AI: Artificial Intelligence or Augmented Ignorance?

Dear reader,

Certainly the most used abbreviation or word in this year of 2023 is AI (Artificial Intelligence), especially after the launch of ChatGPT, a large language model–based chatbot developed by OpenAI, which enables users to refine and steer a conversation towards a desired length, format, style, level of detail, and language used.

All this fuss about the use and advantages of artificial intelligence, mainly due to the improvement of software-related tools (since in terms of hardware, things are still very limited), makes me ask myself sometimes: aren’t people exaggerating a little about it? This reminds me of the excitement some years ago when the word of the moment was “robot” or “robotics”.. 😉

Evidently, the use of artificial intelligence, if used well, can help countless people around the world, no doubts about it. Personally, I believe that in the field of medicine, the use of AI in conjunction with big data can, for example, significantly accelerate the detection of imperceptible cancerous tumors, as well as the development of new remedies for diseases still considered incurable.

On the other hand, to use artificial intelligence to write texts and essays, especially at school or university, is in my humble opinion, the same thing as to shoot yourself in your own foot! Why? That’s because the main purpose of attending a school or university is to learn something and acquire knowledge, and consequently help us to become more autonomous and confident.

Artificial Intelligence == Augmented Ignorance?

“When AI gives us the answers, we are not learning as individuals. For example, teaching and learning is a dynamic activity – a teacher initiating activity by passing it into another person, who practices replicating the teacher’s ability. Mimetically transferring ideas and thoughts from one mind to another. This is qualitatively different from a YouTube walk-through.

The students are not passive recipients. In this example, they learn how to fish. It’s an intrinsically active, interactive experience. This has a survival benefit. It’s a social-emotional algorithm; they can adapt ways of fishing because it’s a technique. As this is a process it requires effort. It’s forging new neural pathways, increasing the cognitive complexity and capability of the student. This effort is the very thing AI helps us avoid. In fact, AI tries to help us in a different way – more like ‘Give a person a fish every day, they never go hungry’. You don’t need to teach them anything. They don’t need to learn anything. The consequence of this approach is that they never learn to fish. The individual interprets ‘teaching’ at a distance without the critical feedback loop of direct interaction.

We, as information seekers, become dependent on being ‘given to’ by the algorithms, on-demand. This utility comes at a cost because neural pathways grow through active learning experiences. AI gives us time and we passively consume. AI suggestions and support remove our need to activate certain brain pathways. What is the ostensible benefit to us? Time. What do we do with the ‘free time’ AI gives us? Without the foundational pillars of critical thought, mediated by embodied learning through experience, our brains effectively default to the lowest energy use through passive consumption.” (Postace)

Besides, do we really need to apply or use artificial intelligence in all possible kinds of jobs? Once, I entered in an online discussion with many recruiters where one of them said: “It’s amazing how AI has helped me to do my job faster and with more confidence. Now I am able to find the perfect candidate in a matter of minutes, instead of hours and even days!” Then, I replied to him: “You should be worried, not happy. That’s because in a near future you won’t be needed at your workplace anymore since they will use just AI to search and find suitable candidates..” He didn’t like my comment and blocked me from their discussion..

AI and the hiring bias (source: https://timoelliott.com/blog/cartoons/artificial-intelligence-cartoons)

It’s worthwhile to mention here that “Artificial intelligence thus gives an artificially constructed representation of a reality that escapes its own judgment. It provides performance, operational advantage, speed, efficiency, and safety. A psychologist would argue that this benefit becomes palpable for the individual to the point that it gives him a sense of power, superiority, pride, and arrogance but also pleasure and enjoyment.

But what technologically enhanced person does not see is that this technological intelligence is no longer his or her. The enhancements place the person under a kind of supervision. S/he willingly abandons, sometimes without realizing it, many cognitive or reflective tasks that previously encumbered him or her. In doing so, s/he loses a number of “natural” sensory skills or abilities, which were certainly less effective, but which were his/her own.

It can therefore be stated here that the danger that awaits all of us is Artificial Ignorance. Let us try to define it. If, as the Larousse encyclopedia says, AI is the set of theories and techniques used to produce machines capable of simulating intelligence, then it is possible to propose that artificial ignorance is the alteration of the inherent (natural) intellectual and cognitive capacities of the human being resulting from a simulation, substitution, or replacement by artificial intelligence.” (Godart)

The crossing line between Artificial Intelligence and Artificial Ignorance (source: https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/Military-Review/Online-Exclusive/2021-French-OLE/Part-7-Conclusions/)

I do hope that this short article can spark your curiosity and decrease anxieties about the (in)correct use of AI in our daily lives.

BTW, this article was written by a real human being without use of ChatGTP or another similar AI tool! 🙂 Therefore, if I can write by myself, then you can do it too! 😉

Best Regards from the Land of AIs,

Wilson

Words Cited

Postance, Paul. “Is AI Creating Ignorance?” Digital Works Group, Digital Works Consulting, 7 July 2021, http://digitalworksgroup.com/is-ai-creating-ignorance/.

Godart, Lt. Gen. Patrick. “Conclusions and Perspectives.” Military Review – The Professional Journal of US Army, Army University Press, Jan. 2021, http://www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/Military-Review/Online-Exclusive/2021-French-OLE/Part-7-Conclusions/.

The importance of forgiveness

Dear reader,

In these current times where intolerance predominates on a large scale among people who just think differently, and consequently friendships and family ties are easily broken, one of the most difficult things today is the act of forgiving the other person.

Of course there are some cases in what is extremely difficult to forgive someone, especially those related to some kind of horrible crimes such as killing, rape, etc.

According to Wikipedia “Dr. Robert Enright from the University of Wisconsin–Madison founded the International Forgiveness Institute and is considered the initiator of forgiveness studies. He developed a 20-Step Process Model of Forgiveness. Recent work has focused on what kind of person is more likely to be forgiving. A longitudinal study showed that people who were generally more neurotic, angry, and hostile in life were less likely to forgive another person even after a long time had passed. Specifically, these people were more likely to still avoid their transgressor and want to enact revenge upon them two and a half years after the transgression.”

Dr. Robert Enright says that there are eight keys to forgiveness:

1. Know what forgiveness is and why it matters
2. Become “forgivingly fit”
3. Address your inner pain
4. Develop a forgiving mind through empathy
5. Find meaning in your suffering
6. When forgiveness is hard, call upon other strengths
7. Forgive yourself
8. Develop a forgiving heart

What about you, dear reader? Do you agree (or not) that forgiveness is really difficult? Let me know what you think about it. So feel free to comment here, please. 🙂

Works Cited

“Forgiveness.” Wikipedia, Wikipedia Foundation, 22 Nov. 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgiveness.

Enright, Robert. “Eight Keys to Forgiveness.” Greater Good Magazine, Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley – USA, 15 Oct. 2015, https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/eight_keys_to_forgiveness.

The importance of praying

Dear reader,

In these difficult times where we have to deal with so many things that afflict us in our personal lives, sometimes we do not give importance to some acts that, despite being so common or simple, have an enormous importance in our daily lives.

One of these acts, which the vast majority of people in this chaotic world do, is to pray. Even those people who consider themselves atheists possibly prayed at least once in their lives. 

A lot of people, unfortunately, think that praying is a waste of time. Probably because most of them have the wrong assumption that some God or something similar won’t listen to someone’s pray. What they still don’t understand is that praying is more than just to trying to communicate with a superior entity..

There are many reasons why praying everyday, or at least often, is important:

• is an open communication “channel” with God (or some entity),
• is a way to get more confidence through our daily acts,
• is an efficient process to rebuke and ward off bad thoughts,
• is a (not scientifically proven) therapeutic treatment,
• is a protection mode for all those we love,
• is an interesting way of reflection so that we become wiser and,
• is an act of humility (IMHO, that’s the most important! 😉 ).

Although I am Catholic, I believe that the vast majority of people from different religions around the world share the same feeling that how important it is to pray.

Praying with humility helps us to be a better human being.

What about you, dear reader? Do you agree (or not) that praying is really important? Let me know what you think about it. So feel free to comment here, please. 🙂

Fake News

Dear reader,

From the beginnings of civilization the human being spreads false news around himself and his community. With the advent of printed paper the reach of false news has increased considerably. Later, the invention of radio and TV also contributed significantly, mainly in places where we had and still have a predominance of great conglomerates of broadcasting.

Unfortunately, things got much worse with the development of Internet!  😦 😦

I always remember one professor’s comment at my Electrical Engineering undergraduate course in Porto Alegre, Brazil. At that time (pre-Internet era) he used to say “The paper accepts everything.” with the purpose to warn his students that often a project in practice presents a completely different result from the theory …

The same applies to the Internet:  “The digital world accepts everything!”  😉

In other words, it’s extremely easy to tamper an article, a photo and even a recorded voice!  😦

Accordingly to Wardle, there are basically seven types of fake news:

1. satire or parody (“no intention to cause harm but has potential to fool”),
2. false connection (“when headlines, visuals or captions don’t support the content”),
3. misleading content (“misleading use of information to frame an issue or an individual”),
4. false context (“when genuine content is shared with false contextual information”),
5. impostor content (“when genuine sources are impersonated” with false, made-up sources),
6. manipulated content (“when genuine information or imagery is manipulated to deceive”, as with a “doctored” photo) and,
7. fabricated content (“new content is 100% false, designed to deceive and do harm”)

It’s amazing, and extremely worrying at the same time, how the quantity of fake news increased exponentially with the use of social media across the globe during the last five years …

The roots of “fake news” (by UNESCO – World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development Global Report 2017/2018)

For example, on last weekend we Brazilians elected our new President. Most of us were astonished by the huge quantity of fake news about the two front-runners on social media such as Facebook and WhatsApp!

Since it’s almost impossible to extinguish fake news of these chaotic times, then at least we must be able how to identify them. The picture below shows an useful method how to spot fake news:

How to Spot Fake News (By the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions)

Therefore, dear reader:

Always be alert, open your eyes, and especially, always distrust any sources, even the reliable ones!  😉

Works Cited

Wardle, Claire. “Fake News. It’s Complicated.” First Draft News, Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center, 16 Feb. 2017, firstdraftnews.org/fake-news-complicated/.

Discrimination

Dear reader,

This month I will try to write here a brief article about discrimination, one of the worst things that can happen to a human being!  😦

Accordingly to the Wikipedia, “discrimination is treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction towards, a person based on the group, class, or category to which the person is perceived to belong. These include:

• age,
• colour,
• convictions for which a pardon has been granted or a record suspended,
• disability,
• ethnicity,
• family status,
• gender identity,
• genetic characteristics,
• marital status,
• nationality,
• race,
• religion,
• sex, and
• sexual orientation.

It consists of treatment of an individual or group, based on their actual or perceived membership in a certain group or social category, in a way that is worse than the way people are usually treated. It involves the group’s initial reaction or interaction going on to influence the individual’s actual behaviour towards the group leader or the group, restricting members of one group from opportunities or privileges that are available to another group, leading to the exclusion of the individual or entities based on illogical or irrational decision making” (Discrimination).

Discrimination have been happening for centuries, almost everywhere and with everyone… 😦

Despite of formal laws against discrimination being approved in most countries in the world, it seems to me that nowadays there is having been an increase, specially in those cases related to age, ethnicity, gender identity, nationality, race and sexual orientation. That’s not really a coincidence, since currently there is a significant escalation of intolerance among us. It gives me the sad impression that our chaotic world and consequently our societies are just divided in black and white, good or bad, without any grayscale between… 😦

Unfortunately, this is happening with me right now, but I won’t give up! The best way to vanish or at least decrease discrimination significantly is to speak up and denounce it without being afraid of being discriminated too. Also, if we don’t want to be discriminated, the first step is not discriminate others!

What about you, dear reader? Are you being (or were you) discriminated? Feel free to comment here and speak clearly about it.

Works Cited

“Discrimination.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 25 Aug. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discrimination.

 

Religion and Faith

Dear reader,

I was so busy on this July that I barely had time to think about which topic I should write here. I was going to write about laziness when at the last time (i.e., with just few hours left in this month) I decided to write a very short article about religion and faith, two subjects that attract the interest of billions around the world.  😉

Some people think that religion and faith depend on each other, but that’s not correct. I mean, we can have faith without following any religion, but I don’t think that people have or follow a religion without faith …

Accordingly to the Wikipedia, “religion may be defined as a cultural system of designated behaviours and practices, world views, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that relates humanity to supernatural, transcendental, or spiritual elements” (Religion).

On the other hand, we “can define faith as confidence or trust in a particular system of religious belief, within which faith may equate to confidence based on some perceived degree of warrant, in contrast to a definition of faith as being belief without evidence” (Faith).

The table below summarizes very well the differences between them:

Differences between Faith & Religion (source: Pediaa.com – Know about Anything)

What about you, dear reader? Which alternative below corresponds to you? 😉

1. I have faith and follow a specific religion.  🙂
2. I have faith, but don’t follow any religion.
3. I follow a specific religion, but don’t have any faith…
4. I don’t follow any religion and don’t have faith at all!

That’s definitely an interesting topic to explore more deeply, something that probably I will do here someday. Meanwhile, let’s think about it, especially considering that currently we live in chaotic times …

Best Regards from the Land of Buddhism and Shintoism,  🙂

PS. By the way, in my case the correct alternative is the first one cited above.  😉

Works Cited

“Faith.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 27 July 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith.

“Religion.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 27 July 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion.

 

Time

Dear reader,

It’s not coincidence because there are only 28 days available in February, but I really don’t have time to write an elaborate article this month!  😦

Therefore I’m going to write here a very short introduction about … time!    🙂

By the way, do you know how do we define time?  😉

The formal definition (in classical, non-relativist physics) of time implies that it’s a fundamental quantity part of the fundamental structure of the universe – a dimension independent of events, in which events occur in sequence. In other words, its base unit of measurement is the second (symbol: s). Rigorously, a second is defined as “the duration of 9 192 631 770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the cesium 133 atom”. This definition is based on the operation of a cesium atomic clock (the most accurate and reliable time standard in the world):

Cesium Atomic Clock

An opposite definition claims that time is instead part of a fundamental intellectual structure within which humans sequence and compare events. This second view holds that time is neither an event nor a thing, and thus is not itself measurable nor can it be travelled. In other words, time is just the order of events (events don’t happen in a independently existing time):

Time is not absolute, except in some special cases … 🙂

As I wrote before I’m really out of time this month, so …. hey wait a minute! That’s depend on which definition above I believe!  😉

Best Regards from Japan (always ahead of you, unless you live in Australia or New Zealand 🙂 )!

Choices…

Dear reader,

Have you sometimes thought why determined events happened in your life and others did not? Have you guessed ‘what if’ you had done this instead of that? What would be the outcome for you? Occasionally I make the same questions to myself…  🙂

For years I have been thinking why some people have a better life than others, why other people have a very miserable existence and why some people just try to survive during their pale presence on this chaotic planet?

There are of course many reasons such as lack (or not) of formal education, (good or bad) health, a nice (or not) family, (good or bad) luck, and probably many others that we could cite here. However, I think that every single moment of our lives is just a matter of choice! I mean, we are constantly making choices, usually not the correct ones (that’s why most of us are always complaining)…

Most of people don’t realize that some of the choices we make on a daily basis are unconscious ones. For example, you didn’t want to talk with someone today because you were so busy or thought that it wasn’t important. Because of that maybe you missed an interesting opportunity in your life… Another (opposite) example: you greeted someone at your work or at school and because of that you started a conversation with him (or her) that resulted in something good (or bad) to you later.

There is an quite interesting metaphor fork in the road, based on a literal expression that by analogy means a point where from only two possibilities to be taken a choice has to be made.

                              A real fork in the road, in Carlsbad, California – US                                         (unfortunately it was removed later)

We are always deciding which route to take (although most of the time we don’t realize it). Only the fact that you have spent some time to read this post (thanks a lot! 🙂 ) can make (or not) a difference in your next move though your long journey in this world.

Therefore, when possible, you always should ask yourself:  Which path should I choose?  😉

Our future is set by the choices we make every single minute…

I will finish this article (I hope you liked it) with a beautiful poem, entitled The Road Not Taken, written in 1916 by a famous American poet called Robert Lee Frost.

It’s really worthwhile to think about it… 😉

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Analog & Digital Worlds

Dear reader,

Our world is, of course, extremely different from thirty years ago. More specifically, when comparing the computer technology of the 21st century with the previous one, we can say that nowadays we live definitely in a digital world! The former (and old) analog world was very different…

Without being so detailed here we can state that the Internet conception was initiated in the middle of 60’s in US when the first research and development plans started, i.e., Merit Network, Inc. was founded (it runs the longest regional computer network in the world) and ARPANET ( Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) was created.

The Internet as we know today, really started in the beginning of the 90’s when existent computer networks were merged, the WWW (World Wide Web) was invented by the English scientist Tim Berners-Lee and Mosaic, the first popular web browser, was released.

While the last ten years  of the 20th century can be considered as a natural transformation (although sometimes not so smooth) of the previous analog world to our current digital word, the creation of the first social networks (have you heard of GeoCities?) in the middle of the 90’s can be considered as the initial seed for our digital world.

Therefore if you were born:

• on this century, all your existence has been only in this digital word,
• between 1990 and 1999 you had a very small glimpse of the analog world too,
• before 1990 you had a small or a complete experience of our previous world!  😉

It’s amazing (and scary too) how ubiquitous and pervasive all kinds of electronics gadgets have been present in our lives on a daily basis. If before it were only personal computers and notebooks, nowadays we’re surrounded by smart phones, tablets, smart TVs, etc.

If by one side we’re able to contact anyone in almost any part of the globe in real-time and access news, programs, etc at anytime and anywhere, on the other side our communication skills have been eroding…

Personally I feel frustrated when I see almost everybody in a train just looking at their own smart phones or tablets. It’s very uncommon to see someone start a conversation with a stranger…  😦

Maybe I’m exaggerating, but I think we’re becoming extremely dependent on machines for everything, even to start human relationships!

What do you think, dear reader? Do you agree with me or not?  😉

Best Regards from this analog man based in Japan  🙂

Connecting the dots…

Dear reader,

I wonder if you’re like me where, from time to time, try to think what are the reasons for some events that occur not only in our own lives, but anywhere…

Personally, I don’t believe in coincidences. A long time ago I have arrived at the conclusion that everything that happens in our chaotic world has a specific reason and especially, a connection with someone, someplace, other events, etc.

The grand mystery is to know the real cause of such things in advance! Most of people don’t realize that anything that they do in their lives will affect not only those that are near them, but everybody in this planet!

Do you want an example? Think about the several wars, including isolated terror attacks, that are occurring in almost all continents these days. I bet that you and/or most of your friends think that wars happen because of religious, political, social and/or economic divergences between countries or different groups of people.

Wrong! All these wars has only one very basic reason: weapons trade. The only and definitive solution to stop current and avoid future wars is to stop making and selling weapons abroad right now. Think with me: where all those terrorist groups, drug dealers, militias, etc get their armament? Almost 100% of them don’t have the resources and technology to design and make such powerful weapons…

And the most interesting thing is the way we connect the dots. Millions of threads are made and changed every minute in our world. A single late or early second, a single spoken word, a rational or irrational decision, etc makes an enormous difference in people’s lives. Some of our actions have an immediate impact and others may take some time (months, years, etc), but all of them will influence how the future is molded.

I’m pretty sure that if someday most of us understand clearly how everyone and everything is connected, then most of our problems in the future will be solved forever…

Best Regards from rainy Japan,

Your humble writer 😉