Café Inquiry (Online) – Artificial Intelligence and “The Shortcut”

This event is held online. (Click the button to join the Zoom meeting.)

Join us ONLINE at the next Café Inquiry as Phil Gleason leads a discussion centered around Nello Cristianini’s book, The Shortcut – Why Intelligent Machines Do Not Think Like Us. Here is Phil’s summary of the topic, with a couple of background links:

In The Shortcut, Cristianini defines intelligence very broadly as “the ability to behave effectively in a variety of situations, including new ones.” No single quality makes a system intelligent. Plants adjust to a wide variety of novel circumstances, growing in cracks, growing tall rather than spreading out, etc. Intelligence is not necessarily comprehensible from a human point of view. Cristianini sees intelligence as a compensating reaction to novel changes in the environment, no matter how slow, or limited in scope. “Whether they are based on statistical patterns, or on neural pathways, or on chemical reactions, the decisions made by intelligent agents do not need to involve sentience nor language, nor a higher appreciation of art and science.” (P. 10) The shortcut in the title refers to machine learning, and to the fact that machine learning systems do not generate explanations, or “rules of thumb”. The machine learning system, once it has learned a task, is a black box that provides answers, but cannot reveal to us any generalizations or guidelines about the task. So, we’re entering a world in which what are essentially alien intelligences are used to provide important information. This view of general intelligence, intelligence far different from a human account of reason, is shared by biologist Michael Levin. Levin works on morphogenesis, and has produced some startling results in how body shape is controlled during development. Levin’s conclusions track those of Cristianini and together they point to a very different view of artificial intelligence than we see in the press. Here is a link to a brief Wikipedia biography of Michael Levin, and here is a 20-minute TED talk he gave about electrical blueprints for orchestrating life. This YouTube video features Levin discussing cognition, diverse intelligence and collective intelligence. This special bonus link is to a podcast interview of Michael Levin by physicist Sean M. Carroll – complete with transcript!

This should be a somewhat different take on a subject that has been in the news a lot! Hope to see you ONLINE for the discussion!

Café Inquiry starts with a short introduction of the day’s topic, followed by casual discussion.

This event is free and open to the public. Donations appreciated, but not expected.

Attendees are able to future propose topics which would align with Michigan Humanist’s purpose: from atheism, agnosticism, humanism, secularism, and freethinking to broader subjects in science and humanities, such as religion, philosophy, social issues, politics, evolution, morality, ethics, and psychology.

Café Inquiry (Grand Rapids) meets each month in person on the second Sunday and online on the fourth Sunday.

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Michigan Humanists expects all guests to engage in respectful discussion. Critiques on views and claims based on merit are allowed, but not attacks on individuals who hold other perspectives.

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