Recently, I attended a nine-day Vipassana silent retreat, and I’d like to share my experience with you. Firstly, my perspective is limited. I’ll describe the organization and activities of the retreat I attended, but I can’t compare it to others. My insights stem from a 2,500-year-old tradition, so while they are genuine and fresh, it’s …
The question of the data sources for training AI systems is not at all trivial. Depending on the purpose, and the jurisdiction, there can be different answers. Social media platforms have for long time been seen as guilty to exploit user data for ad targeting, without a fair exchange of value, for example. There is …
On May 11, 2023 I delivered the keynote presentation at the Octavo Dia conference at the Planetarium of Buenos Aires. The following is an edited transcript of the talk. If you’ve read the book, “I, Robot”, and watched the movie, “Her”, if you have read other science fiction books or seen science fiction movies, have …
The sudden availability of advanced Artificial Intelligence platforms forces us to confront not only the evaluation of our own abilities but, even deeper, what it means to be a conscious, self-aware human being. We can explore this from both scientific and philosophical points of view, ultimately drawing practical conclusions. My conclusion and exhortation is simple: …
A few days ago, SpaceX executed the first test launch of Starship. This represents a tremendous new opportunity to understand what we can achieve as we aim to colonize space. It also represents an opportunity to evaluate how we relate to daring endeavors, advancements, and how we look at the competence and the ability of …
AI is experiencing jolting change, with advancements such as ChatGPT and GPT4, but there are limits to individual and organizational adaptability. I was invited to sign an open letter that asks to allow for deeper consideration of AI design, implementation, and regulation. Concerns include inherent bias, job displacement, pollution of the info-sphere, loss of trust …
AI Progress Can’t be Stopped but Must be Managed Read More »
Can businesses adapt to exponential changes rapidly enough with their own internal resources? With ecommerce, for example, they had literally a decade or two to internalize the capabilities. Even so, companies like Walmart wasted billions of dollars getting things wrong, and they were lucky, at least for the moment, to have had the time to …
Is it worth dreaming impossible dreams? Think about it. What is the alternative? Should you not dream at all, or only dream, reasonable dreams? It is, I believe our nature to yearn for the impossible, and fail, or against all odds and all expectations, even our own, achieve it. Achieving impossible goals is what we …
We build societies based on the technologies that we have available, on the social contract that we can articulate expressing the mutual interest that we have in order to achieve our goals, and the ability to structure these goals in a way that reinforces the particular unit that the society encompasses. In this way, societies …
Has the time come for universal basic income from being a niche initiative that only a few people have understood and embraced, to be deployed everywhere? Basic income initiatives have enjoyed experimentation all over the world over the course of the past 10 years. And with the pandemic, they have seen a decisive acceleration and …
