abandoned

Work at CVK. Still quite cold and very grey. Winter in Berlin. I finished book #3 this year. I figured that I should have a look into the ethics of machine learning. The book I found, AI Ethics by Mark Coeckelbergh, is very readable. I didn't find out about any problems I hadn't heard about before which is a rather good thing. It was really interesting to see how the current discussion fits into the historical context. A lot of the issues to do with new technology are raised everytime new technology is introduced and boils down to arguments between enlightenment and romanticism. I should really read Shelly's Frankenstein, alas I think it's in storage in Edinburgh. It was also good to understand more about the post- and transhuman positions. Elon Musk and his idea of attempting to escape Earth was mentioned. I did find it really interesting that a lot of the issues we have seem to come from western philosophy and narratives. The author was very clear that in the end our problems are human problems and only we can solve them. He is calling for a broader education: scientists should also consider ethical questions and social scientists should have some understanding of how AI and machine learning works. It is extremely unlikely that we will get wiped out by a superintelligence. However, we might create a system where the disadvantaged will be even more disadvantaged and the few rich will be even richer. I really enjoyed reading the book.