Humour And Awareness

I have resisted as long as I could
from commenting on the media hype
about so-called 'Artificial Intelligence'.

The media hypes so many things
that I thought I might as well wait
for the next subject to be hyped,
before saying anything about A.I.

But since a friend leapt in on facebook
I found myself drawn to comment,
and I found a surprising angle
from which to make my contribution.

My friend (who shall remain nameless)
blathered about 'Is AI safe?' 'Is it well labelled?'
and other questions that missed the point
about what is quite a technical subject,
that requires a supple precision in language.

To be clear, AI is intelligence without awareness;
the easy way to understand AI is to compare
the limits of AI machines with is employees,
where part of why people do the work
is that they are paid more than they otherwise
would be, to motivate them to avoid
being aware of what surrounds them,
where the money comes in useful after.

My memory went back to seeing a film
called 'I'm your man', with German subtitles
where a professional middle aged woman
is invited to date a new type of robot,
designed to be be a new sort of companion
in a world where companionable
male humans for professional women
are in short supply. It was a sort-of comedy.

'Amazing' thought I, 'A.I. was found to be funny
in German, a language where humour
was most enjoyed by native speakers
when it is dead-pan, and bone dry.
For non-natives, reliant on captions,
the jokes resisted all conversion 
into outright explosions of laughter.'.

So there we have it - intelligence, including AI,
need not lack humour, but when it's jokes
need translation for humans to find them funny
the humour in the jokes shrinks with explanation....

This 'proves' the limits in awareness of machines. 

Hoorah For Albania

It is one of the few countries
in the world that does not have
McDonalds fast food outlets.

Now all the country has to do
is work out how to hold on
to the youth of their country
and give them an attractive future
that has more of a sense of arrival
than they find with foreign travel.
  

1066 And All That

I could not think, much less comment,
on the news about the events
going on today in Westminster,
where it was news to the public
that 943 years ago a French invader,
and reformer of English government,
was crowned king there, and part of his reforms
were that the coronation of every ruler,
since then, will happen there. Ever after.

In other news a mere 543 years later,
circa 1649, many of the original instruments
for the coronation were melted down
and many of the jewels in them sold
by the Republican, Oliver Cromwell.

The instruments of the coronation
were reinvented a mere 11 years
after they were dismantled. 
This reinvention of pomp and process
has maintained the non-constitution ever since.

When the news is that old 
the everyday value in it
that our life consists of,
will be hard to find, thank God
coronations do not happen that often.

Weather Report ?

I have never been able to 
preface the conversation
I want to have with someone
with talk about the weather,
as if such fare were a scene setter
that gave me time to think
and listen before I spoke next.

When I am asked how I am
I usually offer my listener
a rating out of ten, which covers
how and why I feel angry or sad
whilst leaving all specifics to later.

I have often sensed that the language
we apply to the weather also applies
to the mood or place we might be in.

Perhaps I would cover
myself better
if I left myself out of it
and just rated the weather...

Signs Of Freedom

seem to be few in the world I now live in.
I saw one very quiet sign the other day,
whilst having my packed lunch
before going the the cinema
in the student area of Belfast;
two young men walked along 
a quiet street, holding hands in public
-an act as simple as it was powerful
in a world where complexity
and 'We can't because....  '
stops everything, all too easily.       

Watching Ourselves, Watching Others

The most dangerous freedom of all
is the freedom to not think,
and to disbelieve in the consequences.

The people that do think
know how dangerous that freedom is
-they observe it often in others
and are wary of it in themselves.  

Picture Set Of The Month - May - Posters Designed By Ken White

Ken white (1935-1985) was an American poster designer
for International Business Machines, in Boulder, Colarado. 

His posters were displayed on the walls of halls,
conference rooms and cafeterias throughout IBM's
many places of work.  

The subjects of his posters included health and safety,
extended creativity through collaboration, equal opportunities,
through to family days out.

Ken White co-headed the design team at IBM
with John Anderson and Tom Bluhm.
There is a book about their work, find it here.