Why Computers Won't Replace You Just Yet
Sendhil Mullainathan, The New York Times, July 03, 2014
- "40% of smartphone users connect to Internet immediately upon awakening, before leaving bed. #TheFuture http://bit.ly/WYRz39 @TheAtlantic"
- "Cybercrime market now greater than annual global market for marijuana, cocaine, and heroin #TheFuture http://bit.ly/WYRz39 @TheAtlantic"
Can you guess which one was retweeted more often?
Three computer scientists, Chenhao Tan, Lillian Lee and Bo Pang, have built an algorithm that also makes these guesses, as described in a recent paper, and the results are impressive. (The answer: The first one got more retweets).
That an algorithm can make these kinds of predictions shows the power of "big data." It also illustrates its fundamental limitation: Specifically, guessing which tweet gets retweeted is significantly easier than creating one that gets retweeted.
For more information, see:
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/science/news/why-computers-wont-replace-you-just-yet-552187
Comments
What intelligence that is infused into artificial intelligence?
If we are soon approaching the "singularity" (Ray Kurzweil speaks so much about) in which machines will surpass human intelligence in a time of drones already engaged in killing humans -- against the principles inherent in Assimov's Rules of Robotics, should this emergent phenomenon be considered, "artificial intelligence?" Given the introduction of killer drones and their rapid replication by international war criminals convicted of genocide (e.g., al Bashir of Sudan), what is the human intelligence that will supposedly be surpassed by machine intelligence?