A Message From the Publisher
It’s our 2nd birthday! Publisher Mo Lotman shares a few thoughts about where we’ve come and where The Technoskeptic is going.
Category: Ethics
Podcast #16: Tomaso Poggio on the State of AI
After a long so-called winter, artificial intelligence has recently made amazing gains. Tomaso Poggio, Director of MIT’s Center for Brains, Minds, and Machines, explains why this success is still a long way from the dystopian fears of robot overlords, but that the threat to jobs is real.
Google’s Smart Reply: Convenience Over Connection
Gmail offers users canned responses to emails, based on AI interpretations of the contents and the user’s typical writing style. This convenience, unknown to the recipient, comes at a social cost.
Technology is Not the Solution (Principles of Technoskepticism, Part Two)
Far from containing and being a solution to moral problems, technology blinds us to the moral source and moral essence of those problems.
Superman and the Singularity
A recent discussion of the AI film Ex Machina brings up ideas about the desire for the perfectability of humans and our irresistable urge to play god.
The Proud Luddite
The word Luddite has a long history as a derogatory term. But it has little to do with the real history of the Luddites, who seem more relevant than ever.
New Digital Fakery May Make Truth Even More Elusive
Software now in development makes it easy to fabricate audio and video of real people, literally putting words in their mouths.
Help End Section 702 Surveillance
Section 702 of 2008’s FISA Amendment Act, the basis of an enormous surveillance program, is about to lapse. A new bill, the USA Rights Act, would fix it.
America Should Send Amazon Packing
Amazon has destroyed businesses, mistreated employees, lowered wages, manipulated markets, and virtually censored books. Now they want a giant handout.
Want to Borrow Money? Then Let a Credit Startup Read Your Email
New online lenders promise funds for previously-ignored groups. The catch? Borrowers have to allow them to spy on everything they do and everyone they associate with.