AI

In a sense, I am both excited and scared for what is to come in the next 30 years. I believe that great discoveries and inventions will be made, but I am afraid at what cost. What we will sacrificing as a society for these advances? Will we no longer have privacy? Will Ai become too smart for its own good? Is our world going to turn into George Orwell's 1984? Unfortunately, it is impossible to know what exactly is in store for us. And that really is scary.

While Kurzweil and Joy both make very solid points about AI, I think both are overlooking the big picture; the fact that we are still in control of what we put out into the world. Now of course, as the years progress, everything will be newer, quicker, smaller, and more accessible, but that is just human nature. The need to improve. What we should be doing is monitoring the new AI, and keeping sure that we, the humans, are keeping one step ahead of them. We already know our limits, better, our morality, but we do not yet know the limits of robots, or for that matter, AI. By giving them a chance to feel, are we in effect, creating a new species? Whats to stop us from making a robot able to reproduce? I think that when it finally gets to that point, we will be in far over our heads, and the world will yet again change as we know it.

When you look at the revolutions such as the steam engine, television and the automobile, you must also look at the time they were presented. I do not believe that we live in a time where another big invention like this can happen. Then again, there are so many things I do not know about. What I do know, however, is that these earlier revolutions completely changed the way people lived their lives. In the time we live in now however, there isn't much on the horizon for life altering inventions. Yes of course, we are finding brand new ways to stay alive longer, cure diseases, and so on, but are practicing the basic trends of society; making families, entertaining ourselves, and the unending search for the best donut ever made. The thing I'm most afraid of is our government. What is there to stop them from gaining more power, and exercising that power in their citizens lives? Democracy? The Constitution? They hide behind those ideals and documents when it works out for them, but if they want to do something not exactly constitutional, they can manipulate the system.

For now, Kurzweil can keep his optimism about the boundless possibilities Ai has in store for us, but I think with people like Joy around, we will keep a good balance of opportunity and conservatism in our new products.

The Turing Test

Suppose that we wanted to build a computer that can pass the Turing test. It would need a wide range of skills, such as the ability to understand written language. Write a blog post that describes some of the other skills a computer would require in order to pass the Turing test.

The ability to understand written language is a lot more complicated then it sounds. Not only does it have to be able to read, but it also has to be able to distinguish verb tense, which meaning the word has (if multiple) and how all the words fit into a structured sentence. They then have to be able to take the meaning and produce a response. Because we have been basically speaking our whole lives, this doesn't really seem hard. But if you really think about it, it is amazing that a computer is producing a response. Its comparable to learning a different language. A computer knows how to speak binary, but English is a completely different language.

The computer has to be able to make decisions if it does not understand the request. It may ask the person to repeat the question, but that in itself is amazing because the computer is recognizing that it doesn't understand what the question is.

The idea of talking to computers can be very useful if they are programmed correctly. For instance, it would be awesome if you could talk to your computer and ask it, "why are you running poorly" or "what can i do to enhance your performance." Of course there are search engines and performance tests, but it would be a great thing if you could "bond" with your computer. I would give it a name, and ask how if there was anything I could do to make it happy. In a sense, a computer needs to be able to form some sort of emotion to understand many questions that may come its way. For example, if a person asks a very sarcastic question, or asks a question very angrily, I think it would be good for the computer to recognize this type of speech, since after all, it is such an important part of language. (Inflection)

1. Diebold voting machines are insecure because they are easily hackable with the right knowledge and tools. Diebold voting machines probably do not use a special memory card. Also, a person does not need special tools to access the place where the memory card is kept. Anyone with a lock-picking kit or screw-driver could easily obtain access to it. Once a hacker has access to the memory card slot, they can take out the Diebold memory card and insert their own. Their memory card probably contains malicious software that help influence the votes the way they want them to, without any apparent abuse. It takes less then a minute to install their software, which loads automatically when the machine is turned on. They then remove their memory card and replace the Diebold one. What concerns people is that if a election voter were to run a test to see if there was any malicious software, they would be unable to detect anything wrong.
   

One a person casts their vote, they leave and once the voting is done, a worker compiles the data on the memory card and turns it into the appropriate place. It's not like the people who vote wait in the place until voting is finished to make sure the machine is correct. The general public shares a terrible misconception that if a machine adds up the numbers, then the total must be correct.

2. If I was placed in charge of voting, I would take the ballets old school, and make them all on paper. It would be a lot easier, in my opinion, to keep track of ballets, then trust a machine to do the counting, especially when there are so many ways to hack. The only problem then would be the counting of the votes. Although this process would take longer, I feel that to have an accurate outcome, this would be the best way. I would completely take machines out of the equation, so their was no chance of accidental lost ballets, or eaten ballets by the computer. To make sure there wasn't any funny business while counting the ballets, I would hire people completely neutral to the election. I would make sure they had no hidden agenda. One suggestion is to hire teen-agers to count the ballets, and possibly someone to check the counting. Of course, may kids are influenced politcally by their parents, so they may or may not be neutral. There is always the possibility of teaching dogs and cats to count ballets, however they may not be the best choice because they are spooked easily by numbers. (Just kidding).
Another idea is to make the ballets somewhat like a scantron. Those work great for multiple choice tests in high school. You have people fill in the bubble, and then run the ballet through a similar machine andmake sure it was hack proof. This would make use of machines, speeding up the process, however, I still think having neutral people count the ballets are the best idea. The ballets could be held in a safe place in the major cities across the nation, and election workers could go pick up the ballets on the morning of the election to ensure security. People just can't know who is going to pick up the ballets, or when. And it has to be a neutral party.

Mash-ups Lab

Mash-up #1: Team Extreme NBA Map: Apis: Google Maps and Google Calendars
This site is awesome because it shows you where all (or almost all) the NBA teams are located. they also include a number of links for each team concerning current events happening.
http://kaespace.com/sportsmaps/NBA/

Mash-up #2: Popuri.us : Apis: Alexa Top Sites, Del.icio.us, and Technorati.
This site is really cool because it lists a number of popular search engines, and tells you how high a particular site, you, the user, searches for. It would be useful for seeing what search engines people use more in general.
http://popuri.us/

Mash-up #3: Mashed Tickets Home: API's: eBay, Google Ajax Search, and Google Maps
I really liked this site because it showed a lot of upcoming events for almost anything you'd want to see, and where it was happening at. You can then click on links to find out what is for sale for that event. It's really convenient!
http://www.mashedtickets.com/

Give an example of how the digital divide is a potential problem in each of the following areas:

- Education: Digital advances can do wonders for education but will do nothing for those students who can not afford a computer. Resources on-line have almost become unlimited, but if you can't access the internet, they do no good. Take example of the school that paid a whole bunch of money to finance a new computer lab, but then had no one to teach it. The computers ended up collecting dust, and went to no good. The great thing about textbooks is that you can take them anywhere with you, and a lot of times, schools provide them for their students. These books are a LOT less expensive then providing computers the students. If a teacher puts material on-line, and some students are able to access it, and some aren't, then it puts those students at a disadvantage because they are losing out.

- Government- The government has been trying to simplify some processes by putting forms and information on the web. Again we see the divide, because many people can not afford either a computer and/or internet access. Much of the information on the web can greatly benefit the poor, or unemployed; however, many people do not know that this information even exists. This perpetually furthers the metaphor of the wealthy not needing but gaining, and the poor needing and suffering.

- health- There has been a lot of information put on the internet concerning health. This material includes: dieting, disease, medications, infections, etc. People can easily look up what illness they have by searching the internet with their symptoms. There are also many sites that talk about which foods to eat, and which not to eat, and what foods can be dangerous. The people who can't access the web miss out on this plethora of information. For example, they may have an illness but because they know that it would cost too much money to visit the doctor unless it was an emergency, they won't do anything about it. If they had internet access, they could easily see if they should be going to the ER immediately or not. This would save them time and money, but because they don't have the money, they end up suffering.

- Entertainment- A lot of information containing showtimes, movie information, and other various information exists on the web. A disadvantage to not having internet would be that people couldn't look up showtimes or see what a movie was about. They could always buy a newspaper, but that would be an inconvenience, and sometimes hard to do depending on what area you live in, and if they have the right kind of newspaper. Also, the people who don't have access to the internet can not order movies on-line. Because of this, they are forced to pay more at video rental stores because they are themselves struggling to survive against the web.

- work- There has been huge problems with the advancement of technology in the workplace. Technology is starting to take the jobs of unskilled workers, such as check out clerks at grocery stores. The fact that anyone can ring up their item, greatly lowers the need for these clerks. Also, by blockbuster and netflix putting all of their movies on-line, there is no longer the need for video rental stores. The downside to the internet is that many people are losing their jobs because virtually everything can be sold on-line and shipped.