Publishing and a little ai

 Around 2000, science colleagues of mine had the idea to start a book club. Obviously I joined as I needed some of the arts in my life. I had a bit of a background in it and it would be fun to discuss it again.

At the first meeting I got into an argument. I suggested that it would be fun to read the collected diaries and letters of famous canonized authors. Something I always relied on when trying to understand the intent of the author and the time they lived in to produce their masterpieces. 

I figured that it would be more intellectually challenging. Sue, the moderator disagreed. I mentioned that it might be fun to learn especially since we might not be able to collect all their digital info one day as opposed to handwritten letters and ideas that are sometimes discovered decades later. Sue told me I was wrong. I dropped it. 

Nothing came of the book club, but recently I read that all the great comments by intellectuals like Umberto Eco who was very active on Twitter may be gone. Along with the intelligent debates and comments of other intellectuals. I was right after all.

Much of Einsteins thoughts and aphorisms came from his exchanges with other scientists.

I've always felt that analog and digital must be preserved in parallel for students, scholars and hobbyists.

Then came my own experience. I had found a website hosted by a famous scientific publication. I thought I'd say hello and participate in the discussions. Scientists and researchers from all fields. One in particular, Dr. Paul, encouraged a cross disciplinary arts and science approach.

I won't say too much because it may identify him. He teaches at university, has several publications in his field and is politically active. And presented himself as an ecowarrior. His field is one of the social sciences (it would make more sense if I could say which. Sigh). I knew little about it so I don't know how respected his books are among his peers. As an analogy only: he also claimed to be a rocket scientist.

I believed him. Individuals that start in a social science degree then switch to get a hard science degree and excel are rare but it does happen. If brilliant, the graduate work might take seven years instead of ten.

My mistake. Should have researched him.

I interacted with other commentators, many were retired physicists and scientists but Dr. Paul kept inserting himself in the comments. Often with lengthy self citations using ALL of the AIs. Quirky but annoying. He was overly welcoming (in hindsight) engaged me asked me to explain things. We talked about trends in technology and science fiction, then he applied modern technology to scifi authors from the 1950s which didn't exist then and wasn't even imagined. 

Keep in mind this is supposed to be a friendly discussion. I pointed it out and that it wasn't the intend of the author. A rocket scientist would have known the history. Several more times, he didn't know the scientific concepts of his own field. I was always professional. In an analogy: he didn't know what the goldilocks zone was.

Then he wanted to know about my work. Then he told me about all of his achievements. When I mentioned that using all that AI for creating images and text in the excessive way that he wa isn't that environmentally friendly when he's telling people to conserve energy...he replied that academics are usually adverse to and hesitant about new technology. (Isn't that what he was?)

As it turned out he was sponsored. Fine. Lots of companies do it but he pretended that was not the case.

He started to provoke me then came accusations...and then...my comments or rebuttals were edited. A moderator can choose not to post but cannot edit another person and especially not on the science site he was hosted by.

Basically if I said the "goldilockzone is the habitable planet environment humans can thrive in", He made me say "the goldilockszone is a biscuit and you're poop."

The software shouldn't allow him to do that.

My comments showed up on his blog almost verbatim (as his own work) later on and what stunned me is that he thought he'd get away with it. He didn't. I went the legal route because he had scooped me and I keep proof of what I write in the scholarly context. I also discovered that he was in the middle of writing another book that I did not want my work to appear in.

Then I looked him up properly. He had worked on a project applying his field to a hard science one. Basically analogy again: Writing about the viability of spaceships is an opinion piece it does not make him a rocket scientist for which he'd need at least an engineering degree. Yet he publicly claims he is. I do not understand how his university allows it.

Here is a conniving manipulative individual imitating what corporations do and publishing books on whatever is trending using other people's work. If someone properly nailed him on it, he'd blame it on AI.

Unfortunately, this happens all the time. Professors stealing the work of PhD students, publishing as their own. It's quiet and not as blatant. This was someone whose field was largely irrelevant. Nothing wrong with adding pop culture to make it relevant. But stealing because he can't find a way to think up something original?

I personally have always taken other people's intellectual property very seriously. Whether it's science or art both are creative and a lot of it is unpaid labor. People who work 9 to 5 get a paycheck and go home. Whether artist lecturer or researcher prepping a lecture takes a tremendous amount of time.

 I was a youngens when I decided to cite my profs' lecture notes in my paper. Theoretically unnecessary because they're not published and I paraphrased them in my own notes. Got me top percentile because it was original and acknowledged everyone, even if I disagreed with them.

I know a number of published authors who had their work stolen and are currently in legal battles. Their livelihoods depend on it. I'm also reading about bestselling authors with the same problem.

Analog made this almost impossible.

This was a human being imitating what ai companies were/are doing because he couldn't produce his own original ideas.

Westworld and ai

 While it's fresh in my mind a very superficial impression of westworld. We finished watching the first season and might take some time before watching the rest.

It's very good.

It surpasses the other scifi shows that came after on the creation of AI and it's potential to develop self awareness.

Same themes in Paradise...

But always the same approach creationism, determinism vs. Free will, AI overtaking us.

Heavily influenced by

 Karl Popper

Richard Dawkins

Bostrom 

Stand on zanzibar

Good art is meant to reveal analyze and criticize. Westworld was released in 2016. It's deeply philosophical and based on philosophy of science. And its deeply troubling.

This is just one path that ai could go. And it's the wrong path that if pursued will lead to the collapse of our civilization.

I've always had a problem with this particular theme park. If it existed I would not consider it a vacation violence and debauchery are not what I would be interested in and it only appeals to a small percentage of the population. Violence and debauchery is being programmed into these robots and apparently the only means to control them is to make them suffer.

Suffering and pain do not define what human consciousness is. Cause too much of it people rebel as these ais do. We are also building computers based on what we think consciousness is when in fact we don't have any understanding of what it actually is.

The real problem isn't ai. It will be a useful tool. The problem and westworld addresses it very well is that ai is coded at the direction of power hungry people whose ethics and morals are questionable.

These robots are a reflection of the thoughts and ambitions of the worst that humanity has to offer greed and the powerhungry.

a group that is closer to totalitarionism completely detached from humanity. Nolan the writer spoke up and season five which was going to tie it all together was canceled.

Basing ai learning on our entire human history was a very bad idea. It starts with recorded history which happens to be the old and new testaments. Not because that's when civilizations started but because we have very little records of "prehistory."

And so a human creator models an ai on religion. It is very problematic because it dooms us to repeat the mistakes that we should not be repeating. This is part of the reason religion has popped up so much in the last decade.

Over and over in the scifi shows of the last decade it's religion free will us playing gods determinism without alternative options.

Thoughts and themes

Humans are being turned into robots

Our behavior is being changed

Note: I wrote this in response to the series. The next day saw that there's an active discussion going on about ai.

In conclusion we are nowhere near building a quantum computer to rule the world. However current ai is interfering with creativity and productivity as well as guiding us to self analyze our own behaviors among other timeconsuming issues.

I'm posting this as draft and bullet points and will be adding to it, sorry if its not clear. Also I will not post any comment that mentions specific names. Sorry about that as well.

Books and historical fiction

 I have been a polymath since I was a child with a wide range of interests and books were one of the primary methods that I had access to all of the knowledge that I could pursue.

One of the subjects that was poorly taught in school was history. It was taught in a very dull and boring way of memorizing dates of major events and more dates. Mostly who invaded whom, war revolution Colonizing and so forth. Brief mentions of various empires but very little about art culture technology architecture invention which actually did interest me.

Someone recommended Ken Follets Pillars of the earth. An epic novel spanning decades. I devoured it and learned that how did they build that back then wasn't such a mystery after all; it took decades and hundreds of years to build cathedrals without modern technology. Interrupted by upheaval.

Another book was the physician which talked about 11th century medicine and Healthcare and exposed me to the fact that it was the ancient Persians and the middle east who were most advanced at the time while Europe was behind.

There were many other books without which I would have been less inclined to learn about places and people within a historical context.

When profs subsequently told me that these books were historically inaccurate, I stopped reading historical fiction but had a good starting point to look up what happened when.

Add.:

In Pillars of the earth which takes place in the 12th century Follett got society wrong and modernized it. There were inconsistencies as he also got some of the centuries in which certain architectural construction didnt exist in the 12th century but later.

in the Physicians the character travels to Persia to study medicine in the 11th century because there were no medical schools in Europe. There were since the 9th century in Salerno. The factual difference was that europes medical schools and hospitals were mostly run by monks as they had been started by the churches. Much of the treatment was faith based.

Persia was at the height of the islamic golden age and combined knowledge from all different cultures and countries and were state funded and mostly secular and science based. (Would have been interesting to include that the middle east brought science and technological advances to Europe during the middle ages).

Despite their inaccuracies these two books in particular brought history to life and immersed me in it.

Movie and series reviews

 I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel but found a few decent ones.

Practical magic 2

We went to see it. Mistake. Doesn't have the charm of the first and i was completely distracted by botched plastic surgery of these beautiful women.

Alice in borderland

Interesting Japanese scifi series, but after 4 episodes I lost interest.

What we do in the shadows (2014)

Recommend the movie. I was bored 30 minutes in but stick with it. It's truly original with situational humor. Very campy horror comedy. With a happy but unusual ending.

The humor? Scary vampire rises...latch is stuck so he has to call his familiar. It reminded me a little of young Frankenstein.

There's a series as well but it's boring.

Anything good you've watched?

Transactional friendships and helping others

 Transactional friendship/relationship is a new term that perfectly explains some of the behavior that I encountered.

It means a person who befriends one for personal gain. I have used user in the past.

As social structures are being disassembled and people are turned asocial through digital devices and social media it's getting worse.

I help people when I can because I choose to. But I have strict personal boundaries. A group that I stay away from are people with a substance abuse problem. That is an abyss of their own making that I do not want to be dragged into.

When I was young my best friend at the time fell into that hole. Phenomenal person to be around, highly intelligent and hilarious. So functional that I did not notice. Long story short when real stressor hit he became irrational. Phone calls at 2 am, driving like a maniac to the rescue only to find attention seeking behavior and so much nonexistent drama.

I later found out that there was consumption that heightened a bad situation. I offered emotional support life improved friendship went back to normal. Then I went through a life stressor and my good times friend was busy. I ended the friendship. Never forgot the pain. That's the short version.

There is someone I am friendly with but it's more of a we greet and chat when we run into eachother. Data entry clerk and it was obvious that there was a consumption problem. Very nice guy always clean shaven and functional. He had the strange habit of walking off in the middle of a conversation as if he forgot he was in one.

He would ask for favors. Could I accept a package? I declined. Always exuberant and hyperactive. I kept a friendly distance.

He was fired and I watched him unravel. Against spouses advice I got involved. I know better but he wasn't going to handle this. My advice was of the get a lawyer do this don't do that variety. Very time consuming. He hung on to me like a lifeline . Started to offer favors, bought me some chocolate bars. I made it very clear from the very beginning that I'll only help with quasi judicial stuff but do not ever want to discuss his other problems.

He told me that his employer had invited him for lunch. I told him not to it's a manipulation trap. I turned out to be right.

He would often tell me updates seek my opinion then he started discussing other things, pushing my boundaries. I didn't care tried to keep our conversation on track. Sometimes I had to listen to a confusing mess.

Over time he tried to get me to relate. I can't than he would get irrate. One moment he was quitting the next he was lying. Then he would try to find my faults my coffee (three cups a day) was an addiction, he claimed. Not comparable. Then he tried to blame me for something which didn't work. He's used to this I'm not.

I'm leaving out interactions but he won the wrongful dismissal, in part thanks to me. 

I got sick and he couldn't be bothered to ask how I was. Then suddenly he wouldn't speak to me. No explanation. No gratitude.

Yes, I know the pattern his vice had stopped his emotional development. He had assessed my resources used them and given me the cold shoulder once he no longer needed me Emotional detached because in his headspace there is his vice and him and nothing else. He had grifted my time and engaged in  pseudofriendship.

I was over it in a few hours but regretted the time and energy. Looking after my father had made me soft. In the past, I would have told someone like that that I'm sorry to hear it and had no time. I wasn't looking for friendship.

I ran into him and he doesn't say hello. Immature and strange. Behavior is classic for someone with his problem. The ultimate narcissist. He didn't do that when he needed my help. I knew better. 

I read up on it. It's considered an illness that requires treatment which I obviously can't and won't give, but it also coddles them to feel sorry for them(selves).

Volunteering

 Volunteering is important. In fact, for many organizations it is impossible to operate without them.

I have volunteered a lot. In many sectors. Some required my skill set, others needed helping hands. I have always chosen volunteer positions that I'd enjoy and didn't require a commitment because I simply could not fit it into my schedule. Many were enriching, all were grateful, but if they weren't I walked out.

Recently, a blogging friend had a bad experience that was unjust and didn't take her invested time into consideration.

Sadly it happens. Sometimes board members change sometimes there are new staff.

An aquaintance was organizing a big fundraising event for a well known art institution and asked if I could help out. The day before she needed help stuffing goodie bags. 2000 of them for tickets that were several hundred dollars. Five hours and in return helping out at the event while basically attending it.

I showed up a large room with scattered tables and card board boxes. A sample gift bag brief instructions of what went in them. The event was heavily sponsored so there were mostly coupons and get 100 dollars off of a spa package type of flyers. New brand name cosmetics and cologne Keychain for men. All high end.

There were seven of us walking around the tables, tissue paper flyers cosmetics. After half an hour it was clear we weren't going to finish. This was inefficient, so I suggested to move the tables line them up and do a conveyer belt. There was a woman Elsa who was ordering us around, no we can't move the tables, we were doing it all wrong. The tissue paper needed to be just so. I argued that most people will be tipsy after the event, no one will care about perfectly folded tissue paper.

Elsa and I got into an argument. Everyone packed in silence. Two young male university students left after an hour. Elsa told us we had a job to do. I told her that I was a volunteer and this was not fun (it's just a gift bag for crying out loud). There was a radio left for us to listen to music but Elsa thought this would break our concentration. More people left. After three hours, Elsa made another comment so as bad as I felt about my five hour commitment, I  told her: "you're not my supervisor, I don't get paid for this I'm helping out. Dot it yourself to perfection." and walked out.

Later that evening my aquaintance called. What happened? Told her about Elsa. Elsa wasn't staff, she was just another volunteer. My aquaintance apologized we laughed that she should have popped in but was frazzled and we joked that out of the many things she needed to get done supervising adults that behave like children didn't occur to her.

I attended the event the next day handed out goodie bags at the end and was given the bags that people hadn't picked up as apology and thank you.

A note on appreciation gifts and treating volunteers. There are strict rules. Volunteers are not staff. They can't be told to do jobs that are beneath them. Any advertising gift like a travel mug etc is fine. Nor should volunteers expect any gifts, but surplus food, parking vouchers meals are all standard. 

The event itself? Art installations, performance art, Silks acrobats, make up artists, musicians and themed costumed waiters walking around with little dishes in cocktail glasses. It was fantastic. That's how volunteers should be treated.

Movie Review of Devs we live in a simulation

 We finished watching Garlands Devs.

Spoilers ahead that aren't spoilers because the show tells the viewer what will happen by episode 2.

Good:

It's an arthouse movie (8 episodes). The cinematography is so beautiful I paused it just to look. Same with the musical score.

Bad:

The science is wrong. It mixes up everything about quantum Physics as one theory then applies it to human lives.

Wrote about it two posts ago as I had a feeling. Garland is a gifted writer director but he is also a horror writer.

I personally think that in this case the creepiness was too much and unecessary.

Devs is not as profound as it makes itself to be. An insane big tech entrepreneur named Forest who doesn't care about anyone but himself. The obvious juxtaposition of cold computer tech vs. Beautiful old growth forests. The contradiction of a deterministic universe vs. Free will and choices feels clumsy.

The influence of religion on everything the tech bros do. in devs, when most are agnostic or atheist in real life (as is garland).

It's confusing because everything from quantum ai, religion metaphysics grief is thrown together only to end up in a simulation.

I think that devs doesn't warn or predict. If I think about the current messy state of the world, Devs works as a reflection if it.

In the sense that what the tech sector pretends to achieve cannot actually be done.

I do think it's worth watching but it's not as good as Annihilation or Ex Machina.

Add:

There are some good Alex Garland interviews including one in Men's health magazine.

He was exploring original sin religion and the god complex of silicon valley.

Besides the matrix there was a paper by a philosopher Bostrom? in 2003 which postulated that we live in a simulation and which was quoted by one of the techbros that based on the evolution of video games we likely live in one.

(Bostrom whose work I'm not familiar with is a polymath Theoretical physicist and philosopher at Oxford. )

We don't. It's a nice thought experiment but the computational power to simulate a universe would be immense. And if we do and aren't aware of it then what's the difference?

Back to reality.