On being prescient
I’m reading a book at the moment.
There’s nothing odd about that – I always have a book on the go and get through two or three a month.
This book however is one I read before many many years ago and it belongs to a rare genre – a science fiction book written by a scientist. In the case the author is Fred Hoyle and the book is ‘A for Andromeda‘.
What is so remarkable about this book is that it was published in 1962, over sixty years ago yet its basic theme is a modern phenomenon.
The story is simple enough in concept. A strange signal is picked up from space which transpires to be instructions for building a supercomputer. There are a few smirks to be had in that the supercomputer has to have its own building as it consists of banks of machines with flashing lights and spinning tapes everywhere and the output has to be printed. This obviously predates the laptop?
Anyhows the ultimate result is the creation of alien intelligence on Earth.
There has been a bit of a shenanigans lately about AI and the possible extinction of humanity. The answer, they say is to regulate AI and be careful how it is originally designed. Immediately my reaction was one of ‘dream on’. They tried that with nuclear energy and look where we are now. For Alien Intelligence read Artificial Intelligence and the book becomes really interesting.
The first thing that happens in the book with this new AI is of course the building of superior weapons. Then there is messing around with pharmaceuticals. The government of course have taken over from the scientists and this new technology is too good to resist. It means power and ultimate domination.
Back in the real world they talk about controlling AI, but that assumes all nations are law abiding. Are Russia and North Korea [and the Chinese?] going to be able to resists the possibilities of new weaponry, whether nuclear or biological? Already there is talk of new anti-viruses so what’s to stop new viruses?
Covid-19?
You ain’t seen nothing yet.
I think it’s great that you are taking the time to read a book! It’s
Welcome Ellie! I am so glad to
I think it’s wonderful that you’re taking the time to read a book. Reading is
Hi Jackson. Any relation of Ellie above?
In the tv version the machine gave the formula for creating Julie Christie. Nothing wrong with that.
I confess that if I cad the code to create Julie Christie I would be inclined to run off a couple of copies. But I can foresee that causing problems on the home front, so maybe not.
I love the assumption that it will be Russia,China and Nth Korea that would ignore a ban on AI.
It is more likely to be the US and ourselves that do that. For some time now we have been on the wrong side of every line drawn in the sand. We are bad guys.
An alternative perspective or counterargument to the author’s point of view is that reading books is not the only way to gain knowledge. Other activities such as talking to experts, researching online, or attending seminars can also be effective means of learning and expanding one’s understanding of a given topic.
An alternative perspective or counterargument to the author’s point of view could be that there are many other ways to gain knowledge and understanding. Reading books is not the only way to learn, as there are other forms of media, such as videos, podcasts, and even conversations with people, that can provide insight and education. It is important to explore all aspects of learning, not just books.