So I realize that this is somewhat belated, seeing as yesterday was Halloween. However, I still wanted to share a creepy coincidence that happened to me yesterday.
To start off with, I am somewhat of a nerd and get excited about artificial intelligence and computers and stuff. If this doesn’t interest you then I suggest you leave this post immediately.
Now that we have gotten rid of all those boring folks, I can get down to business.
Yesterday I was reading this month’s edition of Wired magazine, and I reached an article about artificial intelligence. It proclaimed, somewhat boldly, that “AI is here.” Then again, for the past two decades people have been saying that. And then it occurred to me that I am reading a book by Ray Kurzweil called “The Age of Spiritual Machines.” This is a really great book about how computers are going to outsmart humans very soon. (And the data that proves it). Well the coincidence is that the article and the book are saying the exact same things. According to the article, the massive parallel computations that have the power necessary to simulate the human brain are finally here, thanks to GPU chips. And the author points to IBM’s new supercomputer, Watson, who after beating the reigning chess champion, is now being explored for medical uses. The author points out that artificial intelligence is all around us- in our Netflix, when it suggests which shows to watch; in those weird self driving cars Google is testing; and the algorithms used by savvy investors that decide where they should invest. Continue reading
Just a Tumbleweed 