{"id":10893,"date":"2024-03-28T10:52:37","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T14:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/?page_id=10893"},"modified":"2024-03-28T12:14:27","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T16:14:27","slug":"rhetoftechmarch28","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/rhetorictechnologyspring2024\/rhetoftechmarch28\/","title":{"rendered":"March 28th: Artificial Intelligence Book Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Announcement<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/inside.charlotte.edu\/news-features\/2024-03-25\/new-investment-professional-advisors-will-improve-undergraduate-student?j=1554134&amp;jb=1&amp;l=296_HTML&amp;mid=515007859&amp;sfmc_id=38980381&amp;sfmc_sub=38980381&amp;u=32721050&amp;utm_id=1554134\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/inside.charlotte.edu\/news-features\/2024-03-25\/new-investment-professional-advisors-will-improve-undergraduate-student?j=1554134&amp;jb=1&amp;l=296_HTML&amp;mid=515007859&amp;sfmc_id=38980381&amp;sfmc_sub=38980381&amp;u=32721050&amp;utm_id=1554134\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">New Advisor Positions at UNC Charlotte Opening Up Soon<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Plan for the Day<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Jump back to Tuesday&#8217;s webpage\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Connect&nbsp;<em>Neuromancer<\/em>\u2013Wintermute, Neuromancer, Dixie Flatline, and the novel in general\u2013to contemporary assumptions of AI<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/genderdigital\/futurism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">F. T. Marinetti and the Italian Futurists<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Thinking about Risks<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Hugo Neri\u2019s \u201cPreface,\u201d \u201cIntroduction,\u201d and \u201cChapter 1\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Artificial Intelligence<\/strong> (AI) definitions (last decade)\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Artificial_general_intelligence#Narrow_AI_research\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Narrow (or Weak) Artificial Intelligence<\/a><\/strong>: machine learning that responds to users through \u201cprogrammed\u201d learning. (autocorrect, autofill, help bots, etc.).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>General (or True) Artificial Intelligence<\/strong>: computers become as conscious as humans or surpass their abilities. (theoretical superintelligences)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>AI seems to be the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-Kdt1IARNkI\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-Kdt1IARNkI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&#8220;Talk of the Town&#8221;<\/a><\/strong> these days<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Hugo Neri&#8217;\u2019&#8217;s \u201cChapter 4\u201d (aka, the book reviews)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>HAL 9000 Pleading with Dave<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Although Neri points to an interpretation that HAL 900(0) could be scene (haha! get it?) as a victim, most references to <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/HAL_9000\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/HAL_9000\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">HAL 9000 from <em>2001: A Space Odyssey<\/em><\/a><\/strong> assume its a murderous robot\/AI. Time permitting, let&#8217;s watch these clips from the film:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>HAL 9000: <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/ARJ8cAGm6JE?t=15\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/ARJ8cAGm6JE?t=15\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&#8220;I&#8217;m sorry Dave, I&#8217;m afraid I can&#8217;t do that&#8221;<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/UwCFY6pmaYY?t=69\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/UwCFY6pmaYY?t=69\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">HAL 9000 gets shutdown<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>HAL&#8217;s name comes from &#8220;<strong>H<\/strong>euristically Programmed <strong>AL<\/strong>gorithmic Computer&#8221;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>heuristic<\/strong> (comp sci): accelerated problem solving that sacrifices accuracy for expediance<br><strong>heuristic<\/strong> (comp sci): accelerated problem solving that sacrifices accuracy for expediance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Hugo Neri&#8217;s Chapter 4: We Thought We Could Do It<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>After getting past the typos, there&#8217;s a lot of interesting history here. This chapter and the first are, of course, part of a larger work, but the selection I&#8217;m asking you to read is because they better extend topics we&#8217;ve already addressed: fear of technology, belief of technological panacea, cyberpunk scifi, Japanaphobia, and technologies as forms of life (ok, that last one is a stretch, but re-read Winner). Let&#8217;s consider these areas from Ch. 4:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>p. 93: &#8220;&#8230;from the 1980s to the early 1990s, there was another political imaginary pulling force in the United States and Europe represented as a future risk, the &#8216;Japanese threat.'&#8221;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>You may want to revisit Cold War history and brush up on <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sputnik_crisis\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sputnik_1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sputnik<\/a><\/strong> and the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Space_Race\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Space_Race\">Space Race<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>p. 95: &#8220;&#8230;in 1974, Clarke said that in the year 2001 there would be home computers of the size of a console that would be capable of communicating to other computers and retrieving everyday information&#8230;&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>p. 97: Minsky&#8217;s &#8220;joke&#8221; about general artificial intelligence coming about circa 1970\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>1997 Interview with David Stork &#8220;Scientist on the Set&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>p. 98: The Voight-Kampff interrogation tool in <em>Blade Runner<\/em>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;The line between humans and robots is drawn by empathy and imagination.&#8221;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Then again&#8230;&#8221;It&#8217;s not my place to know what you feel \/ I&#8217;d like to know but why should I&#8221; (Pretenders, &#8220;Talk of the Town&#8221;)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;&#8230;the replicant could not deal with these hypothetical situations.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This is the linchpin (I use that word too much) of the humanities; however, we might be overselling the individual freedom and desire for freedom of the masses.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Once again, it&#8217;s hard to believe one&#8217;s free to choose while idling in the Chick-Fil-a drive through line&#8230;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Dr. T: It&#8217;s 2am, and you go to Cookout because you claim &#8220;it&#8217;s the only place open.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Response: Well, it might be the only place open.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>pp. 98-99: &#8220;The term singularity is originally a mathematical term to describe critical points at which functions become indefinable, usually by tending to infinity.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>p. 100: &#8220;The miners are the knowledge engineers, AI people who know how to represent knowledge digitally.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>p. 101: The &#8220;failure&#8221; of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/European_Strategic_Programme_on_Research_in_Information_Technology\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/European_Strategic_Programme_on_Research_in_Information_Technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ESPRIT<\/a><\/strong>&#8211;European Strategic Programme on Research in Information Technology\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;It lowered the requirements for natural language and speech understanding systems. After they had spent ten years and US$380 million in 1990&#8230;the project failed.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Revisit Technological Determinism\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>p. 102: &#8220;The advancement of computers and information processing technologies is closely related to the future of human society. Social thought, ideologies, and social systems that fail to recognize its significance will perish, as we have seen in recent world history&#8221; (Kazuhiro Fuchi, 1993).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>p. 102: &#8220;A futurist is someone who communicates to the public his or her counterfactual scenarios of the future and their consequences in a nonfictional context.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>p. 105: Fear of Machine Take Over\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Moravec, Kurzweil, and Gershenfeld <em>When Things Start to Think<\/em>, &#8220;Hello, HAL&#8221; (1998)<br>&#8220;Has the invasion already begun?&#8230;.Are machines&#8230;poised to take over the world\u2014or is this an irrational fear&#8230;.[or] just a clever marketing ploy for the investment-hungry artificial intelligence industry?&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>p. 106: &#8220;A tiny elite would be in control of the big machines and consequently, they will hold humanity in their hands. Actually, &#8216;masses will be superfluous, a useless burden on the system [Theodore Kaczynski, aka the Unabomer, Manifesto: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-srv\/national\/longterm\/unabomber\/manifesto.text.htm\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-srv\/national\/longterm\/unabomber\/manifesto.text.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&#8220;Industrial Society and Its Future&#8221;<\/a>].'&#8221;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Bill Joy&#8217;s article is on <em>Wired<\/em> behind a pay wall. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2000\/04\/joy-2\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2000\/04\/joy-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&#8220;Why the Future Doesn&#8217;t Need Us&#8221; 1. Apr. 2000<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>We work for the machine, but do <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=yzjEg5hBcpU\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=yzjEg5hBcpU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">you walk from your machine<\/a><\/strong>? Don&#8217;t forget to breathe in, breathe out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>SciFi Predictions can be so Eerily Accurate&#8230;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>On a lighter note, perhaps, this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.snopes.com\/fact-check\/archie-betty-comic-school-2021\/?fbclid=IwAR3EPnniF7toZP1Jfph5MFa5YJHTCU0xGOxugVn_ogMOtXVSkb5WbDgkzXU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Archie Comic<\/em> from 1997<\/a> has made the rounds on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.uncc.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/121\/2021\/04\/BettyHS-2021_1997.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"694\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/pages.uncc.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/121\/2021\/04\/BettyHS-2021_1997-694x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7514\" srcset=\"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/121\/2021\/04\/BettyHS-2021_1997-694x1024.jpg 694w, http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/121\/2021\/04\/BettyHS-2021_1997-203x300.jpg 203w, http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/121\/2021\/04\/BettyHS-2021_1997-768x1133.jpg 768w, http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/121\/2021\/04\/BettyHS-2021_1997.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 694px) 100vw, 694px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>SciFi= &#8220;science fiction,&#8221; not to be confused with <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/maps.app.goo.gl\/d4ke8h6fVS4HxFDW6\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/maps.app.goo.gl\/d4ke8h6fVS4HxFDW6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Scifi&#8217; (ME), Sicily, Italy<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium\"><a href=\"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/121\/2022\/10\/SciFi_888x607.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"205\" src=\"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/121\/2022\/10\/SciFi_888x607-300x205.jpg\" alt=\"SciFi', town in Sicily, Italy, near Messina.\" class=\"wp-image-9280\" srcset=\"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/121\/2022\/10\/SciFi_888x607-300x205.jpg 300w, http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/121\/2022\/10\/SciFi_888x607-768x525.jpg 768w, http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/121\/2022\/10\/SciFi_888x607.jpg 888w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Next Week<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Don&#8217;t forget to do your Weekly Discussion Post by Friday, 3\/29, 11:00pm. It wouldn&#8217;t be a good Friday if you missed it. We&#8217;re going to have more AI readings you can find on Canvas:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>From Charles Jennings&#8217;s <em>Artificial Intelligence: Rise of the Lightspeed Learners<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cForeword,\u201d David Hume Kennerly, pp. vii-ix<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Chapter 1: \u201cAn Uncanny Ability to Learn,\u201d pp. 1-15<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Chapter 2: \u201cNot Your Father\u2019s AI,\u201d pp. 17-15<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;ll have a <strong>Social Construction of Technology<\/strong> &#8220;workshop&#8221; next Thursday, so let&#8217;s hope I finish commenting on your essays before then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Further Reading<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Stork, David. &#8220;Scientist on the Set: An Interview with Marvin Minsky.&#8221; <em>HAL&#8217;s Legacy: 2001&#8217;s Computer as Dream and Reality<\/em>, edited by David Stork. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1997.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Announcement New Advisor Positions at UNC Charlotte Opening Up Soon Plan for the Day HAL 9000 Pleading with Dave Although Neri points to an interpretation that HAL 900(0) could be scene (haha! get it?) as a victim, most references to HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey assume its a murderous robot\/AI. Time permitting, let&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":598,"featured_media":0,"parent":10556,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-10893","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P2HAOx-2PH","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/598"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10893"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10905,"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10893\/revisions\/10905"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}