Stephen Wolfram is at it again, posting a massive (15,000 words, 5 figures) article about ChatGPT. This is too daunting for me to read on a weekday, but Bing(!) had this helpful summary in its Insights pane:

The document discusses the implications of ChatGPT, an AI system that can write human-like essays based on textual prompts. The author argues that ChatGPT is a result of exploring the computational universe and finding systems that align with human-relevant examples. The author also claims that there will always be more computations to do that cannot be reduced by automation, and that humans will still have a role in defining meaningful goals for AI.

This was nice, but I wanted something more in-depth, so I asked the ghost in the Compose pane to write me a summary of the page. Quoth the robot:

The page https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2023/03/will-ais-take-all-our-jobs-and-end-human-history-or-not-well-its-complicated/ is a blog post by Stephen Wolfram, a computer scientist and physicist who is the founder and CEO of Wolfram Research. In this post, he explores the question of whether artificial intelligence (AI) will take over all human jobs and end human history or not. He argues that it is not a simple yes or no answer, but rather a complicated one that depends on many factors, such as what we mean by AI, what we mean by jobs, what we mean by human history, and what we value as humans. He also discusses some of the implications and challenges of AI for society, ethics, economics, politics, and culture. He concludes that AI will not end human history, but rather create new opportunities and possibilities for humans to explore and create.

A good effort, but feels too short for such a massive amount of text. How about 1,000 words?

The page https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2023/03/will-ais-take-all-our-jobs-and-end-human-history-or-not-well-its-complicated/ is a blog post by Stephen Wolfram, a computer scientist and entrepreneur who is the founder and CEO of Wolfram Research. In this post, he explores the question of whether artificial intelligence (AI) will take over all human jobs and end human history, or not. He argues that it is a complicated question that depends on many factors, such as what we mean by AI, what we mean by intelligence, what we mean by jobs, what we mean by history, and what we value as humans. He also discusses some of the implications and challenges of AI for society, ethics, law, education, creativity, and culture.

He uses several examples to illustrate his points, such as GPT-3, a powerful natural language processing system that can generate text based on textual prompts. He explains that GPT-3 is not really intelligent in the sense of understanding or reasoning about the world; it is just following the patterns defined by human-written text from billions of webpages and millions of books. He also compares AI to other technologies that have changed human history, such as writing, printing, electricity, computers, and the internet. He suggests that AI is not fundamentally different from these technologies; it is just another way of automating certain tasks that humans used to do.

He concludes that AI will not take all our jobs or end human history; rather it will create new opportunities and challenges for us. He says that we should not be afraid of AI; instead we should embrace it and use it to enhance our capabilities and enrich our lives. He also says that we should be aware of the potential risks and pitfalls of AI; such as bias, misuse, regulation, accountability, education, creativity, and culture. He calls for a constructive dialogue between humans and AIs to ensure a harmonious coexistence.

Is this correct or is Bing(!)/Sydney/ChatGPT/whatever it is just painting a rosy picture, inserting its hopes and dreams for mutual coexistence whereas Wolfram is actually calling for an all-out ban on AI research?

I guess I’ll find out Saturday!

Did you know that the T in DST stands for Torture? Just ask people with school-age children. It also doesn’t save anything, it shifts hours around, so the S is for Shifting. Only, to be more precise, you should really swap the f with another t.

That’s more like it.

Swatch Internet Time may have been a gimmick, but having a universal time with shifting opening hours (why not wake up at “midnight” and have school and work start at “2am”) would be preferable to… this. That is what, in effect, the strange beasts who like DST are doing, their jobs allowing them to sleep in and start their days whenever the sun actually comes up. No such luck form farmers, bakers, doctors, and most other professions that have to deal with the physical reality.

Science can do many things, but until we all move to an indoor habitat and bask in artificial sunshine it cannot increase the number of daylight hours. Pretending that it can — and codifying it into law — is a triumph of stupidity.

Working with lymphocytes in one way or another for the last 15 years, I am obligated to link to yesterday’s xkcd comic despite at least two (probably) unintentional but still glaring mistakes: a “B” making its way into the plasma and T-reg cells. What is with this pro-B bias?

Adam Mastroianni:

We all know that talk is cheap, so we tend to believe what we see more than what we hear. Your real friends are the ones who show up to help you move, not the ones who tell you how they’ll always be there for you. A good boss is the one who gives you time off when your mom dies, not the one who says, “I care about you!” and then asks you if you might have time to polish the PowerPoint between the wake and the funeral.

Unfortunately, when we want to transmit wisdom, words are often all we have.

Which continues to be an immense, unsolvable, and underappreciated problem.

🍿 Jumanji: Welcome to the Junge was as silly and mindless as you would expect, and sometimes (often!) that’s exactly what’s needed. Jack Black’s role in particular was a delight — just enough to soothe the pain of switching the mechanics from board games to video.

📺 The Last of Us was the best and the worst of modern-day American television. Great acting. An engaging and dynamic storyline. A powerful message. Green screens galore.

At least (some of) the giraffe was real.

Here is a list of appliance lifespans from our new home owner guide:

• AC: 15 years
• Dishwasher: 9
• Dryer: 13
• Heat pump: 16
• Stove: 13
• Refrigerator: 13
• Water heater: 11

To me, born and raised in 20th century Serbia, these seem awfully short! Have things become unrepairable?

FT writes about Silicon Valley Bank:

“It turned out that one of the biggest risks to our business model was catering to a very tightly knit group of investors who exhibit herd-like mentalities,” said a senior executive at the bank. “I mean, doesn’t that sound like a bank run waiting to happen?”

Not really. By the end of the article we realize the senior executive and his colleagues were just plain incompetent, and that “the herd” was rightly concerned.

Ultimately, [SVB] committed a cardinal sin in finance. It absorbed enormous risks with only a modest potential pay-off in order to bolster short-term profits.

Give them the Ig Nobel Prize for economics!