What does Frankenstein have to do with Evangelism and Vocation in a Post-Singularity World? Join us tomorrow morning, Sunday, March 4 to find out. We will look at this seminal fictional work that has embedded itself in western cultural imagination. What does the story represent that has given it such longevity? What themes continue to… Continue reading 200th Anniversary of Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
In July of last year, Wired magazine published an article on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and it’s use in military applications (“AI Could Revolutionize War as much as Nukes“). The article discusses both the increasing threat autonomous weapons will pose and the need for diplomatic work to limit their use. Others have raised the question of… Continue reading Join us this Sunday for a discussion of Values, Ethics, and Artificial Intelligence
As we think about the challenges automation and A.I. pose for the decades ahead, you may find this report from the Pew Research Center helpful. The Future of Jobs and Jobs Training (by Lee Rainie and Janna Anderson) In addition to documenting the growing problem the article presents potential solutions, including discussion of needed changes… Continue reading The Future of Jobs
I would like to thank Ann Cockrell for leading our discussion of the impact of automation this morning. She introduced us to automation in the dairy industry and to agricultural automation more generally including the shift in jobs that it has brought with it. You can find resources for further reading on automation in this area as well as in manufacturing on the Articles and Blogs page.
As we look forward to tomorrow’s discussion of the effects of automation, here is one more article that can provide valuable background. Using lessons learned from the industrial revolution, it offers a balanced look at the fears and hopes surrounding what lies ahead. What the Industrial Revolution really tells us about the future of automation… Continue reading What the Industrial Revolution really tells us
This Sunday Ann Cockrell will lead us in a discussion of the impact that automation is having on our economy and perhaps in our lives more generally. You can find some resources on this topic at the Articles and Blogs page. I hope you will join us for a stimulating discussion. There are many different… Continue reading The Impact of Automation: Sunday, February 18
The New York Times published an article yesterday entitled “The Autonomous Selfie Drone Is Here. Is Society Ready for It?” The inventors of this autonomous (read, AI driven) drone present it as a recreational device, but the technology could clearly be used with much less benign goals. The Autonomous Selfie Drone Is Here. Is Society… Continue reading Autonomous Selfie Drone?
I would like to thank Bob Winstead for a great job leading our discussion of Asimov’s three laws of robotics and the complications with trying to implement them in the real world.
You can find several resources on this topic on the web, but I’ll include only one here. If you would like something to read to follow up on this morning’s discussion, you can try this for starters.
In his 1942 short story “Runaround” (also included in the collection I, Robot eight years later), Isaac Asimov introduced his three laws of robotics, although he had foreshadowed them in a few earlier stories. Here are the three laws: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to… Continue reading Sunday, February 11, 2018 Bob Winstead
In a sharp departure from what we have done for the last two Sundays, this Sunday’s class will focus on two passages from the Bible. The point of this departure is to stimulate discussion of the kinds of ethical thinking that might guide the church as we move forward into the new reality that automation… Continue reading Sunday, February 4, 2018
