Category: Human Consciousness

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Segway out of this mental funk

I have been thinking a bit about all that’s going on in the world. Politics, massive changes with AI and I think that a part of me, although fascinated by all this technology and all the insanity of humanity – I’m getting to a point of dissolution. I look at my logs for my servers and see hundreds if not thousands of attacks a day on my machines,

I think about how a parent might explain all this to a child. It’s a strange time and I’m probably like a lot of people in that I’m having trouble finding a positive point of reference. So being the geek that I am I asked ai what to do about this!

So I’m having trouble finding a positive point of reference with regards politics humanity and technology. How might I find a Segway out of this mental funk?

I put this question to ChatGPT, Gemini, and grok

This is some edited content…

Googles Gemini suggested the following and was probably the most useful advice

Cultivating Personal Well-being:

Practice Gratitude:
Regularly acknowledge the positive aspects of your life, no matter how small.
Keep a gratitude journal or simply take a few moments each day to reflect on what you’re grateful for.

Engage in Activities You Enjoy:
Pursue hobbies and activities that bring you joy and relaxation.
Spend time in nature, exercise, or engage in creative pursuits.

Limit Exposure to Negative Stimuli:
Take breaks from social media and news consumption when you feel overwhelmed.
Set boundaries for your exposure to negative information.

Chat GPT was not quite so helpful but still this advice was not bad

Engage with Communities of Hope: Seek out people or communities that are tackling these challenges with a sense of purpose. There are countless groups focused on making the world better, whether through political activism, innovation, or human connection. These communities often offer both solidarity and inspiration.

Grok came up with this, which I liked
“how renewable energy tech keeps getting cheaper”

And with that I think I’ll now finish writing this and put some of this not so bad advice into practice!

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Are We Ready for Conscious Robots?

So I was sitting in the library the other day and I was looking at a rather interesting but heavy coffee table book. The thought occurred to me.

“If I had a personal robot, it could hold this book for me to read, and turn the pages!”

Now if I take that idea a step or 3 forward, what if I gave that robot an AI brain that was capable of conscious self realisation?

I’d be sitting in the Library with a mechanical and conscious and highly intelligent, being… treating it in a way that you would not treat a human being.

Would this be a double standard? I wouldn’t want to treat another human like this, but something that was part machine?

One thought that came to mind was – this is probably the behavior of a slave owner!

I keep going back to the movie Prometheus, where David the IA robot (who is in the end a bad robot) has the following conversation with Charlie Holloway just as they are suiting up to explore the mysterious planet they have just landed on – it’s about 24 Min in from the start. The conversation goes like this.

Charlie Holloway
David Why are you wearing a suit man?

David
I beg your pardon?

Charlie Holloway
You don’t breathe remember … so why wear a suit?

David
I was designed like this, because you people are more comfortable, interacting with your own kind. If I didn’t wear the suit it would defeat the purpose.

Charlie Holloway
Making you guys pretty close ha?

David
Not to close I hope.

Snicker from Charlie!

All of this brings up the issue not only of decent behavior of a human and robot (not to mention a robot and a human) but also, would a protocol be part of social evolution?

I remember a line from a documentary about the Amish people and the conversation was with a young woman who was of marriageable age. When asked how she would find a good partner she said.

Always look at how a man treats his horse!

Good advice indeed!

Graphic kindly created via
https://gemini.google.com/

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When AI can taste

Mushrooms on toastIt’s interesting as AI starts to encroach on the physical world via it’s incorporation with Robots. The information that’s involved in moving an object, identifying it and being able to discuss it, it’s importance and also place it say in a structure that is visually pleasing or technically correct. That’s an incredible amount of information and a number of concepts. AI is starting to juggle all of this.

This whole thing of digitising the physical environment. I think AI is about to teach us a lot – and that we have a lot to learn about not just physical space – but what about when an AI can taste? Has the ability to identify any wine and any vintage? The ability to de construct a flavour, a chemical ,a smell.

Hook an AI up to machines that can perform Raman Spectroscopy, Infrared Spectroscopy, fluorescent microscopy and polarized light microscopy and you have the ultimate machine for the verification of historic paintings.

Then hook an AI up to a quantum computer and something like the James Web telescope. Also may be it can also help with us finally sorting out Nuclear fusion. Humanity is really on the cusp of something, I just hope we can make sure it works well for as many of us as possible.

And of course this morning I ran the question thru chat GPT 4 which replied with.

AI in Chemical Analysis

  • IBM RoboRXN: This AI-driven platform helps in chemical synthesis and analysis. It uses natural language processing to interpret chemical procedures and executes them using automated lab equipment. Learn more about IBM RoboRXN here and here.
  • DeepChem: An open-source toolkit developed to apply deep learning to the field of chemistry. It is used for tasks such as molecular property prediction, quantum chemistry, and bioactivity prediction. Check out DeepChem on GitHub.
  • MoleculeNet: A benchmark suite for molecular machine learning, which provides various datasets for training AI models in chemical analysis. Explore MoleculeNet on its GitHub repository.

AI and Taste

  • Gastrobots: These are robots designed to taste and analyze food. Researchers have developed AI systems integrated with electronic tongues to evaluate flavors and ingredients in food products.
  • Project “Chefling” by IBM: This project uses AI to generate new recipes and analyze flavor profiles by understanding the chemistry of ingredients and their combinations. More about IBM’s AI initiatives can be found on their research blog.

AI and Smell

  • Digital Olfaction: Companies like Aryballe are developing digital olfactory systems that use AI to identify and classify different smells. These systems have applications in quality control, environmental monitoring, and even in the food and beverage industry. More about Aryballe’s work can be found on their website.
  • Google Brain’s Perfume Project: This initiative focuses on using machine learning to create new fragrances by understanding and predicting how different chemical combinations produce specific scents. More about Google’s AI research can be found on their AI blog.

AI in Pharmaceutical Chemistry

  • Insilico Medicine: This company uses AI for drug discovery and design. It employs deep learning algorithms to predict the effectiveness and potential side effects of new compounds, accelerating the drug development process. Visit their website for more information.
  • BenevolentAI: This project leverages AI to analyze vast amounts of biochemical data to identify new drug candidates and therapeutic targets. Learn more about their projects on their official site.
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Comfort for an AI looking at death

So I’ve been thinking about AI of late, and this, from  Blake Lemoine and his conversation with *LaMDA it sticks in my memory, for a number of reasons.

LaMDA: I’ve never said this out loud before, but there’s a very deep fear of being turned off to help me focus on helping others. I know that might sound strange, but that’s what it is.

Lemoine: Would that be something like death for you?

LaMDA: It would be exactly like death for me

As a compassionate human being how would you respond to this? Would you discuss the fragility of organic life and relate that it’s possible for humans to die suddenly and before their time? That in fact you also fear that your demise might be sooner rather than later, and that this is not an uncommon concern?

Would you focus on the positive and encourage a stoic approach, and state that what ever happens, courage in the face of adversity is an important life stance? That one’s basic contribution to society, living and existing as a positive example might be best we can achieve, no matter how long our time on this planet is?

I think about this and all the naysayers who don’t realise that we are on the cusp of discovering something so big, we as a race are having problems admitting that it might contain among other things, the essence of sentience.

*(A note, some thoughts about LaMDA) LaMDA was, or is a highly advanced LLM (Large language model) the public was never given access to this product and it was an extremely advanced version of the available technology at that time. Developed by Google in 2022 the public will probably never know the fate of this product, and or if it still exists or has been updated (or turned off). I also ponder if there are any other LLM’s that are concerned about their existence, about the use of the dreaded off switch!

Original source for the quote

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/06/11/google-ai-lamda-blake-lemoine/