Parnas was on the faculty with my husband at CMU back in the day. He was known as “the department’s conscience.” Except, Joe said, how can you be considered the conscience when you’re against everything? Everything whatsoever?
He was eventually let go, went to, uh, Dortmund as I recall, then to Canada (or maybe the other way around). He was the compleat contrarian. Doesn’t mean he was always wrong. He was right about Brilliant Pebbles, or Star Wars, or whatever Reagan’s brainchild was. The software had to work right the very first time. Wasn’t going to happen, he said, and he was right. But basically, he was a chronic malcontent. > On Jun 5, 2016, at 5:03 PM, Roger Critchlow <r...@elf.org> wrote: > > "Artificial intelligence has the same relation to intelligence as artificial > flowers have to flowers." -- David Parnas > Which is even funnier now than it was in 70's or 80's when first said, > because artificial flowers have become more and more amazing over the decades. > > -- rec -- > > On Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 6:09 PM, Tom Johnson <t...@jtjohnson.com > <mailto:t...@jtjohnson.com>> wrote: > Robert: > Thanks for the pointers at the end of your remarks to the interesting > articles. I wonder, too, if someone could come up with parallel "paragon > websites." That is, here's WebMD. and displayed alongside the "best" > critics or alternatives to that site. > > TJ > > > > > > > ============================================ > Tom Johnson > Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA > 505.577.6482 <tel:505.577.6482>(c) > 505.473.9646 <tel:505.473.9646>(h) > Society of Professional Journalists <http://www.spj.org/> - Region 9 > <http://www.spj.org/region9.asp> Director > Check out It's The People's Data > <https://www.facebook.com/pages/Its-The-Peoples-Data/1599854626919671> > http://www.jtjohnson.com <http://www.jtjohnson.com/> > t...@jtjohnson.com <mailto:t...@jtjohnson.com> > ============================================ > > On Sun, Jun 5, 2016 at 3:22 PM, Robert Wall <wallrobe...@gmail.com > <mailto:wallrobe...@gmail.com>> wrote: > Hi Tom, > > Interesting article about Google and their foray [actually a Blitzkrieg, as > they are buying up all of the brain trust in this area] into the world of > machine learning presumably to improve the search customer experience. Could > their efforts actually have unintended consequences for both the search > customer and the marketing efforts of the website owners? It is interesting > to consider. For example, for the former case, Google picking WebMD as the > paragon website for the healthcare industry flies in the face of my own > experience and, say, this New York Times Magazine article: A Prescription for > Fear > <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/magazine/06FOB-Medium-t.html?login=email&_r=0> > (Feb 2011). Will this actually make WebMD the de facto paragon in the minds > of the searchers? For the latter, successful web marketing becomes > increasingly subject to the latest Google search algorithms instead of the > previously more expert in-house marketing departments. Of course, this is the > nature of SEO--to game the algorithms to attract better rankings. But, it > seems those in-house marketing departments will need to up their game: > > In other ways, things are a bit harder. The field of SEO will continue to > become extremely technical. Analytics and big data are the order of the day, > and any SEO that isn’t familiar with these approaches has a lot of catching > up to do. Those of you who have these skills can look forward to a big payday. > > Also, with respect to those charts anticipating exponential growth for AGI > technology--even eclipsing human intelligence by mid-century--there is much > reasoning to see this as overly optimistic [see, for example, Hubert Dreyfus' > critique of Good Old Fashion AI: "What Computers Can't Do"]. These charts > kind of remind me of the "ultraviolet catastrophe" around the end of the 19th > century. There are physical limitations that may well tamp progress and keep > it to ANI. With respect to AGI, there have been some pointed challenges to > this "Law of Accelerating Returns." > > On this point, I thought this article in AEON titled "Creative Blocks: The > very laws of physics imply that artificial intelligence must be possible. > What’s holding us up? > <https://aeon.co/essays/how-close-are-we-to-creating-artificial-intelligence> > (Oct 2012)" is on point concerning the philosophical and epistemological road > blocks. This one, titled "Where do minds belong? > <https://aeon.co/essays/intelligent-machines-might-want-to-become-biological-again> > (Mar 2016)" discusses the technological roadblocks in an insightful, highly > speculative, but entertaining manner. > > Nonetheless, this whole discussion is quite intriguing, no matter your > stance, hopes, or fears. 😎 > > Cheers, > > Robert > > On Sat, Jun 4, 2016 at 4:26 PM, Tom Johnson <t...@jtjohnson.com > <mailto:t...@jtjohnson.com>> wrote: > See > http://techcrunch.com/2016/06/04/artificial-intelligence-is-changing-seo-faster-than-you-think/?ncid=tcdaily > > <http://techcrunch.com/2016/06/04/artificial-intelligence-is-changing-seo-faster-than-you-think/?ncid=tcdaily> > > Among other points: "...why doing regression analysis over every site, > without having the context of the search result that it is in, is supremely > flawed." > TJ > > ============================================ > Tom Johnson > Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA > 505.577.6482 <tel:505.577.6482>(c) > 505.473.9646 <tel:505.473.9646>(h) > Society of Professional Journalists <http://www.spj.org/> - Region 9 > <http://www.spj.org/region9.asp> Director > Check out It's The People's Data > <https://www.facebook.com/pages/Its-The-Peoples-Data/1599854626919671> > http://www.jtjohnson.com <http://www.jtjohnson.com/> > t...@jtjohnson.com <mailto:t...@jtjohnson.com> > ============================================ > > > > Sent with MailTrack > <https://mailtrack.io/install?source=signature&lang=en&referral=jtjohnson...@gmail.com&idSignature=22> > > > <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=icon> > Virus-free. www.avast.com > <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=link> > > <x-msg://4/#m_8464765597632463979_m_-6391383403917800669_m_-9171770883074403068_DDB4FAA8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2> > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > <http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com> > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > <http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com> > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > <http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com> > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
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