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Why Machines Will Never Rule the World


"Jobst Landgrebe is a scientist and entrepreneur with a background in philosophy, mathematics, neuroscience, and bioinformatics. Landgrebe is also the founder of Cognotekt, a German AI company which has since 2013 provided working systems used by companies in areas such as insurance claims management, real estate management, and medical billing. After more than 10 years in the AI industry, he has developed an exceptional understanding of the limits and potential of AI in the future.

Barry Smith is one of the most widely cited contemporary philosophers. He has made influential contributions to the foundations of ontology and data science, especially in the biomedical domain. Most recently, his work has led to the creation of an international standard in the ontology field (ISO/IEC 21838), which is the first example of a piece of philosophy that has been subjected to the ISO standardization process."

In their book 'Why Machines Will Never Rule the World - Artificial lntelligence without Fear' Landgrebe and Smith build up a compelling argument as to why AGI is mathematically and biologically impossible. There is no equivocation. Early on they quote Dreyfus:

"Hubert Dreyfus was one of the first serious critics of AI research. His book What Computers Can’t Do, first published in 1972, explains that symbolic (logic-based) AI, which was at that time the main paradigm in AI research, was bound to fail, because the mental processes of humans do not follow a logical pattern."

Indeed, humans are not logical. Which is one of the reasons orthodox economics continues to fail so spectacularly when its proponents insist on the rational choice theory  as having validity.

Rational choice theory refers to a set of guidelines that 'help understand' economic and social behaviour. The theory originated in the eighteenth century and can be traced back to political economist and philosopher, Adam Smith. The theory postulates that an individual will perform a cost-benefit analysis to determine whether an option is right for them. It also suggests that an individual's self-driven rational actions will help better the overall economy. Rational choice theory looks at three concepts: rational actors, self interest and the invisible hand.

The authors deal with the question of 'the singularity', as you might expect. The singularity is 'seen by Kurzweil as an inevitable consequence of the achievement of AGI, and he too believes that we are approaching ever closer to the point where AGI will in fact be achieved. Proponents of the Singularity idea believe that once the Singularity is reached, AGI machines will develop their own will and begin to act autonomously, potentially detaching themselves from their human creators in ways that will threaten human civilisation.'

They then give a list of reasons dissecting this argument, concluding with, 'E. The Singularity is impossible.' And this is only in the introduction.

The book has gained a new reader. It already seems a significant book, which I look forward to finishing. Many salient points of the book can be viewed in the video above. More of Smith's work can be found on his YouTube channel, which I'd highly recommend, currently it has far too followers for the importance and quality of arguments aired. 

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