Hey guys.
Man, I just read quite the article. This is massive. It’s a two parter.
So, if you have some time this weekend, and love to read, check out this future looking scenario of the world. I definitely think it’s worth thinking about anyway.
https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-1.html
Part 2
https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-2.html
Mike
Very good read actually. Definitely helps you see the perspective of things changing very quickly.
Hi @MikeWolski!
Yes, that is a very relevant account of how things are changing. Not so much the actual change itself, rather the speed with which it all changes. It is almost at the stage where whatever one acquires it is already old.
But one thing I have noticed is how very young kids absorb whatever technology exists as soon as they are old enough to handle it. The human adaptability factor is an incredible power!
But where we can talk about AI in terms of speed and power and achieving mammoth things, I still wonder whether the machine will ever be able to match and surpass the “other side” of humans, Will it ever genuinely cope with, and even generate itself (i,e, not programmed mimic), the illogical, irresponsible, emotional, intuitive, spontaneous whims, etc that we humans demonstrate irregularly and irrationally?
Could a machine spark, for example, a spontaneous “me too” type chain reaction? Show sympathy, empathy, conpassion, guilt, anger, jealousy, greed, deviousness, etc? Can a machine ever feel justice and morality without it being a pre-defined and programmed reaction to specific defined factors? Could such a machine have a religious experience, for example? Could a machine feel the spirit of Christmas? Can they be happy or sad in a human way? Surely, until they can do that they will still be understandable and therefore controllable.
But it is another thing whether machines will still be predictable. I have heard reports that even the designers/programmers cannot always understand what IA decide and why!
And the biggest question of all: will a machine with AI ever understand, let alone mimic, the female human intuition and her ability to speak volumes with just a look whilst not uttering a single word! 
Yeah Manxx…good questions!
I do like the conversation of comparing the abilities of our human brains to the AI brains.
What about in our field? Could we assume that AI would do a better job as a trader than us? Because, it doesn’t have emotions to deal with, right? Like we always say and know, that emotions are nothing but pit falls to our trading.
Ok. Well, are there any edges we might be able to have, in the market, because of being human? Say, knowing what the sentiment of the crowd might be? Surely is something we do want to know. Like, Brexit…doesn’t knowing that mean some kind of edge? That indecision that’s going on there?
I can go on and on with these questions. Just like you Manxx. But, when I truly think about it, I think I will always come down to this very fine point.
The human brain will never be surpassed. In regards to intelligence. Because, fundamentally speaking, I believe that if the answer would be a “yes”, to the question of “Can mankind produce intelligence smarter than what our Creator has?” Then we would in affect be smarter than God.
In the end, I don’t think mankind has that capability. We might think we can, but not in reality. It’s just my opinion.
Yeah Manxx…good questions to ponder.
P.S. - I have a hard time believing mankind (through AI) can make us immortal. Then we would, in affect, be above God himself.
That’s dreaming if you ask me.
That is a very interesting question! I don’t think so. And I think the reason why it won’t is because humans are so bad at trading!!! That might sound complete gibberish (like most of what I write! ) but think about it this way:
Perhaps the best comment I heard about markets in general is that there is a floor level, below which things stop working, and there is a cap, above which things stop working, - and everything in between is simply what people are prepared to pay. It is in this broad midfield between those two extremes where we traders exist.
And the only reason we exist there is because there is such a large volume of incredibly diverse people with widely differing views and objectives, and all of which is in a constant state of change. If this market were to become totally dominated by AI then we would see far more “flash-crash” and “black swan” events as the “machines” all interpret everything in the same way and with the same response to price movements.
In other words, the human traders with their typically mediocre and erratic trading skills would be wiped out of existence and there would be no trading market left.
The other major impact of AI that is far worse than just “interesting” actually bothers me immensely. Even these articles you posted talk of the traditional “man v. machine” debate and who will ultimately annihilate the other. But I don’t think the danger is man v. machine . It is man v. man.
The article expresses the view that machines are not “Evil” as so often portrayed in sci fi. I also agree with this - the problem is that “Evil” lives in the human being, it is not the character of machines or animals. It is the one-side of the core character of humans. The other side of the human being is Good.
So the war of “man v. machine” is actually a war of “Good v. Bad”. And it is precisely this that disturbs me so much!.
The concern with AI is not its supreme capability and intelligence, it is how humans will manipulate that power.
I believe we are only at the start of this Great War with what we are seeing in development of social media.
I used to also have a Facebook profile but I closed it some years back. The only reason at that time was because it seemed like a boring waste of time spent on mindless chit-chat and silly pictures.
But social media has rapidly developed into something far more sinister than a simple communication channel between friends and an advertising medium. It is now a medium constantly and progressively monitored by security and police forces around the globe.
But the real fear in all this is not just that social media can penetrate into your home via your mobile, tablets and laptops. No, the real fear is how it can penetrate your mind! Think about that!
Social media is only the communication link - the highway into your private thoughts and opinions. The real adversary is the owner of the AI that is designed to collect data on the users, process and analyse it, formulate response tactics, and then feed back selected facts, thoughts, ideas and suggestions, and all in a format that is most receptive to the user’s identified profile.
The AI risk here is the ability to process such huge amounts of data about literally millions of people and thereby provide control over their thinking and opinions. We have seen the early stages of this in recent election campaigns.
The fear is that traditional warfare is now obsolete. The real war is being fought invisibly, digitally, and extremely cost-effectively. You do not need to physically destroy countries and populations with bombs, chemicals or biological weapons to defeat them - all you need to do is control their minds.
But, inevitably, these invisible weapons of modern warfare are not used for “Good” purposes, they are dominated by the “Evil” ambitions. But eventually “Evil”, having destroyed “Good”, will even destroy itself, that is the very nature and objective of “Evil”. And so, in the war of man v. machine, it will be the machine who wins - not because it is a machine, but because it became the tool that ultimately allows man to destroy man.
This may all sound a bit sci fi itself and like the basis of a novel, but we have seen symptoms of this trend already recently here on BP. I am referring to the recent posts by @PipMeHappy. The bright, intelligent, talented mind of an honest, open, well-respected young family man who loves his trading and posting on BP, is being penetrated and tortured by social media comments from another person who he has never met and (if I understand correctly) even lives on the other side of the globe. Please correct me if I am wrong here, @PipMeHappy?
The point here is that if one person can create such an impact, then what greater impact can an AI source create? What about “Me too” and “Gilets jeune”? Examples of the power of mass feed of fact and opinion to a mass audience that too often accepts what it is fed without questioning its accuracy or purpose.
That is my fear, and my expectation, unfortunately, of where AI is leading humanity.
You are right, Manxx…
Also, it is indeed humans who misuse technology,
thus AI per se is not intrinsically harmful.
Agreed - with additions - Today we had “Sir” Nick Clegg on Radio 4 saying in his recent position as Fagebooks “Boss of Policy” or some such that “We” are going to stop “Foreign” interference with the US Elections “Like they did in 2016” (But then as he is pretty far left we can speculte [erhaps that “He would wouldn’t he ?”
Then we look at the current derangement of the current situations where people get fed by “the algorythms” a version of “Truth” dependent on and confirming only their previously gauged (by the Algorythms) prejudices and views of the world - where contrary views are actually hidden from their view - Bret Weinstein says that he couldn’t see true peaceful demonstartions in USA which were apparently subject to arbitrary attacks and arrests by police just for “Speaking” - although Sam Harris could see them and tweeted about them on twitter !
He says and I agree with him that these algorythms are “driving us insane” he says "AI is already here and it is not operating as we expected by a war of man against machine - It appears to be driving us to ever nmore confrontational and opposite extremes. and something close to hatred of “Other Groups” !
In fact this is the Postmodernist view of the world (That there is no real truth - Your truth is your truth and my truth is my truth and it doesn’t matter if they never meet - since there is no “real truth” - there is no point in discussion - there is only “Power” ) 
Hi @MikeWolski and @PipMeHappy - Just an invite to see whether you might wish to look at this subject again in view of what is happening