Jobs and AI

I am a survivor of the Expert Systems rage of the mid-80s.  Every trade journal of every industry that even had a trickle of data processing was touting the next coming of Expert Systems.  ES were premised on taking the most experienced, most expert of your business’s humans, then making a killer app with your tiny desktop computers that would cross-examine your clerks to make sure they answered all of the questions that your top guru would ask. 

An Atelatheist Exposes the Religion of Statism

Yes, belief in the State results in buildings being built, people molested due to “laws”, and other physical effects in the real world, but those are no more proof of the existence of the State than churches, inquisitions, martyrs, or charities are proof of the existence of God. People who believe something do things based on that belief. Such is the nature of belief. Beliefs have effects on the behavior of people who believe, even when the belief is in something imaginary.

Kids’ Choices, Heartless, Atheists and a Dying Child, & White Privilege (21m) – Editor’s Break 078

Editor’s Break 078 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following topics: giving kids choices and thereby improving their future; whether or not it is accurate to say that libertarians are heartless; how an atheist would answer a question about Heaven by their dying child; the existence of white privilege, in-group privilege, and political privilege; and more.

Tell the Truth

Mark Twain wrote, “When in doubt, tell the truth.”  That seems, on its face, to be simple enough, but what does it mean?  We live in a land of lawyers, where what is the truth becomes more and more a matter for speculation.  POTUS has labeled a whole genre of purported information as “Fake News.”  But what does that mean?  Does it mean news that he doesn’t like, or does it mean misinformation for which determinate  proof of falsity exists?

Words Poorly Used #134 — Convergence

People in the technology trades these days are insisting that we are experiencing “convergence.”  At TechTarget.com, the following definition is offered: DEFINITION technological convergence … –ComputerWeekly.com In general, convergence is a coming together of two or more distinct entities or phenomena. Technological convergence is increasingly prevalent in the information technology world; in this context, the…

Who’s Afraid of Russian Propaganda?

If we believe the people who claim to be so concerned about Russian Facebook activity, we really ought to be concerned about something much deeper: the apparent fragility of American society. For if the Russians can strike a propaganda blow comparable, as some have ludicrously said, to Pearl Harbor and 9/11, isn’t that also true for any number of domestic websites across the political spectrum?