Lifeboat Foundation

Microsoft’s latest layoffs throw ethics out the window and we should all be worried.

FallenKingdomReads’ list of The Top 5 Science Fiction Books That Explore the Ethics of Cloning.

Cloning is a topic that has been explored in science fiction for many years, often raising questions about the ethics of creating new life forms. While the idea of cloning has been discussed in various forms of media, such as movies and TV shows, some of the most interesting and thought-provoking discussions on the topic can be found in books. Here are the top 5 science fiction books that explore the ethics of cloning.

Alastair Reynolds’ House of Suns is a space opera that explores the ethics of cloning on a grand scale. The book follows the journey of a group of cloned human beings known as “shatterlings” who travel the galaxy and interact with various other sentient beings. The book raises questions about the nature of identity and the value of individuality, as the shatterlings face challenges that force them to confront their own existence and the choices they have made.

Microsoft laid off an entire team dedicated to guiding AI innovation that leads to ethical, responsible and sustainable outcomes. The cutting of the ethics and society team, as reported by Platformer, is part of a recent spate of layoffs that affected 10,000 employees across the company.

The elimination of the team comes as Microsoft invests billions more dollars into its partnership with OpenAI, the startup behind art-and text-generating AI systems like ChatGPT and DALL-E 2, and revamps its Bing search engine and Edge web browser to be powered by a new, next-generation large language model that is “more powerful than ChatGPT and customized specifically for search.”

The move calls into question Microsoft’s commitment to ensuring its product design and AI principles are closely intertwined at a time when the company is making its controversial AI tools available to the mainstream.

This show is sponsored by Numerai, please visit them here with our sponsor link (we would really appreciate it) http://numer.ai/mlst.

Prof. Karl Friston recently proposed a vision of artificial intelligence that goes beyond machines and algorithms, and embraces humans and nature as part of a cyber-physical ecosystem of intelligence. This vision is based on the principle of active inference, which states that intelligent systems can learn from their observations and act on their environment to reduce uncertainty and achieve their goals. This leads to a formal account of collective intelligence that rests on shared narratives and goals.

Continue reading “Prof. KARL FRISTON 3.0 — Collective Intelligence [Special Edition]” »

The formula for rational thinking explained by Harvard professor Steven Pinker.

Up next, The war on rationality ► https://youtu.be/qdzNKQwkp-Y

Continue reading “Think more rationally with Bayes’ rule | Steven Pinker” »

If Paul Walker can star in ‘Fast X’ right now, what else could we cast him in?

Even a couple of years ago, the idea that artificial intelligence might be conscious and capable of subjective experience seemed like pure science fiction. But in recent months, we’ve witnessed a dizzying flurry of developments in AI, including language models like ChatGPT and Bing Chat with remarkable skill at seemingly human conversation.

Given these rapid shifts and the flood of money and talent devoted to developing ever smarter, more humanlike systems, it will become increasingly plausible that AI systems could exhibit something like consciousness. But if we find ourselves seriously questioning whether they are capable of real emotions and suffering, we face a potentially catastrophic moral dilemma: either give those systems rights, or don’t.

Experts are already contemplating the possibility. In February 2022, Ilya Sutskever, chief scientist at OpenAI, publicly pondered whether “today’s large neural networks are slightly conscious.” A few months later, Google engineer Blake Lemoine made international headlines when he declared that the computer language model, or chatbot, LaMDA might have real emotions. Ordinary users of Replika, advertised as “the world’s best AI friend,” sometimes report falling in love with it.

John Danaher, Senior Lecturer in Law at the National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway:

“Understanding Techno-Moral Revolutions”

Continue reading “CHM Seminar Series: Understanding Techno-Moral Revolutions — John Danaher” »

What will people be eating at the end of the 21st century?

The foods we eat are determined by cultural roots, geography, and moral and ethical concerns. Omnivore, vegetarian, and vegan are choices.