Artificial Intelligence is advancing at an exponential pace. AIās processing power and programming algorithms are advancing incredibly rapidly and largely out of the sight of the general population. The limitations of power intensive hardware are being solved faster than alternative power sources can be developed. And AI is exhausting the supply of internet text used by programmers to teach it and is now training itself. In some functions, it is already better than human beings, and soon it … [Read more...] about Where is AI Leading Us?
Rationalism
Is the Web a Source of Wisdom?
We hear very little about wisdom today. Instead, we hear more and more about the importance of information ā about the virtues of information and the benefits of increased information. āBig dataā and ādata miningā are the buzz words of the day. These are quite literally seen by humanity as their savior. But it is important to recognize that information, knowledge, and wisdom are not the same things. I want to lay out the building blocks first from a humanistic … [Read more...] about Is the Web a Source of Wisdom?
The Humanist Philosophy of Life
It would be no overstatement to say that one of this modern worldās most pervasive worldviews is that of humanism. The American Humanist Association defines humanism as āa progressive philosophy of life that, without supernaturalism, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity.ā As the term implies, humanism is the reliance upon the human self. When this is coupled with secularism then God is eliminated from … [Read more...] about The Humanist Philosophy of Life
Willing or Willful?
In his book written in 1637, entitled Discourse on the Method, RenĆ© Descartes published a phrase in Latin that became one of the central tenets or teachings of Western philosophy. That phrase in Latin is cogito ergo sum. In English it is: I think, therefore I am. The main theme of the book addresses skepticism, a philosophical school of thought that questioned whether knowing something was āfor sureā is possible. Everything is relative. Descartes refused to accept the authority of previous … [Read more...] about Willing or Willful?