Category Archives: Superintelligence

The animation sector in Taiwan is growing fast. City Of Lost Things, the first 3D feature animation byBlue Gate Crossing director Yee Chih-Yen has been selected to screen in the prestigious Contrechamp competition at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France this week.

To boost the sector, the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA) has introduced two funding schemes to support further local production and facilitate further international co-production. They are called the creative content development programme (CCDP) and the international co-funding programme (TICP).

At Annecy and its Mifa market, TAICCA is presenting six feature and series projects at Partners Pitches. Following an open call to the animation industry, TAICCA invited an international jury to make the selection. They were comprised of Ashely Miller, US scriptwriter whose credits include Thor and X-Men: First Class;Doede Holtkamp, producer at the Brazilian studio Arvore; and German animation director Raimund Krumme.

The video pitches by each project team will be available to watch online at the Mifa market from June 17.

GueboDir: Su SoaThis Taiwan-Japan co-production between Xanthus Animation Studio and Duckbill Entertainment is a 26 x 10-minute episode original TV series. The title character is a boy who looks as if he is aged 10 but is in fact 1,200 years old. He has a great power inherited from his monster father who strives to create a world for nature and humans to co-exist together. The project involves Japanese creatives from scriptwriters, acting directors to character designers. Through Xanthus, Soas previous works include The Origins, Yameme and Traces, which he co-directed with Swiss animation artist Robi Engler.Contact: Manson Yaomason_yao@hotmail.com

Hidden in the Peach Blossom GardenDirs: Feng Wen and Kevin GeigerThe 3D animated feature film is a futuristic fantasy set in the dystopian world of 2076, revolving around a teenage girl who enters a subconscious AI simulation of the title card game she used to play with her beloved father, as she comes to terms with his death. Feng, also the projects writer and producer, is the founder of tellretell and the former director of development for Disneys China local content division. She produced several popular broadcast series, including Disneys first Chinese TV coproduction Ban Jin Ba Liang. Long-time Disney veteran Kevin Geiger serves as co-director and executive producer.Contact: Feng Wenwen@tellretell.com

Iron FarmerDir Chen Wei-JhihThe 13 x 5-minute episode 3D animated series is an original fairy tale that aims to develop childrens empathy. The dialogue-free story follows the title character, Iron Farmer, a monkey, a variety of robots and children who live in the forest. To enhance the hand-painted quality of the visuals, the production has adopted the non-photorealistic rendering (NPR) approach and used a real-time rendering engine MNPRX to create a watercolour style. which is rare on the market. Produced by Blacksheep Animation Studio, the first six episodes have completed production, while the next seven episodes are at script stage. Chens previous directing credits include Blessing and Butterfly Hunter.Contact: Chen Wei-Jhihtwo790922@gmail.com

Kairyu Kai KaiDir Chao Ta-weiAdapted from Chang Guo-Lis bestselling young adult novel, the completed 2D animated feature is a coming-of-age adventure about a group of high school students who hunt for a WWII Japanese submarine, the Kairyu, during their summer vacation. Produced by Pig Box Studio, the project received the Mirror Fiction screenplay award at the Golden Horse Film Project Promotion in 2018. Chao makes independent anime films and art illustrations. His short films Pig Box and Black Bear Moon were nominated for outstanding short films at Golden Harvest Awards. He was assistant director and animation director for Sung Hsin-Yins multiple award-winning On Happiness Road (Annecy 2018).Contact: Kuo Tong-Yipigboxstudio@gmail.com

PigsyDir: Chiu Li-WeiThe fantasy adventure film is set in the distant future as a comedy version of Chinese classic Journey To The West. The title character Pigsy is lazy and fun-seeking, always looking for shortcuts to success. In 2017, the project received the top prize from Singapores ATF Animation Pitch for its creativity and strong export potential. Chius Tainan-based studio2 Animation Lab is producing with Bruno Felixs Amsterdam-based Submarine. Chiu has directed many TV works, including Weather Boy! and The Little Sun,as well asBarkley The Cat, which was based on his animated feature of the same name,His latest TV series is called Pigsy Express and is based on the same IP.Contact: Grace Chuanggrace@studio2.com.tw

Poison AppleDir: Lien Chun-ChienThis 8 x 24-minute episode TV series, which mixes wuxia with cyberpunk, is an updated version of the Snow White story. Snow White has become a doomsday-weapon-operating artificial superintelligence (ASI) who uncovers her own consciousness after being kidnapped by a rebel assassin. Lien has over 27 years of experience in motion media. He worked as art director at AT&T and Imaginary Forces in the US before returning to Taiwan to set up Dottodot in 2004. His latest short film The Weather Is Lovely has travelled to over 20 film festivals, including Clermont-Ferrand. His 2D animated series Whos Our Sub Today? is in Annecys MIFA Pitches this year.Contact: Lien Chun-Chienchunchien@mac.com

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Taiwanese animation is ready to draw an international audience - Screen International

THUNDER FORCE (L-R): MELISSA MCCARTHY as LYDIA, OCTAVIA SPENCERas EMILY. Cr. HOPPER STONE/NETFLIX 2021.

We now have a pretty good idea as to why Netflix canceled The Irregulars.

So thats why Netflix canceled The Irregulars. The Sherlock Holmes story, told from the point-of-view of his band of under-the-radar street urchins show lasted but a single eight-episode season on the streaming giant, debuting topping the Nielsen streaming charts for the week of March 29-April 4. It nabbed around 655 million minutes viewed over its eight over/under 50 minute episodes, which would be around 16.3 million viewers/subscribers if everyone who watched in-fact binged the entire season. Alas, this week (April 5-April 11), it sank to just 270 million minutes viewed.

You can quantify that anyway you like in terms of full episodes or full seasons, but a 59% drop isnt very good and its likely that the show wont be on next weeks retroactive SVOD list. Also, ReelGood notes that the show spent just one day as Netflixs most-watched show and just 18 days in their daily top-ten for TV. That compares poorly with Ginny & Georgia (29 days at number one, 67 days in the top-ten), Bridgerton (19 and 71) and The Queens Gambit (23/79). Well see how Shadow and Bone measures up in a few weeks.

Meanwhile, Ben Falcones Thunder Force, starring Melissa McCarthy and Octavia Spenser, was tops in its debut with a whopping 950 million minutes viewed. Depending on whether folks watched the entire 107-minute feature or stopped at the start of the closing credits (around 99 minutes), the PG-rated superhero comedy was viewed between 8.8 million times and 9.6 million times over its Fri-Sun debut. Netflix claims the film was seen 52 million people worldwide in the first 28 days, and that mostly tracks.

Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson aka The Falcon, and Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes aka The Winter Soldier

Cruel irony that the film, about childhood friends who reconnect just as the latter is testing an experimental super-powers serum, is exactly the kind of movie which would have been at least a modest hit in theaters in a pre-streaming era. It clearly doesnt give a damn about superhero tropes (the premise, in which only villains have powers, is downright dystopian), but Thunder Force mostly works as a light, colorful character comedy with good actors (including Jason Bateman and Melissa Leo) having some in an old-school comedy.

Theres at least one bit featuring the main villains (led by Bobby Cannavale, again starring with McCarthy after Spy and Superintelligence) chatting about their evildoing that reminded me of The Phantom. The beat where Treat Williams, Catherine Zeta Jones and James Remar banter about the absurdity of their fantastical situation remains one of my favorites in all of superhero cinema, so thats one moment where Thunder Force justifies its superhero trappings being an easy green-light. Likewise, Id bet that most folks watching over the last month didnt care that it was a superhero movie, they just wanted a mainstream comedy featuring McCarthy and Spenser.

We could see a situation where McCarthy thrives alongside Adam Sandler as a once mighty box office draw whose fans can now get what they liked from the comic actor, with little-to-no studio interference, from the comfort and convenience of home. As someone who likes (some of) her Falcone-directed flicks (Ill defend Life of the Party, Tammy and The Boss unto death) precisely because they feel so specific to what she and her husband think is funny, Im happy they have a no pressure outlet. Besides, Thunder Force is much better than Superintelligence.

THEM

These films could still thrive in the studio/theatrical system if audiences still saw regular or star-driven movies in theaters. The Boss was just five years ago, back when I argued that the likes of Will Ferrell, Melissa McCarthy, Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish could still open a modestly-budgeted comedy since if moviegoers thought they were funny it didnt matter if the movie had decent reviews or looked like the next classic. Alas, thats no longer the case, with Hart seemingly the last comic standing. The difference is that each McCarthy or Hart movie has to be profitable by itself to justify itself, while streaming allows for a kind of cumulative Look what we have to offer at the click of a button financial structure.

Meanwhile, the four available episodes of Marvels The Falcon and the Winter Soldier notched a solid 748 million minutes, which translates to somewhere between watching the 47-minute (before credits) episode The Whole World Is Watching 16 million times or around 3.6 million subscribers viewing all 208 minutes of the first four episodes. Either way, it was tops among original television shows and second only to Thunder Forces debut weekend among all SVOD content accounted for in these lists.

Im guessing the truth is somewhere in between. Meanwhile, the controversial Them dropped all ten episodes at once, Netflix-style, and racked up 439 million minutes. The horror anthology, dealing with a 1950s Black family being terrorized by white neighbors, runs around 336 minutes (counting credits), implying that potentially 1.3 million subscribers made it all the way through what is allegedly a brutally violent show. Well see if the show held up beyond the initial post-debut handwringing. Of note, 60% of the viewers were indeed African-American, and 25% of Thunder Forces viewers were likewise.

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Nielsens: Melissa McCarthys Thunder Force Tops Movies While Marvels Falcon And The Winter Soldier Tops TV - Forbes

Wait. She was in that? is a comment youre almost certain to make if you take a look at Octavia Spencers credits.

You may not recall her in Being John Malkovich or Miss Congeniality 2 because she has had one of the most unusual career paths of anyone working in Hollywood today.

Spencer studied acting at Auburn University, but she started out behind the scenes in the movie business, interning on A Time to Kill in 1996, where she met actor/director Tate Taylor, who would become her most frequent collaborator.

She began auditioning for roles right away but mostly landed walk-ons or background gigs. They earned her credits youll find listed on the Internet Movie Database, but often simply as Woman, Ticket Woman, Cashier or really, really often Nurse.

I played a nurse 16 times. I did it so many times that when I played a maid, they gave me an Oscar, Spencer joked when she hosted Saturday Night Live in 2017.

The maid was Minny Jackson in The Help, the movie that finally broke her career open. Spencer had a history with the story, since The Help novelist Kathryn Stockett a friend of director Taylor had used her as the inspiration for Minny and had even suggested her to read the audiobook. Taylor then lobbied for Spencer to get the movie part, which went to her instead of a bigger name.

The role came with uncomfortable associations for too long, maids were among the only parts offered to Black actors but Spencer brought deep humanity to Minny, even if we dont know much about her non-work life. Maybe it was all those years of her trying to fill in who Nurse Berenice or Nurse Jackson were, but Spencer has the ability to make even tiny moments feel real and potent with meaning. She has only a couple of scenes in Seven Pounds, for instance, but her character yep, Kate, Home Health Care Nurse glows with compassion and humor.

Humor is a mainstay for Spencer. She hasnt made a ton of movie comedies, but she logged enough time on TV sitcoms for Entertainment Weekly to dub her one of the 25 Funniest Actresses in 2009. That humor serves her just as well in her Oscar-nominated role in the fairly serious The Shape of Water as it does in her brief vocal appearance in last years wan sci-fi comedy Superintelligence.

Spencer has said shes eager to try lots of different things. That may be one of the advantages of playing the sort of supporting roles she usually gets: Even if shes often called on to fill out an underwritten character who needs oomph, she has the opportunity to do it in many different kinds of movies with directors who know that she can do a lot with a little.

Her latest, Thunder Force, debuts Friday on Netflix. Its another comedy but also a superhero movie, opening up a whole new genre for Spencer, whose best films show why shes one of our finest character actors.

Ma (2019)

Directed by her pal Taylor, the horror comedy plays like it was designed to let Spencer do all the things her other roles dont. Shes the lead, and she gets a rare-for-her love scene as a veterinary nurse (possibly an in-joke?) who befriends high school students looking for someone to buy them booze. The movies ideas about race and bullying dont quite land because Taylor doesnt take enough risks, but Spencers performance is all risk. When her title character finally reveals herself, the Alabama native shifts on a dime, sometimes within the same sentence, from comedy to madness to heartbreak to terror.

Hidden Figures (2016)

Spencers subtle code-shifting is the key to the inspirational drama about pioneering NASA mathematicians. With her peers, shes authoritative and a little brassy. With the white guys who run NASA, shes almost shy but her knowing smile seems to suggest that she has decided the way to cope with the men who control her career is to convince herself theyre amusing, not toxic.

The Help (2011)

Spencer has said that she based Minny, in part, on her own mother. She won her Oscar for lending dignity and resolve to a much-abused woman who determines that revenge is a dish best served in a pie crust.

The Shape of Water (2017)

Yes, Spencers third Oscar nomination is for playing another maid, but again, shes no Hattie McDaniel in Gone With the Wind. Her strong-willed Zelda is crucial to the narrative because she protects Sally Hawkins mute protagonist and translates her thoughts to the rest of the characters.

Snowpiercer (2013)

Spencer said yes to Bong Joon-hos bizarre apocalyptic vision in which civilization is divided by class on a speeding train because it was a chance to do something other than being a walk-and-talk actor. Again, shes sort of a translator, but for the audience this time. Spencer plays the most recognizably human character on the train, an impoverished woman who is as startled as we are by the violence and cruelty swirling around her.

Fruitvale Station (2013)

Spencer also co-produced this searing, fact-based drama, which launched Michael B. Jordan to movie stardom. She plays Wanda, whose unarmed son Oscar (Jordan) was shot to death by San Francisco transit officers. In keeping with the rest of the unnervingly calm film, Spencer underplays her role. Thats most evident when Wanda is informed of her sons death and Spencer chooses to have her maternal instincts kick in before grief or reason, quietly insisting, I need to see him.

Bad Santa (2003)

Spencer isnt even in the trailer and she only has five lines in the ribald, oddly heartwarming comedy (she has a few more in 2016s Bad Santa 2), but she makes every word count as a hilariously ill-tempered prostitute who has no time for the title characters (Billy Bob Thornton) nonsense.

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Actress Octavia Spencer proves her acting chops in these 7 films - The Sun Chronicle

Wonder Woman 1984 lands a second week at Number 1 on the Official Film Chart.

Still holding strong ahead of the competition following its chart-topping debut last week, the Gal Gadot-starring sequel leads a freshly shaken-up Top 10 following a week of Unforgettable Entertainment, as film fans flocked to new and classic titles alike via offers across all major digital retailers.

Former Number 1 Joker rockets 18 places to Number 2, landing just ahead of Luc Bessons 1994 action Leon which enters the Official Film Chart for the first time at Number 3. Spider-Man: Far From Home holds on to a place in the Top 5 at Number 4, while Avengers: Endgame climbs three to Number 5 to claim its 18th non-consecutive week in the Top 10.

Zombieland: Double Tap makes a return to the Top 10 at Number 6; 2001: A Space Odyssey enters the chart for the second time at Number 7; Captain America: The First Avenger flies in at Number 8 thanks to a new 4K steelbook, and former Number 1 Sing zooms back into the Official Film Chart at Number 9 after some time away.

Finally, Trolls World Tour zooms 14 places to round off this weeks countdown at Number 10.

This weeks Official Film Chart online show features a sneak peek at sci-fi rom-com Superintelligence starring Melissa McCarthy & James Corden, which is available to Download & Keep from 30 March.

Now, as well as OfficialCharts.com, the Official Film Chart can also be found on FindAnyFilm.com - the ultimate site for Film and TV fans to discover all the legal ways to buy the entertainment they want on disc and digital formats.

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Wonder Woman 1984 holds strong at the top of the Official Film Chart - Film News

MELISSA McCARTHY

Melissa McCarthy has become one of Hollywoods most sought-after talents on both the small and silver screens. For her role as Megan in the worldwide hit comedy,Bridesmaids, McCarthy received Academy Award, BAFTA, Critics Choice, and SAG Award nominations. She earned a second Academy Award-nomination for Fox SearchlightsCan You Ever Forgive Me?in addition to receiving Golden Globe, Critics Choice and SAG Award nominations for the same role.

In 2013, McCarthy and husband, Ben Falcone, founded On the Day Productions and has successfully produced a number of film and television projects includingTammy, The Boss, Life of the Party,andNobodies.Earlier this year, Melissa served as host and executive producer of the NBC unscripted series,Little Big Shots.

On the big screen, McCarthypreviously starred inLife of the PartyandThe Boss,which she co-wrote and produced with Ben Falcone. Additionally, she starred inThe Kitchen,Ghostbusters,and the hit filmSpy,for which she received Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award nominations. Additional film credits includeThe Heat,This is 40,The Hangover Part III, The Back-Up Plan,Life As We Know It,andPretty Ugly People. On television, McCarthy starred as the culinary genius Sookie St. James inGilmore Girlsand Dena inSamantha Who?McCarthy also won an Emmy Award and Peoples Choice Award for starring as Molly on the hit CBS comedyMike & Molly.

McCarthy will next be seen starring in upcoming films includingThunder Force,The Starling,and DisneysThe Little Mermaid,the live-action remake of the childrens classic movie.

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Superintelligence | HBO Max Originals

Asheville High senior Tommy Brooks-Stevens is the Citizen Times' Athlete of the Week!(Photo: Courtesy Tommy Brooks-Stevens)

Name: Tommy Brooks-Stevens

School: Asheville High

Class: Senior

Whats it been like playing games this season with the new COVID-19 rules and regulations?

This has obviously been a very different year with a lot less time to prepare for the season, less time to build chemistry and, of course, waring the masks hasnt been easy, but its been really nice to have a senior soccer season when it was looking unlikely. I think Ill definitely always remember this experience.

What was it like getting ready for the season?

We really didnt have a lot of time due to the virus, but the time we did have before our first games were spent getting in shape and getting touches on the ball.

If you could eat one food for the rest of your life, what would you pick and why?

I would definitely eat burritos because I feel like you can get the most different kinds of foods out of a burrito.

Do you have a favorite high school sports memory?

After the games weve won over the years at different away games, there has always been a good-spirited bus ride back to school.

If you could have one superpower, which would you pick and why?

I would probably pick something like superintelligence if thats a superpower. I feel like with that you could pretty much get anywhere in life you wanted to be, work through any problem or discover the next big invention. Also, you could definitely figure out how to get rich.

What are your plans for after graduation?

After high school I will be attending the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Im not sure exactly what I will major in, but Ive been thinking about maybe psychology.

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Ingles Athlete of the Week: Tommy Brooks-Stevens - Citizen Times

Recently, Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks interviewed Oxford mathematician John Lennox on his latest book 2084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity (2020). He focused on why Lennox chose that theme and how far we have caught up with George Orwells 1984. Here are some excerpts from the combined interviews in John Lennox on Artificial Intelligence and Humanity:

A partial transcript follows, along with highlights, Show Notes, and Resources:

Robert J. Marks (starting at roughly 1:40 min): Many of Orwells predictions about communism were proven. So what will be the effects of AI a century later in the year 2084? Replacing George Orwell is Dr. John Lennox who has written 2084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity: How will AI, not communism, affect the future?

Dr. Lennox is able to look at the AI phenomenon from a number of different perspectives. He is an emeritus professor of mathematics at Oxford University. He is also a pastoral advisor of Green Templeton College at Oxford University. The first obvious question to ask is, why did you write this book?

John Lennox (pictured, starting at roughly 3:24 min): Well, I have been interested in futuristic scenarios for a long time. Im not a sci-fi addict, but I was deeply impressed by C.S. Lewiss sci-fi trilogy. And he raises the question in the third of those books, That Hideous Strength. He imagines scientists trying to increase their power by preserving a human brain. And as I read that book and saw the issues it raised, it put into my mind the idea that it might be important to think through this stuff as it develops as it has.

But the major reason for writing it was that I was asked to give a lecture on the topic in connection with the Book of Genesis. And I said, Look, I think youve come to the wrong person. And they said, No. We think youre the person to do this. Well, I decided in the end to do it because it initially had to do with artificial intelligence and the nature of humanity.

As I started reading, background reading, of various people, I discovered that a lot had been said, a lot had been written, but there was a real need, in my view, of evaluating it. And so, it has ended up with this book.

Robert J. Marks: Well, could you give us a quick overview, a thumbnail sketch, of what the book is about?

John Lennox: Well, the book really is, has several purposes. I want to demystify the good side of AI, so that people, particularly Christians, but not only, are not afraid of it. And secondly, I want to take some of the hype out of the science fiction side, artificial general intelligence Narrow artificial intelligence tends to do one thing superbly well that normally takes human intelligence to do. But the machinery, and it consists of a computer with a capacity to dig into a large database and recognize patterns there, thats impressive. And there are wonderful examples, particularly in medicine, of it working very efficiently.

But the second kind of artificial intelligence, AGI, artificial general intelligence, is really the quest for a superintelligence of one of two kinds, either enhancing human beings as they exist and building a biological superintelligence, or else discovering ways of uploading or downloading the contents, say, of the human mind onto silicone, so that we remove the dependence on an organic substrate. And there, it seems to me, that the likelihood of building a superintelligence that exceeds human capacity in every direction is very slim, because human intelligence is conscious. And we dont know what consciousness is. No scientist knows what consciousness is. And that the most serious people recognize that, that is a huge barrier. How can you build a conscious being when you dont even know what consciousness is?

Here are some further excerpts from the podcast:

2084 vs 1984: The difference AI could make to Big Brother: We buy a book and a few days later up pops a little message that says, People that bought that book also are interested in this book, and your attention is drawn to buying the second book. Well, that can be very useful or it can be very irritating. What many people do not realize is that that system is actually harvesting a great deal of information about us, about where we go, who we meet, what our buying preferences are. Its being sold on to third parties without our permission. This is what is in a way called surveillance capitalism.

Lennox: Whether the surveillance AI technology enables is an advantage is something that we need to seriously think about before were engulfed by it.

In Dan Browns AI hype novel Origin, the hero stumbles onto God. Not clear that was supposed to happen but stories do get away on their authors at times

The question of God, for me, lies in understanding the difference between codes and patterns. Patterns occur everywhere in nature, the spiraling seeds of a sunflower, the hexagonal cells of a honeycomb and so on. Codes are special. Codes by definition must carry information. Codes must transmit data and convey meaning.

And he ends up by saying, Codes are the deliberate inventions of intelligent consciousness. They dont appear organically, they must be created.

And one of the other female heroes in the book says, You think DNA was created by an intelligence?

And he just goes as far as saying, I feel as if Im seeing a living footprint, the shadow of some greater force that is just beyond our grasp.

John Lennox: Utterly fascinating. Someone whos trying to bring down religion by the use of AI is actually heightening evidence for the existence of God.

Can AI replace the need for belief in God? Lennox contends that science should increase our respect for what God has created and allowed us to do. The problem, as he sees it, is that atheism does not provide grounds for believing in rationality: I spent most of my life contending with people that think that science replaces God. And I see that as a very foolish argument really. Its like saying that if you understand how a Ford motor car works, you dont need to believe in Henry Ford. Its a confusion between different kinds of explanation. And I often say to people, look, the God explanation, no more competes with the scientific explanation than Henry Ford competes with the law of internal combustion to explain a motor car engine.

And in fact, you need both levels of explanation, the scientific one and the one in terms of the creative agency of God to give you a complete explanation. And so its been clear to me for many years that a lot of the heat could be taken out of this science versus God thing if people only could realize that explanation comes at different levels.

Do some passages in the Book of Revelation appear to talk about AI? Revelation is notoriously obscure but a passage about a future total control state gives pause for thought: Revelation 13:1517: 15 The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.

John Lennox: And what is intriguing and rather chilling actually in the light of our AI developments is that freedom to buy and sell is determined by the wearing of some kind of mark, an implanted chip.

Tegmark talks about a bracelet that people may have to wear that will determine whether or not theyre regarded as socially acceptable. And weve already got that kind of social acceptability factor in the credit system thats being rolled out in the Chinese population today. So its relatively easy to see how this kind of thing could come about.

Could techno-immortality ever be the real thing? Oxford mathematician John Lennox looks at Ray Kurzweils techno-immortality from a Christian perspective: People are already, particularly in Sweden, getting chips put under their skin so that they can pay for things and all this kind of stuff. So in bits and pieces, people are becoming part biological and part mechanical, which often we describe as a cyborg. Something like this will happen but whether it will reach Kurzweils extent, I doubt. Im always amused that they say this is going to happen within thirty to fifty years.

Its an AI immortality where we are told, for example, that we wont need tongues because we can tap right into our taste buds.

Heres what some sources (not John Lennox) believe will happen:

Excerpts from 2084 (2020)

John Lennox: How AI raises the stakes for all of us: The brilliant play Copenhagen by Michael Frayn explores the question of whether scientists should simply follow the mathematics and physics without regard to the consequences of what they are developing or whether they should have moral qualms about it. The context of the play is the research that led to nuclear fission. Exactly the same issues are raised by AI, except that AI is accessible by many more people than atomic physics and does not need very sophisticated and expensive facilities.

AI could cause more serious problems than nuclear energy. You cannot build a bomb in your bedroom but you could hack your way around the world.

Transhumanism is not a new idea: John Lennox points out that, in the 20th century, both the Communists and the Nazis had attempted transhumanist projects. For example, In the former Soviet Union, attempts were made to use science to create a New Man. In 1924, Leon Trotsky wrote: Man will make it his purpose to master his own feelings, to raise his instincts to the heights of consciousness, to make them transparent, to extend the wires of his will into hidden recesses, and thereby to raise himself to a new plane, to create a higher social biologic type, or, if you please, a superman.

In his view, the likely outcome of all transhumanist attempts to re-engineer humanity will be the extinction of humanity.

Oxford mathematician: Atheism detracts from science. Atheism, he says, undermines the rationality needed to develop and understand an argument, especially a scientific one, by positing a meaningless universe. The problem, as he sees it, is that atheism does not provide grounds for believing in rationality: Thought is replaced by electrochemical neural events. Two such events cannot confront each other in rational discourse. They are neither right nor wrong. They simply happen . . . The world of rational discourse dissolves into the absurd chatter of firing synapses. Quite frankly that cannot be right and none of us believes it to be so.

Our exclusive interview with John Lennox

Here, Lennox answers questions from Mind Matters News about AI in 2084: In his new book, 2084, the Oxford mathematician doubts that AI, now or then, will out-think humans. Our real worry is how they will be used.

Mind Matters News: Surveying the scene in China, isnt that the biggest problem? Not that the machines will outsmart us but that they will be used by powerful forces to control us in more detail than was ever possible before?

John Lennox: Yes this is the much greater danger since it comes from (narrow) AI that has already been developed and is now in use, particularly in China. However, the point has been made that all the necessary equipment to produce a totalitarian surveillance state is available in the West. The only difference is that it is not (yet) under centralised state control.

Podcast Transcript Download

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Why Oxford's John Lennox Wrote a Book on AI Promises and Threats - Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning are terms that often overlap with each other and are easily confused. Lets discuss all three in detail and go through their applications and uses.

Have you ever noticed how effortlessly we calculate the environment around us and keep learning from past experiences? Well, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a method to teach a computer the same thing.

Artificial Intelligence is used to build tools, agents, bots, and robots that can predict human behavior & act on a human basis. Teslas auto-driving cars, Amazons Alexa, and Siri are all examples of Artificial intelligence.

AI has three different levels:

First, Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI) is the only type of AI we have successfully accomplished to date. ANI is designed to perform singular tasks & is goal-oriented. ANI is very capable of completing specific tasks it is programmed to do. A few examples of ANI are voice assistants, facial recognition, or driving a car.

Second, Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is the concept of a machine with general intelligence that can mimic human intelligence and behaviors, with the ability to learn from data and apply its intelligence to solve any problem. Artificial General Intelligence can think, understand, and act in a somewhat similar way to a human in any given situation.

Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) is the hypothetical where machines can become self-aware and surpass human ability and intelligence. Practically, we are far away from achieving this form of AI in real life.

While Artificial Intelligence is a concept of imitating human abilities, Machine Learning is a subset of Artificial Intelligence that teaches a machine to learn from previous outcomes.

Machine learning models look for patterns in the data and try to conclude you or I would based on previous outcomes and data. And once the algorithm gets really good at drawing outcomes, it starts applying the knowledge to the new data sets and keeps improving.

In a nutshell, Artificial Intelligence is the science of computers copying human behavior, while Machine Learning is the method behind how machines learn from data.

Supervised Learning is when a large amount of labeled data is fed to the algorithms, and variables that the algorithm needs to assess for correlations are also defined. However, supervised learning needs a vast pool of data to master the tasks.

Unsupervised Learning helps the algorithm look for patterns and data sets that dont have labeled responses. You would use this technique to explore your data but dont yet have a specific goal. The algorithm scans the data sets and starts segregating data into groups based on characteristics they share.

The mix of supervised & unsupervised learning is called semi-supervised learning. In semi-supervised learning mostly labeled data is fed to an algorithm, yet the model is free to explore & develop its own understanding of the data set.

Reinforcement learning is teaching a machine to complete a multi-step process with clearly defined rules. The algorithm takes its own decisions along the way & gets rewards or penalties for the actions it takes

It would not be an exaggeration to say that deep learning is a technique for implementing Machine Learning. Deep Learning is a subset of machine learning that uses deep neural networks and imitates the network of neurons in a brain, and allows machines to make accurate decisions without humans help.

However, deep learning is sometimes seen as an evolution of machine learning.The depth of a model is represented by the number of layers it has. Deep learning is the new state of the art in terms of Artificial Intelligence. In deep learning, the training is done through a neural network.

Deep learning has empowered many practical applications in Artificial Intelligence. Self-driving cars, better healthcare, even better product recommendations are all here today or on the horizon.

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What is the Difference Between AI, ML, and Deep Learning? - IoT For All

Business magnate Elon Musk has come out with harsh criticisms for AI and called it the biggest existential threat. Artificial intelligence is spreading its wings across all the industries making automation an actual thing. Artificial intelligence, deep learning, machine learning, and other technologies have proven beneficial for all industries.

The Covid-19 pandemic made the contribution of AI in healthcare more visible. AI has reached inside our homes, making them smart homes. Is the interference increasing? Is AI taking over humanity? Fear of artificial intelligence has a lot to do with fiction and movies. Several Sci-Fi movies like Terminator portrays AI and robots as villains mercilessly hijack the human race.

The truth remains that these are just fiction, stories that sprung from human brains. The artificial intelligence we are using now is not capable of behaving like a human.

Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) would be capable of doing tasks like humans. It will think and reason like us to understand the world. This theoretical concept has made way for many movies like Startrek. This machine is understood as a threat to human lives because it carries reasoning abilities like humans and also owns machine intelligence and computational powers. They might outdo humans and end the need for human labor. AGI can pave its way towards attaining superintelligence.

There is no need to worry about them since the AGI remains a concept. It might take hundreds of years to become a reality.

Narrow artificial intelligence enables machines to perform a single task. The existing AI-driven technologies use narrow AI. They use machine learning and datasets to acquire information and do the limited tasks assigned to them. These machines do not possess human intelligence and thus should not be feared. The voice assistants and automatic self-driving cars use narrow artificial intelligence. However, they work at a faster pace than human brains and produce more accurate insights.

Other than the fear of evil robots taking our space, the existing AI has also been under the radar of human fear. Let us look at some of the reasons.

AI has faced the question of taking up jobs ever since it came into existence. Fear of losing jobs is a reality. AI has taken up a lot of tasks that were earlier carried out by people. This enables humans to focus on more rational tasks and alleviate the overload of repetitive and mundane jobs. AI does not terminate jobs as a whole. It cuts down some unproductive job categories and tasks.

Arriving at biased decisions is another fear. AI works on datasets and algorithms which are created by human beings. These datasets might carry the biases of their organization or creator. AI analyses them to provide insights and predictions. This can be rectified with proper governance of algorithmic data and corrections in case of wrong information.

The fear of AI reaching in the wrong hands is also prevalent. Misusing technological advancements have been there in human history. AI cannot explain why it arrived at an answer. It cannot reason nor think rationally. Once it archives the human intelligence, humans might use them to cause a negative impact. AIs black box has been in discussions for a long time. This caters to another fear fear of the unknown.

A progression towards artificial general intelligence and terminators are not in the foreseeable future. It will take time to arrive at such advanced technology. To incorporate human intelligence into machines, there is a need to understand the human brain completely. It is a very complicated strategy. Hence, the solutions are far away.

For the time being, existing AI is not a threat to humanity. It might take over some jobs but also provide a new set of jobs. Dealing with these systems seem easier and achievable with improved human governance.

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What is the Fear Looming Over Artificial Intelligence - Analytics Insight

Based on some of the advancements in artificial intelligence that have been unveiled in recent years, it seems like there are way too many people out there whove watched an episode of Black Mirrorand thought, Hey, thats a great idea, as youre kind of missing the point if you use a show thats devoted to highlighting the potential pitfalls of our crippling reliance on technology as a good source of inspiration.

Im sure most of the people whove devoted their lives to figuring out how to harness the power of artificial intelligence have good intentions, but the same could be said for the researchers who brought Jurassic Park to life (and we all know how well that worked out for them). Theres no denying that its wild to live in a world where we can talk with people after theyve died and even have a computer predict when youre going to die, but as the aforementioned movie taught us, its easy to get so preoccupied with whether or not youcando something to take a second to ask yourself if you should.

Whenever Boston Dynamics releases a video showcasing a new skill one of its robots has learned, theres always an avalanche of people who respond by joking about the robot overlords that will eventually bring humanity to its knees. However, theres plenty of evidence that suggests that outcome isnt a laughing matter, as some people who more know about A.I. than I ever will believe that dystopian future is a very real possibility.

Now, we have even more proof courtesy of researchers at the Max-Planck Institute for Humans and Machines, who recently published a paper in The Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research with a fun little title containing the words Superintelligence Cannot Be Contained, which is totally, definitely not a cause for concern whatsoever.

The authors of the paper took a closer look at the Three Laws of Robotics author Isaac Asimov famously said could prevent an I, Robot scenario from unfolding, which appear to be about as foolproof in the real world as they were in that work of fiction.

While some experts have posited you can control A.I. by limiting its access to the internet or writing algorithms in an attempt to control its behavior, the chance of those strategies actually working becomes increasingly unlikely as humans willingly push the limits of what artificial intelligence can do, with researcher Iyad Rahwan saying:

The ability of modern computers to adapt using sophisticated machine learning algorithms makes it even more difficult to make assumptions about the eventual behavior of a superintelligent AI.

Oh well. At least society had a good run.

[Business Insider]

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Researchers Say Humanity Will Be Officially Screwed If Artificial Intelligence Keeps Learning To Teach Itself - BroBible