Notes from the Electronic Cottage 12/29/22: AI Books 2

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Artificial Intelligence – AI – is already a big part of our world and will be even more prevalent in our everyday lives as we move forward. Today, let’s look at some books that might help us get our heads around what AI is and is not – at least not yet – and how AI will quite probably affect all of our lives in our Information Age world.

Here are the books mentioned on today’s program:
Wiener, Norbert, The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society
Shannon, Claude E. and Weaver, Warren, The Mathematical Theory of Communication
Brockman, John, ed., Possible Minds: 25 Ways of Looking at AI
Kissinger, Henry A., Schmidt, Eric, and Huttenlocher, Daniel, The Age of AI and Our Human Future

About the host:
Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio for decades and, in the little known facts department (that should probably stay that way), he was one of the readers voicing Richard Nixon’s words when NPR broadcast the entire transcript of the Watergate tapes. Like several other current WERU volunteers, he was at the station’s sign-on party on May 1, 1988 and has been a volunteer ever since doing an early stint as a Morning Maine host, and later producing WERU program series including Northern Lights, Conversations on Science and Society, Sound Portrait of the Artist, Selections from the Camden Conference, others that will probably come to him after this is is posted, and, of course, Notes from the Electronic Cottage.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 12/22/22: AI Books

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

There are three very big challenges that humans will have to deal with in the near future: Climate Change, Genetic Engineering, and Artificial Intelligence or AI. Today, we briefly look at some sources to check for those interested in the first two challenges, and then turn our attention to sources for those interested in what AI means for us today, and will mean for humans in the near future and beyond.

On genetic engineering, a good book for an overview, written very clearly for non-specialists, is The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson.

A book from 1950 that has had a big impact on the development of what we now call Artificial Intelligence is The Human Use of Human Beings by Norbert Wiener.

About the host:
Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio for decades and, in the little known facts department (that should probably stay that way), he was one of the readers voicing Richard Nixon’s words when NPR broadcast the entire transcript of the Watergate tapes. Like several other current WERU volunteers, he was at the station’s sign-on party on May 1, 1988 and has been a volunteer ever since doing an early stint as a Morning Maine host, and later producing WERU program series including Northern Lights, Conversations on Science and Society, Sound Portrait of the Artist, Selections from the Camden Conference, others that will probably come to him after this is is posted, and, of course, Notes from the Electronic Cottage.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 12/15/22: December 2022 Headlines

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

It is the season of Ho Ho Ho! While we do not enjoy being Grinches, we still feel it’s important to look at some current tech headlines as well as cheery holiday gift hints. So, for better or worse, here are a few things of import that might have gotten lost in the the holiday media punch bowl.

Here is a link to the article from The Markup mentioned in today’s program

About the host:
Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio for decades and, in the little known facts department (that should probably stay that way), he was one of the readers voicing Richard Nixon’s words when NPR broadcast the entire transcript of the Watergate tapes. Like several other current WERU volunteers, he was at the station’s sign-on party on May 1, 1988 and has been a volunteer ever since doing an early stint as a Morning Maine host, and later producing WERU program series including Northern Lights, Conversations on Science and Society, Sound Portrait of the Artist, Selections from the Camden Conference, others that will probably come to him after this is is posted, and, of course, Notes from the Electronic Cottage.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 12/8/22: Holiday Gift Settings Redux

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

As we excitedly gather all sorts of amazing electronic digital devices to bestow on others during this gift-giving season, here are a few thoughts that might be worth considering before the recipients fire those devices up and start using them.

About the host:
Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio for decades and, in the little known facts department (that should probably stay that way), he was one of the readers voicing Richard Nixon’s words when NPR broadcast the entire transcript of the Watergate tapes. Like several other current WERU volunteers, he was at the station’s sign-on party on May 1, 1988 and has been a volunteer ever since doing an early stint as a Morning Maine host, and later producing WERU program series including Northern Lights, Conversations on Science and Society, Sound Portrait of the Artist, Selections from the Camden Conference, others that will probably come to him after this is is posted, and, of course, Notes from the Electronic Cottage.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 12/1/22: More Thoughts on AI

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Over 20 years ago, Bill Joy wrote that 21st century technologies posed a danger of the extinction of humans from the earth. Last month, that sentiment arose again from people as diverse as Henry Kissinger and Jaron Lanier. In between, Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates, and other luminaries offered similar cautions. Why? And why should we pay attention to what they have to say?

Here are links to web sites mentioned today:

‘Extinction is on the table’: Jaron Lanier warns of tech’s existential threat to humanity, The Guardian
Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us, WIRED
National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, The Final Report
How the Enlightenment Ends, Henry A. Kissinger, The Atlantic
The Age of AI And Our Human Future

About the host:
Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio for decades and, in the little known facts department (that should probably stay that way), he was one of the readers voicing Richard Nixon’s words when NPR broadcast the entire transcript of the Watergate tapes. Like several other current WERU volunteers, he was at the station’s sign-on party on May 1, 1988 and has been a volunteer ever since doing an early stint as a Morning Maine host, and later producing WERU program series including Northern Lights, Conversations on Science and Society, Sound Portrait of the Artist, Selections from the Camden Conference, others that will probably come to him after this is is posted, and, of course, Notes from the Electronic Cottage.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 11/24/22: Thanksgiving Thoughts Redux 2022

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Electronic Technology is a sort of “front of the hand-back of the hand” world. Here at the Electronic Cottage we look at both sides of tech – wonderfully positive and, alas, dismayingly negative. Today is Thanksgiving so let’s look at things – whether offered through giant corporations or through individuals – that the Web can offer us that generations before those alive today would truly marvel at. Thanks are in order.

Here are links to web sites mentioned today:

Online Etymology Dictionary
Your Dictionary
alphaDictionary: Search All Online English Dictionaries at Once
WordNet: A Lexical Database for English, Princeton University
Official U.S. Time, National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Dept of Commerce
Creative Commons

About the host:
Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio for decades and, in the little known facts department (that should probably stay that way), he was one of the readers voicing Richard Nixon’s words when NPR broadcast the entire transcript of the Watergate tapes. Like several other current WERU volunteers, he was at the station’s sign-on party on May 1, 1988 and has been a volunteer ever since doing an early stint as a Morning Maine host, and later producing WERU program series including Northern Lights, Conversations on Science and Society, Sound Portrait of the Artist, Selections from the Camden Conference, others that will probably come to him after this is is posted, and, of course, Notes from the Electronic Cottage.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 11/17/22: Some Old Things, Some New Things

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Technology developments – and what they may mean – can sometimes seem confusing as we try to sort out reports and headlines. Here are a few illustrations, as well as news about the inauguration of Democracy’s Library

About the host:
Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio for decades and, in the little known facts department (that should probably stay that way), he was one of the readers voicing Richard Nixon’s words when NPR broadcast the entire transcript of the Watergate tapes. Like several other current WERU volunteers, he was at the station’s sign-on party on May 1, 1988 and has been a volunteer ever since doing an early stint as a Morning Maine host, and later producing WERU program series including Northern Lights, Conversations on Science and Society, Sound Portrait of the Artist, Selections from the Camden Conference, others that will probably come to him after this is is posted, and, of course, Notes from the Electronic Cottage.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 11/10/22: AI Snake Oil

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Suppose you were an academic who posted some slides from a lecture on your university’s archive page and suppose that tens of thousands of people found them and downloaded them and 2 million people read your Twitter feed on the subject. Would you be surprised? This really happened to Avrind Narayanan and therein lies the source of a book in progress and blog underway entitled “AI Snake Oil.” That title alone should make it worth listening to today’s episode of the Electronic Cottage.

Here are links to the sources mentioned in the program:

AI Snakeoil, Substack
How to Recognize AI Snake Oil, Arvind Narayanan, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Princeton University
A checklist of eighteen pitfalls in AI journalism, Sayash Kapoor, Arvind Narayanan. September 30, 2022

About the host:
Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio for decades and, in the little known facts department (that should probably stay that way), he was one of the readers voicing Richard Nixon’s words when NPR broadcast the entire transcript of the Watergate tapes. Like several other current WERU volunteers, he was at the station’s sign-on party on May 1, 1988 and has been a volunteer ever since doing an early stint as a Morning Maine host, and later producing WERU program series including Northern Lights, Conversations on Science and Society, Sound Portrait of the Artist, Selections from the Camden Conference, others that will probably come to him after this is is posted, and, of course, Notes from the Electronic Cottage.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download