Listening to the recent debate between human debating champion Harish Natarajan and IBM's Watson-derived Project Debater, I was amused to hear the AI conclude her* remarks with a Benjamin Disraeli quote. His sentiment was consistent with her argument, but to my ears the quote was not exactly a compelling clincher. I found it a little clichéd, frankly, which is why it amused me. Apparently AIs learning how to debate go through the same stages as students. Although once I heard more about how the software was trained, it … [Read more...] about Science Corner: When All Else Fails, Quote a British Prime Minister
artificial intelligence
Science in Review: Decision-Making A Long Time Ago and in a Future Not Far Away
I introduced my reflections on the AI and Christianity essay series by J. Nathan Matias et al with a quote from Star Wars, so it is fitting (if thoroughly unplanned) to return to a galaxy far, far away to conclude my thoughts on the topic. The following will have some spoilers for The Last Jedi, but after I saw it I realized its themes were too relevant to pass up. While there is no AI per se in the film, the story is all about decisions, who gets to make them, and how they get made. In that sense, it overlaps strongly … [Read more...] about Science in Review: Decision-Making A Long Time Ago and in a Future Not Far Away
Science in Review: On the Couch with Dr. Know
As a researcher for a public health software company, I have experimented a little with predictive models of health-related outcomes. Mainly I have focused on population-level predictions -- e.g. how many flu cases to expect this winter in a given county -- but on one occasion I tried to predict which individual patients would eventually experience a drug overdose necessitating a visit to an emergency department. Statistically, the results were encouraging, although on further inspection I realized that mainly my model … [Read more...] about Science in Review: On the Couch with Dr. Know
Science in Review: Meet the New Boss, v4.8.23 of the Old Boss
A few years ago, I received a letter informing me that I needed to get new, color-coded waste barrels because our township was implementing a new robotic waste collection program. My inner tech geek was excited, although I'm not really sure what I expected. I knew autonomous vehicle technology was not (and still is not) at the point where a driverless truck would just be let loose on the streets to collect trash and recycling. The high-tech scenario was such a vehicle with humans onboard to monitor and be a safety … [Read more...] about Science in Review: Meet the New Boss, v4.8.23 of the Old Boss
Science Corner: More Machine Now Than Man
ESN contributor and friend of the blog J. Nathan Matias and some colleagues are writing a series of articles on artificial intelligence to introduce Christian audiences to important topics and themes. They have an introductory essay which will link to additional articles as they appear in the weeks to come. Some of those are already available; for now I wanted to bring the series to your attention, and later this month we'll discuss the specifics. I'm particularly keen on "Relating to Artificial Persons" as I'm very … [Read more...] about Science Corner: More Machine Now Than Man