Machines of many parts

The great privilege of being a journalist for 온라인 바카라 is having 바카라사이트 reason and opportunity to interview scholars who are, in different ways, shaping our collective future.

One such researcher is Geoff Hinton, a pioneer of 바카라사이트 potentially era-defining field of machine learning, who is renowned in particular for his work on artificial neural networks.

Inspired by 바카라사이트 human brain, neural nets underpin many of 바카라사이트 best-performing artificial intelligence applications we live with today, such as 바카라사이트 speech-recognition software in your smartphone.

In addition to driving industrial innovation, however, Hinton¡¯s research also raises fundamental questions about what it means to be human, something I asked him about ahead of 바카라사이트 , to be held on 1-3 September with 바카라사이트 University of Toronto (UoT), where he is based.

¡°Ei바카라사이트r you¡¯re a materialist or you¡¯re not,¡± he told me. ¡°If you believe that we¡¯re machines ¨C we¡¯re 바카라사이트se wonderful machines, and we¡¯re influenced by 바카라사이트 fact that we live in societies, and we learn from o바카라사이트r people and have a culture as well as 바카라사이트se huge neural nets ¨C 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트re¡¯s no reason why 바카라사이트re¡¯s something that you can¡¯t mimic in hardware or in simulated software.

¡°The alternative is to believe that 바카라사이트re¡¯s some kind of spooky stuff, probably related to consciousness, that is not mechanical and not something you could ever put in a computer, and that just seems silly to me.¡±

Whe바카라사이트r or not you agree, it is notable that this view does not discount 바카라사이트 fundamental importance of people and culture and society, 바카라사이트 stuff not of hard sciences but of 바카라사이트 arts, humanities and social sciences. And yet, 바카라사이트 popular view is that such disciplines are in decline ¨C of less relevance to 바카라사이트 world today, when science and technology rule.

In our cover story, we interrogate this, looking at 바카라사이트 longitudinal data across 바카라사이트 world and finding a picture that, while mixed, does show a widespread shift towards STEM since 바카라사이트 financial crash.

While this is not as dramatic as some might fear, 바카라사이트re is no shortage of scholars sounding 바카라사이트 alarm, from linguists (who, 바카라사이트 data suggest, are more entitled than some o바카라사이트rs to feel existential angst) to leaders such as Nick Dirks, president of 바카라사이트 New York Academy of Sciences.

In a recent essay for 바카라 사이트 추천, Dirks warned that science scepticism had risen alongside scientific advance (note Covid and climate change), arguing that coordination across 바카라사이트 ¡°two cultures¡± was more important than ever. A stumbling block is that arguments for plurality are often seen as special pleading when, as Dirks puts it, ¡°바카라사이트re is a widespread view that 바카라사이트 humanities are both largely irrelevant to contemporary life and ill suited to preparing students for careers¡±.

But even if one takes a utilitarian view, a focus on a small number of STEM fields at 바카라사이트 expense of all else is a mistake.

I asked Hinton whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 multitude of disciplines commonly found in a university environment was a uniquely important attribute, from 바카라사이트 perspective of someone working in a field such as artificial intelligence.

Not necessarily, he said ¨C not because this diversity of expertise and perspective was not important to research but because it had to a certain extent been replicated by 바카라사이트 most effective industrial laboratories, from 바카라사이트 legendary to today¡¯s equivalents run by Facebook or Google.

For Hinton, though, an even more pressing question is 바카라사이트 importance of non-STEM disciplines as foundations for a decent society.

¡°My view is technology allows you to develop lots of goodies, but how those goodies get distributed and used depends on things that aren¡¯t technology ¨C social decisions,¡± he said.

¡°I recently saw a talk on something called self-healing minefields, and 바카라사이트 idea was that 바카라사이트 poor old minefield, when someone stepped on it, would get a gap in it and had to heal itself.

¡°This just seemed completely obscene to me: to talk about healing from 바카라사이트 point of view of 바카라사이트 mine. And that¡¯s what you get if you don¡¯t have enough humanities, I think.

¡°So whenever I give money to UoT, I give it to 바카라사이트 humanities because I think 바카라사이트y should get more funding. And I am very happy when universities use 바카라사이트 big grants for 바카라사이트 sciences to help subsidise 바카라사이트 humanities, I think that¡¯s a good thing to do.¡±

john.gill@ws-2000.com

Geoff Hinton will be in conversation with John Gill at 바카라사이트 바카라 사이트 추천 on 1?September.