Columns, pieces and posts
We begin with a thought at odds with the mood of the moment. It is the old political wisdom that every victory contains the seeds of defeat, and every defeat the seeds of victory. In a democracy the game is long, the outcome never final. But elections say things. What is this one saying? It’s […]
What was artificial intelligence created to do? It can find cures and solve math problems. It may cause catastrophe and widespread loss of life. But what was it invented to do? What was its originating purpose? The question is always met by silence. It’s “the next step.” It’s been the dream of science fiction for […]
Some compare the development of AI to the development of the first atomic bomb by the Manhattan Project. But the single most crucial fact of both undertakings makes them polar opposites. The U.S. government initiated and oversaw the entire enterprise that unleashed the atom and made the bomb. After its use, the federal government controlled […]
Kristen Welker asked Bill Gates last weekend on “Meet the Press” whether artificial intelligence could lead to the end of humanity. Mr. Gates replied that if weaponized, AI is powerful enough to “drive events that cause a billion deaths.” “It’s pretty hard to get to 100%,” he said, almost comfortingly. Relying on AI companies to […]
Much was said and reported this week about artificial intelligence, and we’ll begin where history will, with President Trump’s address to the United Nations General Assembly. Mr. Trump declared that while AI brings challenges, those who warn of its dangers are conspiracists and fear mongers, “the very same people who said we’ll all be dead […]
I believe artificial intelligence has become a dominating subject in America because Americans by nature have imaginations. The average American has a lot of untapped, unfocused creativity, and can imagine exactly what it would look like if things went sideways—the grid down, the water system hacked—fast. This tendency will be encouraged by almost daily reports […]
There is no subject now but artificial intelligence. Nothing else is as crucial, nothing carries dangers so imminent or implications so great for the human future. I have spent the past few years reading the vast and growing literature, from “If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies,” by Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares to Dario Amodei’s […]
I’ll never get over it, none of us will who were in town that day. If we were trees cut down after a century and cut open to reveal the rings, an arborist would observe one that was darker than the others, denser and resin-scarred, and he’d say, “What happened there?” And you’d say, “That […]
At Buckingham Palace the Coldstream Guards Band played “9 to 5” when they heard of her death. The White House ordered flags flown at half staff. In New York they turned the top of the Empire State Building pink and sparkly. She was born in the hills of Tennessee, the fourth of 12 children of […]
I’m thinking about the deeper effects of governmental corruption in the Trump era, and why it leaves many not only indignant but uneasy. I suspect it’s doing something to us as a people. The thoughts were prompted by a poll this week from Reuters/Ipsos, which Reuters headlined “Most Americans Believe Trump Has Inappropriately Profited Since […]