Fascinating: IBM trained an algorithm in debating humans. There’s still some way to go, but the results were pretty impressive. I don’t know about IBM’s Project Debater, but there is an interesting history of philosophical research into argumentation. This inspired practices such as argument mapping. Like mind maps and concept… Continue reading
(‘Philisophy and tech’ is a series of posts in which I discuss very briefly philosophical issues I encounter reading stuff about technology) Last week Google published ethical principles guiding its AI development and research. Richard Waters of the Financial Times quotes AI-professor Stuart Russell at the University of California, Berkeley,… Continue reading
I attended a Fireside Chat in the virtual world High Fidelity with Philip Rosedale and Peter Diamandis. Dr. Diamandis is founder and executive chairman of the XPRIZE Foundation, best known for its $10 million Ansari XPRIZE for private spaceflight. High Fidelity is not as easy to access as an app… Continue reading
Which philosophers are particularly relevant when studying and using “new†technologies? Here’s my list based on my readings these last few weeks. Rosi Braidotti, Metamorposes. Towards a materialist way of becoming Andy Clark and David Chalmers, authors of The Extended Mind. Andy Clark also wrote Natural-Born Cyborgs. Mark Coeckelbergh, author… Continue reading
There are so many virtual venues these days! Here are some interesting events across multiple virtual spaces – for the exact time, click on the links. This is a very personal selection, there’s a lot more that might be interesting. Scenes and Screens Festival, Hyperconnect. When: June 5-10. Where: AltspaceVR…. Continue reading
What I love about virtual worlds are the incredible smart and visionary people one can meet there. This totally applies for High Fidelity, a young and cutting edge virtual world (think decentralized architecture, tokens, blockchain, VR-enabled, avatars who are responsive to their real life users). Founding father Philip Rosedale had… Continue reading
An interesting take on the use of blockchain in the mass consumer markets by Adam Frisby, CEO and lead developer of Sinespace, a Unity-based MMO and social VR platform: on VentureBeat he explains “why blockchain isn’t ready for primetime“. “As it stands, blockchain is caught between three competing objectives: fast,… Continue reading
I’ve been experimenting with Graphite Docs, a decentralized app (DApp) on the Blockstack-platform. It works remarkably well, it’s like an alternative for Google Docs. I actually prepared this post using Graphite. What I dislike about the Blockstack-universe is that one has to pay in bitcoin in order to get a… Continue reading
It seems all the talk about the “decentralized internet” gets more concrete for ordinary internet users (citizens?) like me. Tom Simonite at Wired did a great job explaining decentralized applications (DApps) in his article The Decentralized Internet Is Here, With Some Glitches. He discusses alternatives for Google Docs (using Graphite),… Continue reading
Howard Rheingold’s online course about Cooperation started last week, using BigBlueButton and not in some fancy Virtual Reality environment. BigBlueButton is our synchronous communication system (let’s say ‘videoconferencing’), but a lot of work happens asynchronously using a wiki, blogs, social bookmarks, and – very important – forums. These asynchronous systems… Continue reading