Let's have a dish of epistemology today, the theory of knowledge, because the big thing with artificial intelligence is: does it create NEW knowledge?
Sure, it creates knowledge about things we already know faster and sometimes more efficiently, but can it tell us things about the world we live in or about us that we still don't know?
How should it be able to tell us for instance with certainty that there is life in outer space?
This is all about knowledge, about the philosophical question: WHAT CAN I KNOW? And to know means that you can be assured that things as they are now will stay that way. It is our desire to be345656b55' certain.
This is why I talked about the relationship between understanding causality and artificial intelligence. It has problems with it.
In the previous lecture, I said, that Kant wants to investigate which ideas are necessary to acquire knowledge about the world. According to Kant, we have two types of knowledge, knowledge that we acquire through sensory experience
and knowledge that we can acquire independently of experience, for example that 2 + 2 is four. He called those two forms "a posteriori" (after) and "a priori" (before).
Hume talked about relations of ideas and matters of fact, Kant used the terms 'a priori' and 'a posteriori'. The other classic philosophical terms are 'analytic' and 'synthetic'.
An analytic statement is "A triangle has three sides". A synthetic statement (is Ancient Greek syn - tassow = putting together) is for instance: "This table is red".
The analytic statement doesn't create new knowledge. We just analyze the concept of "triangle". The synthetic statement tells us something really new about the world.
The analytic statement is a-priori knowledge. The synthetic statement is a-posteriori knowledge, but Immanuel Kant wasn't happy with this black-and-white picture of knowledge.
He wondered..... ok...analytic statements (a-priori) don't offer us new knowledge. Synthetic statements (a-posteriori) do, but just assume that synthetic a-priori knowledge exists.
It has two qualities: it has the certainty of the analytic knowledge and second, it teaches us something about the world we did not yet know, the synthetic statement.
What we are talking about is how the human brain works and why an analogy between the human brain and how a computer works is actually a clumsy one.
Let's follow Kant. Take 7 + 5 = 12. Some will say....analytic statement based on the rules of arithmetics. No, says Kant, this is a synthetic statement, that tells us something new.
There is nothing in the concept of 12 that relates to the plus sign of the numbers 7 and 5, but we "discover" this relation because our brain contains the concept of "number".
Such a concept is beyond sensory experience. It is just there. Kant calls it transcendental concepts and causality is also one of such concepts. This is a kind of balancing of rationalism and empiricism.
The mind that rationalism relies on plays a crucial role in the development of transcendental concepts that make experience possible. In contrast, knowledge only comes about through sensory experience.
Without experience, transcendental concepts are meaningless, but experience is chaos without transcendental concepts, according to Kant.
If you understand the complexity of this epistemological exercise of today, which eventually tried to understand the concept of causality, then you may get a feeling of how far away artificial intelligence still is from the capabilities of the human brain.
Thank you for your attention again ....
Main Sources:
MacMillan The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2nd edition
TABLE OF CONTENT -----------------------------------------------------------------
1 - 100 Philosophers 9 May 2009 Start of
2 - 25+ Women Philosophers 10 May 2009 this blog
3 - 25 Adventures in Thinking 10 May 2009
4 - Modern Theories of Ethics 29 Oct 2009
5 - The Ideal State 24 Febr 2010 / 234
6 - The Mystery of the Brain 3 Sept 2010 / 266
7 - The Utopia of the Free Market 16 Febr 2012 / 383
8. - The Aftermath of Neo-liberalism 5 Sept 2012 / 413
9. - The Art Not to Be an Egoist 6 Nov 2012 / 426
10 - Non-Western Philosophy 29 May 2013 / 477
11 - Why Science is Right 2 Sept 2014 / 534
12 - A Philosopher looks at Atheism 1 Jan 2015 / 557
13 - EVIL, a philosophical investigation 17 Apr 2015 / 580
14 - Existentialism and Free Will 2 Sept 2015 / 586
15 - Spinoza 2 Sept 2016 / 615
16 - The Meaning of Life 13 Febr 2017 / 637
17 - In Search of my Self 6 Sept 2017 / 670
18 - The 20th Century Revisited 3 Apr 2018 / 706
19 - The Pessimist 11 Jan 2020 / 819
20 - The Optimist 9 Febr 2020 / 824
21 - Awakening from a Neoliberal Dream 8 Oct 2020 / 872
22 - A World Full of Patterns 1 Apr 2021 / 912
23 - The Concept of Freedom 8 Jan 2022 / 965
24 - Materialism 7 Sept 2022 / 1011
25 - Historical Materialism 5 Oct 2023 / 1088
26 - The Bonobo and the Atheist 9 Jan 2024 / 1102
27 - Artificial Intelligence 9 Feb 2024 / 1108
The Discussion
[13:31] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): Thank you Herman
[13:31] Max Chatnoir: I don't see how 2+2=4 is independent of experience.
[13:32] herman Bergson: Take your time,,,maybe UI was too fast :-)
[13:32] Max Chatnoir: But I like the idea of transcendental concepts making sense of experience.
[13:32] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): hmm this was a bit tricky
[13:32] herman Bergson: Because it is a product of the brain only, Max
[13:32] Max Chatnoir: I see. But it does connect to experience.
[13:33] herman Bergson: You don't need a real world to do mathematics
[13:33] Max Chatnoir: and it is transcendental. Lots of 2s and 4s.
[13:34] herman Bergson: Yes Max...the relation of mathematics to reality is still a mystery to me...but it works
[13:34] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): however it is the language of the world, nature and also computers
[13:34] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): and it never lies
[13:34] Max Chatnoir: Nice point!
[13:34] herman Bergson: Right, Bejiita,,,that is the mystery
[13:34] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): well you have strange concepts like imaginary numbers but they somehow work also even they as i understand break the fundamental rules of math
[13:35] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): a "fulhack" as we say in swedish
[13:35] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): = ugly hack
[13:35] Max Chatnoir: So math can transcend reality
[13:35] herman Bergson: I'd say...in way it does, Max
[13:36] herman Bergson: In relation to reality, we are pretty weird organisms :-)
[13:36] herman Bergson: Animals don't count
[13:36] herman Bergson: we do
[13:36] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): well it for sure can, otherwise i couldnt generate my fantasy worlds in Unreal Engine among other things, as said math is the language of computers
[13:37] Max Chatnoir: Like interior angles of triangles always add up to 180o
[13:37] herman Bergson: though we are not different from other organisms, except this brain we have
[13:37] Max Chatnoir: But what's a degree?
[13:37] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): and they can do sort of everything, well they cant break nature laws but i can make awesome sci fi stuff on them if i wnt
[13:37] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): want3
[13:37] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): thats True max
[13:38] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): that u cant change not even in computers
[13:38] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): then its not a triangle
[13:38] Max Chatnoir: Yes, Bejiita, and I think that's the thing about humans.
[13:38] Max Chatnoir: We can also transcend reality.
[13:38] herman Bergson: a degree is an invention of our brain
[13:38] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): laws of geometry still apply 100 % in say Blender
[13:38] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): triangles cubes ect, the basic shapes
[13:39] herman Bergson: everywhere, Bejiita....I find it amazing
[13:39] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): math never lies
[13:39] Max Chatnoir: I don't know if AI can do that. Transcend reality.
[13:39] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): it works the same everywhere
[13:39] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): 1+1 is always 2
[13:39] herman Bergson: That is my point, Max
[13:40] Max Chatnoir: True, it has to be a flat triangle!
[13:40] herman Bergson: AI only gwets to correlations
[13:40] herman Bergson: The main question is still.....
[13:41] herman Bergson: does AI create NEW knowledge.....
[13:41] herman Bergson: we with our creative brains do so....
[13:41] Max Chatnoir: What is the nature of our creative brains?
[13:41] herman Bergson: But AI is filled still with what we already know...
[13:41] Max Chatnoir: What do we do that AI does not?
[13:42] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): to survive I think Max
[13:42] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): well if i tell an AI to whip up some weird surreal dreamscape it will however it only uses stuff it already has
[13:42] herman Bergson: And here we are at Darwin, Beertje :-)
[13:42] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): = the entire internet however
[13:42] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): well
[13:43] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): Darwin didn't talk about computers I guess
[13:43] Max Chatnoir: Don't think so. :-)
[13:43] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): nope
[13:43] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): evolution was his thing
[13:43] herman Bergson: No, but about survival of the fittest
[13:43] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): hmm
[13:44] Max Chatnoir: meaning functional in the environment.
[13:44] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): the ones with the creative mind
[13:44] herman Bergson: The weird thing is...we seem to be the fittest and yet work on destroying this planet
[13:45] herman Bergson: Just look at the food chain....
[13:45] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): well one of our biggest drives seems to be blowing each other up and make insane amounts of money = completley ignoring that we destroy the planet + ourselves in the process
[13:45] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): greed
[13:45] herman Bergson: we were somewhere between monkeys and lions....
[13:45] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): and power hungriness
[13:46] herman Bergson: That be became self conscious,,,,
[13:46] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): money is a religion
[13:46] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): hmm true
[13:46] herman Bergson: and all of a sudden we were at the top of the food chain
[13:46] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ah
[13:47] Max Chatnoir: We do eat a lot of things!
[13:47] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): thte top of the foodchain, but not the brightest animal
[13:47] herman Bergson: Now we can use whatever animal as food....cows, pigs, chickens and so on
[13:47] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): indeed
[13:48] herman Bergson: Really a thing to think about
[13:48] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): however i dont mind vegetarian stuff as long it taste good, for ex i love things like Quorn
[13:49] Max Chatnoir: got to eat your veggies!
[13:49] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): and as long i get what i need from it
[13:49] herman Bergson: lol...Bejiita...I am not a vegetarian myself
[13:49] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): yes
[13:50] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): i will eat some pig meat later = hamburgers but with some different patties. in sweden we call them parisare, seems to be some form of sausage
[13:50] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): never had dhse i think
[13:50] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): these
[13:50] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): got a pack of 4 before
[13:51] herman Bergson: In nature all animals kill other animals to survive....
[13:51] Max Chatnoir: Some animals are herbivores
[13:51] herman Bergson: what kind of animals we we ourselves ?
[13:51] Max Chatnoir: omnivores
[13:51] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): indeed its a Swedish only word but this is what it looks like
[13:51] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parisare_(korv)
[13:51] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): korv = sausage
[13:52] herman Bergson: Just an interesting situation :-)
[13:52] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): that one im gonna make later and as a burger
[13:52] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): i think we eat to much meat, smallportions are enough
[13:52] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
[13:52] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): for the nightsnack
[13:52] herman Bergson: lol
[13:52] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): hmm thats true indeed Beertje
[13:52] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): we don't need that much food
[13:53] herman Bergson: That is quite an other question Beertje
[13:53] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): esp since ive mostly just been coding Unreal C++ all day, well that require brain focus = takes energy, plus i ran into a picky c# bug in Unity that i got stuck on UGH
[13:53] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): but indeed a calm day today
[13:53] herman Bergson: We here enter the realm of ethics regarding how to handle animals
[13:53] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): hmm
[13:54] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): ツ
[13:54] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): indeed
[13:54] Max Chatnoir: I once got behind a cattle truck on the freeway.
[13:54] herman Bergson: Oh my...
[13:54] Max Chatnoir: I didn't eat any beef at all for two years, and I still don't eat much.
[13:55] herman Bergson: I understand.....
[13:55] herman Bergson: But we are nicely off topic now....
[13:55] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): ツ
[13:55] Max Chatnoir: True!
[13:55] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): and im getting hungry
[13:55] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): we are good at it
[13:55] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): for my parisare
[13:56] Max Chatnoir: The advantage of the human mind. Getting off topic.
[13:56] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): esp since i concluded i have all ingredients to make it exactly as on that picture
[13:56] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): + some more stuff as well
[13:56] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
[13:56] herman Bergson: question was ...can AI produce new knowledge and undertsand causality :-)
[13:56] Max Chatnoir: Bon appetit!
[13:56] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): but im up for some cards before i fire up my trusty grill
[13:56] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
[13:56] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): can AI go offtopic?
[13:56] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): sure it can
[13:56] herman Bergson: lol...Bejiita
[13:57] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
[13:57] herman Bergson: No Beertje, but my brain can :-))
[13:57] Max Chatnoir: I'm going to take a little break before Math Club!
[13:57] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): like the AI bot starting to wreak havik before, but that was mor of a bug i guess
[13:57] herman Bergson: Do so, Max....
[13:57] Max Chatnoir: See you all soon!
[13:57] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): aaaa
[13:57] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): have a nice day Max
[13:57] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): have a good time Max
[13:58] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡
[13:58] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): cu soon
[13:58] Max Chatnoir: You, too, Beertje!
[13:58] herman Bergson: We'll see eachother again on Tuesday :-)
[13:58] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): thank you
[13:58] Max Chatnoir: Yes, indeed!
[13:58] herman Bergson: Class dismissed,......
No comments:
Post a Comment