Digitalisation and artificial intelligence

Digitalisation has made a paradigm shift in our thought process, the way we act, the way we live our lives

PART-2

The term cognition dates back to 15th Century when it generally referred the ability to thinking and awareness. Much before that,  Aristotle has his view on the cognitive area on memory, perception and mental imagery and how it impacts decision making process. Philosophers including Herman Ebbinghaus, Mary Calkins have done extensive work on cognitive behaviour. According to Jean Piaget, the development stage of cognitive behaviour of a particular individual takes place from infancy till adolescence and adulthood. Piaget is revered in this field in line with Freud. The stages so defined by him include : Sensorimotor stage/infancy (0-2 years):intelligence is present,  basic understanding about causality, time and space;  Pre operational stage/Toddler (2-7 years) : symbols and language skill is added, begins to understand about relationship, idea about numbers; Concrete operational stage/Early adolescence (7-12 years) :  logical and systematic form of intelligence; Formal operational stage/ Adolescence and Adulthood (12 years and on): logical use of abstract concept, acquires flexibility in thinking, can consider different alternatives. The stage wise development mature a person alongside. The human mind grows along in the above stages. With the gradual development, human mind tries to harness on improvements to make the living comfortable. At one stage, this led us to create artificial intelligence to solve problems at a faster pace. During the Second World War, it became necessary to break the code used by Germans. It was Alan Turing a brilliant mathematician who was given the assignment to come up with solution to decipher the German codes. He was appointed by The Government Code and Cypher School of British Intelligence Department. The Germans  used a machine named Enigma based on electro mechanical rotor cypher system. Turing  came up with a machine named after himself based on algorithm to decipher the codes.  Had not that been invented, the history may have been quite different by now. That opens up the science of artificial intelligence in the form of main frame computer to decipher the German codes which helped the allied forces to counter German plan through Normandy coast. Alan Turing is known as The Father of Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science. The Second World War was shortened by two to four years and saving million over life by using the Turing machine. This branch of science developed leap jump so is the human civilisation as well. Just by using binary numbers, we developed various language to fast track the development of artificial intelligence.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer in a nascent stage any more. The advancement of AI will certainly take us to newer heights of performance and achievement in various level of applied science which will in turn accelerate progress. The use of AI be it  in the fields of agriculture, medicine, education, engineering has certainly taken the efficiency to newer heights. But the way AI has been used in the creative fields like music or arts, this certainly will have its impact on the thought process. Shall we see our logic on algorithms rather than finesse of human brains? Social network like Facebook, Twitter etc have already brought in significant changes in the social dynamics. The social network is not just limited to connectivity but has also deeply touched our daily routine. One of the example is social media which has made the citizen reporting so dynamic and interactive. The power of social media was evident during Arab revolution or the way various statesmen like present Prime Ministers of India, Singapore are reaching to their countrymen are couple of examples.The use of robotics has developed in such a manner that in Japan they are able to produce robots which have responsiveness to humour. The medical science has excelled its performance by way of operating the minutest part of the body through usage of robots. The replacement of limbs or arms by using robotics have gaining popularity in the developed economies. The advancement in agriculture is another area where AI is being used diligently. For example, the nutrition requirement measurement, weather forecasts  and pest control by using AI, steps in testing of high yield varieties, intelligent irrigation are few to name. Though the use of mobile robots have yet to be tested but the technology based on immobile and stationary machine based on AI with the help of Satellites are helping boost both crops and dairy/meet industries. The daily work without use of AI in corporate or business world is unthinkable. Use of AI in various developing business models, product design, demographic and marketing potential is based on AI with the human inputs. The use of AI has helped products which are more efficient and less pollutant.
The warfare has also developed on accordingly. The destructive power of these modern weaponries are far superior that nuke bombs in terms of precision, cost and maximum impact. The way the drones are now being used in war zones show where our technical advancements have taken us to. The recent attack on a hospital in Iraq by a drone remains a question. Though US has officially apologised it, but the question remains whether that was a human error or are we creating a beast with precision to hit with its own intelligence?  
People like Nick Bostrom from Oxford University, renowned scientist Stephen Hawking have brought up the issue of ethical standard in the level of AI. The code of conduct, transparency and moral issues in use of AI are among the top of the agenda.
The super intelligence can even create superior intelligence and hence may go beyond the human comprehension. How can this be regulated remains a big concern. Over 1,000 high-profile artificial intelligence experts and leading researchers have signed an open letter warning of a “military artificial intelligence arms race” and calling for a ban on “offensive autonomous weapons”.The letter, presented at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was signed by Tesla’s Elon Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Google DeepMind chief executive Demis Hassabis and professor Stephen Hawking along with 1,000 AI and robotics researchers.The letter states: “AI technology has reached a point where the deployment of [autonomous weapons] is – practically if not legally – feasible within years, not decades, and the stakes are high: autonomous weapons have been described as the third revolution in warfare, after gunpowder and nuclear arms.”. However, in Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook has his own opinion about AI as he says "We should not be afraid of AI. Instead, we should hope for the amazing amount of good it will do in the world."  Time can only tell who is correct in their prediction.
The political situation in the world, the stress and challenges we are in is an indication that there is a possibility of dreadful Third World War is in process. If the machine can learn on its own AI may be able to detonate the keys to nuke bombs or unplug the biological weapons, then are we sitting at a ticking time bomb for destruction of the entire human race? The unfortunate part to the victors of Third World War in that eventuality be that with every possibility human race will become permanent slave to cognitive devices who have the ability to control human actions? The Tom Cruise starred movie Wars of The World, aren't we moving ahead to our destiny? In that movie, human race prevailed because of the softer side. It's high time that Leaders of Various Super Powers sit to resolve. In the meantime, let's review how can we work more closely to gain back our softer side of human values and genome. This is all about our cognitive behavioural adjustments which made us survive the last ice age and we remain resilient as always. It is indeed interesting.

Concluded

The writer, a banker by profession has worked both in local and overseas market with various foreign and local banks in
different positions

 

Digitalisation and artificial intelligence

Digitalisation has made a paradigm shift in our thought process, the way we act, the way we live our lives

PART-2 The term cognition dates back to 15th Century when it generally referred the ability to thinking and awareness. Much before that, Aristotle has his view on the cognitive area on memory, perception and mental imagery and how it impacts decision making process. Philosophers including Herman Ebbinghaus, Mary Calkins have done extensive work on cognitive behaviour. According to Jean Piaget, the development stage of cognitive behaviour of a particular individual takes place from infancy till adolescence and adulthood. Piaget is revered in this field in line with Freud. The stages so defined by him include : Sensorimotor stage/infancy (0-2 years):intelligence is present, basic understanding about causality, time and space; Pre operational stage/Toddler (2-7 years) : symbols and language skill is added, begins to understand about relationship, idea about numbers; Concrete operational stage/Early adolescence (7-12 years) : logical and systematic form of intelligence; Formal operational stage/ Adolescence and Adulthood (12 years and on): logical use of abstract concept, acquires flexibility in thinking, can consider different alternatives. The stage wise development mature a person alongside. The human mind grows along in the above stages. With the gradual development, human mind tries to harness on improvements to make the living comfortable. At one stage, this led us to create artificial intelligence to solve problems at a faster pace. During the Second World War, it became necessary to break the code used by Germans. It was Alan Turing a brilliant mathematician who was given the assignment to come up with solution to decipher the German codes. He was appointed by The Government Code and Cypher School of British Intelligence Department. The Germans used a machine named Enigma based on electro mechanical rotor cypher system. Turing came up with a machine named after himself based on algorithm to decipher the codes. Had not that been invented, the history may have been quite different by now. That opens up the science of artificial intelligence in the form of main frame computer to decipher the German codes which helped the allied forces to counter German plan through Normandy coast. Alan Turing is known as The Father of Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science. The Second World War was shortened by two to four years and saving million over life by using the Turing machine. This branch of science developed leap jump so is the human civilisation as well. Just by using binary numbers, we developed various language to fast track the development of artificial intelligence. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer in a nascent stage any more. The advancement of AI will certainly take us to newer heights of performance and achievement in various level of applied science which will in turn accelerate progress. The use of AI be it in the fields of agriculture, medicine, education, engineering has certainly taken the efficiency to newer heights. But the way AI has been used in the creative fields like music or arts, this certainly will have its impact on the thought process. Shall we see our logic on algorithms rather than finesse of human brains? Social network like Facebook, Twitter etc have already brought in significant changes in the social dynamics. The social network is not just limited to connectivity but has also deeply touched our daily routine. One of the example is social media which has made the citizen reporting so dynamic and interactive. The power of social media was evident during Arab revolution or the way various statesmen like present Prime Ministers of India, Singapore are reaching to their countrymen are couple of examples.The use of robotics has developed in such a manner that in Japan they are able to produce robots which have responsiveness to humour. The medical science has excelled its performance by way of operating the minutest part of the body through usage of robots. The replacement of limbs or arms by using robotics have gaining popularity in the developed economies. The advancement in agriculture is another area where AI is being used diligently. For example, the nutrition requirement measurement, weather forecasts and pest control by using AI, steps in testing of high yield varieties, intelligent irrigation are few to name. Though the use of mobile robots have yet to be tested but the technology based on immobile and stationary machine based on AI with the help of Satellites are helping boost both crops and dairy/meet industries. The daily work without use of AI in corporate or business world is unthinkable. Use of AI in various developing business models, product design, demographic and marketing potential is based on AI with the human inputs. The use of AI has helped products which are more efficient and less pollutant. The warfare has also developed on accordingly. The destructive power of these modern weaponries are far superior that nuke bombs in terms of precision, cost and maximum impact. The way the drones are now being used in war zones show where our technical advancements have taken us to. The recent attack on a hospital in Iraq by a drone remains a question. Though US has officially apologised it, but the question remains whether that was a human error or are we creating a beast with precision to hit with its own intelligence? People like Nick Bostrom from Oxford University, renowned scientist Stephen Hawking have brought up the issue of ethical standard in the level of AI. The code of conduct, transparency and moral issues in use of AI are among the top of the agenda. The super intelligence can even create superior intelligence and hence may go beyond the human comprehension. How can this be regulated remains a big concern. Over 1,000 high-profile artificial intelligence experts and leading researchers have signed an open letter warning of a military artificial intelligence arms race and calling for a ban on offensive autonomous weapons.The letter, presented at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was signed by Teslas Elon Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Google DeepMind chief executive Demis Hassabis and professor Stephen Hawking along with 1,000 AI and robotics researchers.The letter states: AI technology has reached a point where the deployment of [autonomous weapons] is practically if not legally feasible within years, not decades, and the stakes are high: autonomous weapons have been described as the third revolution in warfare, after gunpowder and nuclear arms.. However, in Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook has his own opinion about AI as he says We should not be afraid of AI. Instead, we should hope for the amazing amount of good it will do in the world. Time can only tell who is correct in their prediction. The political situation in the world, the stress and challenges we are in is an indication that there is a possibility of dreadful Third World War is in process. If the machine can learn on its own AI may be able to detonate the keys to nuke bombs or unplug the biological weapons, then are we sitting at a ticking time bomb for destruction of the entire human race? The unfortunate part to the victors of Third World War in that eventuality be that with every possibility human race will become permanent slave to cognitive devices who have the ability to control human actions? The Tom Cruise starred movie Wars of The World, arent we moving ahead to our destiny? In that movie, human race prevailed because of the softer side. Its high time that Leaders of Various Super Powers sit to resolve. In the meantime, lets review how can we work more closely to gain back our softer side of human values and genome. This is all about our cognitive behavioural adjustments which made us survive the last ice age and we remain resilient as always. It is indeed interesting. Concluded The writer, a banker by profession has worked both in local and overseas market with various foreign and local banks in different positions