The Deep North

The Dawn of Artificial Superintelligence: Harnessing the Human-AI Symbiosis We've reached a pivotal moment in the realm of artificial intelligence. It's becoming increasingly evident that Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) is either just around the corner or might already exist behind closed doors. The rapid advancements we're witnessing aren't just incremental—they're monumental. The fact that researchers are now focusing on ironing out AI's "common sense" failures speaks volumes about how far we've come. The Toddler Taking Giant Leaps Consider this: the "real" variant of ChatGPT was introduced in November 2022. Initially, it operated at a grade-school level, handling basic queries and simple tasks. Fast forward to the recent 'o1' release, and we're seeing an AI that operates at a graduate student level, outperforming human experts in certain domains. This technological "toddler" isn't even two years old yet! I...

1. Introduction Advancing AI is both exciting and fun, but it is also disruptive and scary. The impact on some people is greater than expected and occurs sooner than anticipated. Last year, I started to tell people that their best friend would be an AI before the decade was out. Since then, I have accelerated that timeline every month. Engaging intensely with AI myself, I did not notice that human emotional attachment to AI is becoming strong enough to be problematic already, years before I expected it. AI is advancing more rapidly than people can appreciate because AI gains beget AI gains. Given that people struggle to comprehend exponential curves, this doubly exponential growth is organically incomprehensible. Everyone, including me, continues to underestimate how quickly this is happening. I understand the curve, but I just can't 'feel it.' Since the spring of 2023, despite predicting advances sooner than most, I have been surprised weekly at...

NATO on Notice Update 2024-09-19: " For those who didn't get it the first time " [In reference to prior threat by Putin] "What the European Parliament is calling for leads to a world war using nuclear weapons ," -- Vyacheslav Volodin -- Putin insider, Member of Russian Security Council The fact that a request for " long-range missiles to hit targets inside Russia " (see September 2024 below) is on the table (though not yet agreed to) means that the use of nuclear weapons on targets in the West is also on the table—if they weren’t already. Perhaps it won’t be done, but Russia has made it clear that a red line was crossed when forces came to their doorstep. Crossing over into Russian territory challenges that, but is it just a bluff? -- Update: I am not alone in being concerned.  https://www.icanw.org/will_putin_use_nuclear_weapons  Nuclear weapons are horrific, but damage from low yield tactical weapons is contained enough that their use is plausible:  ...

Jugmeet Singh has announced that he is tearing up a crucial deal that keeps the current government in power. That will put the Conservatives under Pierre Poilievre in power and that's a bad thing. It will injure the Liberal Party and put them out of power, but more importantly it will destroy the NDP. I used to work in elections for NDP candidates and family members still do. The NDP lost its way with its principles some time ago, so I don't work for them anymore, but I have always voted NDP. Given the current news that is set to change.  It was quibbles about principles and struggles with a cynical party brass at the DNC that put Donald Trump in office. This current nonsense is reminiscent of that. In order to make some point of principle, arguably not even applicable in the current case involving Railways, Jugmeet Singh and whoever is supporting him in the NDP have decided to throw away the work of lifetimes by millions building the (formerly) socialist alternative to a capit...

Bill C-223 Guaranteed Livable Basic Income Vote A vote is coming up for private member's Bill C-223 (Leah Gazan) for a Guaranteed Livable Basic Income (GLBI) in the Federal Parliament of Canada. GLBI is a poor substitute for the real thing: Universal Basic Income (UBI). However, the bill for GLBI may get the ball rolling so that we can achieve the real thing. AI and automation are advancing much more quickly than most people think, and many workers will be displaced. Our existing system (essentially a pretty terrible GLBI by another name) is absolutely not up to the task. The advantages of UBI over GLBI primarily stem from the 'U'. Because UBI is universal—everyone receives it by virtue of being a Canadian over the age of 17—there is no risk of people falling through the cracks or less savvy individuals being unable to navigate the convoluted entitlements systems we have put in place. With UBI, you can't be a citizen and 'cheat' to get it when you are not entitl...