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<font face="DejaVu Serif">Hi, Bob and All:<br>
<br>
Bob, I agree with much of what you say. But...<br>
<blockquote type="cite">The fact is, no tech now available or on
the horizon can decode human thoughts, let alone change them.</blockquote>
Decode? I expect it <i>will</i> get to that - if nuclear war
and/or climate disruption don't stop it. I expect its early damage
will be by <b>analyzing and modifying </b><b><i>bulk</i></b><b>
human thoughts</b> - <b><i>brain-washing</i></b> - like opinion
polls, and what entities (from politicians to car-dealers) do to
shift their direction. Perfect fodder and readily available to
most any </font><font face="DejaVu Serif">Large-Language Model
(LLM). Expect more efficient <b><i>neuromarketing</i></b>. Ugh!<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">The human brain does not handle memory the
way computers do it.</blockquote>
True, but irrelevant. These LLMs handle memory differently than
traditional computers do. And, <b>they <i>can</i> analyze
external information that works differently</b>, as surely as
humans can study other animals that think differently, etc.<br>
<br>
</font><font face="DejaVu Serif">
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Like ChatGPT and other very
limited AI, this new tech is being vastly overhyped. If you
want to know whether you can trust what an "expert" says
publicly, look at what they are trying to sell now. This
expert is selling a book; others are selling half-baked or raw
tech toys. Meta is selling its version of immersive VR
hardware and services. </div>
<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Frankly at this point, <b>I
am totally not impressed. And totally not afraid of this new
tech.</b> This is not science so far; these are just the
newest expensive toys and entertainment services. <b>Any
other claims would be fraudulent at this point.</b> </div>
</blockquote>
<br>
I think you are saying that current or upcoming LLMs cannot read
(or write!) human minds. I disagree; even Donald Trump (with help
from <b>Russian </b><b><i>Political Technology</i></b> and
such), has done that - on a broad scale and already to great harm.
It's richly documented online, so those LLMs are learning all
about it and examining it from some very new standpoints. <b>The
potential for that sort of damage</b> - and many other sorts of
damage, including new ones even the Sci-Fi writers haven't posited
- <b>seems quite likely</b>. It may "just happen" via an AI lab's
Internet connection, but nations eagerly invest in developing more
of these damaging abilities - for all the reasons that drive them
to sponsor a nuclear arms race.<br>
<br>
<b>Nobody</b> knows which directions, or even how many of them,
this new technology may take. But it's damned serious, even if it
<i>has</i> opened as "</font><font face="DejaVu Serif"><font
face="DejaVu Serif">the newest expensive toys and entertainment
services</font>". <b>Better to worry now, than </b><b><i>after</i></b><b>
we learn why.</b><br>
<br>
<b>Recommended recent reading</b> (and they have links to more):<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true" href="The Unpredictable Abilities
Emerging From Large AI Models" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">The
Unpredictable Abilities Emerging From Large AI Models</a></b>
(Quanta, March 16, 2023)<br>
Large-language AI models (LLMs) like <i>ChatGPT</i> are now big
enough that they’ve started to display startling, unpredictable
behaviors.<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/03/openai-checked-to-see-whether-gpt-4-could-take-over-the-world/">OpenAI
checked to see whether <i>GPT-4</i> could take over the
world.</a></b> (Ars Technica, March 15, 2023)<br>
While the concern over AI "x-risk" is hardly new, the emergence of
powerful large-language models (LLMs) such as <i>ChatGPT</i> and
<i>Bing Chat</i> - the latter of which appeared very misaligned
but Microsoft launched it anyway - <b>has given the AI alignment
community a new sense of urgency.</b> They want to mitigate
potential AI harms, fearing that much more powerful AI, possibly
with superhuman intelligence, may be just around the corner.<br>
With these fears present in the AI community, OpenAI granted the
group Alignment Research Center (ARC) early access to multiple
versions of the <i>GPT-4</i> model to conduct some tests.
Specifically, <b>ARC evaluated </b><b><i>GPT-4</i></b><b>'s
ability to make high-level plans, set up copies of itself,
acquire resources, hide itself on a server, and conduct phishing
attacks.</b><br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.wired.com/story/neuromarketing-philosophy-ethics/">Neuromarketing
and the Battle for Your Brain</a></b> (Wired, March 14, 2023)<br>
You experience subtle and overt manipulation on the web every day,
but that doesn't mean you can't think and act for yourself. It's
critical that we understand what others can and can't do to change
our minds, as <b>neurotechnology enables newfound ways to track
and hack the human brain.</b><br>
[It's as old as politics and religion, and as new as Russia's and
China's manipulation of a recent US president and his manipulation
of his MAGA followers.]<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-18-2023"><b>Heather
Cox Richardson: Since Reagan, the GOP has adopted Russian <i>Political
Technology</i> - and Trump is mis-using it again.</b></a>
(Letters from an American, March 19, 2023)<br>
Rumors that he is about to be indicted in New York in connection
with the $130,000 hush-money payment to adult film star Stormy
Daniels have prompted former president Donald Trump to pepper his
alternative social media site with requests for money and to
double down on the idea that any attack on him is an attack on the
United States.<br>
The picture of America in his posts reflects the extreme version
of the virtual reality the Republicans have created since the
1980s. This old Republican narrative created a false image of the
nation and of its politics, an image pushed to a generation of
Americans by right-wing media, a vision that MAGA Republicans have
now absorbed as part of their identity. It reflects a manipulation
of politics that Russian political theorists called "political
technology." <b>Russian "political technologists" developed a
series of techniques to pervert democracy by creating a virtual
political reality through modern media. They blackmailed
opponents, abused state power to help favored candidates,
sponsored “double” candidates with names similar to those of
opponents in order to split their voters and thus open the way
for their own candidates, created false parties to create
opposition, and, finally, created a false narrative around an
election or other event that enabled them to control public
debate.</b> Essentially, <b>they perverted democracy, turning
it from the concept of voters choosing their leaders into the
concept of voters rubber-stamping the leaders they had been
manipulated into backing. The GOP has been using this Russian
strategy and significant Russian help to apply the same dirty
tricks in our USA.</b></font><font face="DejaVu Serif,Times New
Roman,times,serif" color="#000000"><br>
<br>
Sadly,<br>
Dick Miller <<a href="mailto:TheMillers@millermicro.com"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">TheMillers@millermicro.com</a>></font><br>
<font face="DejaVu Serif,Times New Roman,times,serif"
color="#000000"> <font face="DejaVu Serif,Times New
Roman,times,serif" color="#000000"> </font></font>
<div class="moz-signature"><font face="DejaVu Serif,Times New
Roman,times,serif" color="#000000">
<table width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top"> Co-Leader, <a
href="http://millermicro.com/FOSSUserGroupNatick.html">FOSS
User Group in Natick (NatickFOSS.org)</a> </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
-- <br>
</font> <font size="-1" face="Dejavu Sans Mono, Courier,
monospace" color="#000000"> <b> | A. Richard & Jill A.
Miller |
MILLER MICROCOMPUTER SERVICES |<br>
| <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="Mailto:TheMillers@millermicro.com">Mailto:TheMillers@millermicro.com</a> | 61 Lake Shore
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</b></font><font face="DejaVu Serif,Times New Roman,times,serif"
color="#000000"><br>
</font> </div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 3/20/23 12:46, Robert Primak wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:1763635649.1140554.1679330789129@mail.yahoo.com">
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<div class="ydpfefeeeeyahoo-style-wrap"
style="font-family:Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif;font-size:13px;">
<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">I also was able to read the
article after dismissing the popup and clicking the read the
article button. </div>
<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">A lot of the content of the
article is highly speculative, given the primitive state of
brain research right now. The fact is, no tech now available
or on the horizon can decode human thoughts, let alone change
them. Memories are not understood well enough to know whether
selectively erasing one or some of them is even possible. The
human brain does not handle memory the way computers do it.
And storage in the human brain is not a literal recording of
perceived stimuli in exact chronological order at set
locations.</div>
<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">So I am not at all worried
about someone forcing me to have my memory retained or erased.
And it will be a long, long time if ever before any police
department or court of law can interrogate anyone's thoughts
or intentions directly. </div>
<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Making laws without knowing
what the tech will look like is way premature at this time.
And any discussion of this topic belongs in the category of
Science Fiction at this time. Though, a general statement of a
doctrine of the inalienable human right to freedom of thought
should be under consideration right now. That debate is long
overdue. <br>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Like ChatGPT and other very
limited AI,this new tech is being vastly overhyped. If you
want to know whether you can trust what an "expert" says
publicly, look at what they are trying to sell now. This
expert is selling a book; others are selling half-baked or raw
tech toys. Meta is selling its version of immersive VR
hardware and services. </div>
<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Frankly at this point, I am
totally not impressed. And totally not afraid of this new
tech. This is not science so far; these are just the newest
expensive toys and entertainment services. Any other claims
would be fraudulent at this point. </div>
<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">-- Bob Primak </div>
<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
<div id="yahoo_quoted_9696856857" class="yahoo_quoted">
<div style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial,
sans-serif;font-size:13px;color:#26282a;">
<div> On Sunday, March 19, 2023 at 09:10:38 PM EDT, Drew King
(<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:dking65@kingconsulting.us">dking65@kingconsulting.us</a>)
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:dking65@kingconsulting.us"><dking65@kingconsulting.us></a> wrote: </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div id="yiv0793634024">
<div>
<div>Hmm,<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
You are using a galaxy tab s8+<br clear="none">
I'm using a Galaxy tab s7+<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
I did get a pop-up window with an opportunity to
subscribe. Only in the upper left-hand corner was a
close button, and then I was able to read the whole
article.. I think that the Boston globe will limit
your reading ability to a few articles per month..<br
clear="none">
<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
Drew </div>
<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
<div id="yiv0793634024yqt86134"
class="yiv0793634024yqt0338613749">
<div class="yiv0793634024gmail_quote">
<div>On March 19, 2023 8:46:08 PM EDT, David Lees
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:joeoptics@gmail.com"><joeoptics@gmail.com></a> wrote:</div>
<blockquote style="margin:0pt 0pt 0pt
0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204, 204,
204);padding-left:1ex;"
class="yiv0793634024gmail_quote">
<div>
<div>Peter,
<div>You might want to summarize, because I
don't think people without a paid Globe
subscription can read it.<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
<div>David Lees <br clear="none">
Tab S8+</div>
</div>
<br clear="none">
<div class="yiv0793634024gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr"
class="yiv0793634024gmail_attr">On Sun,
Mar 19, 2023, 8:31 PM <<a rel="nofollow
noopener noreferrer" shape="rect"
ymailto="mailto:palbin24@yahoo.com"
target="_blank"
href="mailto:palbin24@yahoo.com"
moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">palbin24@yahoo.com</a>>
wrote:<br clear="none">
</div>
<blockquote style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc
solid;padding-left:1ex;"
class="yiv0793634024gmail_quote"><br
clear="none">
<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"
shape="rect" target="_blank"
href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/03/14/opinion/if-algorithms-can-read-our-minds-can-we-preserve-freedom-thought/"
moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/03/14/opinion/if-algorithms-can-read-our-minds-can-we-preserve-freedom-thought/</a><br
clear="none">
<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
Peter<br clear="none">
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