| H@ppy Friday. Today is artificial intelligence pioneer Joseph Weizenbaum's birthday (1/8/23 - 3/5/08). In 1935 he escaped Nazi Germany and immigrated with his family to the United States. In 1964 Weizenbaum started teaching at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Two years later he published a program called ELIZA, named after George Bernard Shaw's play: Pygmalion. The program performed natural language processing by rephrasing statements as questions. His influential 1976 book: 'Computer Power and Human Reason' displays his ambivalence towards computer technology and lays out his case: "while Artificial Intelligence may be possible, we should never allow computers to make important decisions because computers will always lack human qualities such as compassion and wisdom." | |
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| @medialab News from The MIT Media Laboratory. Jan 4th/11:48AM: Measuring the Impact of Charisma http://bit.ly/5PMrDO |
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| @Markoff NY Times science writer, published Scientists Worry Machines May Outsmart Man. Jan 5th/12:01PM: Pocahontas = Avatar http://bit.ly/7wEKlt (via @johnbattelle) Did someone say timeless? |
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| @SingularityHub Bloger, topics include Robots, Genetics, AI, Longevity, Stem Cells. Jan 7th: Lumino Adds Third Dimension to Microsoft Surface http://tinyurl.com/y9pt5d8 |
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| @ReligionProf Associate Professor of Religion at Butler University, Indianapolis. Jan 7th: Conflicting Views on Religion and Science Fictionhttp://tinyurl.com/yb7c7b9 |
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| @NATHANFillion Actor, best known for his lead roles in the television Si-Fi series Firefly. Jan 7th: I'm going to guest blog on geekweek.com!! I don't know when, but I will. |
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| @BotJunkie Bloger, topics include "Man's inevitable descent into cybernetic slavery". Jan 4th/4:38 AM: On BotJunkie.com: Welcome To The Squiggly World Of OmniTread http://bit.ly/52qTiH #robotics |
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Twitter Roundup: Joseph Wiezenbaum
Submitted by Predictable But Fun on Fri, 01/08/2010
Happiness
I just read a dated, but very interesting article that reminded me of this Twitter RoundUp. It's about the danger of robots essentially leaving us extinct due to the rate of technology's progression. There's a reference to the Dalai Lama saying that "the most important thing is for us to conduct our lives with love and compassion for others." Sounds very Wiezenbaum-esque, right?
Here's the article if anyone's interested: "Why the future doesn't need us" http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/joy.html
The blurry line between
The blurry line between humans and artificial intelligence is a little freaky. I'm with Wiezenbaum...let's keep the "compassion and wisdom" flowing!
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