I first encountered and commented on the world of artificial intelligence (AI) in a limited way, given my thin technological depth, in response to a June 2018 article in the Atlantic by the late Henry Kissinger entitled “How the Enlightenment Ends”, in which he makes the case that–philosophically, intellectually, in every way–human society is totally […]
AI and the Salvation of the Humanities
Writing in The New Criterion, Wilfred McClay recently offered the following as a definition of the study of the humanities: “The distinctive task of the humanities, unlike the natural sciences and social sciences, is to grasp human things in human terms, without converting or reducing or translating them into something else…..Hence it will become necessary […]
Thoughts on the AI Threat
I’m sure that if you haven’t been on another planet you have lately been inundated with reports and opinions on Artificial Intelligence (AI), its opportunities, its transformational potential, its risks, and its threats. It is moving so fast into our public consciousness that it is almost impossible to keep up with the narrative and for […]
Extreme Caution in Gene Editing Warranted
A brief recent report of a gene editing breakthrough caught my attention, but so far I have seen no follow up reportage on the event. The Wall Street Journal reported that an international group of researchers reported that they have edited viable human embryos to correct a disease-causing defect using the gene-editing tool named Crispr-Cas9. […]
The Genesis Particle?
A very intriguing story is unfolding this week with the announcement of the probable discovery of the Higgs boson by the scientists managing the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), made possible by its Large Hadron Collider on the French-Swiss border. I’m way over my head here in the physics, but I have read enough […]
The Counterrevolutionary Century?
Mary Eberstadt of Stanford University’s Hoover Institution wrote a very insightful essay for the April 2, 2012 issue of National Review entitled Sexual Counterrevolution, which I highly recommend. In it she contends that it is not unthinkable that the range of conflicts now raging over the social issues, in which the conflict over who will […]
Science Marches On
Comes now word that Einstein’s theory of relativity is under review. This theory in turn depends on the “bedrock” theory of physics that nothing in the universe can travel faster than light. But the latest experiments in Europe indicate that a fired beam of neutrinos (whatever those are) has exceeded the speed of light. Of course, further validation […]