THE ENTERPRISE—“A WHOLE NEW WORLD”—PART 2: THIS "NEW WORLD" NEEDS A COMPETENT, NEW GENERATION OF RATIONAL, ETHICAL LEADERS TO DEMAND—THAT TECH CREATORS ADAPT & EVOLVE THE CONTROLS FASTER THAN THEIR TECH INNOVATIONS CREATE UNIMAGINABLE PROBLEMS
ON MARCH 2, I OPENED THE ENTERPRISE WITH THESE PARAGRAPHS, EXCERPTED IN PART HERE (BY A HUMAN!)
I am adding a very insightful & troubling column by Peggy Noonan of the WSJ.
PLEASE OPEN THIS AND READ IT—IN DETAIL. Then read my March 2 excerpts from THE ENTERPRISE.
THE ENTERPRISE—A WHOLE NEW WORLD COMING—WE NEED A COMPETENT NEW GENERATION OF LEADERSHIP TO ADAPT AND EVOLVE;
A WHOLE NEW WORLD is here, and growing fast:
- AI (Artificial Intelligence) is here and growing—fast. Learn what it does well—and what it doesn’t do well. It lacks human imagination, ethics and sensitivity. Make sure the places where you find its apparently factual approach useful and consider them. Where it’s not human and thus lacks nuances, beware. Danger lurks here.
- ChatGPT creates written material that seems terrific, but once again, my be just “great sounding” but not totally right or applicable. It’s a convenient shortcut, but like “autocorrect,” it can produce grossly wrong written things that might sound fine. (Sort of like politicians speeches!) Learn how to detect it. Hint:—it’s not good at math!
- 3D Printing can create physical objects from prints, drawings and images, from micro-small electronic parts to very big aircraft parts, and dangerous things like non-metallic guns made of printed plastic parts! This is a powerful way to also “print” (create) functioning human replacement body parts, as simple as a reconstructed outer ear, and as complex as a transplantable working kidney!
- Deep Fakes can create authentic-looking videos of people speaking, in voice replicas, that seem so real, only experts can tell the difference. A TV commercial for a political candidate can be a “deep fake” that is nearly indistinguishable from a real video commercial. How scary is that? What can you trust? How do you know?
- Cosmetic surgery has developed to the extent that facial recognition becomes nearly impossible. Example: countless actresses and some actors have decided that their nose was too big or the wrong shape, or their lips should be fuller, or they should have less wrinkles in their forehead (for example).. Look ate more recent photos of them, and you will not recognize them—at all—after plastic surgery. Facial recognition software measures facial dimensions, and stll work, but humanvisual recognition doesn’t. Who is that?
- Body Doubles stand in for prominent people in risky positions, especially political leaders and movie stars. All have used “look alike doubles” for years. The doubles did risky stunts or made non-speaking public appearances where the risk of kidnap or attack/assassination was substantial.
- Implants of all kinds can now control parts of the human brain—for good or bad. When they work, we think we know why and how—but do we really? Maybe? Maybe not?
Now combine all of these and imagine the level of misdirection and deception possible! That is truly a “Whole New World,” and one in which we can barely trust our senses or intellect to distinguish reality & truth from cleverly fabricated fakes & lies! Our only defense comes from knowing what’s possible and learning how to determine which is a “fake" and which is “real." Be alert. What’s more, even with the best of intentions, trying to give the power of sentient thought to an "electronic machine” is dangerous beyond belief?
Rev: Warning: the accuracy of what’s written in books, articles, or podcasts & web sites is totally dependent on the expertise and integrity of whoever or whatever programs or algorithms wrote them. (E.g., Anthony Fauci’s continual series of contradictory statements on Covid.) They may not have had malicious intent, but rather come from an evolution of what seemed to be true, in a rapidly evolving area of science and virology, mixed with politics and distortion to match their agendas.
THE BIG QUESTIONS ARE THOSE OF CONTROL: in this "Whole New World,” Ray Kurzweil’s books describe it very well.
Summary review: A radical and optimistic view of the future course of human development from the bestselling author of How to Create a Mind and The Singularity is Nearer who Bill Gates calls “the best person I know at predicting the future of artificial intelligence”
For over three decades, Ray Kurzweil has been one of the most respected and provocative advocates of the role of technology in our future. In his classic The Age of Spiritual Machines, he argued that computers would soon rival the full range of human intelligence at its best. Now he examines the next step in this inexorable evolutionary process: the union of human and machine, in which the knowledge and skills embedded in our brains will be combined with the vastly greater capacity, speed, and knowledge-sharing ability of our creations.
Consequences: how to know: What’s right? Who’s right? What’s best? What & Who do we believe? What’s real and what’s not?(Human created and controlled vs. computer-algorithm created—without controls?)
Where do we find that next generation of contemporary leaders, with up-to-date knowledge, the wisdom and ethical courage to understand and control the new threats from opportunities, and unintended consequences, to replace the antiquated leaders of today (all in mid-70’s and older, and mostly clueless about this "Whole New World,” coming at us with amazing speed. .)
Disclosure: I’m of the "older generation" and try as I might, I can’t get ahead of it. I find the wisdom of experience, integrity and ethics falls prey to the power of wealth and money of new tech developers. Naivete, not necessarily evil, drives their mistakes and multiply the risks exponentially.
Pros & Cons of Aged Leaders: It’s been known/proven that just as certainly as age brings knowledge, wisdom and experience, it also brings a decline in vitality, memory and cognitive function. This requires that we find new objective information sources and NEW people to lead, people that we believe are the best informed & least-biased (all of us are biased in one way or another), to help in our assessment of ethics, truth, objectivity and consequences of decision-making for the future.
I DON’T KNOW THE ANSWER(S). I JUST RECOGNIZE THE RISKS, AND PRAY WE CAN FIND LEADERS WHO ARE SMART ENOUGH, MORAL ENOUGH AND WISE ENOUGH TO LEAD, BECAUSE THE ONES WE HAVE NOW ARE (MOSTLY) NOT!
POLITICS REIGNS OVER PRUDENCE. BIAS WINS OVER ETHICS. BIG MONEY & POWER OBSCURES CONSEQUENCES.
GOD HELP US!
JOHN
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