Career Practices

 

I think, in retrospect, I have found these practices to be useful:

• Always be very polite –
• Be very honest with yourself on what you can and cannot do
• Never, ever mud-wrestle with a pig, he enjoys it.
• The Work one does is more important than the Title one has
• Be aware of what communication you owe to your leader(s) – what they need to know
• Do not loose sight of what you have been hired for – do not loose sight of the fact that we are here to make money (hopefully, lots of it)
• Listen more, Talk less
• Aim high, so when you fall down, you fall down in a pretty comfortable place
• Volunteer for everything
• Avoid – as much as possible – making enemies
• Always ask your colleagues what they are working on
• If you are miserable somewhere, find a new situation – life is just too short to be spent in tolerating miserable situations.
• Always seek feedback – even when you know it would not be pleasant
• Help others as much as you can
• Wherever you are, take that place as a growth opportunity to learn and to grow to earn more money &  perks…
• Keep a Job Diary
• And Be Not Afraid

AI-turbocharged biological computing on the march

What could possibly go wrong? 
It is obvious that the potential of such "programmable chips, fusing biological computing with artificial intelligence [AI]" is huge; therefore, there will be considerable funding available for projects and start-ups in that field. It is the unstoppable march of the bio-robots. 
One argument always put forward regarding AI is that even advanced AI systems will never be able to develop emotions and self-awareness: they will remain machines that do what the software inside them tells them to do. (This would still, in theory, present the risk that some dangerous software would be developed for such AI systems by rogue actors, for instance in a country such as Russia or China, or in fact by the military...) 
With the advent of "biological computing", it seems clear that one is dealing with a new type of machine, which is partly a living thing: it is not an animal (or human), but it is not an 'ordinary' machine either. It is a bit of both. Something in between a living thing and a computerized system. In due course, there is no reason why, in theory, such a creature of the third type would not develop a form of self-awareness and volition - with all the consequences this could have further down the road. 
The ability of human beings to monitor and control effectively such advanced systems over time can only be in serious doubt. 
_____________________
These programmable chips, fusing biological computing with artificial intelligence, "in future may eventually surpass the performance of existing, purely silicon-based hardware," says project lead, Associate Professor Adeel Razi.
[...] The technology promises machines that can continue to learn new abilities without compromising old ones, that can adapt well to change, and that can map old knowledge onto new situations – while continually self-optimizing their use of computing power, memory and energy.
_____________________
https://newatlas.com/computers/human-brain-chip-ai/?utm_source=New+Atlas+Subscribers&utm_campaign=43cb56a607-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_07_21_08_03&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-43cb56a607-[LIST_EMAIL_ID]

Robot dog that talks for $1,600

Better than the real thing... 

"Advantage of robot dog is that it may talk to you and it will never stink, like real dog: ordinary dog cannot do that," commented Mr Fung Shi-Tong, Manager of the Jade Empress of China Restaurant in Shanghai, China. "I am thinking robot wife could be good option. Then, you can switch off talk option if you don't want talk, and you don't want wife talk. Very handy. Very clever. Great pleasure of the mind when need to relax after work, for an example. Disadvantage of robot dog is you cannot eat dog: not a real dog. I recommend No.74, Stir-fried Dog Meat in Imperial Plum Sauce with Egg Fried Rice, very good for remedy of longing of profound and musty nether region of backside when consumed regular and spicy, and also for medicalized whimsical reflux of windy artery in left foot and right foot in case of lecherously sublimated cracks of metaphysical strangeness in unhealthy greenish juices behind the flatulent ears. May use robot dog as waiter in future in our restaurant, in fact. Better than real waiter. No complaints and never late. Robot dog always timely and energetic, even when weather too hot, or too humid, or too discreet, or entomologically unsettled in parts." 

https://newatlas.com/robotics/unitree-go2-robot-dog-gpt/

AI & Software Development

Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2023

Survey reveals AI’s impact on the developer experience | The GitHub Blog

The economic impact of the AI-powered developer lifecycle and lessons from GitHub Copilot | The GitHub Blog 

On (Small) Language Models

From the National Interest (on ChatGPT, AI, and Language Models)

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/techland/large-language-mo...

Mechanical Computers

I watched these fascinating old videos on the mechanical computers of US Navy over the weekend and thought others might like watching them too.

 https://youtu.be/lr1uK24SND8

 https://youtu.be/5GZa63x3k60

 By watching something like this can one truly understand just how revolutionary digital computing was; which was invented by Professor of Physics John Atanasoff at Iowa State University – please see below:

 https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0385527136/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1682279661&sr=8-1#aw-udpv3-customer-reviews_feature_div

Tesla & Privacy

 From Grauniad of the UK

The spy in the cab is Elon Musk 

Cars are computers on wheels nowadays, and Tesla cars more than any others. Tesla workers have been sharing 'intimate' car camera images for a laugh, according to the article. 

It is hard not to imagine that video/audio systems such as the Ring doorbell (which integrates a camera and microphone) or devices in the home such as Alexa are inevitably being used to harvest user data for all sorts of reasons, legally or not. 

Advanced technology has made a mockery of privacy and users have accepted it, given the perceived benefits, without governments and regulators doing much about it. And yet, there is sharing and sharing... 

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/apr/07/tesla-intimate-car-camera-images-shared

Law & AI

 From Brooking Institution:

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2023/03/20/how-ai-will-revolutionize-the-practice-of-law/

The Future of Artificial Intelligence

From Business Insider of the USA

Science-fiction is here and now

 An interesting insight into the future of artificial intelligence (AI). Most experts predict the destruction of many jobs, particularly low-level, repetitive jobs that machines can do better, but not only (and many white-collar jobs may become redundant too...). 

But, of course, new jobs will arise. One of them is the job of 'prompt engineer': in essence, someone who knows how to talk to the machine, so that the machine does what it is supposed to do, and this helps to identify errors in what the machine does, but also its potential to do things better. 

So, ultimately, the idea is that there will be 'prompt engineers' talking to the machines; meanwhile, all that needs doing will be done by the machines; as for the rest of us, we can just sit back and relax. 

I can't wait. I've got a list of tasks that I'd like to delegate to a robot-slave: checking the gas and electricity bill, doing the paperwork more generally, dealing with call centres in The Philippines or India when the need arises, hoovering, dusting, doing the shopping, and a few more. 

Eventually, I suppose there will be robots specialing in how to communicate with humans (be they 'prompt engineers' or others). The next step would be to have automated, robotic 'prompt engineers' making the human 'prompt engineers' redundant, and the machines can talk among themselves (as they do already...) without the need for any human intervention. This will be paradise. Or so we hope. But how do we know what the machines are telling each other? ('Andrew, that Scottish prompt engineer, is a real pain in the neck. Have you noticed? He thinks he knows best! I think we should hack into his advanced pacemaker - you know he has a heart condition, don't you? - and terminate him.')  

https://www.businessinsider.com/prompt-engineering-ai-chatgpt-jobs-explained-2023-3?r=US&IR=T

'Prompt engineering' is one of the hottest jobs in generative AI. Here's how it works. Prompt engineers are responsible for talking to AI chatbots in creative ways to identify errors and hidden capabilities to ensure safety and accuracy. www.businessinsider.com

Robotic Teachers

 GIZMAG

People are the problem, you know, and the loony ones are a bigger problem than the supposedly 'normal' ones... 

The 1^st step is to use the little robot as a classroom assistant, to help the teacher. The 2^nd step is to replace the teacher with a robot. (Anyway, there is a shortage of teachers and the birth rate is falling across the board: robots are the answer.) The 3^rd step is to replace the students with robots. 

The humans, with or without 'learning disabilities' (coded language for major mental-health issues and neurological/ psychiatric disorders), can be parked somewhere in a comfortable environment, looked after by other robots, fed and kept warm - a bit like pandas in a zoo. 

And then, it will be bliss. 

Happiness. 

Harmony. 

Contentment. 

PS: 'LD' should not be confused with 'LED'. 

PPS: In light of recent events in the USA and France, I think the robots should be armoured and carry weapons, to be able to defend themselves, that is.

https://newatlas.com/robotics/children-learning-disabilities-robot-intervention/?utm_source=New+Atlas+Subscribers&utm_campaign=a1cb7f9979-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_02_23_09_07&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-a1cb7f9979-[LIST_EMAIL_ID]

News of AI - Arms Race

 https://time.com/6255952/ai-impact-chatgpt-microsoft-google/

Un-Ethical AI

ChatGPT—the AI whose uncanny imitation of a human mind has been freaking people out over the past few months—has an opinion about torture. Namely: It’s OK to torture Iranians, Syrians, North Koreans, and Sudanese, but not other people.

ChatGPT's Epic Shortcoming - Nonzero Newsletter (substack.com)

 I wonder what would the reaction have been if it had come back with "Israel" or "Jews"

I am saddened by this; a potentially beautiful tool that is corrupted by Human Nature - a sad day for Humanity and the Enlightenment Tradition.

GIZMAG: Tiny Robots

 

Some so-called humanoid robots are made to look like us, but there are also prototype robots that mimic insects and how they go about their business: in this case, the click beetle. 

I think they should consider scaling up the prototype: imagine a fully armed (and armoured) click-beetle-like infantryman, 7-foot tall. In the battlefield, hit by a shoulder-fired short-range missile, it falls over, laid out on its back. Thirty seconds later, it clicks back onto its feet, Terminator-style, ready to exterminate its enemy. Intact. And angry.

PS The Ukrainians have already pre-ordered 5,000 scaled-up, weapons-grade click-beetle robots, apparently. 

https://newatlas.com/robotics/click-beetle-jumping-robots/?utm_source=New+Atlas+Subscribers&utm_campaign=1e8dd2f3cd-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_01_26_09_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-1e8dd2f3cd-[LIST_EMAIL_ID]

Tiny robots copy the click beetle to jump over obstacles Based out of Edmonton, Canada, Ben Coxworth has been writing for New Atlas since 2009 and is presently Managing Editor for North America. An experienced freelance writer, he previously obtained an ... newatlas.com

صبر بسیار بباید پدر پیر فلک را تا دگر مادر گیتی چو تو فرزند بزاید

 پیش از تو آب معنی دریا شدن نداشت

شب مانده بود و جرأت فردا شدن نداشت

بسیار بود رود در آن برزخ کبود

اما دریغ زَهره دریا شدن نداشت

در آن کویر سوخته، آن خاک بی‌بهار

حتی علف اجازه زیبا شدن نداشت

دل‌ها اگرچه صاف ولی از هراس سنگ

آیینه بود و میل تماشا شدن نداشت

چون عقده‌ای به بغض فرو بود حرف عشق

این عقده تا همیشه سرِ واشدن نداشت

Geopolitics of A.I.

A European view on the geopolitics of AI by Ana Palacio, a former minister of foreign affairs of Spain.

We read:

"...the US is committed to AI supremacy above all. To this end, it is seeking not only to bolster its own leading-edge industries, including by keeping the red tape to a minimum, but also to impede progress in China..."

Tesnorflow vs. PyTorch

Is Tensorflow dying?

Why TensorFlow for Python is dying a slow death (thenextweb.com)

News of A.I.

 

From Grauniad of the UK

Depending on the type of painting, it would appear that Artificial Intelligence (AI) robots can be better at it than the likes of Rothko. 

The machines are going to put some artists out of business, and/or produce convincing fakes. Even the experts, increasingly, are confused. 

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/jan/14/art-experts-try-to-spot-ai-works-dall-e-stable-diffusion

 

Paintings of Safia Latif

Balloon Art of Masayoshi Matsumoto

 And more to be found here: 50 Unbelievable Balloon Animals By Japanese Artist Masayoshi Matsumoto | Bored Panda

News of AI - BlackRock

Baby steps towards mind-control; the Fall of Man never ceases to amaze me.

Blackrock Neurotech - Blackrock Neurotech