Been Here before? Global warming, plagues of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, nuclear war……..believe it or not this isn’t the first time that humanity has flirted with extinction, as this piece from the Mail makes clear
Blaming Brexit? We have long argued here that Britain’s problems predate Brexit by years if not decades. The vote of 2016 was a symptom of a deeper sickness. But for the benefit of our overseas readers, here is a review of a book by a Daily Telegraph writer(yes, we actually wrote those words) which may serve as a warning to all those who prize emotion over reason
A Checklist for AI “Consciousness How will i know if he really loves me ? “sang Whitney Houston You can ask this question about cats or computers-and we may have to very soon. Here’s Nature Briefings
Rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have many researchers pondering the prospect of AI one day becoming conscious. But how would we know if it was? A group of neuroscientists, philosophers and computer scientists has proposed a checklist of criteria for determining whether a system is likely to be conscious. Instead of putting an AI system through a behavioural test, the researchers suggest using the checklist, which draws on several competing theories of consciousness.Nature | 4 min read
Reference: ArXiv preprint (not peer reviewed
21 for the price of 1 Antivaxxers need to ask themselves-if vaccines are so bad, how can this entirely rational practice have so many beneficial side effects? And remember, this report comes from one of your own, the Daily Mail no less. Does that, possibly, make you think again?
Alzheimers Drugs Recent optimism on the latest generation of Alzheimers needs tempering, according to The Conversation. We always like a second opinion on any subject
well, there you go for this week have a good weekend
Learning, Science and Society 