Placebo Without Deception?
By definition impossible if one takes ‘deception’ as a necessary characteristic of the concept of placebo. Still, it’s worthwhile to take a closer look at the ethical side. Preliminary remarks This text is rather academic. The train of thought is interesting for all. This is not about empathy, but only about ‘the sugar pill that Read the full article…
Altruism – Compassion
Taking into account the depth of nonconscious, subconceptual processing. Empathy is considered elsewhere. [see: “Landscape of Empathy“] For this text, ’empathy’ may be considered as a part of altruism and Compassion. Terms and concepts in an image The relative sizes of the arrows are arbitrary. The circle stands for the mental life of a person. Read the full article…
Importance of Spontaneity
Spontaneity is the stuff of autosuggestion and of nature. as in AURELIS. A suggestion comes with freedom and direction. [see: “Suggestion: Communication to the Subconscious“] I suggest you read further. You are free to do so if you like. In autosuggestion, the emphasis lies on ‘doing yourself.’ It is, in a way, even more spontaneous. Read the full article…
Future A.I.: Fluid or Solid?
Humans are fluid thinkers. That gives us huge strength and some major challenges. The one does not go without the other. A.I. – including Semantic A.I. – is still a very different matter. Through proper context, data becomes information. Still, the information as it is stored in a book is not in any way like Read the full article…
Culture and Nature
The age-old debate: culture vs. nature. High time it becomes: culture FOR nature ― environmentally and most of all profoundly inside ourselves. We might have forgotten: We are nature. More and more, technology enables us to forget that we are nature. Many know it like it were just a piece of information, but not as Read the full article…
From Therapy to Empathy
The future cannot be to un-science. It cannot be without empathy in full mode. The term ‘therapist’ comes from the Greek ‘Serapis,’ a Hellenization of the Egyptian god Osiris. [see: “Isis’ priests, named ‘therapists’”] I think that, in those ages, anyone with a serious psycho-somatic disorder could best go and visit such a temple. The Read the full article…
Human-Centered A.I.: Total-Person or Ego?
This makes for a huge difference, especially since the future of humanity is at stake. With good intentions, one may pave the road to disaster. Everybody, including me, should take this at heart. ‘Doing good’ may take much effort in understanding what one is tinkering with. This is relevant in any domain. [see:” ‘Doing Good’: Read the full article…
Compassion Connecting East & West
And North and South, of course, and everything in-between ― even past, present, and future. Essential A Compassionate attitude is to be received gracefully after sometimes earning it with huge effort and even danger to yourself. Sacrifices are unnecessary, but the person who is reluctant to make them can hardly attain a Compassionate stance. At Read the full article…
Practicing Compassion
Deep, spontaneous, difficult. Looking for a shortcut? Then it’s even much more difficult. Formal meditation Yes, the beautiful action ― in my view, warm and friendly. [see: “True Meditation is Warm and Friendly”] At least this kind of meditation is a direct practice of Compassion towards yourself, then towards others, and all sentient beings. Soto, Read the full article…
Where’s the Mind in Medical Causation?
I don’t know. It has vanished or has never been present. I’ve written quite a lot about this and don’t intend to repeat much. Disastrous opportunity One can see this as the big disaster that it is. Looking from within the present situation itself, one can also see it as a huge opportunity for doing Read the full article…
Causation in Humans and A.I.
Causal reasoning is needed to be human. Will it also transcend us into A.I.? Many researchers are on this path. We should try to understand it as well as possible. Some philosophy Causality is a human construct. In reality, there are only correlations. If interested in such philosophical issues, [see: “Infinite Causality”]. In the present Read the full article…
Culture over STEM
Much talk is about the importance of STEM in schooling, while profound culture gets sidelined. STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics Profound culture = what makes us deeply human in future society. In this text, culture is always ‘profound.’ In my teenage years, I was very motivated in both directions. From my first medical school Read the full article…
Is All Learning Associational?
Most probably. This is a domain where animal/human learning and A.I. learning can learn much from each other. Three forms of learning in A.I. Generally, learning in A.I. is divided into two distinct kinds, with a third one dangling in the appendix, referring to another book (*). supervised learning: training with specific input and labeled Read the full article…
Wanted, the Truth!
Humans are truth-seekers in many different ways ― a worthy and challenging adventure. Paraphrasing Zhuangzi I don’t know whether I have been dreaming last night and am writing this after waking up, or whether I am still dreaming and writing this, hoping that you, dear reader, will read it in your dream. As far as Read the full article…
Who We Are. What A.I. Can become.
In the near future, we will learn many exciting things in both domains. They will turn out to be very inspiring in both directions. “I think one of the big breakthroughs that’s going to come is we’re going to understand the brain… so that suddenly it all begins to click” Quoting Geoffrey Hinton, ‘godfather of Read the full article…
Robotizing Humans or Humanizing Robots
The latter may be necessary to prevent the former. The power of A.I. can be used in both directions. Hopefully, the next A.I. breakthrough brings us more of the latter. Challenging times. We are living in an era of transition in many ways. One of them is the birth of a new kind of intelligence Read the full article…
Explainability in A.I., Boon or Bust?
Explainability seems like the safe option. With A.I. of growing complexity, it may be quite the reverse. Much of the reason can be found inside ourselves. What is ‘explainability’ in A.I.? It’s not only about an A.I. system being able to do something but also to explain how and why this has been done. The Read the full article…