spoon-feeding us what we already believe.”

AI is turning us into de facto cyborgs
https://venturebeat.com/2021/05/08/ai-is-turning-us-into-de-facto-cyborgs/
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AI is turning us into de facto cyborgs

“Indeed, AI is showing up just about everywhere. In recent weeks, there have been stories of how AI is used to monitor the emotional state of cows and pigs, dodge space junk in orbit, teach American Sign Language, speed up assembly lines, win elite crossword puzzle tournaments, assist fry cooks with hamburgers, and enable “hyperautomation.” Soon there will be little left for humans to do beyond writing long-form journalism — until that, too, is replaced by AI. The text generation engine GPT-3 from OpenAI is potentially revolutionary in this regard, leading a New Yorker essay to claim: “Whatever field you are in, if it uses language, it is about to be transformed.””

AI is turning us into de facto cyborgs
https://venturebeat.com/2021/05/08/ai-is-turning-us-into-de-facto-cyborgs/
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It's a Defining Moment in the Fight Against Climate Change | Time

https://time.com/5864692/climate-change-defining-moment/

In the future, we may look back at 2020 as the year we decided to keep driving off the climate cliff–or to take the last exit. Taking the threat seriously would mean using the opportunity presented by this crisis to spend on solar panels and wind farms, push companies being bailed out to cut emissions and foster greener forms of transport in cities. If we instead choose to fund new coal-fired power plants and oil wells and thoughtlessly fire up factories to urge growth, we will lock in a pathway toward climate catastrophe. There’s a divide about which way to go.

Don’t Wish for Happiness. Work for It.

“The action itself is crucial. There is an old joke about a man who asks God every day to let him win the lottery. After many years of this prayer, he finally gets an answer from heaven: “Do me a favor,” says God. “Buy a ticket.” If you want happiness, reflecting on why you don’t have it and seeking information on how to attain it is a good start. But if you don’t use that information, you’re not buying a ticket.”

Don’t Wish for Happiness. Work for It.
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2021/04/working-wishing-happiness/618664/
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The EU is considering a ban on AI for mass surveillance and social credit scores

“The creation of a “European Artificial Intelligence Board,” consisting of representatives from every nation-state, to help the commission decide which AI systems count as “high-risk” and to recommend changes to prohibitions”

The EU is considering a ban on AI for mass surveillance and social credit scores
https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/14/22383301/eu-ai-regulation-draft-leak-surveillance-social-credit
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Don’t Wish for Happiness. Work for It.

“In his 1851 work American Notebooks, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote, “Happiness in this world, when it comes, comes incidentally. Make it the object of pursuit, and it leads us a wild-goose chase, and is never attained.” This is basically a restatement of the Stoic philosophers’ “paradox of happiness”: To attain happiness, we must not try to attain it.”

Don’t Wish for Happiness. Work for It.
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2021/04/working-wishing-happiness/618664/
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