Jill Nephew, founder of Inqwire, delves into the illusions surrounding artificial intelligence and the urgent need for ethical considerations in AI development. She critiques the hype around large language models and emphasizes their lack of true consciousness. Discussing the cognitive costs of over-reliance on technology, Jill warns against reducing human experiences to mere data points. The conversation also touches on the potential dangers of AI as blind acceptance could lead us astray, urging a balance between algorithmic insights and genuine human wisdom.
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insights INSIGHT
LLMs as Illusion Machines
LLMs are illusion machines, like magic tricks, designed to convince us they're human.
Their power lies in controlling our attention, exploiting our vulnerabilities.
insights INSIGHT
The Real Threat of LLMs
True danger isn't LLM sentience; it's humans believing the illusion of LLM agency.
Believing in LLMs as real intelligence is like eating plastic—poisonous.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Scrutinize LLM Use Cases
Challenge any claim that LLMs have real value beyond entertainment.
Analyze LLM use cases, considering all affected parties and externalities.
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How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy
Cathy O’Neil
In this book, Cathy O'Neil explores the societal impact of big data algorithms, which she terms 'Weapons of Math Destruction' (WMDs). These algorithms are used in various fields such as insurance, advertising, education, and policing, and they often reinforce discrimination, amplify inequality, and harm the poor. O'Neil argues that these models are opaque, unregulated, and difficult to contest, leading to a 'toxic cocktail for democracy'. She calls for greater responsibility from modelers and policymakers to regulate these algorithms and for the public to become more aware of their impact. The book provides numerous examples of how these models can go wrong and emphasizes the need for ethical considerations in the use of big data models.
Computer power and human reason
From Judgment to Calculation
Joseph Weizenbaum
In this book, Joseph Weizenbaum critiques the increasing reliance on computers for decision-making and argues that computers lack the human qualities of compassion, wisdom, and moral judgment. He discusses the limitations of artificial intelligence, emphasizing that computers are deterministic machines that cannot initiate actions or make ethical decisions. Weizenbaum warns against the misuse of computer technology in critical areas such as life-and-death decisions and advocates for a more balanced approach that leverages human intuition and initiative alongside technological advancements.
The question of the promise and peril of AI is a proper one for our long-running Love the System series, but we thought it deserved its own spot as a sub-series due to the rapid development and proliferation of Large Language Models and other ground-breaking AI technologies over the past six months. It may be too early to tell yet, but with the clear power of this emergent technology, its potential to take over many of the tasks we used to regard as exclusively human, and its rapid public uptake, it feels like we are on the cusp of an epochal change. How are we to secure the psychological and spiritual health of human beings in the face of such developments? How do we ethically and wisely merge living and non-living intelligences? What wisdom from this corner of the internet -- from our respective integral, metamodern, and spiritual communities -- can help us navigate the monumental challenges and opportunities ahead?
For the second episode of The Soul of AI, Layman sits down with Jill Nephew, an engineer and software developer, to explore her unique take on the hype and dominant discourse around artificial intelligence and large language models. Most of the commentators in this area, she argues, have fallen prey to a game of smoke and mirrors: there are no emergent properties, there is no latent intelligence or spark of consciousness, there is no "there" there at all -- nothing nutritious for the human spirit or human society, and certainly no basis for an emergent wisdom culture. She explains why she regards LLM developers as profit-motivated illusionists, and why we should give a hard "no" to this dazzling but ultimately empty and misleading technology.
Jill Nephew is the founder of Inqwire, PBC a company on a mission to help the world make sense. The Inqwire technology is designed to enhance and accelerate human sensemaking abilities. The designing of the system required her to attempt to answer a fundamental question: how does technology interact with the mind's ability to do individual and collective sensemaking, and what are the principles that technology should follow to maximize these abilities? Jill's background includes developing tools, platforms, and meta-data-based software languages to help people find solutions to complex, real-world problems. She developed algorithms and models in the area of constraint-based optimization, drug binding, motion control, disease kinetics, protein folding, atmospheric pollution, human articulated movement, complex fluids, and most recently sensemaking.
Personal website
https://jillnephew.com/index.html
Inqwire website
https://www.inqwire.io/
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