AI and the Retail Channel
*45* companies are now focused on bringing AI to the retail channel.
Lex Luthor on Intelligence
Lex Luthor on intelligence: “Some people can read War and Peace and come away thinking it’s a simple adventure story. Others can read the ingredients on a chewing gum wrapper and unlock the secrets of the universe.” Is he on the right track? Is intelligence the ability to draw more conclusions from fewer data?
Healing Mental Trauma Stemming From Childhood
Good news of ways of healing mental trauma stemming from childhood. Also, not sure how researchers evaluate adoring rat mothers but assume they have their methods.
“Studies of rat pups show enduring changes in DNA and behavior depending on whether they were raised by high or low nurturing mothers (largely measured by how much the mothers licked their pups).
“As early as the first week of life, the offspring of less nurturing mothers were more fearful and reactive to stress, and their DNA contained more methyl groups, which tend to inhibit gene expression. In other words, parenting style permanently changed their DNA — a striking example of nurture over nature.
“The researchers found they could reverse the effects of maternal deprivation by giving the rats an HDAC inhibitor called trichostatin — which removes some of the methyl tags on DNA — when they were adults. Almost magically, these anxious rats now looked and acted just like the pups of adoring mothers.
“The implication is that the harmful effects of early life experiences on gene expression are potentially reversible much later in life.”
Source: Article “Return to the Teenage Brain”
static bool isCrazyMurderingRobot
Programmers will get this (from Reddit):
AI First World
When I first saw “AI First World” I thought it was making some geographic analogy. Actually it is “AI-first”, as in, migrating from smartphones to AIs. I’m trying to figure out what that means.
Predictions for 2000
I like these predictions from 1900 of life in 2000…not because they’re in the slightest bit accurate, but because they demonstrated the kind of creative thinking that you would need to exercise to conceive of life a hundred years hence. It could not be anything like what life then was like; it could not be predictable. Hence, it was as likely to contain winged firefighters, underwater croquet, and automated concert orchestras as anything else.
Source: CYA “The Web In A Blender”
ART-IFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
“LAUDATO SI’…”
Pope Francis foresees the economic difficulties in wresting AI from the hands of Wall Street: “The alliance between the economy and technology ends up sidelining anything unrelated to its immediate interests. Consequently the most one can expect is superficial rhetoric, sporadic acts of philanthropy and perfunctory expressions of concern for the environment, whereas any genuine attempt by groups within society to introduce change is viewed as a nuisance based on romantic illusions or an obstacle to be circumvented.”
Photo source: Indianexpress.com
World Domination through AI
Google is developing a 50 qubit quantum computer, which would outperform the world’s leading supercomputers. A 300 qubit computer would supply the computing needs for the entire universe.
Source: Kurzweil Accelerating Intelligence
Dispensing Spiritual advice
In China, a robot monk dispenses spiritual advice. It’s not sentimental, either: when a supplicant said he was unhappy, the response was, “If you’re not happy, what can anyone else do about it?”
Source: NY Times
Human Cusp 
