Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report

AIList Digest Volume 8 Issue 052

eZine's profile picture
Published in 
AIList Digest
 · 11 months ago

AIList Digest            Tuesday, 16 Aug 1988      Volume 8 : Issue 52 


Does AI Kill?

and

Free Will - How to dispose of naive science types

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 9 Aug 88 14:05:30 GMT
From: Wayne Mesard <mesard@BBN.COM>
Subject: Re: does AI kill?


>From a previous article, by jlc@goanna.OZ.AU (Jacob L. Cybulski):
> The Iranian airbus disaster teaches us one thing about "AI Techniques",
> and this is that most of the AI companies forget that the end product
> of AI research is just a piece of computer software that needs to be
> treated like one, i.e. it needs to go through a standard software
> life-cycle and proper software engineering principles still apply to
> it no matter how much intelligence is burried in its intestines.
>
> I don't even mention the need to train the system users.

That's right, you don't. Neither do you mention the need to make the
specs and limitations of the system crystal clear to the customer as
well as to management and the people who will be touting the system and
its capabilities to potential users.

The Aegis was being expected to perform beyond specifications.

As another example:

The Challenger accident is almost universally recognized as a
politcally-motivated (in both the governmental, and organizational
sense) decision to employ a device in an environment for which it was
never designed. The shuttle's booster joints are not blamed, because
they were indeed performing to specification.

Why do I get the feeling that if the shuttle tragedy had resulted from a
software failure as opposed to a mechanical failure caused by the same
type of managerial errors, the public outcry would be against the
"homicidal software?"

Just because computer software possesses some rudimentary decision
making ability does not mean that it isn't bound by the limitations of
its human designers.

AI doesn't kill people. Politicians kill people.

> Jacob

--
unsigned *Wayne_Mesard(); MESARD@BBN.COM BBN, Cambridge, MA

You're living in a sick world when an album of cover songs by a
bunch of RAISINS can go platinum.

------------------------------

Date: 9 Aug 88 13:41:56 GMT
From: dswinney@afit-ab.arpa (David V. Swinney)
Subject: Re: How to dispose of naive science types (short)

In article <6657@well.UUCP> sierch@well.UUCP (Michael Sierchio) writes:
>
>Theories are not for proving!
>
>A theory is a model, a description, an attempt to preserve and describe
>phenomena -- science is not concerned with "proving" or "disproving"
>theories.
>A theory may or may not adequately describe the phenomena in question, in
>which case it is a "good" or "bad" theory
[deletion]
>Demonstration and experimentation show (to one degree or another) the value
>of a particular theory in a particular domain -- but PROOF? bah!
>--

I agree that theories are not for proving.

I would like to add, however, that a theory which does not adequately
describe a phenomenon should be called an "old theory" and not a "bad theory".

To be a theory in the first place, a hypothesis (at one time or another)
must have been shown to adequately describe a phenomenon or we would refer
to it as a discarded hypothesis.

It is becoming fairly common these days for scientists to present hypothetical
work to the public under the title "Theory".
This tends to dilute public trust in science and scientists in general.
We should all be a little more careful in our use of "theory" and the science
effort required by many parties to achieve that status.

------------------------------

Date: 12 Aug 88 12:37:26 GMT
From: ulysses!gamma!pyuxp!u1100s!castle@bloom-beacon.mit.edu
(Deborah Smit)
Subject: Re: How to dispose of naive science types (short)

In article <495@afit-ab.arpa>, dswinney@afit-ab.UUCP writes:
> In article <6657@well.UUCP> sierch@well.UUCP (Michael Sierchio) writes:
> >
> >Theories are not for proving!
> >
> >A theory is a model, a description, an attempt to preserve and describe
> >phenomena -- science is not concerned with "proving" or "disproving"
> >theories.
>
> It is becoming fairly common these days for scientists to present hypothetical
> work to the public under the title "Theory".
> This tends to dilute public trust in science and scientists in general.
> We should all be a little more careful in our use of "theory" and the science
> effort required by many parties to achieve that status.

Another big mistake is when scientists present hypothetical OR theoretical
work under the title "FACT". E.G. Evolution. The 'theories' of evolution
(of which there are many, many, and conflicting), do not even fit under
the title theory, since they are not demonstrable, and do not fit with
the facts shown by the fossil record (no intermediate forms -- before
you flame, examine current facts, fossils previously believed to be
intermediate have been debunked). It certainly cannot be called FACT,
though in college courses, some professors insist on speaking of
'the fact of evolution'. When evolutionists cannot support their
hypothesis by showing aggreement with known facts, they resort to
emotional mind-bashing (only foolish, gullible people don't believe
in evolution). Just my two cents. I enjoy reasonable theories,
they truly unify what we observe, but I don't appreciate emotional
outbursts on the part of those who can't give up their inaccurate
hypotheses to go on to something better.

- Deborah Smit
:

------------------------------

End of AIList Digest
********************

← previous
next →
loading
sending ...
New to Neperos ? Sign Up for free
download Neperos App from Google Play
install Neperos as PWA

Let's discover also

Recent Articles

Recent Comments

Francesco's profile picture
Francesco Arca (@Francesco)
14 Nov 2024
Congratulations :)

guest's profile picture
@guest
12 Nov 2024
It is very remarkable that the period of Atlantis’s destruction, which occurred due to earthquakes and cataclysms, coincides with what is co ...

guest's profile picture
@guest
12 Nov 2024
Plato learned the legend through his older cousin named Critias, who, in turn, had acquired information about the mythical lost continent fr ...

guest's profile picture
@guest
10 Nov 2024
الاسم : جابر حسين الناصح - السن :٤٢سنه - الموقف من التجنيد : ادي الخدمه - خبره عشرين سنه منهم عشر سنوات في كبرى الشركات بالسعوديه وعشر سنوات ...

lostcivilizations's profile picture
Lost Civilizations (@lostcivilizations)
6 Nov 2024
Thank you! I've corrected the date in the article. However, some websites list January 1980 as the date of death.

guest's profile picture
@guest
5 Nov 2024
Crespi died i april 1982, not january 1980.

guest's profile picture
@guest
4 Nov 2024
In 1955, the explorer Thor Heyerdahl managed to erect a Moai in eighteen days, with the help of twelve natives and using only logs and stone ...

guest's profile picture
@guest
4 Nov 2024
For what unknown reason did our distant ancestors dot much of the surface of the then-known lands with those large stones? Why are such cons ...

guest's profile picture
@guest
4 Nov 2024
The real pyramid mania exploded in 1830. A certain John Taylor, who had never visited them but relied on some measurements made by Colonel H ...

guest's profile picture
@guest
4 Nov 2024
Even with all the modern technologies available to us, structures like the Great Pyramid of Cheops could only be built today with immense di ...
Neperos cookies
This website uses cookies to store your preferences and improve the service. Cookies authorization will allow me and / or my partners to process personal data such as browsing behaviour.

By pressing OK you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge the Privacy Policy

By pressing REJECT you will be able to continue to use Neperos (like read articles or write comments) but some important cookies will not be set. This may affect certain features and functions of the platform.
OK
REJECT