Vicar Sayeedi's Blog, page 8
January 24, 2021
Will AI [Science & Tech] Benefit From a New Cold War with China?
Will AI [Science & Tech] Benefit From a New Cold War with China?
Vicar Sayeedi
January 25, 2021
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union and the United States were engaged in a forty-six year, high stakes, multi-faceted race to demonstrate the superiority of the Soviet ideology of governance - Communism - and their central planned economy, versus that of the American and Western ideology of governance - Democracy - combined with the American economic model of free market capitalism. During the early years of ideological conflict, the Soviets presented America with a formidable challenge, specifically on the scientific and technological front. But in the end, the Western model secured a clear and decisive victory.
At times, the race became quite dangerous and heated: the Korean War in the early 1950’s, the failed Bay of Pigs invasion followed by the Cuban Missile Crisis of the early 1960’s, and the Vietnam War in the 1960’s and 1970’s are important examples. The Vietnam war, in particular, cost over 58,000 American lives and resulted in a great deal of domestic angst, political chaos and polarization within society. But at the same time, this unplanned ideological conflict between these new 20th century superpowers led to tremendous advancements in Western science and technology and the subsequent application of these advancements across a myriad of industries.
Today, America and the West are facing the prospect of a similar Cold War scenario with China. So many thinkers around the world are left wondering what the consequences will be. In a competition to demonstrate the superiority of the Chinese model of Authoritarian Capitalism versus the Liberal Democracy and free market economy of the United States, might the West realize similar gains as those extricated from the 20th century confrontation with the Soviets and if so, at what cost? This issue has emerged as a major point of debate between leading public intellectuals.
Since 2018, China has launched more rockets into Space than any other country. They have won the race to be the first to land a rover on the far side of the moon. In 2019, China launched the last satellite in a network of thirty-five satellites named BeiDou, thus completing their own independent global navigation system. The BeiDuo Navigation Satellite System is China’s answer to America’s Global Positioning System, more commonly known as GPS, and is 20 cm more accurate. China is also planning to build their own space station for interstellar research. They no longer accept being subjugated to the United States and the West, neither on Earth nor in Space, and they believe that any Empire that considers itself a superpower must have its own independent and world leading Space program.
These initiatives in Space demonstrate Chinese scientific and technical sophistication that has both commercial and military application: whether they are delivering a lethal autonomous weapon such as an AI-enabled missile to an enemy or whether that are delivering lunch to a customer, the precision of BeiDou will be critical. And at the same time, the Chinese now have independence in a key component of digital infrastructure with their own version of GPS. The completion of the BeiDou network along with their other Space programs has brought tremendous pride and prestige to China, and this prestige is a key promise enshrined in the Chinese Communist Party’s social contract with its citizens.
But China’s disadvantage as a new Cold War unfurls is that its scientific and technological ecosystem is rapidly shrinking and this reduces their access to industrial and intellectual dynamism. As China decouples from America and the West, they will lose critical access to a significant degree of Basic and Applied R&D as a consequence of waning relationships with Western academic and research institutions and industrial networks. Meanwhile, America and the West are in a good position to leverage longstanding transatlantic alliances within academic, industrial and political networks that were forged in the fire of the last Cold War with the Soviet Union. This is likely to be a significant advantage as the two Superpowers decouple.
Nevertheless, when we consider how active America’s Space exploration program was during the Cold War ideological battle with the Soviets, although not stagnant, today’s American Space program enjoys considerably less government investment as well as prestige in the minds of the country’s best and brightest science and technology students. The US is working to establish a lunar base by 2024 via the Artemis program but it desperately needs competition and dynamism to reinvigorate the society towards these goals.
Arguably, the unprecedented scale of an ideological and economic threat posed by a rising China is just what America needs. Economically, an ideological conflict with China is a far greater threat to America’s future than the ideological conflict with the Soviet Union ever was, even at its peak. The initiatives in Space with BeiDou and their moon rover demonstrate China’s genuine desire to be seen as a world leader. This, and a defense budget greater than that of the next four countries combined, means China will continue to push the frontier in interstellar militarized and AI-enabled space exploration and America and the West will have no choice but to redouble their efforts in this regard, as they did during the 1960’s. As previously mentioned, America has a distinct advantage left over from the Cold War with the Soviets: their network of global alliances. China lacks such a network of sophisticated and trusted allies in the Developed World so they will have to go it alone. Their vassal states in the Developing World will offer little economic and financial support or meaningful political cover so this will very likely be intensely challenging.
When we revisit the historical record, we are reminded that the Cold War was very dangerous and led to nuclear brinksmanship. But at the same time, the benefits were also extraordinary. As was the case in the post World War II era, we are once again facing a clash of strategies and a clash of political and economic systems. This new Silk Curtain is a test of whether American Liberal Democracy or Chinese Authoritarian capitalism will be the superior model for the realities of life in the 21st century. As a result, public intellectuals and thought leaders expect to see America begin to make enormous investments in infrastructure, multidisciplinary basic research, industrial Applied Research and Development and public education that it otherwise lacks the incentive and political will to pursue. Unquestionably, America will return to the moon and then onwards to other destinations with Artificial Intelligence and Biotechnology playing a leading role, particularly as initiatives such as the Human Connectomics project, which will map the neural network within the human brain on to silicon, come closer to fruition in the coming decades. [Connectomics is a US government initiative from the Obama era and is based at Argonne Labs in Chicago where it will have access to a purpose built and state of the art Aurora 21 Supercomputer.]
In 1957, the Soviet Union stunned the world with an unprecedented technological achievement: they put Sputnik 1, the first satellite in space orbiting at a speed of 18,000 miles per hour. The military significance of this bold and stunning success left a profound impact on an American Administration led by an aging World War II General, President Eisenhower. American society felt great fear and trepidation as the American government struggled to respond. The achievement left no doubt in the minds of many American leaders of the rapidly expanding technological chasm between the two superpowers.
Eventually though, the US did respond and with extraordinary resolve. For most of the 1960’s, America was spending 4-5% of GDP on science, technology and Space. Places such as Silicon Valley and Orange County in California, industries including Aerospace and Semiconductors and early versions of the Internet [DARPANET] are some examples of the long-term benefits of the ideological competition between America and the Soviet Union. By the 2000’s though, grants and investment in these areas had declined to a small fraction of their Cold War equivalent.
But today, China has more economic strength and resources than the Soviet Union ever had the capacity to direct towards space or towards any other endeavor. Under the 45th US Administration between 2017-2020, NASA’s budget was increased significantly. There was recognition amongst senior statesmen that Space is not merely a display of technological prowess as it once was in the 20th century, rather it now has real military, geostrategic and interstellar implications. During Senate confirmation hearings in mid-January 2021, the incoming Secretary of State, Antony Blinken stated that he agreed with his predecessor’s claim that China had committed genocide against its Uighur population in Xinjiang Province in the northwest of the Country and so there are no signs on either side that the Cold War between these two superpowers is likely to dissipate in the near future. In summary then, we are likely to see a steadily increasing sense of urgency in Federal grants and investment in advanced science and technology including Artificial Intelligence, Biotechnology and other Fourth Industrial Revolution attributes along with the strengthening of transatlantic alliances in the coming months and years as this new Cold War intensifies.
Vicar Sayeedi is a Computer Scientist and Engineer, a Lecturer and a Consultant. Vicar is also the author of several books. His most recent book is about Artificial Intelligence and is titled, The Génome Affair.
Vicar is most interested in the big questions facing humankind. He is particularly focused on studying at the confluence of the five great disciplines of Human History, Political Science and Thought, International Affairs, Science and Technology. This intersection offers a deep understanding and pedagogically important lessons of how advances in human endeavor have influenced and impacted civilization.
Vicar has been writing books, essays and poetry for many years. For the past 30 years, Vicar has worked in the Technology and Pharmaceutical industries. He is currently a Consultant in the Life Sciences Industry and lives in suburban Chicago with his wife and their three grown children [if they decide to visit during the holidays!]
You can find Vicar’s recent book on AI, The Génome Affair on Amazon at this link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YQ7M9Q7
The most recent episodes of Vicar’s ai & u! Podcast are on YouTube at the following links:
Episode 1 - https://youtu.be/yNYr28jtY_k
What is Artificial Intelligence? What is Human Intelligence?
Episode 2 - https://youtu.be/kAEgDNh1Nwc
How Did We Get Here? Machine Learning, Neural Networks & the AI Lexicon, Exciting AI Agents
Episode 3 - https://youtu.be/3PYCyv1pCgM
Deep Mind - How Powerful is Narrow AI? State Surveillance and Surveillance Capitalism
Episode 4 - https://youtu.be/WvobCMIM_H4
Impact on Societies That Possess Artificial Intelligence Versus Those that Do Not!
Episode 5 - https://youtu.be/4JVpvm4g79g
Surveillance Capitalism, Surveillance State, 4th Industrial Revolution, Bifurcation of Sapiens
Episode 6 - https://youtu.be/e1q2GgcWQok
AI, Blockchain & Quantum Computing - Implications for Global and National Governance
Episode 7 - https://youtu.be/4bDSUvrOdd4
Popular Perceptions of Intelligence, the Seat of Human Intelligence and Implications for AI
Episode 8 - https://youtu.be/3GjHqQZL7Pk
AI - Why Should I care? Plus Exciting Updates from Elon Musk and Neuralink!
Episode 9 - https://youtu.be/enpecqDecC8
AI - Excellence, Innovation & Genius
Episode 10 - https://youtu.be/UsriESlTjdA
Implications for AI as China and the West Decouple
Episode 11 - https://youtu.be/0CpaMb-yw3g
Artificial Intelligence: Ethics, Law & Society
Episode 12 - https://youtu.be/PLzodrLWMq0
AI & Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
Episode 13 - https://youtu.be/Lm_nrNyJRbA
AI & the Future of Work in Industry 4.0 – the 4th Industrial Revolution
Episode 14 - https://youtu.be/_3E1Mhr_Dt8
Artificial Intelligence and its Implications for Authoritarianism and Democracy
Episode 15 - https://youtu.be/IpMUqHOEd7w
Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness & the Future of Homo Sapiens
Episode 16 - https://youtu.be/mIf7_VMzGKo
AI and its Implications for America's Political Environment
Episode 17 - https://youtu.be/gsMRPnovZGI
Special Episode: Reading From The Génome Affair
Episode 18 - https://youtu.be/UxNxtWDCREM
Artificial Intelligence - Digital Tyranny, Datocracy and the Imitation Game
Episode 19 - https://youtu.be/Db8U0QQWWuY
Does Artificial Intelligence Really Replicate Human Intelligence?
Episode 20 - https://youtu.be/Np18AEq-6DM
AI & Rising Geopolitical Tensions Between China & The West
Episode 21 - https://youtu.be/fOMSvNiixA0
AI & In-vitro Fertilization [IVF]
Episode 22 - https://youtu.be/EQPpRhIV6Kw
AI & Human Intelligence: A Complex Relationship
Episode 23 - https://youtu.be/EAbQ7stY7JQ
AI Upends the World of Structural Biology
Episode 24 - https://youtu.be/Bsb1F8uoBpA
AI & COVID-19: An Extraordinary Contribution
Episode 25 - https://youtu.be/PqL5PCRc8tA
AI, Connectomics & Transhumanism: the Future of Humankind
Episode 26 - https://youtu.be/HI8Zjl8VM8U
Dramatic Upheaval Inside Google's Ethical AI Team
Episode 27 - https://youtu.be/TqWwJYc2GxQ
AI & Cyber Espionage | How Will the Sunburst Attack Affect Our Security?
Episode 28 - https://youtu.be/89BcThqgcfQ
AI & the Rapidly Escalating Threat from Deep Fake Videos
Episode 29 - https://youtu.be/zvOHRMmJNB4
AI, Facial Recognition Technology & The Digital Surveillance State
Episode 30 - https://youtu.be/br4ygfEWdk0
AI & Social Media | The Most Destructive AI We've Ever Seen?
Episode 31 - https://youtu.be/sOy12ii8zwM
The Democratization of AI & The 2021 Maiflower Expedition | Plymouth, England to Plymouth, MA
Episode 32 - https://youtu.be/bixdLL74reE
Sino-American Cold War | A Blessing in Disguise for America?
Episode 33 - https://youtu.be/tTRm312DgMc
AI & the Tyranny of Meritocracy
Episode 34 - https://youtu.be/FpPzC5VP6GM
In the Midst of Chaos and Pandemic | A Big AI Announcement From the Trump Administration
Episode 35 - https://youtu.be/bK3xCBwrG8w
Artificial Super Intelligence – Can We Control It?
Episode 36 - https://youtu.be/Rc60DQ0L86Q
A New America | Hope with a Big Dose of Caution
Episode 37 - https://youtu.be/UBenYYHbYqM
Will AI [Science & Tech] Benefit From a New Cold War with China?
Vicar Sayeedi
January 25, 2021
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union and the United States were engaged in a forty-six year, high stakes, multi-faceted race to demonstrate the superiority of the Soviet ideology of governance - Communism - and their central planned economy, versus that of the American and Western ideology of governance - Democracy - combined with the American economic model of free market capitalism. During the early years of ideological conflict, the Soviets presented America with a formidable challenge, specifically on the scientific and technological front. But in the end, the Western model secured a clear and decisive victory.
At times, the race became quite dangerous and heated: the Korean War in the early 1950’s, the failed Bay of Pigs invasion followed by the Cuban Missile Crisis of the early 1960’s, and the Vietnam War in the 1960’s and 1970’s are important examples. The Vietnam war, in particular, cost over 58,000 American lives and resulted in a great deal of domestic angst, political chaos and polarization within society. But at the same time, this unplanned ideological conflict between these new 20th century superpowers led to tremendous advancements in Western science and technology and the subsequent application of these advancements across a myriad of industries.
Today, America and the West are facing the prospect of a similar Cold War scenario with China. So many thinkers around the world are left wondering what the consequences will be. In a competition to demonstrate the superiority of the Chinese model of Authoritarian Capitalism versus the Liberal Democracy and free market economy of the United States, might the West realize similar gains as those extricated from the 20th century confrontation with the Soviets and if so, at what cost? This issue has emerged as a major point of debate between leading public intellectuals.
Since 2018, China has launched more rockets into Space than any other country. They have won the race to be the first to land a rover on the far side of the moon. In 2019, China launched the last satellite in a network of thirty-five satellites named BeiDou, thus completing their own independent global navigation system. The BeiDuo Navigation Satellite System is China’s answer to America’s Global Positioning System, more commonly known as GPS, and is 20 cm more accurate. China is also planning to build their own space station for interstellar research. They no longer accept being subjugated to the United States and the West, neither on Earth nor in Space, and they believe that any Empire that considers itself a superpower must have its own independent and world leading Space program.
These initiatives in Space demonstrate Chinese scientific and technical sophistication that has both commercial and military application: whether they are delivering a lethal autonomous weapon such as an AI-enabled missile to an enemy or whether that are delivering lunch to a customer, the precision of BeiDou will be critical. And at the same time, the Chinese now have independence in a key component of digital infrastructure with their own version of GPS. The completion of the BeiDou network along with their other Space programs has brought tremendous pride and prestige to China, and this prestige is a key promise enshrined in the Chinese Communist Party’s social contract with its citizens.
But China’s disadvantage as a new Cold War unfurls is that its scientific and technological ecosystem is rapidly shrinking and this reduces their access to industrial and intellectual dynamism. As China decouples from America and the West, they will lose critical access to a significant degree of Basic and Applied R&D as a consequence of waning relationships with Western academic and research institutions and industrial networks. Meanwhile, America and the West are in a good position to leverage longstanding transatlantic alliances within academic, industrial and political networks that were forged in the fire of the last Cold War with the Soviet Union. This is likely to be a significant advantage as the two Superpowers decouple.
Nevertheless, when we consider how active America’s Space exploration program was during the Cold War ideological battle with the Soviets, although not stagnant, today’s American Space program enjoys considerably less government investment as well as prestige in the minds of the country’s best and brightest science and technology students. The US is working to establish a lunar base by 2024 via the Artemis program but it desperately needs competition and dynamism to reinvigorate the society towards these goals.
Arguably, the unprecedented scale of an ideological and economic threat posed by a rising China is just what America needs. Economically, an ideological conflict with China is a far greater threat to America’s future than the ideological conflict with the Soviet Union ever was, even at its peak. The initiatives in Space with BeiDou and their moon rover demonstrate China’s genuine desire to be seen as a world leader. This, and a defense budget greater than that of the next four countries combined, means China will continue to push the frontier in interstellar militarized and AI-enabled space exploration and America and the West will have no choice but to redouble their efforts in this regard, as they did during the 1960’s. As previously mentioned, America has a distinct advantage left over from the Cold War with the Soviets: their network of global alliances. China lacks such a network of sophisticated and trusted allies in the Developed World so they will have to go it alone. Their vassal states in the Developing World will offer little economic and financial support or meaningful political cover so this will very likely be intensely challenging.
When we revisit the historical record, we are reminded that the Cold War was very dangerous and led to nuclear brinksmanship. But at the same time, the benefits were also extraordinary. As was the case in the post World War II era, we are once again facing a clash of strategies and a clash of political and economic systems. This new Silk Curtain is a test of whether American Liberal Democracy or Chinese Authoritarian capitalism will be the superior model for the realities of life in the 21st century. As a result, public intellectuals and thought leaders expect to see America begin to make enormous investments in infrastructure, multidisciplinary basic research, industrial Applied Research and Development and public education that it otherwise lacks the incentive and political will to pursue. Unquestionably, America will return to the moon and then onwards to other destinations with Artificial Intelligence and Biotechnology playing a leading role, particularly as initiatives such as the Human Connectomics project, which will map the neural network within the human brain on to silicon, come closer to fruition in the coming decades. [Connectomics is a US government initiative from the Obama era and is based at Argonne Labs in Chicago where it will have access to a purpose built and state of the art Aurora 21 Supercomputer.]
In 1957, the Soviet Union stunned the world with an unprecedented technological achievement: they put Sputnik 1, the first satellite in space orbiting at a speed of 18,000 miles per hour. The military significance of this bold and stunning success left a profound impact on an American Administration led by an aging World War II General, President Eisenhower. American society felt great fear and trepidation as the American government struggled to respond. The achievement left no doubt in the minds of many American leaders of the rapidly expanding technological chasm between the two superpowers.
Eventually though, the US did respond and with extraordinary resolve. For most of the 1960’s, America was spending 4-5% of GDP on science, technology and Space. Places such as Silicon Valley and Orange County in California, industries including Aerospace and Semiconductors and early versions of the Internet [DARPANET] are some examples of the long-term benefits of the ideological competition between America and the Soviet Union. By the 2000’s though, grants and investment in these areas had declined to a small fraction of their Cold War equivalent.
But today, China has more economic strength and resources than the Soviet Union ever had the capacity to direct towards space or towards any other endeavor. Under the 45th US Administration between 2017-2020, NASA’s budget was increased significantly. There was recognition amongst senior statesmen that Space is not merely a display of technological prowess as it once was in the 20th century, rather it now has real military, geostrategic and interstellar implications. During Senate confirmation hearings in mid-January 2021, the incoming Secretary of State, Antony Blinken stated that he agreed with his predecessor’s claim that China had committed genocide against its Uighur population in Xinjiang Province in the northwest of the Country and so there are no signs on either side that the Cold War between these two superpowers is likely to dissipate in the near future. In summary then, we are likely to see a steadily increasing sense of urgency in Federal grants and investment in advanced science and technology including Artificial Intelligence, Biotechnology and other Fourth Industrial Revolution attributes along with the strengthening of transatlantic alliances in the coming months and years as this new Cold War intensifies.
Vicar Sayeedi is a Computer Scientist and Engineer, a Lecturer and a Consultant. Vicar is also the author of several books. His most recent book is about Artificial Intelligence and is titled, The Génome Affair.
Vicar is most interested in the big questions facing humankind. He is particularly focused on studying at the confluence of the five great disciplines of Human History, Political Science and Thought, International Affairs, Science and Technology. This intersection offers a deep understanding and pedagogically important lessons of how advances in human endeavor have influenced and impacted civilization.
Vicar has been writing books, essays and poetry for many years. For the past 30 years, Vicar has worked in the Technology and Pharmaceutical industries. He is currently a Consultant in the Life Sciences Industry and lives in suburban Chicago with his wife and their three grown children [if they decide to visit during the holidays!]
You can find Vicar’s recent book on AI, The Génome Affair on Amazon at this link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YQ7M9Q7
The most recent episodes of Vicar’s ai & u! Podcast are on YouTube at the following links:
Episode 1 - https://youtu.be/yNYr28jtY_k
What is Artificial Intelligence? What is Human Intelligence?
Episode 2 - https://youtu.be/kAEgDNh1Nwc
How Did We Get Here? Machine Learning, Neural Networks & the AI Lexicon, Exciting AI Agents
Episode 3 - https://youtu.be/3PYCyv1pCgM
Deep Mind - How Powerful is Narrow AI? State Surveillance and Surveillance Capitalism
Episode 4 - https://youtu.be/WvobCMIM_H4
Impact on Societies That Possess Artificial Intelligence Versus Those that Do Not!
Episode 5 - https://youtu.be/4JVpvm4g79g
Surveillance Capitalism, Surveillance State, 4th Industrial Revolution, Bifurcation of Sapiens
Episode 6 - https://youtu.be/e1q2GgcWQok
AI, Blockchain & Quantum Computing - Implications for Global and National Governance
Episode 7 - https://youtu.be/4bDSUvrOdd4
Popular Perceptions of Intelligence, the Seat of Human Intelligence and Implications for AI
Episode 8 - https://youtu.be/3GjHqQZL7Pk
AI - Why Should I care? Plus Exciting Updates from Elon Musk and Neuralink!
Episode 9 - https://youtu.be/enpecqDecC8
AI - Excellence, Innovation & Genius
Episode 10 - https://youtu.be/UsriESlTjdA
Implications for AI as China and the West Decouple
Episode 11 - https://youtu.be/0CpaMb-yw3g
Artificial Intelligence: Ethics, Law & Society
Episode 12 - https://youtu.be/PLzodrLWMq0
AI & Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
Episode 13 - https://youtu.be/Lm_nrNyJRbA
AI & the Future of Work in Industry 4.0 – the 4th Industrial Revolution
Episode 14 - https://youtu.be/_3E1Mhr_Dt8
Artificial Intelligence and its Implications for Authoritarianism and Democracy
Episode 15 - https://youtu.be/IpMUqHOEd7w
Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness & the Future of Homo Sapiens
Episode 16 - https://youtu.be/mIf7_VMzGKo
AI and its Implications for America's Political Environment
Episode 17 - https://youtu.be/gsMRPnovZGI
Special Episode: Reading From The Génome Affair
Episode 18 - https://youtu.be/UxNxtWDCREM
Artificial Intelligence - Digital Tyranny, Datocracy and the Imitation Game
Episode 19 - https://youtu.be/Db8U0QQWWuY
Does Artificial Intelligence Really Replicate Human Intelligence?
Episode 20 - https://youtu.be/Np18AEq-6DM
AI & Rising Geopolitical Tensions Between China & The West
Episode 21 - https://youtu.be/fOMSvNiixA0
AI & In-vitro Fertilization [IVF]
Episode 22 - https://youtu.be/EQPpRhIV6Kw
AI & Human Intelligence: A Complex Relationship
Episode 23 - https://youtu.be/EAbQ7stY7JQ
AI Upends the World of Structural Biology
Episode 24 - https://youtu.be/Bsb1F8uoBpA
AI & COVID-19: An Extraordinary Contribution
Episode 25 - https://youtu.be/PqL5PCRc8tA
AI, Connectomics & Transhumanism: the Future of Humankind
Episode 26 - https://youtu.be/HI8Zjl8VM8U
Dramatic Upheaval Inside Google's Ethical AI Team
Episode 27 - https://youtu.be/TqWwJYc2GxQ
AI & Cyber Espionage | How Will the Sunburst Attack Affect Our Security?
Episode 28 - https://youtu.be/89BcThqgcfQ
AI & the Rapidly Escalating Threat from Deep Fake Videos
Episode 29 - https://youtu.be/zvOHRMmJNB4
AI, Facial Recognition Technology & The Digital Surveillance State
Episode 30 - https://youtu.be/br4ygfEWdk0
AI & Social Media | The Most Destructive AI We've Ever Seen?
Episode 31 - https://youtu.be/sOy12ii8zwM
The Democratization of AI & The 2021 Maiflower Expedition | Plymouth, England to Plymouth, MA
Episode 32 - https://youtu.be/bixdLL74reE
Sino-American Cold War | A Blessing in Disguise for America?
Episode 33 - https://youtu.be/tTRm312DgMc
AI & the Tyranny of Meritocracy
Episode 34 - https://youtu.be/FpPzC5VP6GM
In the Midst of Chaos and Pandemic | A Big AI Announcement From the Trump Administration
Episode 35 - https://youtu.be/bK3xCBwrG8w
Artificial Super Intelligence – Can We Control It?
Episode 36 - https://youtu.be/Rc60DQ0L86Q
A New America | Hope with a Big Dose of Caution
Episode 37 - https://youtu.be/UBenYYHbYqM
Will AI [Science & Tech] Benefit From a New Cold War with China?
January 21, 2021
A New America | Hope with a Big Dose of Caution
A New America | Hope with a Big Dose of Caution
Vicar Sayeedi
January 21, 2021
It’s the dawn of a new era in America. At least 81.2 million people – the cohort within the electorate that voted for President Biden – can breathe a sign of relief. There will be tears of joy as the fear and terror that spread throughout the land from coast to coast has now dissipated. A regime whose cruel and reprehensible words and actions often stood in such stark contrast to those enshrined in America’s Constitution has, following considerable acrimony and violence, stood down.
The acceptable norms established over generations in both culture, government and society have been reasserted by our new President and reinforced in poetry, prose and song by every person who shared the President’s podium on Inauguration Day. The darkness and evil that came to characterize the term of our 45th President – an erratic and despotic leader who managed to win the election in this great nation despite all predictions to the contrary – have been replaced by a kinder, gentler, more compassionate face of America that so many of us have so desperately missed during these past four years.
But we must not forget, not even for an instant, that that 45th Administration was actually a symptom of a much more serious and deep-rooted problem that our political class, Democrats and Republicans, along with our industrial and financial elites, have steadily been nourishing during the past three decades. During the Cold War – which often turned quite hot when we consider America’s engagements with Soviet proxies in Cuba, Korea and Vietnam – the country had a vested interest in ensuring that our middle and working classes were well looked after. America and its allies in the West were engaged in a daily ideological struggle with the Communists in the Soviet Union and the non-aligned nations of the world were watching with great consternation to see which ideology would emerge as superior.
Would it be the central planned economy administered by an Authoritarian state in the Soviet Union? Would Russia, a country whose people had no rights or freedoms, a people who could not turn to the rule of law to protect them from those in power, triumph? Or would it be the free market capitalist economies and democratic societies of the West – countries with separation of powers between the various branches of government, between cities and towns, counties and states and ultimately, the federal government? Would societies that enshrined freedom, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in their constitutions prevail or would victory rest with Authoritarianism and the cult of personality?
The Cold War was an extraordinarily challenging time as the Soviet Union surpassed the West with their formidable prowess in science and technology. Over and again, they demonstrated scientific and technological leadership in the 1950’s by putting satellites in orbit, followed by the first man, Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. But Soviet success was short lived as America, propelled by President Kennedy’s challenge to the nation in the early 1960’s, organized four hundred thousand people and twelve thousand companies behind the goal of putting a man on the moon and safely returning him home before the end of the decade. It was an achievement that came to embody the idea of American Exceptionalism.
In the 1970’s, during a visit to London a Soviet Minister asked whether he might meet the UK’s minister in charge of distributing bread to the country. Confused, his British hosts insisted they had no such ministerial position. They explained that it was simply the free market that determined where and how much bread to bake and place on shelves. The Soviet Minister was deeply perplexed – in his country, for the Proliteriat, they had long lines virtually every day not only for bread but for virtually every other household staple.
During the same period, America’s middle and working classes enjoyed a standard of living that had become the envy of the world. They had ample food, shelter, clothing, healthcare, education, labor unions to protect workers’ rights, a social safety net and plentiful conveniences of the modern age. In this environment, the gulf between the prosperity of citizens residing in the Eastern Bloc versus those in the West grew until the Soviet Empire was no longer economically viable.
Following the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the unraveling of the Soviet Union in bloodless chaos in 1991, America and the West stood alone in the world with an economic model and an ideology of governance previously unmatched in human history. The Stanford scholar, Francis Fukuyama called it the End of History. Before long though, with the advent of globalization, financial and industrial elites in America were signing manufacturing and trade deals across the globe without consideration for any factor other than corporate profitability and the wealth of institutional shareholders. This commercial culture that has come to define the business practices during the past thirty years – an environment in which industrial, financial and political elites negotiate economic arrangements that consider only their interests while abandoning the needs or considering the impacts on the lives and wellbeing of tens of millions of Americans – has led us to where we stand in 2021.
The stark economic realities of America’s working class that have come to characterize the era of our 45th President, bear striking resemblance to the realities that were the genesis of the Socialist Workers Party that evolved into the Nazi Party in Munich, Germany in the early 20th century. The Nazi Party took root in the wake of World War I beginning in 1918 but struggled to gain much traction since American banks were willing to underwrite German industry and thus enable stable employment throughout the country. German society took no interest in this band of Nazi Brown Shirt thugs and their eccentric ideology.
But following the US stock market crash in October 1929, American banks called in their loans on German businesses and this triggered a wave of bankruptcies across the country and subsequently, soaring unemployment; 30% of German workers were left without jobs. A party who in 1928, despite ten years of organized effort, could muster only 2.5% of the national vote and barely a dozen seats in the 500 seat national assembly, the Reichstag, saw a dramatic turn of fortune as German society turned on the Liberal left, then the majority in power. By 1930, the Nazi Party had finally begun to accumulate power and by 1932 they had become a national force to be reckoned with. It was precisely the suffering of the Proliteriat in Germany that brought the Nazi’s into power, quite literally overnight. Scholars who have studied this history extensively – Anne Applebaum of Johns Hopkins and Cynthia Miller-Idris of American University – insist these are not unlike the circumstances we are experiencing in the United States following thirty years of unchecked Globalization.
If we do not consider the factors that brought our 45th President into power on behalf of a disaffected working class cohort that today represents nearly 71% of his base, we will be dealing with them again very soon. It is imperative for the Biden Administration and both parties to recognize these undercurrents. They are not surprising. But if we’re unwilling to recognize and then work together to address the roots of working class, and in the 21st century, middle class discontent and hopelessness – the feelings of abandonment as Fourth Industrial Revolution attributes including Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Biotech, Computing and Data Science continue to displace countless jobs – it is a virtual certainty that Proliteriat sentiments that led to the rise of our 45th President will revisit us again. But next time, we are likely to be in for a considerably more dangerous and perhaps even an existential calamity. Next time, things have a real possibility to get far, far worse before they can get better. We only need to reflect upon World War II for a glimpse of had bad things can be. This time though, with the state of advancement in science and technology, with lethal autonomous weapons systems enabled by AI and Robotics, the outcome may be worse than we care to imagine.
Vicar Sayeedi is a Computer Scientist and Engineer, a Lecturer and a Consultant. Vicar is also the author of several books. His most recent book is about Artificial Intelligence and is titled, The Génome Affair.
Vicar is most interested in the big questions facing humankind. He is particularly focused on studying at the confluence of the five great disciplines of Human History, Political Science and Thought, International Affairs, Science and Technology. This intersection offers a deep understanding and pedagogically important lessons of how advances in human endeavor have influenced and impacted civilization.
Vicar has been writing books, essays and poetry for many years. For the past 30 years, Vicar has worked in the Technology and Pharmaceutical industries. He is currently a Consultant in the Life Sciences Industry and lives in suburban Chicago with his wife and their three grown children [if they decide to visit during the holidays!]
You can find Vicar’s recent book on AI, The Génome Affair on Amazon at this link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YQ7M9Q7
The most recent episodes of Vicar’s ai & u! Podcast are on YouTube at the following links:
Episode 1 - https://youtu.be/yNYr28jtY_k
What is Artificial Intelligence? What is Human Intelligence?
Episode 2 - https://youtu.be/kAEgDNh1Nwc
How Did We Get Here? Machine Learning, Neural Networks & the AI Lexicon, Exciting AI Agents
Episode 3 - https://youtu.be/3PYCyv1pCgM
Deep Mind - How Powerful is Narrow AI? State Surveillance and Surveillance Capitalism
Episode 4 - https://youtu.be/WvobCMIM_H4
Impact on Societies That Possess Artificial Intelligence Versus Those that Do Not!
Episode 5 - https://youtu.be/4JVpvm4g79g
Surveillance Capitalism, Surveillance State, 4th Industrial Revolution, Bifurcation of Sapiens
Episode 6 - https://youtu.be/e1q2GgcWQok
AI, Blockchain & Quantum Computing - Implications for Global and National Governance
Episode 7 - https://youtu.be/4bDSUvrOdd4
Popular Perceptions of Intelligence, the Seat of Human Intelligence and Implications for AI
Episode 8 - https://youtu.be/3GjHqQZL7Pk
AI - Why Should I care? Plus Exciting Updates from Elon Musk and Neuralink!
Episode 9 - https://youtu.be/enpecqDecC8
AI - Excellence, Innovation & Genius
Episode 10 - https://youtu.be/UsriESlTjdA
Implications for AI as China and the West Decouple
Episode 11 - https://youtu.be/0CpaMb-yw3g
Artificial Intelligence: Ethics, Law & Society
Episode 12 - https://youtu.be/PLzodrLWMq0
AI & Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
Episode 13 - https://youtu.be/Lm_nrNyJRbA
AI & the Future of Work in Industry 4.0 – the 4th Industrial Revolution
Episode 14 - https://youtu.be/_3E1Mhr_Dt8
Artificial Intelligence and its Implications for Authoritarianism and Democracy
Episode 15 - https://youtu.be/IpMUqHOEd7w
Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness & the Future of Homo Sapiens
Episode 16 - https://youtu.be/mIf7_VMzGKo
AI and its Implications for America's Political Environment
Episode 17 - https://youtu.be/gsMRPnovZGI
Special Episode: Reading From The Génome Affair
Episode 18 - https://youtu.be/UxNxtWDCREM
Artificial Intelligence - Digital Tyranny, Datocracy and the Imitation Game
Episode 19 - https://youtu.be/Db8U0QQWWuY
Does Artificial Intelligence Really Replicate Human Intelligence?
Episode 20 - https://youtu.be/Np18AEq-6DM
AI & Rising Geopolitical Tensions Between China & The West
Episode 21 - https://youtu.be/fOMSvNiixA0
AI & In-vitro Fertilization [IVF]
Episode 22 - https://youtu.be/EQPpRhIV6Kw
AI & Human Intelligence: A Complex Relationship
Episode 23 - https://youtu.be/EAbQ7stY7JQ
AI Upends the World of Structural Biology
Episode 24 - https://youtu.be/Bsb1F8uoBpA
AI & COVID-19: An Extraordinary Contribution
Episode 25 - https://youtu.be/PqL5PCRc8tA
AI, Connectomics & Transhumanism: the Future of Humankind
Episode 26 - https://youtu.be/HI8Zjl8VM8U
Dramatic Upheaval Inside Google's Ethical AI Team
Episode 27 - https://youtu.be/TqWwJYc2GxQ
AI & Cyber Espionage | How Will the Sunburst Attack Affect Our Security?
Episode 28 - https://youtu.be/89BcThqgcfQ
AI & the Rapidly Escalating Threat from Deep Fake Videos
Episode 29 - https://youtu.be/zvOHRMmJNB4
AI, Facial Recognition Technology & The Digital Surveillance State
Episode 30 - https://youtu.be/br4ygfEWdk0
AI & Social Media | The Most Destructive AI We've Ever Seen?
Episode 31 - https://youtu.be/sOy12ii8zwM
The Democratization of AI & The 2021 Maiflower Expedition | Plymouth, England to Plymouth, MA
Episode 32 - https://youtu.be/bixdLL74reE
Sino-American Cold War | A Blessing in Disguise for America?
Episode 33 - https://youtu.be/tTRm312DgMc
AI & the Tyranny of Meritocracy
Episode 34 - https://youtu.be/FpPzC5VP6GM
In the Midst of Chaos and Pandemic | A Big AI Announcement From the Trump Administration
Episode 35 - https://youtu.be/bK3xCBwrG8w
Artificial Super Intelligence – Can We Control It?
Episode 36 - https://youtu.be/Rc60DQ0L86Q
A New America | Hope with a Big Dose of Caution
Vicar Sayeedi
January 21, 2021
It’s the dawn of a new era in America. At least 81.2 million people – the cohort within the electorate that voted for President Biden – can breathe a sign of relief. There will be tears of joy as the fear and terror that spread throughout the land from coast to coast has now dissipated. A regime whose cruel and reprehensible words and actions often stood in such stark contrast to those enshrined in America’s Constitution has, following considerable acrimony and violence, stood down.
The acceptable norms established over generations in both culture, government and society have been reasserted by our new President and reinforced in poetry, prose and song by every person who shared the President’s podium on Inauguration Day. The darkness and evil that came to characterize the term of our 45th President – an erratic and despotic leader who managed to win the election in this great nation despite all predictions to the contrary – have been replaced by a kinder, gentler, more compassionate face of America that so many of us have so desperately missed during these past four years.
But we must not forget, not even for an instant, that that 45th Administration was actually a symptom of a much more serious and deep-rooted problem that our political class, Democrats and Republicans, along with our industrial and financial elites, have steadily been nourishing during the past three decades. During the Cold War – which often turned quite hot when we consider America’s engagements with Soviet proxies in Cuba, Korea and Vietnam – the country had a vested interest in ensuring that our middle and working classes were well looked after. America and its allies in the West were engaged in a daily ideological struggle with the Communists in the Soviet Union and the non-aligned nations of the world were watching with great consternation to see which ideology would emerge as superior.
Would it be the central planned economy administered by an Authoritarian state in the Soviet Union? Would Russia, a country whose people had no rights or freedoms, a people who could not turn to the rule of law to protect them from those in power, triumph? Or would it be the free market capitalist economies and democratic societies of the West – countries with separation of powers between the various branches of government, between cities and towns, counties and states and ultimately, the federal government? Would societies that enshrined freedom, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in their constitutions prevail or would victory rest with Authoritarianism and the cult of personality?
The Cold War was an extraordinarily challenging time as the Soviet Union surpassed the West with their formidable prowess in science and technology. Over and again, they demonstrated scientific and technological leadership in the 1950’s by putting satellites in orbit, followed by the first man, Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. But Soviet success was short lived as America, propelled by President Kennedy’s challenge to the nation in the early 1960’s, organized four hundred thousand people and twelve thousand companies behind the goal of putting a man on the moon and safely returning him home before the end of the decade. It was an achievement that came to embody the idea of American Exceptionalism.
In the 1970’s, during a visit to London a Soviet Minister asked whether he might meet the UK’s minister in charge of distributing bread to the country. Confused, his British hosts insisted they had no such ministerial position. They explained that it was simply the free market that determined where and how much bread to bake and place on shelves. The Soviet Minister was deeply perplexed – in his country, for the Proliteriat, they had long lines virtually every day not only for bread but for virtually every other household staple.
During the same period, America’s middle and working classes enjoyed a standard of living that had become the envy of the world. They had ample food, shelter, clothing, healthcare, education, labor unions to protect workers’ rights, a social safety net and plentiful conveniences of the modern age. In this environment, the gulf between the prosperity of citizens residing in the Eastern Bloc versus those in the West grew until the Soviet Empire was no longer economically viable.
Following the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the unraveling of the Soviet Union in bloodless chaos in 1991, America and the West stood alone in the world with an economic model and an ideology of governance previously unmatched in human history. The Stanford scholar, Francis Fukuyama called it the End of History. Before long though, with the advent of globalization, financial and industrial elites in America were signing manufacturing and trade deals across the globe without consideration for any factor other than corporate profitability and the wealth of institutional shareholders. This commercial culture that has come to define the business practices during the past thirty years – an environment in which industrial, financial and political elites negotiate economic arrangements that consider only their interests while abandoning the needs or considering the impacts on the lives and wellbeing of tens of millions of Americans – has led us to where we stand in 2021.
The stark economic realities of America’s working class that have come to characterize the era of our 45th President, bear striking resemblance to the realities that were the genesis of the Socialist Workers Party that evolved into the Nazi Party in Munich, Germany in the early 20th century. The Nazi Party took root in the wake of World War I beginning in 1918 but struggled to gain much traction since American banks were willing to underwrite German industry and thus enable stable employment throughout the country. German society took no interest in this band of Nazi Brown Shirt thugs and their eccentric ideology.
But following the US stock market crash in October 1929, American banks called in their loans on German businesses and this triggered a wave of bankruptcies across the country and subsequently, soaring unemployment; 30% of German workers were left without jobs. A party who in 1928, despite ten years of organized effort, could muster only 2.5% of the national vote and barely a dozen seats in the 500 seat national assembly, the Reichstag, saw a dramatic turn of fortune as German society turned on the Liberal left, then the majority in power. By 1930, the Nazi Party had finally begun to accumulate power and by 1932 they had become a national force to be reckoned with. It was precisely the suffering of the Proliteriat in Germany that brought the Nazi’s into power, quite literally overnight. Scholars who have studied this history extensively – Anne Applebaum of Johns Hopkins and Cynthia Miller-Idris of American University – insist these are not unlike the circumstances we are experiencing in the United States following thirty years of unchecked Globalization.
If we do not consider the factors that brought our 45th President into power on behalf of a disaffected working class cohort that today represents nearly 71% of his base, we will be dealing with them again very soon. It is imperative for the Biden Administration and both parties to recognize these undercurrents. They are not surprising. But if we’re unwilling to recognize and then work together to address the roots of working class, and in the 21st century, middle class discontent and hopelessness – the feelings of abandonment as Fourth Industrial Revolution attributes including Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Biotech, Computing and Data Science continue to displace countless jobs – it is a virtual certainty that Proliteriat sentiments that led to the rise of our 45th President will revisit us again. But next time, we are likely to be in for a considerably more dangerous and perhaps even an existential calamity. Next time, things have a real possibility to get far, far worse before they can get better. We only need to reflect upon World War II for a glimpse of had bad things can be. This time though, with the state of advancement in science and technology, with lethal autonomous weapons systems enabled by AI and Robotics, the outcome may be worse than we care to imagine.
Vicar Sayeedi is a Computer Scientist and Engineer, a Lecturer and a Consultant. Vicar is also the author of several books. His most recent book is about Artificial Intelligence and is titled, The Génome Affair.
Vicar is most interested in the big questions facing humankind. He is particularly focused on studying at the confluence of the five great disciplines of Human History, Political Science and Thought, International Affairs, Science and Technology. This intersection offers a deep understanding and pedagogically important lessons of how advances in human endeavor have influenced and impacted civilization.
Vicar has been writing books, essays and poetry for many years. For the past 30 years, Vicar has worked in the Technology and Pharmaceutical industries. He is currently a Consultant in the Life Sciences Industry and lives in suburban Chicago with his wife and their three grown children [if they decide to visit during the holidays!]
You can find Vicar’s recent book on AI, The Génome Affair on Amazon at this link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YQ7M9Q7
The most recent episodes of Vicar’s ai & u! Podcast are on YouTube at the following links:
Episode 1 - https://youtu.be/yNYr28jtY_k
What is Artificial Intelligence? What is Human Intelligence?
Episode 2 - https://youtu.be/kAEgDNh1Nwc
How Did We Get Here? Machine Learning, Neural Networks & the AI Lexicon, Exciting AI Agents
Episode 3 - https://youtu.be/3PYCyv1pCgM
Deep Mind - How Powerful is Narrow AI? State Surveillance and Surveillance Capitalism
Episode 4 - https://youtu.be/WvobCMIM_H4
Impact on Societies That Possess Artificial Intelligence Versus Those that Do Not!
Episode 5 - https://youtu.be/4JVpvm4g79g
Surveillance Capitalism, Surveillance State, 4th Industrial Revolution, Bifurcation of Sapiens
Episode 6 - https://youtu.be/e1q2GgcWQok
AI, Blockchain & Quantum Computing - Implications for Global and National Governance
Episode 7 - https://youtu.be/4bDSUvrOdd4
Popular Perceptions of Intelligence, the Seat of Human Intelligence and Implications for AI
Episode 8 - https://youtu.be/3GjHqQZL7Pk
AI - Why Should I care? Plus Exciting Updates from Elon Musk and Neuralink!
Episode 9 - https://youtu.be/enpecqDecC8
AI - Excellence, Innovation & Genius
Episode 10 - https://youtu.be/UsriESlTjdA
Implications for AI as China and the West Decouple
Episode 11 - https://youtu.be/0CpaMb-yw3g
Artificial Intelligence: Ethics, Law & Society
Episode 12 - https://youtu.be/PLzodrLWMq0
AI & Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
Episode 13 - https://youtu.be/Lm_nrNyJRbA
AI & the Future of Work in Industry 4.0 – the 4th Industrial Revolution
Episode 14 - https://youtu.be/_3E1Mhr_Dt8
Artificial Intelligence and its Implications for Authoritarianism and Democracy
Episode 15 - https://youtu.be/IpMUqHOEd7w
Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness & the Future of Homo Sapiens
Episode 16 - https://youtu.be/mIf7_VMzGKo
AI and its Implications for America's Political Environment
Episode 17 - https://youtu.be/gsMRPnovZGI
Special Episode: Reading From The Génome Affair
Episode 18 - https://youtu.be/UxNxtWDCREM
Artificial Intelligence - Digital Tyranny, Datocracy and the Imitation Game
Episode 19 - https://youtu.be/Db8U0QQWWuY
Does Artificial Intelligence Really Replicate Human Intelligence?
Episode 20 - https://youtu.be/Np18AEq-6DM
AI & Rising Geopolitical Tensions Between China & The West
Episode 21 - https://youtu.be/fOMSvNiixA0
AI & In-vitro Fertilization [IVF]
Episode 22 - https://youtu.be/EQPpRhIV6Kw
AI & Human Intelligence: A Complex Relationship
Episode 23 - https://youtu.be/EAbQ7stY7JQ
AI Upends the World of Structural Biology
Episode 24 - https://youtu.be/Bsb1F8uoBpA
AI & COVID-19: An Extraordinary Contribution
Episode 25 - https://youtu.be/PqL5PCRc8tA
AI, Connectomics & Transhumanism: the Future of Humankind
Episode 26 - https://youtu.be/HI8Zjl8VM8U
Dramatic Upheaval Inside Google's Ethical AI Team
Episode 27 - https://youtu.be/TqWwJYc2GxQ
AI & Cyber Espionage | How Will the Sunburst Attack Affect Our Security?
Episode 28 - https://youtu.be/89BcThqgcfQ
AI & the Rapidly Escalating Threat from Deep Fake Videos
Episode 29 - https://youtu.be/zvOHRMmJNB4
AI, Facial Recognition Technology & The Digital Surveillance State
Episode 30 - https://youtu.be/br4ygfEWdk0
AI & Social Media | The Most Destructive AI We've Ever Seen?
Episode 31 - https://youtu.be/sOy12ii8zwM
The Democratization of AI & The 2021 Maiflower Expedition | Plymouth, England to Plymouth, MA
Episode 32 - https://youtu.be/bixdLL74reE
Sino-American Cold War | A Blessing in Disguise for America?
Episode 33 - https://youtu.be/tTRm312DgMc
AI & the Tyranny of Meritocracy
Episode 34 - https://youtu.be/FpPzC5VP6GM
In the Midst of Chaos and Pandemic | A Big AI Announcement From the Trump Administration
Episode 35 - https://youtu.be/bK3xCBwrG8w
Artificial Super Intelligence – Can We Control It?
Episode 36 - https://youtu.be/Rc60DQ0L86Q
A New America | Hope with a Big Dose of Caution
January 17, 2021
Artificial Super Intelligence – Can We Control It?
Artificial Super Intelligence – Can We Control It?
Vicar Sayeedi
January 17, 2021
What happens once Artificial Intelligence exceeds human intelligence? Will we be able to control such a Super Intelligent AI? It’s a concerning question. As we continue to progress in both our understanding of human intelligence and our implementation of Artificial Intelligence, scientists and philosophers are warning of the dangers of a super-intelligent AI that is beyond the scope of human understanding, and therefore human control. In a worrisome conclusion, a team of AI researchers from the Centre for Humans and Machines at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin has recently confirmed that it would not be possible to control such a super-intelligent AI. Their results were published in early January 2021 in the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research.
In theory, if we were to program such an AI system with intelligence superior to our own and then teach it to learn completely independently via an Internet connection, such an AI Agent would then have access to most if not all of the collective knowledge developed and published by humankind. Armed with such a comprehensive base of knowledge to meaningfully inform its thinking and adjudication, it is simply beyond human comprehension to understand the rationale for the decisions the Super AI has made or any additional decisions it might make, or how those decisions might impact humankind or our world.
For example, if a Super AI Agent concluded that the most efficient way to end human suffering were to simply eliminate humankind, what could we do to stop it? This is the question posed by researchers at Max Planck Society in their recently published research. Their answer suggests that given our current technological capabilities, we would not be able to stop the Agent and so we would be left to stand by and watch as the Agent initiated our destruction. Perhaps the most distressing reality in this discussion is that Super AI Agents capable of having a significant impact on humankind are not very far away in time and technical limitation.
Discussions about such super-intelligent AI Agents that might one day seize control from humans does seem like science fiction until we realize that there are already AI Agents that can perform very important activities without the ability of human programmers to reasonably comprehend how these Agents developed their response. This does make us worry and raises an important question: will we soon cross that point where things are beyond human control and how dangerous might this be for humankind?
Scientists have begun to explore different mechanisms for controlling such a super-intelligent AI. In one scenario, the capabilities of the Super AI could be physically limited by extricating any links to the Internet, other devices or technology. However, this would effectively make the super-intelligent AI significantly less capable or powerful. Alternatively, the AI’s design would incorporate the principles of human ethics so it would only pursue goals that are in the best interests of humankind. But researchers have shown that these and other contemporary and historical ideas for controlling super-intelligent AI have their limits, too.
Researchers have designed a theoretical containment algorithm that would ensure that any super-intelligent AI Agent cannot under any circumstances harm humans or their interests by first simulating the behavior of the AI Agent and stopping it if its direction or behavior appear harmful. However, the researchers believe that we are not able to build such an algorithm. Iyad Rahwan, the Director of the Centre for Humans and Machines at Max Planck, explains that breaking the problem down to basic rules from theoretical computer science demonstrates that an algorithm designed to prevent a Super AI Agent from destroying the world could possibly halt its own operation. Rahwan went on to say that, “if this happened, you would not know whether the containment algorithm is still analyzing the threat or whether it has stopped to contain the harmful AI. In effect, this makes the containment algorithm unusable.” Thus, such a containment approach is not feasible or possible. Additionally, researchers believe we are not really capable of realizing when we have crossed the Rubicon into the world of super-intelligent AI Agents.
The work of researchers at Max Planck and similar centers is of great importance given the power of Super AI and the pace at which science and technology are converging to realize this extraordinary attribute of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Let's hope they get it right.
Vicar Sayeedi is a Computer Scientist and Engineer, a Lecturer and a Consultant. Vicar is also the author of several books. His most recent book is about Artificial Intelligence and is titled, The Génome Affair.
Vicar is most interested in the big questions facing humankind. He is particularly focused on studying at the confluence of the five great disciplines of Human History, Political Science and Thought, International Affairs, Science and Technology. This intersection offers a deep understanding and pedagogically important lessons of how advances in human endeavor have influenced and impacted civilization.
Vicar has been writing books, essays and poetry for many years. For the past 30 years, Vicar has worked in the Technology and Pharmaceutical industries. He is currently a Consultant in the Life Sciences Industry and lives in suburban Chicago with his wife and their three grown children [if they decide to visit during the holidays!]
You can find Vicar’s recent book on AI, The Génome Affair on Amazon at this link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YQ7M9Q7
The most recent episodes of Vicar’s ai & u! Podcast are on YouTube at the following links:
Episode 1 - https://youtu.be/yNYr28jtY_k
What is Artificial Intelligence? What is Human Intelligence?
Episode 2 - https://youtu.be/kAEgDNh1Nwc
How Did We Get Here? Machine Learning, Neural Networks & the AI Lexicon, Exciting AI Agents
Episode 3 - https://youtu.be/3PYCyv1pCgM
Deep Mind - How Powerful is Narrow AI? State Surveillance and Surveillance Capitalism
Episode 4 - https://youtu.be/WvobCMIM_H4
Impact on Societies That Possess Artificial Intelligence Versus Those that Do Not!
Episode 5 - https://youtu.be/4JVpvm4g79g
Surveillance Capitalism, Surveillance State, 4th Industrial Revolution, Bifurcation of Sapiens
Episode 6 - https://youtu.be/e1q2GgcWQok
AI, Blockchain & Quantum Computing - Implications for Global and National Governance
Episode 7 - https://youtu.be/4bDSUvrOdd4
Popular Perceptions of Intelligence, the Seat of Human Intelligence and Implications for AI
Episode 8 - https://youtu.be/3GjHqQZL7Pk
AI - Why Should I care? Plus Exciting Updates from Elon Musk and Neuralink!
Episode 9 - https://youtu.be/enpecqDecC8
AI - Excellence, Innovation & Genius
Episode 10 - https://youtu.be/UsriESlTjdA
Implications for AI as China and the West Decouple
Episode 11 - https://youtu.be/0CpaMb-yw3g
Artificial Intelligence: Ethics, Law & Society
Episode 12 - https://youtu.be/PLzodrLWMq0
AI & Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
Episode 13 - https://youtu.be/Lm_nrNyJRbA
AI & the Future of Work in Industry 4.0 – the 4th Industrial Revolution
Episode 14 - https://youtu.be/_3E1Mhr_Dt8
Artificial Intelligence and its Implications for Authoritarianism and Democracy
Episode 15 - https://youtu.be/IpMUqHOEd7w
Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness & the Future of Homo Sapiens
Episode 16 - https://youtu.be/mIf7_VMzGKo
AI and its Implications for America's Political Environment
Episode 17 - https://youtu.be/gsMRPnovZGI
Special Episode: Reading From The Génome Affair
Episode 18 - https://youtu.be/UxNxtWDCREM
Artificial Intelligence - Digital Tyranny, Datocracy and the Imitation Game
Episode 19 - https://youtu.be/Db8U0QQWWuY
Does Artificial Intelligence Really Replicate Human Intelligence?
Episode 20 - https://youtu.be/Np18AEq-6DM
AI & Rising Geopolitical Tensions Between China & The West
Episode 21 - https://youtu.be/fOMSvNiixA0
AI & In-vitro Fertilization [IVF]
Episode 22 - https://youtu.be/EQPpRhIV6Kw
AI & Human Intelligence: A Complex Relationship
Episode 23 - https://youtu.be/EAbQ7stY7JQ
AI Upends the World of Structural Biology
Episode 24 - https://youtu.be/Bsb1F8uoBpA
AI & COVID-19: An Extraordinary Contribution
Episode 25 - https://youtu.be/PqL5PCRc8tA
AI, Connectomics & Transhumanism: the Future of Humankind
Episode 26 - https://youtu.be/HI8Zjl8VM8U
Dramatic Upheaval Inside Google's Ethical AI Team
Episode 27 - https://youtu.be/TqWwJYc2GxQ
AI & Cyber Espionage | How Will the Sunburst Attack Affect Our Security?
Episode 28 - https://youtu.be/89BcThqgcfQ
AI & the Rapidly Escalating Threat from Deep Fake Videos
Episode 29 - https://youtu.be/zvOHRMmJNB4
AI, Facial Recognition Technology & The Digital Surveillance State
Episode 30 - https://youtu.be/br4ygfEWdk0
AI & Social Media | The Most Destructive AI We've Ever Seen?
Episode 31 - https://youtu.be/sOy12ii8zwM
The Democratization of AI & The 2021 Maiflower Expedition | Plymouth, England to Plymouth, MA
Episode 32 - https://youtu.be/bixdLL74reE
Sino-American Cold War | A Blessing in Disguise for America?
Episode 33 - https://youtu.be/tTRm312DgMc
AI & the Tyranny of Meritocracy
Episode 34 - https://youtu.be/FpPzC5VP6GM
#34 - In the Midst of Chaos and Pandemic | A Big AI Announcement From the Trump Administration
Episode 35 - https://youtu.be/bK3xCBwrG8w
Artificial Super Intelligence – Can We Control It?
Vicar Sayeedi
January 17, 2021
What happens once Artificial Intelligence exceeds human intelligence? Will we be able to control such a Super Intelligent AI? It’s a concerning question. As we continue to progress in both our understanding of human intelligence and our implementation of Artificial Intelligence, scientists and philosophers are warning of the dangers of a super-intelligent AI that is beyond the scope of human understanding, and therefore human control. In a worrisome conclusion, a team of AI researchers from the Centre for Humans and Machines at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin has recently confirmed that it would not be possible to control such a super-intelligent AI. Their results were published in early January 2021 in the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research.
In theory, if we were to program such an AI system with intelligence superior to our own and then teach it to learn completely independently via an Internet connection, such an AI Agent would then have access to most if not all of the collective knowledge developed and published by humankind. Armed with such a comprehensive base of knowledge to meaningfully inform its thinking and adjudication, it is simply beyond human comprehension to understand the rationale for the decisions the Super AI has made or any additional decisions it might make, or how those decisions might impact humankind or our world.
For example, if a Super AI Agent concluded that the most efficient way to end human suffering were to simply eliminate humankind, what could we do to stop it? This is the question posed by researchers at Max Planck Society in their recently published research. Their answer suggests that given our current technological capabilities, we would not be able to stop the Agent and so we would be left to stand by and watch as the Agent initiated our destruction. Perhaps the most distressing reality in this discussion is that Super AI Agents capable of having a significant impact on humankind are not very far away in time and technical limitation.
Discussions about such super-intelligent AI Agents that might one day seize control from humans does seem like science fiction until we realize that there are already AI Agents that can perform very important activities without the ability of human programmers to reasonably comprehend how these Agents developed their response. This does make us worry and raises an important question: will we soon cross that point where things are beyond human control and how dangerous might this be for humankind?
Scientists have begun to explore different mechanisms for controlling such a super-intelligent AI. In one scenario, the capabilities of the Super AI could be physically limited by extricating any links to the Internet, other devices or technology. However, this would effectively make the super-intelligent AI significantly less capable or powerful. Alternatively, the AI’s design would incorporate the principles of human ethics so it would only pursue goals that are in the best interests of humankind. But researchers have shown that these and other contemporary and historical ideas for controlling super-intelligent AI have their limits, too.
Researchers have designed a theoretical containment algorithm that would ensure that any super-intelligent AI Agent cannot under any circumstances harm humans or their interests by first simulating the behavior of the AI Agent and stopping it if its direction or behavior appear harmful. However, the researchers believe that we are not able to build such an algorithm. Iyad Rahwan, the Director of the Centre for Humans and Machines at Max Planck, explains that breaking the problem down to basic rules from theoretical computer science demonstrates that an algorithm designed to prevent a Super AI Agent from destroying the world could possibly halt its own operation. Rahwan went on to say that, “if this happened, you would not know whether the containment algorithm is still analyzing the threat or whether it has stopped to contain the harmful AI. In effect, this makes the containment algorithm unusable.” Thus, such a containment approach is not feasible or possible. Additionally, researchers believe we are not really capable of realizing when we have crossed the Rubicon into the world of super-intelligent AI Agents.
The work of researchers at Max Planck and similar centers is of great importance given the power of Super AI and the pace at which science and technology are converging to realize this extraordinary attribute of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Let's hope they get it right.
Vicar Sayeedi is a Computer Scientist and Engineer, a Lecturer and a Consultant. Vicar is also the author of several books. His most recent book is about Artificial Intelligence and is titled, The Génome Affair.
Vicar is most interested in the big questions facing humankind. He is particularly focused on studying at the confluence of the five great disciplines of Human History, Political Science and Thought, International Affairs, Science and Technology. This intersection offers a deep understanding and pedagogically important lessons of how advances in human endeavor have influenced and impacted civilization.
Vicar has been writing books, essays and poetry for many years. For the past 30 years, Vicar has worked in the Technology and Pharmaceutical industries. He is currently a Consultant in the Life Sciences Industry and lives in suburban Chicago with his wife and their three grown children [if they decide to visit during the holidays!]
You can find Vicar’s recent book on AI, The Génome Affair on Amazon at this link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YQ7M9Q7
The most recent episodes of Vicar’s ai & u! Podcast are on YouTube at the following links:
Episode 1 - https://youtu.be/yNYr28jtY_k
What is Artificial Intelligence? What is Human Intelligence?
Episode 2 - https://youtu.be/kAEgDNh1Nwc
How Did We Get Here? Machine Learning, Neural Networks & the AI Lexicon, Exciting AI Agents
Episode 3 - https://youtu.be/3PYCyv1pCgM
Deep Mind - How Powerful is Narrow AI? State Surveillance and Surveillance Capitalism
Episode 4 - https://youtu.be/WvobCMIM_H4
Impact on Societies That Possess Artificial Intelligence Versus Those that Do Not!
Episode 5 - https://youtu.be/4JVpvm4g79g
Surveillance Capitalism, Surveillance State, 4th Industrial Revolution, Bifurcation of Sapiens
Episode 6 - https://youtu.be/e1q2GgcWQok
AI, Blockchain & Quantum Computing - Implications for Global and National Governance
Episode 7 - https://youtu.be/4bDSUvrOdd4
Popular Perceptions of Intelligence, the Seat of Human Intelligence and Implications for AI
Episode 8 - https://youtu.be/3GjHqQZL7Pk
AI - Why Should I care? Plus Exciting Updates from Elon Musk and Neuralink!
Episode 9 - https://youtu.be/enpecqDecC8
AI - Excellence, Innovation & Genius
Episode 10 - https://youtu.be/UsriESlTjdA
Implications for AI as China and the West Decouple
Episode 11 - https://youtu.be/0CpaMb-yw3g
Artificial Intelligence: Ethics, Law & Society
Episode 12 - https://youtu.be/PLzodrLWMq0
AI & Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
Episode 13 - https://youtu.be/Lm_nrNyJRbA
AI & the Future of Work in Industry 4.0 – the 4th Industrial Revolution
Episode 14 - https://youtu.be/_3E1Mhr_Dt8
Artificial Intelligence and its Implications for Authoritarianism and Democracy
Episode 15 - https://youtu.be/IpMUqHOEd7w
Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness & the Future of Homo Sapiens
Episode 16 - https://youtu.be/mIf7_VMzGKo
AI and its Implications for America's Political Environment
Episode 17 - https://youtu.be/gsMRPnovZGI
Special Episode: Reading From The Génome Affair
Episode 18 - https://youtu.be/UxNxtWDCREM
Artificial Intelligence - Digital Tyranny, Datocracy and the Imitation Game
Episode 19 - https://youtu.be/Db8U0QQWWuY
Does Artificial Intelligence Really Replicate Human Intelligence?
Episode 20 - https://youtu.be/Np18AEq-6DM
AI & Rising Geopolitical Tensions Between China & The West
Episode 21 - https://youtu.be/fOMSvNiixA0
AI & In-vitro Fertilization [IVF]
Episode 22 - https://youtu.be/EQPpRhIV6Kw
AI & Human Intelligence: A Complex Relationship
Episode 23 - https://youtu.be/EAbQ7stY7JQ
AI Upends the World of Structural Biology
Episode 24 - https://youtu.be/Bsb1F8uoBpA
AI & COVID-19: An Extraordinary Contribution
Episode 25 - https://youtu.be/PqL5PCRc8tA
AI, Connectomics & Transhumanism: the Future of Humankind
Episode 26 - https://youtu.be/HI8Zjl8VM8U
Dramatic Upheaval Inside Google's Ethical AI Team
Episode 27 - https://youtu.be/TqWwJYc2GxQ
AI & Cyber Espionage | How Will the Sunburst Attack Affect Our Security?
Episode 28 - https://youtu.be/89BcThqgcfQ
AI & the Rapidly Escalating Threat from Deep Fake Videos
Episode 29 - https://youtu.be/zvOHRMmJNB4
AI, Facial Recognition Technology & The Digital Surveillance State
Episode 30 - https://youtu.be/br4ygfEWdk0
AI & Social Media | The Most Destructive AI We've Ever Seen?
Episode 31 - https://youtu.be/sOy12ii8zwM
The Democratization of AI & The 2021 Maiflower Expedition | Plymouth, England to Plymouth, MA
Episode 32 - https://youtu.be/bixdLL74reE
Sino-American Cold War | A Blessing in Disguise for America?
Episode 33 - https://youtu.be/tTRm312DgMc
AI & the Tyranny of Meritocracy
Episode 34 - https://youtu.be/FpPzC5VP6GM
#34 - In the Midst of Chaos and Pandemic | A Big AI Announcement From the Trump Administration
Episode 35 - https://youtu.be/bK3xCBwrG8w
Artificial Super Intelligence – Can We Control It?
January 13, 2021
In the Midst of Political Chaos and Pandemic | An Extraordinary Announcement From the Trump Administration
Vicar Sayeedi
January 13, 2021
The United States is in the midst of an extraordinary predicament: it is concurrently enduring both a political AND a public health crisis. The Nation is transfixed as Congress prepares to vote to impeach President Trump for the second time in the wake of the January 6 Incitement to Insurrection charge leveled against him. This insurrection has now resulted in the deaths of five people including one police officer. Hundreds of federal charges have been filed by the US Attorney General’s Office against the President’s supporters, a mob who were riled up by the President and his enablers on Social Media and in rallies. They came from across the country to take part in a violent insurrection that terrorized lawmakers and ordinary citizens alike.
As the Legislature debates Impeachment and as preparations are being made for the inauguration ceremony of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States, the Country rests on a knife’s edge: intelligence reports are warning of further violence in the Nation’s Capital as the Legislature makes the case for the President’s immediate removal. Heavily armed National Guard troops have been deployed within the Capitol itself and are prepared for violence. The Nation’s capital and virtually every state capital are also bracing for violence on Inauguration Day and so the situation doesn’t bode well for a peaceful transfer of power.
Following an indisputable election in which Joe Biden secured 81.2 million votes to Donald Trump’s 74.2 million this should not be the case. But such is the reality when senior Republican leaders and their cohort engage in the deliberate dissemination of misinformation and outright falsehoods over preceding months and years. The Nation has sadly reached a point where truth and falsehood - sense and nonsense - and those who speak it, are virtually indistinguishable in the eyes of too many ordinary and vulnerable citizens and the outcome of this reality is plain to see.
The raging public health crisis in which the cumulative death toll is rapidly approaching 400,000 with daily death tolls exceeding 4,000 is also an event that has captured the Nation’s attention. Unfortunately, falsehoods surrounding this issue abound, as well. Additionally, for large segments of the Nation’s citizens who espouse a fiercely libertarian culture, the recommendations to wear masks, to practice social distancing and to avoid large gatherings has been very difficult to tolerate. The situation has led to dangerous animosity towards public health officials and towards fellow citizens who have acquiesced to these demands. Acrimony and a collapse in public opinion towards China within the US, and more generally across the West, have also complicated matters as Coronavirus deaths and hospitalization rates soar.
The Chinese social contract which requires citizens to surrender their personal liberties in exchange for domestic order and security, economic stability and international prestige has led to a remarkable rise in China’s fortunes over the past three decades. Hundreds of millions have been lifted out of abject poverty. But behavior by the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army over the past five years has led to great consternation in capitals across the West, even as these same capitals seek to open markets in China for their domestic industries and thus secure economic growth at home.
The report this week from Brazilian public health authorities that China’s Sinovac coronavirus vaccine has an efficacy rate of just 50% has been a major blow to the PRC's international prestige and will undoubtedly undermine confidence in the attitudes of Chinese citizens across the domestic socioeconomic spectrum as well as the diaspora. The Chinese Authorities bypassed the publication of phase III clinical data from Sinovac’s vaccine trial in peer reviewed academic journals. This breach of protocol was not an acceptable action for any credible medical and scientific authority. Publication of this data in peer-reviewed journals is a medical and scientific norm and as a result of not publishing, only Developing Economies were willing to accept the Sinovac vaccine. This major setback is further exacerbated by the unfortunate and widely accepted fact that the Coronavirus, COVID-19 actually originated in Wuhan, China.
Remarkably though, on January 12, against this backdrop of extraordinary domestic and world events, with the Nation engulfed in political chaos and with daily death tolls from the Coronavirus in uncharted territory, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) announced the establishment of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office. This follows the issuance of the National AI Strategy that was published in February 2020. The formation of this Office is designed to accelerate America’s efforts to ensure its leadership in a critical technology, particularly in light of the geopolitical chasm and economic turmoil that has opened between America and China in recent years. The chasm has been further exacerbated since China's initial lack of transparency regarding the Coronavirus wrought economic and political havoc, sickness and death across the globe. This chaos has persisted for the past year.
The new AI Office is charged with overseeing and implementing the United States national AI strategy and will serve as the central point of coordination and collaboration in AI research and policymaking across the government, the private sector, academia as well as with various other stakeholders. The National AI Initiative Office is an outcome of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020, which codified many existing AI policies and initiatives already in existence throughout the Federal Government.
Given the state of affairs on the domestic stage, leading political scientists and thought leaders in AI can only speculate as to the unexpected and peculiar timing of this announcement, but nevertheless, it’s an important declaration that lends comfort to those of us concerned with the maintenance of America and the West’s leadership in this critical area of science and technology.
Vicar Sayeedi is a Computer Scientist and Engineer, a Lecturer and a Consultant. Vicar is also the author of several books. His most recent book is about Artificial Intelligence and is titled, The Génome Affair.
Vicar is most interested in the big questions facing humankind. He is particularly focused on studying at the confluence of the five great disciplines of Human History, Political Science and Thought, International Affairs, Science and Technology. This intersection offers a deep understanding and pedagogically important lessons of how advances in human endeavor have influenced and impacted civilization.
Vicar has been writing books, essays and poetry for many years. For the past 30 years, Vicar has worked in the Technology and Pharmaceutical industries. He is currently a Consultant in the Life Sciences Industry and lives in suburban Chicago with his wife and their three grown children [if they decide to visit during the holidays!]
You can find Vicar’s recent book on AI, The Génome Affair on Amazon at this link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YQ7M9Q7
The most recent episodes of Vicar’s ai & u! Podcast are on YouTube at the following links:
Episode 1 - https://youtu.be/yNYr28jtY_k
What is Artificial Intelligence? What is Human Intelligence?
Episode 2 - https://youtu.be/kAEgDNh1Nwc
How Did We Get Here? Machine Learning, Neural Networks & the AI Lexicon, Exciting AI Agents
Episode 3 - https://youtu.be/3PYCyv1pCgM
Deep Mind - How Powerful is Narrow AI? State Surveillance and Surveillance Capitalism
Episode 4 - https://youtu.be/WvobCMIM_H4
Impact on Societies That Possess Artificial Intelligence Versus Those that Do Not!
Episode 5 - https://youtu.be/4JVpvm4g79g
Surveillance Capitalism, Surveillance State, 4th Industrial Revolution, Bifurcation of Sapiens
Episode 6 - https://youtu.be/e1q2GgcWQok
AI, Blockchain & Quantum Computing - Implications for Global and National Governance
Episode 7 - https://youtu.be/4bDSUvrOdd4
Popular Perceptions of Intelligence, the Seat of Human Intelligence and Implications for AI
Episode 8 - https://youtu.be/3GjHqQZL7Pk
AI - Why Should I care? Plus Exciting Updates from Elon Musk and Neuralink!
Episode 9 - https://youtu.be/enpecqDecC8
AI - Excellence, Innovation & Genius
Episode 10 - https://youtu.be/UsriESlTjdA
Implications for AI as China and the West Decouple
Episode 11 - https://youtu.be/0CpaMb-yw3g
Artificial Intelligence: Ethics, Law & Society
Episode 12 - https://youtu.be/PLzodrLWMq0
AI & Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
Episode 13 - https://youtu.be/Lm_nrNyJRbA
AI & the Future of Work in Industry 4.0 – the 4th Industrial Revolution
Episode 14 - https://youtu.be/_3E1Mhr_Dt8
Artificial Intelligence and its Implications for Authoritarianism and Democracy
Episode 15 - https://youtu.be/IpMUqHOEd7w
Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness & the Future of Homo Sapiens
Episode 16 - https://youtu.be/mIf7_VMzGKo
AI and its Implications for America's Political Environment
Episode 17 - https://youtu.be/gsMRPnovZGI
Special Episode: Reading From The Génome Affair
Episode 18 - https://youtu.be/UxNxtWDCREM
Artificial Intelligence - Digital Tyranny, Datocracy and the Imitation Game
Episode 19 - https://youtu.be/Db8U0QQWWuY
Does Artificial Intelligence Really Replicate Human Intelligence?
Episode 20 - https://youtu.be/Np18AEq-6DM
AI & Rising Geopolitical Tensions Between China & The West
Episode 21 - https://youtu.be/fOMSvNiixA0
AI & In-vitro Fertilization [IVF]
Episode 22 - https://youtu.be/EQPpRhIV6Kw
AI & Human Intelligence: A Complex Relationship
Episode 23 - https://youtu.be/EAbQ7stY7JQ
AI Upends the World of Structural Biology
Episode 24 - https://youtu.be/Bsb1F8uoBpA
AI & COVID-19: An Extraordinary Contribution
Episode 25 - https://youtu.be/PqL5PCRc8tA
AI, Connectomics & Transhumanism: the Future of Humankind
Episode 26 - https://youtu.be/HI8Zjl8VM8U
Dramatic Upheaval Inside Google's Ethical AI Team
Episode 27 - https://youtu.be/TqWwJYc2GxQ
AI & Cyber Espionage | How Will the Sunburst Attack Affect Our Security?
Episode 28 - https://youtu.be/89BcThqgcfQ
AI & the Rapidly Escalating Threat from Deep Fake Videos
Episode 29 - https://youtu.be/zvOHRMmJNB4
AI, Facial Recognition Technology & The Digital Surveillance State
Episode 30 - https://youtu.be/br4ygfEWdk0
AI & Social Media | The Most Destructive AI We've Ever Seen?
Episode 31 - https://youtu.be/sOy12ii8zwM
The Democratization of AI & The 2021 Maiflower Expedition | Plymouth, England to Plymouth, MA
Episode 32 - https://youtu.be/bixdLL74reE
Sino-American Cold War | A Blessing in Disguise for America?
Episode 33 - https://youtu.be/tTRm312DgMc
AI & the Tyranny of Meritocracy
Episode 34 - https://youtu.be/FpPzC5VP6GM
In the Midst of National Chaos and Pandemic | An Extraordinary Announcement
January 13, 2021
The United States is in the midst of an extraordinary predicament: it is concurrently enduring both a political AND a public health crisis. The Nation is transfixed as Congress prepares to vote to impeach President Trump for the second time in the wake of the January 6 Incitement to Insurrection charge leveled against him. This insurrection has now resulted in the deaths of five people including one police officer. Hundreds of federal charges have been filed by the US Attorney General’s Office against the President’s supporters, a mob who were riled up by the President and his enablers on Social Media and in rallies. They came from across the country to take part in a violent insurrection that terrorized lawmakers and ordinary citizens alike.
As the Legislature debates Impeachment and as preparations are being made for the inauguration ceremony of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States, the Country rests on a knife’s edge: intelligence reports are warning of further violence in the Nation’s Capital as the Legislature makes the case for the President’s immediate removal. Heavily armed National Guard troops have been deployed within the Capitol itself and are prepared for violence. The Nation’s capital and virtually every state capital are also bracing for violence on Inauguration Day and so the situation doesn’t bode well for a peaceful transfer of power.
Following an indisputable election in which Joe Biden secured 81.2 million votes to Donald Trump’s 74.2 million this should not be the case. But such is the reality when senior Republican leaders and their cohort engage in the deliberate dissemination of misinformation and outright falsehoods over preceding months and years. The Nation has sadly reached a point where truth and falsehood - sense and nonsense - and those who speak it, are virtually indistinguishable in the eyes of too many ordinary and vulnerable citizens and the outcome of this reality is plain to see.
The raging public health crisis in which the cumulative death toll is rapidly approaching 400,000 with daily death tolls exceeding 4,000 is also an event that has captured the Nation’s attention. Unfortunately, falsehoods surrounding this issue abound, as well. Additionally, for large segments of the Nation’s citizens who espouse a fiercely libertarian culture, the recommendations to wear masks, to practice social distancing and to avoid large gatherings has been very difficult to tolerate. The situation has led to dangerous animosity towards public health officials and towards fellow citizens who have acquiesced to these demands. Acrimony and a collapse in public opinion towards China within the US, and more generally across the West, have also complicated matters as Coronavirus deaths and hospitalization rates soar.
The Chinese social contract which requires citizens to surrender their personal liberties in exchange for domestic order and security, economic stability and international prestige has led to a remarkable rise in China’s fortunes over the past three decades. Hundreds of millions have been lifted out of abject poverty. But behavior by the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army over the past five years has led to great consternation in capitals across the West, even as these same capitals seek to open markets in China for their domestic industries and thus secure economic growth at home.
The report this week from Brazilian public health authorities that China’s Sinovac coronavirus vaccine has an efficacy rate of just 50% has been a major blow to the PRC's international prestige and will undoubtedly undermine confidence in the attitudes of Chinese citizens across the domestic socioeconomic spectrum as well as the diaspora. The Chinese Authorities bypassed the publication of phase III clinical data from Sinovac’s vaccine trial in peer reviewed academic journals. This breach of protocol was not an acceptable action for any credible medical and scientific authority. Publication of this data in peer-reviewed journals is a medical and scientific norm and as a result of not publishing, only Developing Economies were willing to accept the Sinovac vaccine. This major setback is further exacerbated by the unfortunate and widely accepted fact that the Coronavirus, COVID-19 actually originated in Wuhan, China.
Remarkably though, on January 12, against this backdrop of extraordinary domestic and world events, with the Nation engulfed in political chaos and with daily death tolls from the Coronavirus in uncharted territory, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) announced the establishment of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office. This follows the issuance of the National AI Strategy that was published in February 2020. The formation of this Office is designed to accelerate America’s efforts to ensure its leadership in a critical technology, particularly in light of the geopolitical chasm and economic turmoil that has opened between America and China in recent years. The chasm has been further exacerbated since China's initial lack of transparency regarding the Coronavirus wrought economic and political havoc, sickness and death across the globe. This chaos has persisted for the past year.
The new AI Office is charged with overseeing and implementing the United States national AI strategy and will serve as the central point of coordination and collaboration in AI research and policymaking across the government, the private sector, academia as well as with various other stakeholders. The National AI Initiative Office is an outcome of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020, which codified many existing AI policies and initiatives already in existence throughout the Federal Government.
Given the state of affairs on the domestic stage, leading political scientists and thought leaders in AI can only speculate as to the unexpected and peculiar timing of this announcement, but nevertheless, it’s an important declaration that lends comfort to those of us concerned with the maintenance of America and the West’s leadership in this critical area of science and technology.
Vicar Sayeedi is a Computer Scientist and Engineer, a Lecturer and a Consultant. Vicar is also the author of several books. His most recent book is about Artificial Intelligence and is titled, The Génome Affair.
Vicar is most interested in the big questions facing humankind. He is particularly focused on studying at the confluence of the five great disciplines of Human History, Political Science and Thought, International Affairs, Science and Technology. This intersection offers a deep understanding and pedagogically important lessons of how advances in human endeavor have influenced and impacted civilization.
Vicar has been writing books, essays and poetry for many years. For the past 30 years, Vicar has worked in the Technology and Pharmaceutical industries. He is currently a Consultant in the Life Sciences Industry and lives in suburban Chicago with his wife and their three grown children [if they decide to visit during the holidays!]
You can find Vicar’s recent book on AI, The Génome Affair on Amazon at this link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YQ7M9Q7
The most recent episodes of Vicar’s ai & u! Podcast are on YouTube at the following links:
Episode 1 - https://youtu.be/yNYr28jtY_k
What is Artificial Intelligence? What is Human Intelligence?
Episode 2 - https://youtu.be/kAEgDNh1Nwc
How Did We Get Here? Machine Learning, Neural Networks & the AI Lexicon, Exciting AI Agents
Episode 3 - https://youtu.be/3PYCyv1pCgM
Deep Mind - How Powerful is Narrow AI? State Surveillance and Surveillance Capitalism
Episode 4 - https://youtu.be/WvobCMIM_H4
Impact on Societies That Possess Artificial Intelligence Versus Those that Do Not!
Episode 5 - https://youtu.be/4JVpvm4g79g
Surveillance Capitalism, Surveillance State, 4th Industrial Revolution, Bifurcation of Sapiens
Episode 6 - https://youtu.be/e1q2GgcWQok
AI, Blockchain & Quantum Computing - Implications for Global and National Governance
Episode 7 - https://youtu.be/4bDSUvrOdd4
Popular Perceptions of Intelligence, the Seat of Human Intelligence and Implications for AI
Episode 8 - https://youtu.be/3GjHqQZL7Pk
AI - Why Should I care? Plus Exciting Updates from Elon Musk and Neuralink!
Episode 9 - https://youtu.be/enpecqDecC8
AI - Excellence, Innovation & Genius
Episode 10 - https://youtu.be/UsriESlTjdA
Implications for AI as China and the West Decouple
Episode 11 - https://youtu.be/0CpaMb-yw3g
Artificial Intelligence: Ethics, Law & Society
Episode 12 - https://youtu.be/PLzodrLWMq0
AI & Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
Episode 13 - https://youtu.be/Lm_nrNyJRbA
AI & the Future of Work in Industry 4.0 – the 4th Industrial Revolution
Episode 14 - https://youtu.be/_3E1Mhr_Dt8
Artificial Intelligence and its Implications for Authoritarianism and Democracy
Episode 15 - https://youtu.be/IpMUqHOEd7w
Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness & the Future of Homo Sapiens
Episode 16 - https://youtu.be/mIf7_VMzGKo
AI and its Implications for America's Political Environment
Episode 17 - https://youtu.be/gsMRPnovZGI
Special Episode: Reading From The Génome Affair
Episode 18 - https://youtu.be/UxNxtWDCREM
Artificial Intelligence - Digital Tyranny, Datocracy and the Imitation Game
Episode 19 - https://youtu.be/Db8U0QQWWuY
Does Artificial Intelligence Really Replicate Human Intelligence?
Episode 20 - https://youtu.be/Np18AEq-6DM
AI & Rising Geopolitical Tensions Between China & The West
Episode 21 - https://youtu.be/fOMSvNiixA0
AI & In-vitro Fertilization [IVF]
Episode 22 - https://youtu.be/EQPpRhIV6Kw
AI & Human Intelligence: A Complex Relationship
Episode 23 - https://youtu.be/EAbQ7stY7JQ
AI Upends the World of Structural Biology
Episode 24 - https://youtu.be/Bsb1F8uoBpA
AI & COVID-19: An Extraordinary Contribution
Episode 25 - https://youtu.be/PqL5PCRc8tA
AI, Connectomics & Transhumanism: the Future of Humankind
Episode 26 - https://youtu.be/HI8Zjl8VM8U
Dramatic Upheaval Inside Google's Ethical AI Team
Episode 27 - https://youtu.be/TqWwJYc2GxQ
AI & Cyber Espionage | How Will the Sunburst Attack Affect Our Security?
Episode 28 - https://youtu.be/89BcThqgcfQ
AI & the Rapidly Escalating Threat from Deep Fake Videos
Episode 29 - https://youtu.be/zvOHRMmJNB4
AI, Facial Recognition Technology & The Digital Surveillance State
Episode 30 - https://youtu.be/br4ygfEWdk0
AI & Social Media | The Most Destructive AI We've Ever Seen?
Episode 31 - https://youtu.be/sOy12ii8zwM
The Democratization of AI & The 2021 Maiflower Expedition | Plymouth, England to Plymouth, MA
Episode 32 - https://youtu.be/bixdLL74reE
Sino-American Cold War | A Blessing in Disguise for America?
Episode 33 - https://youtu.be/tTRm312DgMc
AI & the Tyranny of Meritocracy
Episode 34 - https://youtu.be/FpPzC5VP6GM
In the Midst of National Chaos and Pandemic | An Extraordinary Announcement
January 12, 2021
The Role of Artificial Intelligence in the Coronavirus Pandemic
The Role of Artificial Intelligence in the Coronavirus Pandemic
Vicar Sayeedi
January 12, 2021
Artificial Intelligence has played an important role during the course of the current Coronavirus Pandemic. To see the impact, we need to look carefully at one of the best performing countries in the world with respect to health outcomes since the outbreak of disease in January 2020. That is South Korea.
South Korea’s population is approximately the same as that of Spain. South Korea has a population of 51 million, whereas Spain has a population of 47 million. Geographically, South Korea is situated across the Yellow Sea, just northeast of Shanghai and Wuhan, which was of course, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. Seoul to Wuhan is 870 miles or 1400 km, whereas Madrid to Wuhan is 6100 miles or 9900 km. Yet, despite the similar populations and despite Spain’s much greater distance from the epicenter of the Pandemic outbreak, Spain’s death toll is now approaching 52,000 with just over 2M cases reported while South Korea’s death toll remains under 1200 with about 70,000 cases reported. Given South Korea’s geo-proximity to Wuhan relative to Spain’s, we might expect the data to be reverse. So why is it not? There are three main reasons:
First, South Korea is better prepared for Pandemics. During the past two decades, there have been several highly infectious respiratory diseases that have emerged in the region. This experience left the South Korean authorities and society very well prepared relative to their Spanish counterparts.
Second, although both countries are Democracies, South Korean society is much more accepting of their need to cooperate with the guidance of public health officials than the Spaniards are. The South Korean people will obey orders to wear masks, social distance and promptly report infections. They do not see these requests from the public health authorities as an infringement on their personal freedoms. Things are culturally quite different in Spain.
The third key factor is the South Korean contact tracing system, which is underpinned by Artificial Intelligence. This technology has been very effective in identifying, contacting and tracing the people who have been in contact with an infected person. Given the technologically advanced society in South Korea and given their past experience with similar public health emergencies, the public health authorities there were ready with a sophisticated AI-based contact tracing system at the start of the outbreak.
The results of these three factors have been extraordinary. The South Korean economy remains open and is functioning well with limited disruption. They are able to mobilize and manage a response to any infectious disease outbreaks quickly and effectively, even as large parts of the Developed and Developing World are facing catastrophic and simultaneous public health and economic crises as a result of the very same public health emergency.
Artificial Intelligence enabled contact tracing systems similar to the South Korean system are gradually being deployed in communities in the United States and in other parts of the Developed World, as well. But the success in South Korea and other societies where public respect and acquiescence to the requests for cooperation by public health authorities will continue to play an important role in both health and economic outcomes.
Since the Coronavirus was first identified in late December 2019, Artificial Intelligence has also played a central role in the development of therapies and vaccines for COVID. In an approach similar to what America experienced in the 1960’s – as it worked to fulfill Kennedy’s vision of going to the moon and back by the end of the decade – private companies, non-profit foundations and public health agencies in the US and in Europe collaborated in an unprecedented manner and accelerated the scientific research and development to identify therapies and vaccines.
Early in 2020, some of America’s leading technology giants including Google and Microsoft collaborated with government agencies including the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, and the Allen Institute for AI. Through these efforts, some of the country’s brightest minds and most advanced technologies worked together in an incredibly effective manner to interrogate and solve the mystery that is COVID-19. This collaboration across science and technology and across industry, the philanthropic sector and government has enabled us to discover and produce vaccines faster than we have ever been able to do in the history of public health.
But the unprecedented speed with which we have discovered vaccines and therapies is not the only benefit of how we have responded to the Covid-19 Pandemic. We are seeing that Artificial Intelligence has finally gotten the attention of our senior political leaders. Although AI was not explicitly mentioned during the 2020 Presidential election cycle – probably since the candidates are quite elderly and the concepts of AI, Biotech, Data Science and GPU’s are difficult for them to grasp – we can nevertheless expect that the US and European governments will have taken notice and will consequently begin to invest more in public sector AI.
Perhaps without the Pandemic and devastating impacts to the lives of citizens and the impacts to the economy, politicians would still be reticent about holding hearings and appropriating financial resources as they are now more likely to do. COVID-19 has shown our political class that non-military threats can also have disastrous consequences on the lives of their constituents and the economic stability and security of the country.
Finally, most politicians also now realize that another pandemic will inevitably occur in the near future as a consequence of globalization and ecological collapse, and by investing in Artificial Intelligence and its related technologies today – including testing, tracing and quarantine [TTQ] –we will be in a much better position to respond to the next crisis than we were in the beginning of 2020.
Vicar Sayeedi is a Computer Scientist and Engineer, a Lecturer and a Consultant. Vicar is also the author of several books. His most recent book is about Artificial Intelligence and is titled, The Génome Affair.
Vicar is most interested in the big questions facing humankind. He is particularly focused on studying at the confluence of the five great disciplines of Human History, Political Science and Thought, International Affairs, Science and Technology. This intersection offers a deep understanding and pedagogically important lessons of how advances in human endeavor have influenced and impacted civilization.
Vicar has been writing books, essays and poetry for many years. For the past 30 years, Vicar has worked in the Technology and Pharmaceutical industries. He is currently a Consultant in the Life Sciences Industry and lives in suburban Chicago with his wife and their three grown children [if they decide to visit during the holidays!]
You can find Vicar’s recent book on AI, The Génome Affair on Amazon at this link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YQ7M9Q7
The most recent episodes of Vicar’s ai & u! Podcast are on YouTube at the following links:
Episode 1 - https://youtu.be/yNYr28jtY_k
What is Artificial Intelligence? What is Human Intelligence?
Episode 2 - https://youtu.be/kAEgDNh1Nwc
How Did We Get Here? Machine Learning, Neural Networks & the AI Lexicon, Exciting AI Agents
Episode 3 - https://youtu.be/3PYCyv1pCgM
Deep Mind - How Powerful is Narrow AI? State Surveillance and Surveillance Capitalism
Episode 4 - https://youtu.be/WvobCMIM_H4
Impact on Societies That Possess Artificial Intelligence Versus Those that Do Not!
Episode 5 - https://youtu.be/4JVpvm4g79g
Surveillance Capitalism, Surveillance State, 4th Industrial Revolution, Bifurcation of Sapiens
Episode 6 - https://youtu.be/e1q2GgcWQok
AI, Blockchain & Quantum Computing - Implications for Global and National Governance
Episode 7 - https://youtu.be/4bDSUvrOdd4
Popular Perceptions of Intelligence, the Seat of Human Intelligence and Implications for AI
Episode 8 - https://youtu.be/3GjHqQZL7Pk
AI - Why Should I care? Plus Exciting Updates from Elon Musk and Neuralink!
Episode 9 - https://youtu.be/enpecqDecC8
AI - Excellence, Innovation & Genius
Episode 10 - https://youtu.be/UsriESlTjdA
Implications for AI as China and the West Decouple
Episode 11 - https://youtu.be/0CpaMb-yw3g
Artificial Intelligence: Ethics, Law & Society
Episode 12 - https://youtu.be/PLzodrLWMq0
AI & Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
Episode 13 - https://youtu.be/Lm_nrNyJRbA
AI & the Future of Work in Industry 4.0 – the 4th Industrial Revolution
Episode 14 - https://youtu.be/_3E1Mhr_Dt8
Artificial Intelligence and its Implications for Authoritarianism and Democracy
Episode 15 - https://youtu.be/IpMUqHOEd7w
Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness & the Future of Homo Sapiens
Episode 16 - https://youtu.be/mIf7_VMzGKo
AI and its Implications for America's Political Environment
Episode 17 - https://youtu.be/gsMRPnovZGI
Special Episode: Reading From The Génome Affair
Episode 18 - https://youtu.be/UxNxtWDCREM
Artificial Intelligence - Digital Tyranny, Datocracy and the Imitation Game
Episode 19 - https://youtu.be/Db8U0QQWWuY
Does Artificial Intelligence Really Replicate Human Intelligence?
Episode 20 - https://youtu.be/Np18AEq-6DM
AI & Rising Geopolitical Tensions Between China & The West
Episode 21 - https://youtu.be/fOMSvNiixA0
AI & In-vitro Fertilization [IVF]
Episode 22 - https://youtu.be/EQPpRhIV6Kw
AI & Human Intelligence: A Complex Relationship
Episode 23 - https://youtu.be/EAbQ7stY7JQ
AI Upends the World of Structural Biology
Episode 24 - https://youtu.be/Bsb1F8uoBpA
AI & COVID-19: An Extraordinary Contribution
Episode 25 - https://youtu.be/PqL5PCRc8tA
AI, Connectomics & Transhumanism: the Future of Humankind
Episode 26 - https://youtu.be/HI8Zjl8VM8U
Dramatic Upheaval Inside Google's Ethical AI Team
Episode 27 - https://youtu.be/TqWwJYc2GxQ
AI & Cyber Espionage | How Will the Sunburst Attack Affect Our Security?
Episode 28 - https://youtu.be/89BcThqgcfQ
AI & the Rapidly Escalating Threat from Deep Fake Videos
Episode 29 - https://youtu.be/zvOHRMmJNB4
AI, Facial Recognition Technology & The Digital Surveillance State
Episode 30 - https://youtu.be/br4ygfEWdk0
AI & Social Media | The Most Destructive AI We've Ever Seen?
Episode 31 - https://youtu.be/sOy12ii8zwM
The Democratization of AI & The 2021 Maiflower Expedition | Plymouth, England to Plymouth, MA
Episode 32 - https://youtu.be/bixdLL74reE
Sino-American Cold War | A Blessing in Disguise for America?
Episode 33 - https://youtu.be/tTRm312DgMc
AI & the Tyranny of Meritocracy
Episode 34 - https://youtu.be/FpPzC5VP6GM
In the Midst of National Chaos and Pandemic | An Extraordinary Announcement
Vicar Sayeedi
January 12, 2021
Artificial Intelligence has played an important role during the course of the current Coronavirus Pandemic. To see the impact, we need to look carefully at one of the best performing countries in the world with respect to health outcomes since the outbreak of disease in January 2020. That is South Korea.
South Korea’s population is approximately the same as that of Spain. South Korea has a population of 51 million, whereas Spain has a population of 47 million. Geographically, South Korea is situated across the Yellow Sea, just northeast of Shanghai and Wuhan, which was of course, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. Seoul to Wuhan is 870 miles or 1400 km, whereas Madrid to Wuhan is 6100 miles or 9900 km. Yet, despite the similar populations and despite Spain’s much greater distance from the epicenter of the Pandemic outbreak, Spain’s death toll is now approaching 52,000 with just over 2M cases reported while South Korea’s death toll remains under 1200 with about 70,000 cases reported. Given South Korea’s geo-proximity to Wuhan relative to Spain’s, we might expect the data to be reverse. So why is it not? There are three main reasons:
First, South Korea is better prepared for Pandemics. During the past two decades, there have been several highly infectious respiratory diseases that have emerged in the region. This experience left the South Korean authorities and society very well prepared relative to their Spanish counterparts.
Second, although both countries are Democracies, South Korean society is much more accepting of their need to cooperate with the guidance of public health officials than the Spaniards are. The South Korean people will obey orders to wear masks, social distance and promptly report infections. They do not see these requests from the public health authorities as an infringement on their personal freedoms. Things are culturally quite different in Spain.
The third key factor is the South Korean contact tracing system, which is underpinned by Artificial Intelligence. This technology has been very effective in identifying, contacting and tracing the people who have been in contact with an infected person. Given the technologically advanced society in South Korea and given their past experience with similar public health emergencies, the public health authorities there were ready with a sophisticated AI-based contact tracing system at the start of the outbreak.
The results of these three factors have been extraordinary. The South Korean economy remains open and is functioning well with limited disruption. They are able to mobilize and manage a response to any infectious disease outbreaks quickly and effectively, even as large parts of the Developed and Developing World are facing catastrophic and simultaneous public health and economic crises as a result of the very same public health emergency.
Artificial Intelligence enabled contact tracing systems similar to the South Korean system are gradually being deployed in communities in the United States and in other parts of the Developed World, as well. But the success in South Korea and other societies where public respect and acquiescence to the requests for cooperation by public health authorities will continue to play an important role in both health and economic outcomes.
Since the Coronavirus was first identified in late December 2019, Artificial Intelligence has also played a central role in the development of therapies and vaccines for COVID. In an approach similar to what America experienced in the 1960’s – as it worked to fulfill Kennedy’s vision of going to the moon and back by the end of the decade – private companies, non-profit foundations and public health agencies in the US and in Europe collaborated in an unprecedented manner and accelerated the scientific research and development to identify therapies and vaccines.
Early in 2020, some of America’s leading technology giants including Google and Microsoft collaborated with government agencies including the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, and the Allen Institute for AI. Through these efforts, some of the country’s brightest minds and most advanced technologies worked together in an incredibly effective manner to interrogate and solve the mystery that is COVID-19. This collaboration across science and technology and across industry, the philanthropic sector and government has enabled us to discover and produce vaccines faster than we have ever been able to do in the history of public health.
But the unprecedented speed with which we have discovered vaccines and therapies is not the only benefit of how we have responded to the Covid-19 Pandemic. We are seeing that Artificial Intelligence has finally gotten the attention of our senior political leaders. Although AI was not explicitly mentioned during the 2020 Presidential election cycle – probably since the candidates are quite elderly and the concepts of AI, Biotech, Data Science and GPU’s are difficult for them to grasp – we can nevertheless expect that the US and European governments will have taken notice and will consequently begin to invest more in public sector AI.
Perhaps without the Pandemic and devastating impacts to the lives of citizens and the impacts to the economy, politicians would still be reticent about holding hearings and appropriating financial resources as they are now more likely to do. COVID-19 has shown our political class that non-military threats can also have disastrous consequences on the lives of their constituents and the economic stability and security of the country.
Finally, most politicians also now realize that another pandemic will inevitably occur in the near future as a consequence of globalization and ecological collapse, and by investing in Artificial Intelligence and its related technologies today – including testing, tracing and quarantine [TTQ] –we will be in a much better position to respond to the next crisis than we were in the beginning of 2020.
Vicar Sayeedi is a Computer Scientist and Engineer, a Lecturer and a Consultant. Vicar is also the author of several books. His most recent book is about Artificial Intelligence and is titled, The Génome Affair.
Vicar is most interested in the big questions facing humankind. He is particularly focused on studying at the confluence of the five great disciplines of Human History, Political Science and Thought, International Affairs, Science and Technology. This intersection offers a deep understanding and pedagogically important lessons of how advances in human endeavor have influenced and impacted civilization.
Vicar has been writing books, essays and poetry for many years. For the past 30 years, Vicar has worked in the Technology and Pharmaceutical industries. He is currently a Consultant in the Life Sciences Industry and lives in suburban Chicago with his wife and their three grown children [if they decide to visit during the holidays!]
You can find Vicar’s recent book on AI, The Génome Affair on Amazon at this link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YQ7M9Q7
The most recent episodes of Vicar’s ai & u! Podcast are on YouTube at the following links:
Episode 1 - https://youtu.be/yNYr28jtY_k
What is Artificial Intelligence? What is Human Intelligence?
Episode 2 - https://youtu.be/kAEgDNh1Nwc
How Did We Get Here? Machine Learning, Neural Networks & the AI Lexicon, Exciting AI Agents
Episode 3 - https://youtu.be/3PYCyv1pCgM
Deep Mind - How Powerful is Narrow AI? State Surveillance and Surveillance Capitalism
Episode 4 - https://youtu.be/WvobCMIM_H4
Impact on Societies That Possess Artificial Intelligence Versus Those that Do Not!
Episode 5 - https://youtu.be/4JVpvm4g79g
Surveillance Capitalism, Surveillance State, 4th Industrial Revolution, Bifurcation of Sapiens
Episode 6 - https://youtu.be/e1q2GgcWQok
AI, Blockchain & Quantum Computing - Implications for Global and National Governance
Episode 7 - https://youtu.be/4bDSUvrOdd4
Popular Perceptions of Intelligence, the Seat of Human Intelligence and Implications for AI
Episode 8 - https://youtu.be/3GjHqQZL7Pk
AI - Why Should I care? Plus Exciting Updates from Elon Musk and Neuralink!
Episode 9 - https://youtu.be/enpecqDecC8
AI - Excellence, Innovation & Genius
Episode 10 - https://youtu.be/UsriESlTjdA
Implications for AI as China and the West Decouple
Episode 11 - https://youtu.be/0CpaMb-yw3g
Artificial Intelligence: Ethics, Law & Society
Episode 12 - https://youtu.be/PLzodrLWMq0
AI & Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
Episode 13 - https://youtu.be/Lm_nrNyJRbA
AI & the Future of Work in Industry 4.0 – the 4th Industrial Revolution
Episode 14 - https://youtu.be/_3E1Mhr_Dt8
Artificial Intelligence and its Implications for Authoritarianism and Democracy
Episode 15 - https://youtu.be/IpMUqHOEd7w
Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness & the Future of Homo Sapiens
Episode 16 - https://youtu.be/mIf7_VMzGKo
AI and its Implications for America's Political Environment
Episode 17 - https://youtu.be/gsMRPnovZGI
Special Episode: Reading From The Génome Affair
Episode 18 - https://youtu.be/UxNxtWDCREM
Artificial Intelligence - Digital Tyranny, Datocracy and the Imitation Game
Episode 19 - https://youtu.be/Db8U0QQWWuY
Does Artificial Intelligence Really Replicate Human Intelligence?
Episode 20 - https://youtu.be/Np18AEq-6DM
AI & Rising Geopolitical Tensions Between China & The West
Episode 21 - https://youtu.be/fOMSvNiixA0
AI & In-vitro Fertilization [IVF]
Episode 22 - https://youtu.be/EQPpRhIV6Kw
AI & Human Intelligence: A Complex Relationship
Episode 23 - https://youtu.be/EAbQ7stY7JQ
AI Upends the World of Structural Biology
Episode 24 - https://youtu.be/Bsb1F8uoBpA
AI & COVID-19: An Extraordinary Contribution
Episode 25 - https://youtu.be/PqL5PCRc8tA
AI, Connectomics & Transhumanism: the Future of Humankind
Episode 26 - https://youtu.be/HI8Zjl8VM8U
Dramatic Upheaval Inside Google's Ethical AI Team
Episode 27 - https://youtu.be/TqWwJYc2GxQ
AI & Cyber Espionage | How Will the Sunburst Attack Affect Our Security?
Episode 28 - https://youtu.be/89BcThqgcfQ
AI & the Rapidly Escalating Threat from Deep Fake Videos
Episode 29 - https://youtu.be/zvOHRMmJNB4
AI, Facial Recognition Technology & The Digital Surveillance State
Episode 30 - https://youtu.be/br4ygfEWdk0
AI & Social Media | The Most Destructive AI We've Ever Seen?
Episode 31 - https://youtu.be/sOy12ii8zwM
The Democratization of AI & The 2021 Maiflower Expedition | Plymouth, England to Plymouth, MA
Episode 32 - https://youtu.be/bixdLL74reE
Sino-American Cold War | A Blessing in Disguise for America?
Episode 33 - https://youtu.be/tTRm312DgMc
AI & the Tyranny of Meritocracy
Episode 34 - https://youtu.be/FpPzC5VP6GM
In the Midst of National Chaos and Pandemic | An Extraordinary Announcement
January 8, 2021
The Tyranny of Meritocracy
The Tyranny of Meritocracy
Vicar Sayeedi
January 8, 2021
As technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Biotechnology, Computing – both Quantum and Supercomputing – and Data Science increase in prominence and offer great opportunity for people to improve their economic prospects, many highly paying jobs remain vacant and extremely difficult to fill. Many companies resort to poaching top research scientists and technologists from leading academic institutions with lucrative cash and equity compensation packages and this in turn derails the University’s own research programs. Sometimes companies will try to attract talent from China and other places. But this, too, has proven problematic. Often, these researchers, scientists and technicians have been apprehended in acts of corporate espionage; they’ve been caught stealing high value and critical intellectual property for foreign governments.
So why is it that a country with a population as large as the United States is unable to source the necessary scientific and technological talent domestically? Why is it that despite the presence of countless colleges and universities in the United States, and in Western Europe for that matter, only one third of adults in both continents hold any type of university degree? In fact, sixty seven percent of the domestic population on these two continents make their way through life with only a high school diploma or below.
In the United States, there are several major hurdles that prevent young people from attaining a university degree. Often, a person’s personal financial situation or household economics constrains them from attending college. They may have to care for young children or they may need to work long hours in several low paid jobs just to make ends meet. This leaves them with little or no time to pursue a university degree.
A second important factor is culture. We know from government statistics that the number one predictor of a person’s socioeconomic status once they reach adulthood is the zip code in which they’re born. Unfortunately, the cultural forces present within many of America’s zip codes are often so powerful that young people in their formative years are simply unable to attain the escape velocity to extricate themselves from the grip of these cultural forces, a form of entanglement that restrains them at every turn. The book, “Hillbilly Elegy” by JD Vance and the Netflix film by the same name offer powerful insights into the nuance of this problem.
The third critical factor is that not every young person tests well on quantitative assessments and reading comprehension and these two measures that are typically evaluated as a prerequisite for college admission prevent many young people from ever joining the academic programs that offer a path to well-paid careers. Although these young people often have other forms of intelligence and ability, the reality of America’s capitalist economy is that if a person is unable to test well on these two primary attributes they’re considered less than intelligent. And the other occupations where they do have strengths – music, painting, sculpture, teaching, tradesman and countless other occupations – simply do not pay well.
As the economy continues to shift away from a reality of plentiful jobs for low-skilled and unskilled workers – the sorts of jobs we have become so familiar with since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution – to an economy in which many of the repetitive jobs can be performed with much higher quality and productivity by AI-enabled machines and robots, life for low-skilled or unskilled workers will become ever more difficult. This will very likely lead to more incidents, perhaps of an even more serious nature, than the one we witnessed in America on January 6th, 2021, as the Legislature met to affirm the election of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States.
To be clear, the people involved in the Capitol Hill insurrection need to be identified and prosecuted to the maximum extent allowed under the law. Their actions are intolerable in a democratic society. With AI-enabled Facial Recognition technology from Amazon, IBM and Microsoft, this process is very likely already underway. They must be held accountable for their actions and a clear message must be sent that such behavior is unacceptable in a country that, above all, believes that we are a nation of laws.
At the same time though, we must try to understand what happened on January 6th and what led these people to this point. Since Donald Trump’s election victory in 2016, many scholars and thought leaders in Political Science have been analyzing and commenting on this cohort of the electorate – the white working class – that was involved in this mayhem. Thought leaders believe that these people were feeling desperate, forgotten, ignored, marginalized and hopeless.
Clearly, no one behaves in such a reckless manner unless they are feeling that all hope has been lost. Without any meaningful role in life and with no means to earn a respectable living, they feel they no longer have any honor. That is a humiliating way to live. Those in the mob were mostly men in their 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and even 60’s. They were not immature adolescents but hopeless and desperate adults. As already stated, their actions were inexcusable and they must be held accountable but we must also try to understand what drove them to behave in this way. These people traveled hundreds or perhaps even more than a thousand miles to come and take part in this act of mayhem, mob violence and terror and this is the behavior of desperate people.
We must acknowledge that Legislators on Capitol Hill, the sight of the insurrection, and throughout the American government have failed these people for the past thirty years so this was clearly an act of defiance and revenge. Their claims of stolen elections are baseless and are clearly not supported by the facts. Nevertheless, we need to try to understand why they respond as they do if we have any hope of correcting the problem. Although we may be able to offer them data, evidence, facts, logic, reason and science to counter and disprove every claim they make, our words will fall on deaf ears if they do not trust us. And this is the root of the problem – after 30 years of being marginalized and ignored they have lost trust in their leaders in Washington.
Finally, following Wednesday’s terrorist attack on the US Capitol, many people believe that what we witnessed was a coup d’état. But is a Coup d’état even possible in the United States? Let’s take a closer look. Coups are best directed towards governments where power is highly consolidated in the hands of a few people that are loyal to one supreme leader. Coups are, in fact, virtually impossible to engineer in mature democracies such as that of the United States or those of Western Europe due to the methodical and institutional separation of powers and loyalty, not to a supreme leader, but to the Constitution of the Nation.
In order to engineer a coup in a democracy, the coup leaders will need to simultaneously assert power over the Administration – the President and his Cabinet – the Army, the Judiciary, the Legislature, the Police and finally over the Media so that the outgoing message can be controlled. But given how decentralized power and communications are in the United States and the allegiances being sworn to the Constitution rather that to any one individual, coups are rendered virtually impossible. The film Valkyrie, which narrates the story of one of many attempted coups to oust Adolph Hitler and the Nazis from power during WWII, is an excellent example of what a real attempt at a coup d’état might look like.
In summary, the act of insurrection and mayhem we witnessed cannot stand. All involved must be held accountable. But at the same time, it is an important opportunity for profound reflection within our society and perhaps in other Western societies. We must understand what has prompted so many to behave in this way. 74.2 million people voted for Donald Trump even after four years of extraordinary mismanagement and failure. We must not dismiss them as crazy and move on. The problem is just beginning and further outbursts may prove considerably more destructive to our democracy.
Vicar Sayeedi is a Computer Scientist and Engineer, a Lecturer and a Consultant. Vicar is also the author of several books. His most recent book is about Artificial Intelligence and is titled, The Génome Affair.
Vicar is most interested in the big questions facing humankind. He is particularly focused on studying at the confluence of the five great disciplines of Human History, Political Science and Thought, International Affairs, Science and Technology. This intersection offers a deep understanding and pedagogically important lessons of how advances in human endeavor have influenced and impacted civilization.
Vicar has been writing books, essays and poetry for many years. For the past 30 years, Vicar has worked in the Technology and Pharmaceutical industries. He is currently a Consultant in the Life Sciences Industry and lives in suburban Chicago with his wife and their three grown children [if they decide to visit during the holidays!]
You can find Vicar’s recent book on AI, The Génome Affair on Amazon at this link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YQ7M9Q7
The most recent episodes of Vicar’s ai & u! Podcast are on YouTube at the following links:
Episode 1 - https://youtu.be/yNYr28jtY_k
What is Artificial Intelligence? What is Human Intelligence?
Episode 2 - https://youtu.be/kAEgDNh1Nwc
How Did We Get Here? Machine Learning, Neural Networks & the AI Lexicon, Exciting AI Agents
Episode 3 - https://youtu.be/3PYCyv1pCgM
Deep Mind - How Powerful is Narrow AI? State Surveillance and Surveillance Capitalism
Episode 4 - https://youtu.be/WvobCMIM_H4
Impact on Societies That Possess Artificial Intelligence Versus Those that Do Not!
Episode 5 - https://youtu.be/4JVpvm4g79g
Surveillance Capitalism, Surveillance State, 4th Industrial Revolution, Bifurcation of Sapiens
Episode 6 - https://youtu.be/e1q2GgcWQok
AI, Blockchain & Quantum Computing - Implications for Global and National Governance
Episode 7 - https://youtu.be/4bDSUvrOdd4
Popular Perceptions of Intelligence, the Seat of Human Intelligence and Implications for AI
Episode 8 - https://youtu.be/3GjHqQZL7Pk
AI - Why Should I care? Plus Exciting Updates from Elon Musk and Neuralink!
Episode 9 - https://youtu.be/enpecqDecC8
AI - Excellence, Innovation & Genius
Episode 10 - https://youtu.be/UsriESlTjdA
Implications for AI as China and the West Decouple
Episode 11 - https://youtu.be/0CpaMb-yw3g
Artificial Intelligence: Ethics, Law & Society
Episode 12 - https://youtu.be/PLzodrLWMq0
AI & Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
Episode 13 - https://youtu.be/Lm_nrNyJRbA
AI & the Future of Work in Industry 4.0 – the 4th Industrial Revolution
Episode 14 - https://youtu.be/_3E1Mhr_Dt8
Artificial Intelligence and its Implications for Authoritarianism and Democracy
Episode 15 - https://youtu.be/IpMUqHOEd7w
Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness & the Future of Homo Sapiens
Episode 16 - https://youtu.be/mIf7_VMzGKo
AI and its Implications for America's Political Environment
Episode 17 - https://youtu.be/gsMRPnovZGI
Special Episode: Reading From The Génome Affair
Episode 18 - https://youtu.be/UxNxtWDCREM
Artificial Intelligence - Digital Tyranny, Datocracy and the Imitation Game
Episode 19 - https://youtu.be/Db8U0QQWWuY
Does Artificial Intelligence Really Replicate Human Intelligence?
Episode 20 - https://youtu.be/Np18AEq-6DM
AI & Rising Geopolitical Tensions Between China & The West
Episode 21 - https://youtu.be/fOMSvNiixA0
AI & In-vitro Fertilization [IVF]
Episode 22 - https://youtu.be/EQPpRhIV6Kw
AI & Human Intelligence: A Complex Relationship
Episode 23 - https://youtu.be/EAbQ7stY7JQ
AI Upends the World of Structural Biology
Episode 24 - https://youtu.be/Bsb1F8uoBpA
AI & COVID-19: An Extraordinary Contribution
Episode 25 - https://youtu.be/PqL5PCRc8tA
AI, Connectomics & Transhumanism: the Future of Humankind
Episode 26 - https://youtu.be/HI8Zjl8VM8U
Dramatic Upheaval Inside Google's Ethical AI Team
Episode 27 - https://youtu.be/TqWwJYc2GxQ
AI & Cyber Espionage | How Will the Sunburst Attack Affect Our Security?
Episode 28 - https://youtu.be/89BcThqgcfQ
AI & the Rapidly Escalating Threat from Deep Fake Videos
Episode 29 - https://youtu.be/zvOHRMmJNB4
AI, Facial Recognition Technology & The Digital Surveillance State
Episode 30 - https://youtu.be/br4ygfEWdk0
AI & Social Media | The Most Destructive AI We've Ever Seen?
Episode 31 - https://youtu.be/sOy12ii8zwM
The Democratization of AI & The 2021 Maiflower Expedition | Plymouth, England to Plymouth, MA
Episode 32 - https://youtu.be/bixdLL74reE
Sino-American Cold War | A Blessing in Disguise for America?
Episode 33 - https://youtu.be/tTRm312DgMc
AI & the Tyranny of Meritocracy
Vicar Sayeedi
January 8, 2021
As technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Biotechnology, Computing – both Quantum and Supercomputing – and Data Science increase in prominence and offer great opportunity for people to improve their economic prospects, many highly paying jobs remain vacant and extremely difficult to fill. Many companies resort to poaching top research scientists and technologists from leading academic institutions with lucrative cash and equity compensation packages and this in turn derails the University’s own research programs. Sometimes companies will try to attract talent from China and other places. But this, too, has proven problematic. Often, these researchers, scientists and technicians have been apprehended in acts of corporate espionage; they’ve been caught stealing high value and critical intellectual property for foreign governments.
So why is it that a country with a population as large as the United States is unable to source the necessary scientific and technological talent domestically? Why is it that despite the presence of countless colleges and universities in the United States, and in Western Europe for that matter, only one third of adults in both continents hold any type of university degree? In fact, sixty seven percent of the domestic population on these two continents make their way through life with only a high school diploma or below.
In the United States, there are several major hurdles that prevent young people from attaining a university degree. Often, a person’s personal financial situation or household economics constrains them from attending college. They may have to care for young children or they may need to work long hours in several low paid jobs just to make ends meet. This leaves them with little or no time to pursue a university degree.
A second important factor is culture. We know from government statistics that the number one predictor of a person’s socioeconomic status once they reach adulthood is the zip code in which they’re born. Unfortunately, the cultural forces present within many of America’s zip codes are often so powerful that young people in their formative years are simply unable to attain the escape velocity to extricate themselves from the grip of these cultural forces, a form of entanglement that restrains them at every turn. The book, “Hillbilly Elegy” by JD Vance and the Netflix film by the same name offer powerful insights into the nuance of this problem.
The third critical factor is that not every young person tests well on quantitative assessments and reading comprehension and these two measures that are typically evaluated as a prerequisite for college admission prevent many young people from ever joining the academic programs that offer a path to well-paid careers. Although these young people often have other forms of intelligence and ability, the reality of America’s capitalist economy is that if a person is unable to test well on these two primary attributes they’re considered less than intelligent. And the other occupations where they do have strengths – music, painting, sculpture, teaching, tradesman and countless other occupations – simply do not pay well.
As the economy continues to shift away from a reality of plentiful jobs for low-skilled and unskilled workers – the sorts of jobs we have become so familiar with since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution – to an economy in which many of the repetitive jobs can be performed with much higher quality and productivity by AI-enabled machines and robots, life for low-skilled or unskilled workers will become ever more difficult. This will very likely lead to more incidents, perhaps of an even more serious nature, than the one we witnessed in America on January 6th, 2021, as the Legislature met to affirm the election of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States.
To be clear, the people involved in the Capitol Hill insurrection need to be identified and prosecuted to the maximum extent allowed under the law. Their actions are intolerable in a democratic society. With AI-enabled Facial Recognition technology from Amazon, IBM and Microsoft, this process is very likely already underway. They must be held accountable for their actions and a clear message must be sent that such behavior is unacceptable in a country that, above all, believes that we are a nation of laws.
At the same time though, we must try to understand what happened on January 6th and what led these people to this point. Since Donald Trump’s election victory in 2016, many scholars and thought leaders in Political Science have been analyzing and commenting on this cohort of the electorate – the white working class – that was involved in this mayhem. Thought leaders believe that these people were feeling desperate, forgotten, ignored, marginalized and hopeless.
Clearly, no one behaves in such a reckless manner unless they are feeling that all hope has been lost. Without any meaningful role in life and with no means to earn a respectable living, they feel they no longer have any honor. That is a humiliating way to live. Those in the mob were mostly men in their 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and even 60’s. They were not immature adolescents but hopeless and desperate adults. As already stated, their actions were inexcusable and they must be held accountable but we must also try to understand what drove them to behave in this way. These people traveled hundreds or perhaps even more than a thousand miles to come and take part in this act of mayhem, mob violence and terror and this is the behavior of desperate people.
We must acknowledge that Legislators on Capitol Hill, the sight of the insurrection, and throughout the American government have failed these people for the past thirty years so this was clearly an act of defiance and revenge. Their claims of stolen elections are baseless and are clearly not supported by the facts. Nevertheless, we need to try to understand why they respond as they do if we have any hope of correcting the problem. Although we may be able to offer them data, evidence, facts, logic, reason and science to counter and disprove every claim they make, our words will fall on deaf ears if they do not trust us. And this is the root of the problem – after 30 years of being marginalized and ignored they have lost trust in their leaders in Washington.
Finally, following Wednesday’s terrorist attack on the US Capitol, many people believe that what we witnessed was a coup d’état. But is a Coup d’état even possible in the United States? Let’s take a closer look. Coups are best directed towards governments where power is highly consolidated in the hands of a few people that are loyal to one supreme leader. Coups are, in fact, virtually impossible to engineer in mature democracies such as that of the United States or those of Western Europe due to the methodical and institutional separation of powers and loyalty, not to a supreme leader, but to the Constitution of the Nation.
In order to engineer a coup in a democracy, the coup leaders will need to simultaneously assert power over the Administration – the President and his Cabinet – the Army, the Judiciary, the Legislature, the Police and finally over the Media so that the outgoing message can be controlled. But given how decentralized power and communications are in the United States and the allegiances being sworn to the Constitution rather that to any one individual, coups are rendered virtually impossible. The film Valkyrie, which narrates the story of one of many attempted coups to oust Adolph Hitler and the Nazis from power during WWII, is an excellent example of what a real attempt at a coup d’état might look like.
In summary, the act of insurrection and mayhem we witnessed cannot stand. All involved must be held accountable. But at the same time, it is an important opportunity for profound reflection within our society and perhaps in other Western societies. We must understand what has prompted so many to behave in this way. 74.2 million people voted for Donald Trump even after four years of extraordinary mismanagement and failure. We must not dismiss them as crazy and move on. The problem is just beginning and further outbursts may prove considerably more destructive to our democracy.
Vicar Sayeedi is a Computer Scientist and Engineer, a Lecturer and a Consultant. Vicar is also the author of several books. His most recent book is about Artificial Intelligence and is titled, The Génome Affair.
Vicar is most interested in the big questions facing humankind. He is particularly focused on studying at the confluence of the five great disciplines of Human History, Political Science and Thought, International Affairs, Science and Technology. This intersection offers a deep understanding and pedagogically important lessons of how advances in human endeavor have influenced and impacted civilization.
Vicar has been writing books, essays and poetry for many years. For the past 30 years, Vicar has worked in the Technology and Pharmaceutical industries. He is currently a Consultant in the Life Sciences Industry and lives in suburban Chicago with his wife and their three grown children [if they decide to visit during the holidays!]
You can find Vicar’s recent book on AI, The Génome Affair on Amazon at this link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YQ7M9Q7
The most recent episodes of Vicar’s ai & u! Podcast are on YouTube at the following links:
Episode 1 - https://youtu.be/yNYr28jtY_k
What is Artificial Intelligence? What is Human Intelligence?
Episode 2 - https://youtu.be/kAEgDNh1Nwc
How Did We Get Here? Machine Learning, Neural Networks & the AI Lexicon, Exciting AI Agents
Episode 3 - https://youtu.be/3PYCyv1pCgM
Deep Mind - How Powerful is Narrow AI? State Surveillance and Surveillance Capitalism
Episode 4 - https://youtu.be/WvobCMIM_H4
Impact on Societies That Possess Artificial Intelligence Versus Those that Do Not!
Episode 5 - https://youtu.be/4JVpvm4g79g
Surveillance Capitalism, Surveillance State, 4th Industrial Revolution, Bifurcation of Sapiens
Episode 6 - https://youtu.be/e1q2GgcWQok
AI, Blockchain & Quantum Computing - Implications for Global and National Governance
Episode 7 - https://youtu.be/4bDSUvrOdd4
Popular Perceptions of Intelligence, the Seat of Human Intelligence and Implications for AI
Episode 8 - https://youtu.be/3GjHqQZL7Pk
AI - Why Should I care? Plus Exciting Updates from Elon Musk and Neuralink!
Episode 9 - https://youtu.be/enpecqDecC8
AI - Excellence, Innovation & Genius
Episode 10 - https://youtu.be/UsriESlTjdA
Implications for AI as China and the West Decouple
Episode 11 - https://youtu.be/0CpaMb-yw3g
Artificial Intelligence: Ethics, Law & Society
Episode 12 - https://youtu.be/PLzodrLWMq0
AI & Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
Episode 13 - https://youtu.be/Lm_nrNyJRbA
AI & the Future of Work in Industry 4.0 – the 4th Industrial Revolution
Episode 14 - https://youtu.be/_3E1Mhr_Dt8
Artificial Intelligence and its Implications for Authoritarianism and Democracy
Episode 15 - https://youtu.be/IpMUqHOEd7w
Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness & the Future of Homo Sapiens
Episode 16 - https://youtu.be/mIf7_VMzGKo
AI and its Implications for America's Political Environment
Episode 17 - https://youtu.be/gsMRPnovZGI
Special Episode: Reading From The Génome Affair
Episode 18 - https://youtu.be/UxNxtWDCREM
Artificial Intelligence - Digital Tyranny, Datocracy and the Imitation Game
Episode 19 - https://youtu.be/Db8U0QQWWuY
Does Artificial Intelligence Really Replicate Human Intelligence?
Episode 20 - https://youtu.be/Np18AEq-6DM
AI & Rising Geopolitical Tensions Between China & The West
Episode 21 - https://youtu.be/fOMSvNiixA0
AI & In-vitro Fertilization [IVF]
Episode 22 - https://youtu.be/EQPpRhIV6Kw
AI & Human Intelligence: A Complex Relationship
Episode 23 - https://youtu.be/EAbQ7stY7JQ
AI Upends the World of Structural Biology
Episode 24 - https://youtu.be/Bsb1F8uoBpA
AI & COVID-19: An Extraordinary Contribution
Episode 25 - https://youtu.be/PqL5PCRc8tA
AI, Connectomics & Transhumanism: the Future of Humankind
Episode 26 - https://youtu.be/HI8Zjl8VM8U
Dramatic Upheaval Inside Google's Ethical AI Team
Episode 27 - https://youtu.be/TqWwJYc2GxQ
AI & Cyber Espionage | How Will the Sunburst Attack Affect Our Security?
Episode 28 - https://youtu.be/89BcThqgcfQ
AI & the Rapidly Escalating Threat from Deep Fake Videos
Episode 29 - https://youtu.be/zvOHRMmJNB4
AI, Facial Recognition Technology & The Digital Surveillance State
Episode 30 - https://youtu.be/br4ygfEWdk0
AI & Social Media | The Most Destructive AI We've Ever Seen?
Episode 31 - https://youtu.be/sOy12ii8zwM
The Democratization of AI & The 2021 Maiflower Expedition | Plymouth, England to Plymouth, MA
Episode 32 - https://youtu.be/bixdLL74reE
Sino-American Cold War | A Blessing in Disguise for America?
Episode 33 - https://youtu.be/tTRm312DgMc
AI & the Tyranny of Meritocracy
January 6, 2021
Is a Sino-American Cold War a Blessing in Disguise?
Is a Sino-American Cold War a Blessing in Disguise?
Vicar Sayeedi
January 6, 2021
Can this growing economic, political, scientific and technological rift between China and the West and the rising potential for a resurgent Cold War actually be beneficial for America? Might it actually be a blessing in disguise?
Today, America finds itself in a politically dark and divisive place. This crisis has been thirty years in the making and there seems to be no clear way out from its quagmire. American Public Intellectuals and Thought Leaders have, thus far, failed to articulate a unifying strategy and way forward that the Electorate can collectively agree upon. This vacuum of ideas and strategies prompts us to revisit American history and the history of other nations for possible direction.
Interestingly, examining the Cold War that followed in the footsteps of World War II offers extremely valuable insights. So much so that it’s reasonable to conclude that a resurgent Cold War may greatly benefit America and its allies scientifically and technologically while also helping to restore our tradition of Liberal Democracy and that of our historic allies, as well. In fact, a heightened Cold War between these two leading economic, scientific and technological powers of the 21st Century may be the only non-violent way to restore America’s democratic traditions and strengthen its institutions. A deepening Sino-American chasm could subsequently resolve the extreme polarization within America’s Electorate, a worrisome situation that is best characterized by the title of the English Author, Charles Dickens’ 1859 book, “A Tale of Two Cities”.
Over the past thirty years, the West has experienced an extreme rise in income and wealth inequality. Today, no country in the Developed World has a greater degree of income and wealth inequality than the United States and the scientific and technological advancements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution [Artificial Intelligence & Robotics, Biotechnology, Computing and Data Science] are only serving to make this inequality worse. This is likely to continue unabated. The US is the richest and oldest democracy in the World today and has the most stable institutions of democracy that ensure the American system of government is secure. Yet, we are living in a time where we are witnessing an assault on democratic norms everyday and this will unquestionably lead to an erosion of the foundation of these long stable institutions.
We are simultaneously witnessing an extraordinary degree of political polarization within the American Electorate that is considerably exacerbated by AI-enabled Social Media and we are living through times of exceedingly poor governance, as exhibited by our national response to the Coronavirus. At the same time, Epidemiology, Public Health practices, testing and contact tracing technology and quarantine protocols [TTQ] developed in the United States are being effectively deployed in distant lands and are successfully containing the Coronavirus without lockdowns, economic impacts or significant death tolls. Taiwan is a case in point, a country that is not allowed membership in the World Health Organization at the behest of the UN body’s largest contributor: China.
In the final analysis, the data clearly shows that American citizens are rapidly losing faith in democracy and free market capitalism and are openly siding with demagogues who prey upon their inherent xenophobia and fears of a rapidly changing world that reserves no place for them. These new realities have given rise to Authoritarian trends amongst many Developed Economies, including some that are currently members of NATO. It is a worrisome state of affairs for the future of the United States.
During the Cold War with the Soviet Union, a period from the end of World War II until 1991, America had a very powerful incentive to ensure the welfare of its Middle and Working Class citizens. As the leader of the free Western nations, the Western Bloc, America desperately needed to ensure that other non-aligned nations around the world did not fall under the sphere of influence of Soviet propaganda. So America went to great lengths to ensure the economic security and social welfare of ordinary citizens.
Hollywood made films and television programs showcasing the lives of ordinary Americans. Middle Class Americans and even Working Class citizens were shown to be happy and living comfortable, fulfilled lives. The Hollywood story was true. Ordinary citizens had jobs, food, clean water, a home, a car and schools for their children. After high school, families could send their children to colleges and universities. In summer, these ordinary American families would take vacations – road trips across the country in the family station wagon – and they had washing machines and refrigerators in their homes. This life was a reality for ordinary Americans.
During the same period, The Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc had central planned economies that were firmly under State control. These societies were famous for bread lines as ordinary citizens queued daily for hours to obtain rationed food staples and living essentials. Their lives were miserable and the contrast with their counterparts in the West could not have been greater.
Nevertheless, the Soviet Bloc excelled in science and technology and eclipsed America in the Space Race with their Sputnik Satellite and Space Exploration program of the late 1950’s. This competition from the Soviets put tremendous pressure on the West and in particular, on America. As a response, the US government and American industry worked together with extraordinary cooperation, a strategy that brought out the best in what the Country could do. The Apollo program that put men on the moon for the first time in human history and brought them back to Earth safely was an achievement that demonstrated the merits of the American and Western systems for all the world to see. The national pride was ascendant and the world looked on with awe at the miracle that was America. This was the birth of the notion of American Exceptionalism.
With the rising standards of living amongst ordinary Americans and the Country’s outstanding scientific and technological prowess on display, it became increasingly difficult for the Soviet Union to impress non-aligned countries. Economies across the West increasingly prospered, living standards continues to rise, industrial prowess soared, new consumer products and services filled markets, pride amongst the people was strong and American and European companies and industries amazed the world.
But this was not to last. Once the disintegration of the Soviet Empire began in the late 1980’s with the tearing down of the Berlin Wall between East and West Germany and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union, America and the West lost their chief ideological opponent, and with it, their existential threat. In his book, “The End of History” the noted Political Scientist, Francis Fukuyama wrote that Liberal Democracy had won. Communism and Fascism had been relegated to the dustbin of history.
But now the need for cohesion and cooperation across the various socioeconomic strata of American society had also begun to disintegrate, and with it, government and industrial support for the Middle and Working Classes began to erode. American Financiers and Industrialists entered into trading and manufacturing agreements around the world without any consideration for the impacts these new arrangements would have on the lives of the Country’s Proletariat, its Working Class, its factory workers in manufacturing plants that had made clothes, shoes, washing machines, dryers, refrigerators, cars, trucks and everything else for the Country.
Thirty years on from the collapse of America and the West’s chief ideological opponent and existential threat, the Soviet Union, we are now experiencing a dangerous degree of polarization amongst America’s Electorate and the Electorate of other Western countries including France, Germany, Spain and the UK. This polarization is a direct result of the actions of America’s financial, industrial and political elites. Their neglect for the basic needs of America’s Middle and Working Classes has led to a breakdown in trust and created an enormous chasm in the Electorate that is now very difficult if not impossible to peacefully reconcile.
As the 2020 US Presidential Election recedes into the annals of history, interesting and consequential statistical insights are gradually making their way to the fore. One such important metric illuminates America’s electoral divide by geography: in the 2020 Election, US counties that voted for Biden represented just 10% of America’s land mass but 70% of its economic activity while those counties that voted for Trump represented 90% of America’s land mass but only 30% of its economic activity.
We can observe America’s Great Divide manifest itself in culture, as well. The vast majority of our arts as represented by Hollywood films, literature, music, television programs and theatre now only characterize the lives of those living in counties representing the major metropolitan areas with very little cultural bandwidth dedicated to the characterization of those living on the poor and largely uneducated 90% land mass. The story was so different during the Cold War when the Middle and Working Classes were openly and regularly celebrated in arts and culture.
But it is possible that if a new Silk Curtain rises between China and the West, the pressure to socioeconomically unite America may also, once again, rise. The Soviet Union was militarily very dangerous but was never an economic or technological threat to the West. With China, however, the story is quite different. China is not simply an ideological threat but is also an economic, political, scientific and technological threat.
If America and the West do not wish to fall under the yoke of Chinese hegemony enabled by their economic, scientific and technological prowess, we will need to unite politically and socioeconomically: there is no choice. We will need to close the chasm of income and wealth inequality and once again cooperate as one body as we did during the second half of the 20th Century. Doing so may enable a next act in the history of this great Nation and perhaps be the only way to prevent America and the West from collapsing under the weight of their misdeeds during the thirty-year era of pre-Pandemic Globalization.
Vicar Sayeedi is a Computer Scientist and Engineer, a Lecturer and a Consultant. Vicar is also the author of several books. His most recent book is about Artificial Intelligence and is titled, The Génome Affair.
Vicar is most interested in the big questions facing humankind. He is particularly focused on studying at the confluence of the five great disciplines of Human History, Political Science and Thought, International Affairs, Science and Technology. This intersection offers a deep understanding and pedagogically important lessons of how advances in human endeavor have influenced and impacted civilization.
Vicar has been writing books, essays and poetry for many years. For the past 30 years, Vicar has worked in the Technology and Pharmaceutical industries. He is currently a Consultant in the Life Sciences Industry and lives in suburban Chicago with his wife and their three grown children [if they decide to visit during the holidays!]
You can find Vicar’s recent book on AI, The Génome Affair on Amazon at this link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YQ7M9Q7
The most recent episodes of Vicar’s ai & u! Podcast are on YouTube at the following links:
Episode 1 - https://youtu.be/yNYr28jtY_k
What is Artificial Intelligence? What is Human Intelligence?
Episode 2 - https://youtu.be/kAEgDNh1Nwc
How Did We Get Here? Machine Learning, Neural Networks & the AI Lexicon, Exciting AI Agents
Episode 3 - https://youtu.be/3PYCyv1pCgM
Deep Mind - How Powerful is Narrow AI? State Surveillance and Surveillance Capitalism
Episode 4 - https://youtu.be/WvobCMIM_H4
Impact on Societies That Possess Artificial Intelligence Versus Those that Do Not!
Episode 5 - https://youtu.be/4JVpvm4g79g
Surveillance Capitalism, Surveillance State, 4th Industrial Revolution, Bifurcation of Sapiens
Episode 6 - https://youtu.be/e1q2GgcWQok
AI, Blockchain & Quantum Computing - Implications for Global and National Governance
Episode 7 - https://youtu.be/4bDSUvrOdd4
Popular Perceptions of Intelligence, the Seat of Human Intelligence and Implications for AI
Episode 8 - https://youtu.be/3GjHqQZL7Pk
AI - Why Should I care? Plus Exciting Updates from Elon Musk and Neuralink!
Episode 9 - https://youtu.be/enpecqDecC8
AI - Excellence, Innovation & Genius
Episode 10 - https://youtu.be/UsriESlTjdA
Implications for AI as China and the West Decouple
Episode 11 - https://youtu.be/0CpaMb-yw3g
Artificial Intelligence: Ethics, Law & Society
Episode 12 - https://youtu.be/PLzodrLWMq0
AI & Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
Episode 13 - https://youtu.be/Lm_nrNyJRbA
AI & the Future of Work in Industry 4.0 – the 4th Industrial Revolution
Episode 14 - https://youtu.be/_3E1Mhr_Dt8
Artificial Intelligence and its Implications for Authoritarianism and Democracy
Episode 15 - https://youtu.be/IpMUqHOEd7w
Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness & the Future of Homo Sapiens
Episode 16 - https://youtu.be/mIf7_VMzGKo
AI and its Implications for America's Political Environment
Episode 17 - https://youtu.be/gsMRPnovZGI
Special Episode: Reading From The Génome Affair
Episode 18 - https://youtu.be/UxNxtWDCREM
Artificial Intelligence - Digital Tyranny, Datocracy and the Imitation Game
Episode 19 - https://youtu.be/Db8U0QQWWuY
Does Artificial Intelligence Really Replicate Human Intelligence?
Episode 20 - https://youtu.be/Np18AEq-6DM
AI & Rising Geopolitical Tensions Between China & The West
Episode 21 - https://youtu.be/fOMSvNiixA0
AI & In-vitro Fertilization [IVF]
Episode 22 - https://youtu.be/EQPpRhIV6Kw
AI & Human Intelligence: A Complex Relationship
Episode 23 - https://youtu.be/EAbQ7stY7JQ
AI Upends the World of Structural Biology
Episode 24 - https://youtu.be/Bsb1F8uoBpA
AI & COVID-19: An Extraordinary Contribution
Episode 25 - https://youtu.be/PqL5PCRc8tA
AI, Connectomics & Transhumanism: the Future of Humankind
Episode 26 - https://youtu.be/HI8Zjl8VM8U
Dramatic Upheaval Inside Google's Ethical AI Team
Episode 27 - https://youtu.be/TqWwJYc2GxQ
AI & Cyber Espionage | How Will the Sunburst Attack Affect Our Security?
Episode 28 - https://youtu.be/89BcThqgcfQ
AI & the Rapidly Escalating Threat from Deep Fake Videos
Episode 29 - https://youtu.be/zvOHRMmJNB4
AI, Facial Recognition Technology & The Digital Surveillance State
Episode 30 - https://youtu.be/br4ygfEWdk0
AI & Social Media | The Most Destructive AI We've Ever Seen?
Episode 31 - https://youtu.be/sOy12ii8zwM
The Democratization of AI & The 2021 Maiflower Expedition | Plymouth, England to Plymouth, MA
Episode 32 - https://youtu.be/bixdLL74reE
Sino-American Cold War | A Blessing in Disguise for America?
Vicar Sayeedi
January 6, 2021
Can this growing economic, political, scientific and technological rift between China and the West and the rising potential for a resurgent Cold War actually be beneficial for America? Might it actually be a blessing in disguise?
Today, America finds itself in a politically dark and divisive place. This crisis has been thirty years in the making and there seems to be no clear way out from its quagmire. American Public Intellectuals and Thought Leaders have, thus far, failed to articulate a unifying strategy and way forward that the Electorate can collectively agree upon. This vacuum of ideas and strategies prompts us to revisit American history and the history of other nations for possible direction.
Interestingly, examining the Cold War that followed in the footsteps of World War II offers extremely valuable insights. So much so that it’s reasonable to conclude that a resurgent Cold War may greatly benefit America and its allies scientifically and technologically while also helping to restore our tradition of Liberal Democracy and that of our historic allies, as well. In fact, a heightened Cold War between these two leading economic, scientific and technological powers of the 21st Century may be the only non-violent way to restore America’s democratic traditions and strengthen its institutions. A deepening Sino-American chasm could subsequently resolve the extreme polarization within America’s Electorate, a worrisome situation that is best characterized by the title of the English Author, Charles Dickens’ 1859 book, “A Tale of Two Cities”.
Over the past thirty years, the West has experienced an extreme rise in income and wealth inequality. Today, no country in the Developed World has a greater degree of income and wealth inequality than the United States and the scientific and technological advancements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution [Artificial Intelligence & Robotics, Biotechnology, Computing and Data Science] are only serving to make this inequality worse. This is likely to continue unabated. The US is the richest and oldest democracy in the World today and has the most stable institutions of democracy that ensure the American system of government is secure. Yet, we are living in a time where we are witnessing an assault on democratic norms everyday and this will unquestionably lead to an erosion of the foundation of these long stable institutions.
We are simultaneously witnessing an extraordinary degree of political polarization within the American Electorate that is considerably exacerbated by AI-enabled Social Media and we are living through times of exceedingly poor governance, as exhibited by our national response to the Coronavirus. At the same time, Epidemiology, Public Health practices, testing and contact tracing technology and quarantine protocols [TTQ] developed in the United States are being effectively deployed in distant lands and are successfully containing the Coronavirus without lockdowns, economic impacts or significant death tolls. Taiwan is a case in point, a country that is not allowed membership in the World Health Organization at the behest of the UN body’s largest contributor: China.
In the final analysis, the data clearly shows that American citizens are rapidly losing faith in democracy and free market capitalism and are openly siding with demagogues who prey upon their inherent xenophobia and fears of a rapidly changing world that reserves no place for them. These new realities have given rise to Authoritarian trends amongst many Developed Economies, including some that are currently members of NATO. It is a worrisome state of affairs for the future of the United States.
During the Cold War with the Soviet Union, a period from the end of World War II until 1991, America had a very powerful incentive to ensure the welfare of its Middle and Working Class citizens. As the leader of the free Western nations, the Western Bloc, America desperately needed to ensure that other non-aligned nations around the world did not fall under the sphere of influence of Soviet propaganda. So America went to great lengths to ensure the economic security and social welfare of ordinary citizens.
Hollywood made films and television programs showcasing the lives of ordinary Americans. Middle Class Americans and even Working Class citizens were shown to be happy and living comfortable, fulfilled lives. The Hollywood story was true. Ordinary citizens had jobs, food, clean water, a home, a car and schools for their children. After high school, families could send their children to colleges and universities. In summer, these ordinary American families would take vacations – road trips across the country in the family station wagon – and they had washing machines and refrigerators in their homes. This life was a reality for ordinary Americans.
During the same period, The Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc had central planned economies that were firmly under State control. These societies were famous for bread lines as ordinary citizens queued daily for hours to obtain rationed food staples and living essentials. Their lives were miserable and the contrast with their counterparts in the West could not have been greater.
Nevertheless, the Soviet Bloc excelled in science and technology and eclipsed America in the Space Race with their Sputnik Satellite and Space Exploration program of the late 1950’s. This competition from the Soviets put tremendous pressure on the West and in particular, on America. As a response, the US government and American industry worked together with extraordinary cooperation, a strategy that brought out the best in what the Country could do. The Apollo program that put men on the moon for the first time in human history and brought them back to Earth safely was an achievement that demonstrated the merits of the American and Western systems for all the world to see. The national pride was ascendant and the world looked on with awe at the miracle that was America. This was the birth of the notion of American Exceptionalism.
With the rising standards of living amongst ordinary Americans and the Country’s outstanding scientific and technological prowess on display, it became increasingly difficult for the Soviet Union to impress non-aligned countries. Economies across the West increasingly prospered, living standards continues to rise, industrial prowess soared, new consumer products and services filled markets, pride amongst the people was strong and American and European companies and industries amazed the world.
But this was not to last. Once the disintegration of the Soviet Empire began in the late 1980’s with the tearing down of the Berlin Wall between East and West Germany and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union, America and the West lost their chief ideological opponent, and with it, their existential threat. In his book, “The End of History” the noted Political Scientist, Francis Fukuyama wrote that Liberal Democracy had won. Communism and Fascism had been relegated to the dustbin of history.
But now the need for cohesion and cooperation across the various socioeconomic strata of American society had also begun to disintegrate, and with it, government and industrial support for the Middle and Working Classes began to erode. American Financiers and Industrialists entered into trading and manufacturing agreements around the world without any consideration for the impacts these new arrangements would have on the lives of the Country’s Proletariat, its Working Class, its factory workers in manufacturing plants that had made clothes, shoes, washing machines, dryers, refrigerators, cars, trucks and everything else for the Country.
Thirty years on from the collapse of America and the West’s chief ideological opponent and existential threat, the Soviet Union, we are now experiencing a dangerous degree of polarization amongst America’s Electorate and the Electorate of other Western countries including France, Germany, Spain and the UK. This polarization is a direct result of the actions of America’s financial, industrial and political elites. Their neglect for the basic needs of America’s Middle and Working Classes has led to a breakdown in trust and created an enormous chasm in the Electorate that is now very difficult if not impossible to peacefully reconcile.
As the 2020 US Presidential Election recedes into the annals of history, interesting and consequential statistical insights are gradually making their way to the fore. One such important metric illuminates America’s electoral divide by geography: in the 2020 Election, US counties that voted for Biden represented just 10% of America’s land mass but 70% of its economic activity while those counties that voted for Trump represented 90% of America’s land mass but only 30% of its economic activity.
We can observe America’s Great Divide manifest itself in culture, as well. The vast majority of our arts as represented by Hollywood films, literature, music, television programs and theatre now only characterize the lives of those living in counties representing the major metropolitan areas with very little cultural bandwidth dedicated to the characterization of those living on the poor and largely uneducated 90% land mass. The story was so different during the Cold War when the Middle and Working Classes were openly and regularly celebrated in arts and culture.
But it is possible that if a new Silk Curtain rises between China and the West, the pressure to socioeconomically unite America may also, once again, rise. The Soviet Union was militarily very dangerous but was never an economic or technological threat to the West. With China, however, the story is quite different. China is not simply an ideological threat but is also an economic, political, scientific and technological threat.
If America and the West do not wish to fall under the yoke of Chinese hegemony enabled by their economic, scientific and technological prowess, we will need to unite politically and socioeconomically: there is no choice. We will need to close the chasm of income and wealth inequality and once again cooperate as one body as we did during the second half of the 20th Century. Doing so may enable a next act in the history of this great Nation and perhaps be the only way to prevent America and the West from collapsing under the weight of their misdeeds during the thirty-year era of pre-Pandemic Globalization.
Vicar Sayeedi is a Computer Scientist and Engineer, a Lecturer and a Consultant. Vicar is also the author of several books. His most recent book is about Artificial Intelligence and is titled, The Génome Affair.
Vicar is most interested in the big questions facing humankind. He is particularly focused on studying at the confluence of the five great disciplines of Human History, Political Science and Thought, International Affairs, Science and Technology. This intersection offers a deep understanding and pedagogically important lessons of how advances in human endeavor have influenced and impacted civilization.
Vicar has been writing books, essays and poetry for many years. For the past 30 years, Vicar has worked in the Technology and Pharmaceutical industries. He is currently a Consultant in the Life Sciences Industry and lives in suburban Chicago with his wife and their three grown children [if they decide to visit during the holidays!]
You can find Vicar’s recent book on AI, The Génome Affair on Amazon at this link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YQ7M9Q7
The most recent episodes of Vicar’s ai & u! Podcast are on YouTube at the following links:
Episode 1 - https://youtu.be/yNYr28jtY_k
What is Artificial Intelligence? What is Human Intelligence?
Episode 2 - https://youtu.be/kAEgDNh1Nwc
How Did We Get Here? Machine Learning, Neural Networks & the AI Lexicon, Exciting AI Agents
Episode 3 - https://youtu.be/3PYCyv1pCgM
Deep Mind - How Powerful is Narrow AI? State Surveillance and Surveillance Capitalism
Episode 4 - https://youtu.be/WvobCMIM_H4
Impact on Societies That Possess Artificial Intelligence Versus Those that Do Not!
Episode 5 - https://youtu.be/4JVpvm4g79g
Surveillance Capitalism, Surveillance State, 4th Industrial Revolution, Bifurcation of Sapiens
Episode 6 - https://youtu.be/e1q2GgcWQok
AI, Blockchain & Quantum Computing - Implications for Global and National Governance
Episode 7 - https://youtu.be/4bDSUvrOdd4
Popular Perceptions of Intelligence, the Seat of Human Intelligence and Implications for AI
Episode 8 - https://youtu.be/3GjHqQZL7Pk
AI - Why Should I care? Plus Exciting Updates from Elon Musk and Neuralink!
Episode 9 - https://youtu.be/enpecqDecC8
AI - Excellence, Innovation & Genius
Episode 10 - https://youtu.be/UsriESlTjdA
Implications for AI as China and the West Decouple
Episode 11 - https://youtu.be/0CpaMb-yw3g
Artificial Intelligence: Ethics, Law & Society
Episode 12 - https://youtu.be/PLzodrLWMq0
AI & Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
Episode 13 - https://youtu.be/Lm_nrNyJRbA
AI & the Future of Work in Industry 4.0 – the 4th Industrial Revolution
Episode 14 - https://youtu.be/_3E1Mhr_Dt8
Artificial Intelligence and its Implications for Authoritarianism and Democracy
Episode 15 - https://youtu.be/IpMUqHOEd7w
Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness & the Future of Homo Sapiens
Episode 16 - https://youtu.be/mIf7_VMzGKo
AI and its Implications for America's Political Environment
Episode 17 - https://youtu.be/gsMRPnovZGI
Special Episode: Reading From The Génome Affair
Episode 18 - https://youtu.be/UxNxtWDCREM
Artificial Intelligence - Digital Tyranny, Datocracy and the Imitation Game
Episode 19 - https://youtu.be/Db8U0QQWWuY
Does Artificial Intelligence Really Replicate Human Intelligence?
Episode 20 - https://youtu.be/Np18AEq-6DM
AI & Rising Geopolitical Tensions Between China & The West
Episode 21 - https://youtu.be/fOMSvNiixA0
AI & In-vitro Fertilization [IVF]
Episode 22 - https://youtu.be/EQPpRhIV6Kw
AI & Human Intelligence: A Complex Relationship
Episode 23 - https://youtu.be/EAbQ7stY7JQ
AI Upends the World of Structural Biology
Episode 24 - https://youtu.be/Bsb1F8uoBpA
AI & COVID-19: An Extraordinary Contribution
Episode 25 - https://youtu.be/PqL5PCRc8tA
AI, Connectomics & Transhumanism: the Future of Humankind
Episode 26 - https://youtu.be/HI8Zjl8VM8U
Dramatic Upheaval Inside Google's Ethical AI Team
Episode 27 - https://youtu.be/TqWwJYc2GxQ
AI & Cyber Espionage | How Will the Sunburst Attack Affect Our Security?
Episode 28 - https://youtu.be/89BcThqgcfQ
AI & the Rapidly Escalating Threat from Deep Fake Videos
Episode 29 - https://youtu.be/zvOHRMmJNB4
AI, Facial Recognition Technology & The Digital Surveillance State
Episode 30 - https://youtu.be/br4ygfEWdk0
AI & Social Media | The Most Destructive AI We've Ever Seen?
Episode 31 - https://youtu.be/sOy12ii8zwM
The Democratization of AI & The 2021 Maiflower Expedition | Plymouth, England to Plymouth, MA
Episode 32 - https://youtu.be/bixdLL74reE
Sino-American Cold War | A Blessing in Disguise for America?
January 1, 2021
The Most Destructive AI in Human History? [So Far]
Vicar Sayeedi
Over the past ten years, Artificial Intelligence has had a profound impact on society. It has made its presence felt in virtually every industry and area of human endeavor while the number of AI use cases continues to grow with each passing month. With AI Agents such as GPT-3 natural language processing from Open AI in San Francisco to Alpha Fold in Structural Biology from Deep Mind in London, the ground-breaking contributions of AI are seemingly endless. And although these applications of AI are profoundly positive, we can’t help but fear how this incredibly powerful Fourth Industrial Revolution Technology might negatively impact our lives.
One such worrisome impact of AI has to do with the very notion of truth in society. There are three distinct types of people in society today: those with information, those with knowledge and those with wisdom. Information is now virtually unlimited in its availability. We only need to activate our smartphones and we have limitless amounts of information at our fingertips. But a common mistake amongst people is the belief that information and knowledge are one and the same. They are, in fact, quite different.
To generate or produce knowledge, we must start with information. Then, this information will need to be extensively and laboriously processed by our intellect. We will need to apply logic, reason and science in an effort to extract meaning and value from the information. We will likely need to triangulate the information, as well. Essentially, we must examine the information from the perspective of multiple academic disciplines to determine what can be surmised in the context of what we already know or in the context of evidence previously collected but not understood.
Once we have completed these processes, we will then need to document our conclusions. We will have to begin with a draft, a preliminary version of our thoughts and findings that can then be shared with others for their insights and criticisms. This process will probably involve a significant number of iterations and hence, a great deal of time.
Eventually though, we will be able to publish our findings in a respectable journal and a wider audience of our peers from around the world will then evaluate our work and will likely challenge our findings in subsequent publications of their own. This process goes on and on and through this disciplined approach, humankind’s overall body of knowledge grows. It is a time-tested process that requires a great deal of discipline, humility and patience. Invariably, we will make mistakes along the way and we will be criticized but this is also a necessary part of the process. But eventually, humankind will benefit as their total body of knowledge and understanding grows.
At some point during this process of cultivating new knowledge, some amongst us will take our ideas and experiment with their application in real world scenarios. Their goal will be to determine whether they can increase positive outcomes or reduce negative outcomes. The ability to apply knowledge to improve outcomes is the attainment of wisdom.
So, now we can see that information, knowledge and wisdom are not at all the same thing. But this concept is not readily understood or accepted by the majority of society. In fact, in our current environment, a person with access to information can use some of it to assemble straw man arguments and conspiracy theories based upon simplistic understanding and arguments and these arguments and theories can attract hundreds of millions or even billions of listeners and viewers on social media.
A prominent, recent example was Alex Jones and his Info Wars Podcast. Another was the story of the group promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory. Unfortunately, the fact that such arguments and theories have no basis in fact or that they cannot withstand even the most basic degree of scrutiny is irrelevant to those that promote them or to those who find them compelling. They simply believe what they want to believe and refuse to allow knowledge or truth to stand in their way.
This problem has been significantly exacerbated by Social Media in the last ten years and as such, has emerged as perhaps the most dangerous and destructive application of Artificial Intelligence that we’ve experienced and witnessed. It is leading to a significant weakening of democracies in the Developed World and has strengthened the hand of Authoritarians. It has broken relationships between friends and family members that had previously endured decades of tribulation.
Once the AI Agents that underpin social media platforms such as Facebook and Youtube! realized they could keep a User on their platform endlessly engaged by showing them posts and videos that triggered anger or fear, this became their modus operandi. They weren’t concerned that the posts and videos they were recommending were false – to them, this was irrelevant. They shirked this responsibility by claiming that they were Tech companies and didn’t shoulder the burden of any sort of journalistic integrity or societal responsibility. They didn’t want this responsibility because it conflicted with their economic goal, which was to maximize the time a User spent on their platform. The longer a user spent on their platform the more opportunity Facebook and Youtube had to learn about and collect data on that User and also to show them more ads. This is how the social media platforms monetize their product to such an extraordinary degree. In fact, this process of predictive analytics applied to the digital exhaust left behind by Users traversing the Internet has resulted in the most lucrative business model in the history of human commerce.
Although these platforms are having a detrimental effect on society and are doing untold damage to democracy – which depends on society knowing the truth – very little has been done by regulators to address this problem. The European Union is slowly and gradually intervening and in many ways providing crucial leadership for the Developed World on issues of User Privacy and Protection. But the financial contributions of these Tech giants to the campaigns of politicians in the United States has, thus far, served their interests well. They continue to grow in power and wealth and avoid regulation.
But we have now reached a point in the development of Artificial Intelligence that a carefully orchestrated approach to regulation has become profoundly urgent – so we must hope that 2021 will bear witness to this recognition by the European Union and the United States. AI enabled social media has shown itself to be the single most destructive application of Artificial Intelligence in the world today and this power must be reigned in before things go much further. The future of democracy may well rest in our ability to curtail it.
Vicar Sayeedi
December 31, 2020
Vicar Sayeedi is a Computer Scientist and Engineer, a Lecturer and a Consultant. Vicar is also the author of several books. His most recent book is about Artificial Intelligence and is titled, The Génome Affair.
Vicar is most interested in the big questions facing humankind. He is particularly focused on studying at the confluence of the five great disciplines of Human History, Political Science and Thought, International Affairs, Science and Technology. This intersection offers a deep understanding and pedagogically important lessons of how advances in human endeavor have influenced and impacted civilization.
You can find Vicar’s recent book on AI, The Génome Affair on Amazon at this link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YQ7M9Q7
The most recent episodes of Vicar’s ai & u! Podcast are on YouTube at the following links:
Episode 1 - https://youtu.be/yNYr28jtY_k
What is Artificial Intelligence? What is Human Intelligence?
Episode 2 - https://youtu.be/kAEgDNh1Nwc
How Did We Get Here? Machine Learning, Neural Networks & the AI Lexicon, Exciting AI Agents
Episode 3 - https://youtu.be/3PYCyv1pCgM
Deep Mind - How Powerful is Narrow AI? State Surveillance and Surveillance Capitalism
Episode 4 - https://youtu.be/WvobCMIM_H4
Impact on Societies That Possess Artificial Intelligence Versus Those that Do Not!
Episode 5 - https://youtu.be/4JVpvm4g79g
Surveillance Capitalism, Surveillance State, 4th Industrial Revolution, Bifurcation of Sapiens
Episode 6 - https://youtu.be/e1q2GgcWQok
AI, Blockchain & Quantum Computing - Implications for Global and National Governance
Episode 7 - https://youtu.be/4bDSUvrOdd4
Popular Perceptions of Intelligence, the Seat of Human Intelligence and Implications for AI
Episode 8 - https://youtu.be/3GjHqQZL7Pk
AI - Why Should I care? Plus Exciting Updates from Elon Musk and Neuralink!
Episode 9 - https://youtu.be/enpecqDecC8
AI - Excellence, Innovation & Genius
Episode 10 - https://youtu.be/UsriESlTjdA
Implications for AI as China and the West Decouple
Episode 11 - https://youtu.be/0CpaMb-yw3g
Artificial Intelligence: Ethics, Law & Society
Episode 12 - https://youtu.be/PLzodrLWMq0
AI & Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
Episode 13 - https://youtu.be/Lm_nrNyJRbA
AI & the Future of Work in Industry 4.0 – the 4th Industrial Revolution
Episode 14 - https://youtu.be/_3E1Mhr_Dt8
Artificial Intelligence and its Implications for Authoritarianism and Democracy
Episode 15 - https://youtu.be/IpMUqHOEd7w
Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness & the Future of Homo Sapiens
Episode 16 - https://youtu.be/mIf7_VMzGKo
AI and its Implications for America's Political Environment
Episode 17 - https://youtu.be/gsMRPnovZGI
Special Episode: Reading From The Génome Affair
Episode 18 - https://youtu.be/UxNxtWDCREM
Artificial Intelligence - Digital Tyranny, Datocracy and the Imitation Game
Episode 19 - https://youtu.be/Db8U0QQWWuY
Does Artificial Intelligence Really Replicate Human Intelligence?
Episode 20 - https://youtu.be/Np18AEq-6DM
AI & Rising Geopolitical Tensions Between China & The West
Episode 21 - https://youtu.be/fOMSvNiixA0
AI & In-vitro Fertilization [IVF]
Episode 22 - https://youtu.be/EQPpRhIV6Kw
AI & Human Intelligence: A Complex Relationship
Episode 23 - https://youtu.be/EAbQ7stY7JQ
AI Upends the World of Structural Biology
Episode 24 - https://youtu.be/Bsb1F8uoBpA
AI & COVID-19: An Extraordinary Contribution
Episode 25 - https://youtu.be/PqL5PCRc8tA
AI, Connectomics & Transhumanism: the Future of Humankind
Episode 26 - https://youtu.be/HI8Zjl8VM8U
Dramatic Upheaval Inside Google's Ethical AI Team
Episode 27 - https://youtu.be/TqWwJYc2GxQ
AI & Cyber Espionage | How Will the Sunburst Attack Affect Our Security?
Episode 28 - https://youtu.be/89BcThqgcfQ
AI & the Rapidly Escalating Threat from Deep Fake Videos
Episode 29 - https://youtu.be/zvOHRMmJNB4
AI, Facial Recognition Technology & The Digital Surveillance State
Episode 30 - https://youtu.be/br4ygfEWdk0
AI & Social Media | The Most Destructive AI We've Ever Seen?
Over the past ten years, Artificial Intelligence has had a profound impact on society. It has made its presence felt in virtually every industry and area of human endeavor while the number of AI use cases continues to grow with each passing month. With AI Agents such as GPT-3 natural language processing from Open AI in San Francisco to Alpha Fold in Structural Biology from Deep Mind in London, the ground-breaking contributions of AI are seemingly endless. And although these applications of AI are profoundly positive, we can’t help but fear how this incredibly powerful Fourth Industrial Revolution Technology might negatively impact our lives.
One such worrisome impact of AI has to do with the very notion of truth in society. There are three distinct types of people in society today: those with information, those with knowledge and those with wisdom. Information is now virtually unlimited in its availability. We only need to activate our smartphones and we have limitless amounts of information at our fingertips. But a common mistake amongst people is the belief that information and knowledge are one and the same. They are, in fact, quite different.
To generate or produce knowledge, we must start with information. Then, this information will need to be extensively and laboriously processed by our intellect. We will need to apply logic, reason and science in an effort to extract meaning and value from the information. We will likely need to triangulate the information, as well. Essentially, we must examine the information from the perspective of multiple academic disciplines to determine what can be surmised in the context of what we already know or in the context of evidence previously collected but not understood.
Once we have completed these processes, we will then need to document our conclusions. We will have to begin with a draft, a preliminary version of our thoughts and findings that can then be shared with others for their insights and criticisms. This process will probably involve a significant number of iterations and hence, a great deal of time.
Eventually though, we will be able to publish our findings in a respectable journal and a wider audience of our peers from around the world will then evaluate our work and will likely challenge our findings in subsequent publications of their own. This process goes on and on and through this disciplined approach, humankind’s overall body of knowledge grows. It is a time-tested process that requires a great deal of discipline, humility and patience. Invariably, we will make mistakes along the way and we will be criticized but this is also a necessary part of the process. But eventually, humankind will benefit as their total body of knowledge and understanding grows.
At some point during this process of cultivating new knowledge, some amongst us will take our ideas and experiment with their application in real world scenarios. Their goal will be to determine whether they can increase positive outcomes or reduce negative outcomes. The ability to apply knowledge to improve outcomes is the attainment of wisdom.
So, now we can see that information, knowledge and wisdom are not at all the same thing. But this concept is not readily understood or accepted by the majority of society. In fact, in our current environment, a person with access to information can use some of it to assemble straw man arguments and conspiracy theories based upon simplistic understanding and arguments and these arguments and theories can attract hundreds of millions or even billions of listeners and viewers on social media.
A prominent, recent example was Alex Jones and his Info Wars Podcast. Another was the story of the group promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory. Unfortunately, the fact that such arguments and theories have no basis in fact or that they cannot withstand even the most basic degree of scrutiny is irrelevant to those that promote them or to those who find them compelling. They simply believe what they want to believe and refuse to allow knowledge or truth to stand in their way.
This problem has been significantly exacerbated by Social Media in the last ten years and as such, has emerged as perhaps the most dangerous and destructive application of Artificial Intelligence that we’ve experienced and witnessed. It is leading to a significant weakening of democracies in the Developed World and has strengthened the hand of Authoritarians. It has broken relationships between friends and family members that had previously endured decades of tribulation.
Once the AI Agents that underpin social media platforms such as Facebook and Youtube! realized they could keep a User on their platform endlessly engaged by showing them posts and videos that triggered anger or fear, this became their modus operandi. They weren’t concerned that the posts and videos they were recommending were false – to them, this was irrelevant. They shirked this responsibility by claiming that they were Tech companies and didn’t shoulder the burden of any sort of journalistic integrity or societal responsibility. They didn’t want this responsibility because it conflicted with their economic goal, which was to maximize the time a User spent on their platform. The longer a user spent on their platform the more opportunity Facebook and Youtube had to learn about and collect data on that User and also to show them more ads. This is how the social media platforms monetize their product to such an extraordinary degree. In fact, this process of predictive analytics applied to the digital exhaust left behind by Users traversing the Internet has resulted in the most lucrative business model in the history of human commerce.
Although these platforms are having a detrimental effect on society and are doing untold damage to democracy – which depends on society knowing the truth – very little has been done by regulators to address this problem. The European Union is slowly and gradually intervening and in many ways providing crucial leadership for the Developed World on issues of User Privacy and Protection. But the financial contributions of these Tech giants to the campaigns of politicians in the United States has, thus far, served their interests well. They continue to grow in power and wealth and avoid regulation.
But we have now reached a point in the development of Artificial Intelligence that a carefully orchestrated approach to regulation has become profoundly urgent – so we must hope that 2021 will bear witness to this recognition by the European Union and the United States. AI enabled social media has shown itself to be the single most destructive application of Artificial Intelligence in the world today and this power must be reigned in before things go much further. The future of democracy may well rest in our ability to curtail it.
Vicar Sayeedi
December 31, 2020
Vicar Sayeedi is a Computer Scientist and Engineer, a Lecturer and a Consultant. Vicar is also the author of several books. His most recent book is about Artificial Intelligence and is titled, The Génome Affair.
Vicar is most interested in the big questions facing humankind. He is particularly focused on studying at the confluence of the five great disciplines of Human History, Political Science and Thought, International Affairs, Science and Technology. This intersection offers a deep understanding and pedagogically important lessons of how advances in human endeavor have influenced and impacted civilization.
You can find Vicar’s recent book on AI, The Génome Affair on Amazon at this link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YQ7M9Q7
The most recent episodes of Vicar’s ai & u! Podcast are on YouTube at the following links:
Episode 1 - https://youtu.be/yNYr28jtY_k
What is Artificial Intelligence? What is Human Intelligence?
Episode 2 - https://youtu.be/kAEgDNh1Nwc
How Did We Get Here? Machine Learning, Neural Networks & the AI Lexicon, Exciting AI Agents
Episode 3 - https://youtu.be/3PYCyv1pCgM
Deep Mind - How Powerful is Narrow AI? State Surveillance and Surveillance Capitalism
Episode 4 - https://youtu.be/WvobCMIM_H4
Impact on Societies That Possess Artificial Intelligence Versus Those that Do Not!
Episode 5 - https://youtu.be/4JVpvm4g79g
Surveillance Capitalism, Surveillance State, 4th Industrial Revolution, Bifurcation of Sapiens
Episode 6 - https://youtu.be/e1q2GgcWQok
AI, Blockchain & Quantum Computing - Implications for Global and National Governance
Episode 7 - https://youtu.be/4bDSUvrOdd4
Popular Perceptions of Intelligence, the Seat of Human Intelligence and Implications for AI
Episode 8 - https://youtu.be/3GjHqQZL7Pk
AI - Why Should I care? Plus Exciting Updates from Elon Musk and Neuralink!
Episode 9 - https://youtu.be/enpecqDecC8
AI - Excellence, Innovation & Genius
Episode 10 - https://youtu.be/UsriESlTjdA
Implications for AI as China and the West Decouple
Episode 11 - https://youtu.be/0CpaMb-yw3g
Artificial Intelligence: Ethics, Law & Society
Episode 12 - https://youtu.be/PLzodrLWMq0
AI & Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
Episode 13 - https://youtu.be/Lm_nrNyJRbA
AI & the Future of Work in Industry 4.0 – the 4th Industrial Revolution
Episode 14 - https://youtu.be/_3E1Mhr_Dt8
Artificial Intelligence and its Implications for Authoritarianism and Democracy
Episode 15 - https://youtu.be/IpMUqHOEd7w
Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness & the Future of Homo Sapiens
Episode 16 - https://youtu.be/mIf7_VMzGKo
AI and its Implications for America's Political Environment
Episode 17 - https://youtu.be/gsMRPnovZGI
Special Episode: Reading From The Génome Affair
Episode 18 - https://youtu.be/UxNxtWDCREM
Artificial Intelligence - Digital Tyranny, Datocracy and the Imitation Game
Episode 19 - https://youtu.be/Db8U0QQWWuY
Does Artificial Intelligence Really Replicate Human Intelligence?
Episode 20 - https://youtu.be/Np18AEq-6DM
AI & Rising Geopolitical Tensions Between China & The West
Episode 21 - https://youtu.be/fOMSvNiixA0
AI & In-vitro Fertilization [IVF]
Episode 22 - https://youtu.be/EQPpRhIV6Kw
AI & Human Intelligence: A Complex Relationship
Episode 23 - https://youtu.be/EAbQ7stY7JQ
AI Upends the World of Structural Biology
Episode 24 - https://youtu.be/Bsb1F8uoBpA
AI & COVID-19: An Extraordinary Contribution
Episode 25 - https://youtu.be/PqL5PCRc8tA
AI, Connectomics & Transhumanism: the Future of Humankind
Episode 26 - https://youtu.be/HI8Zjl8VM8U
Dramatic Upheaval Inside Google's Ethical AI Team
Episode 27 - https://youtu.be/TqWwJYc2GxQ
AI & Cyber Espionage | How Will the Sunburst Attack Affect Our Security?
Episode 28 - https://youtu.be/89BcThqgcfQ
AI & the Rapidly Escalating Threat from Deep Fake Videos
Episode 29 - https://youtu.be/zvOHRMmJNB4
AI, Facial Recognition Technology & The Digital Surveillance State
Episode 30 - https://youtu.be/br4ygfEWdk0
AI & Social Media | The Most Destructive AI We've Ever Seen?
December 30, 2020
Geopolitical Risks and Implications: China versus EU/UK/US
Companies including Alibaba, Ant Financial, Baidu, Megvii, Tencent and a few others are leaders in Chinese advanced technology. They dominate e-Commerce, Fintech, Messaging, Image Capture/Recognition and Social Media. Critically, each is also a leading and important company in the cultivation of specialized Artificial Intelligence Agents [Narrow AI] and an important contributor to the collective knowledge base and expertise of AI in China.
These companies are approximately equivalent to their American counterparts, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Netflix. These companies provide similar services in the US and are also America’s leading experts in the development of Narrow AI Agents, and, perhaps more importantly, in Artificial General Intelligence.
A cornerstone of Chinese industrial philosophy is to invest heavily in and then leverage Applied R&D to focus on near-term commercial opportunities that can typically be monetized within a one to three year window. The Chinese tend to invest more modestly in forward-looking, basic R&D. As a consequence, they have only a nascent capability in General Artificial Intelligence. In contrast, America and Europe take a long-term view in science and technology and invest substantially in basic R&D with no requirement for short or near term monetization. Thus, it’s generally important for Chinese industrialists and more specifically, for AI specialists to maintain close scientific and technological collaboration at both the academic and industrial level with the West.
Recently, Chinese Tech giants have found themselves under tremendous pressure from the Communist Party’s Market Regulators. These Tech giants have become very large and have created their own commercial ecosystems. They are leveraging the characteristics of these closed ecosystems to behave in an increasingly monopolistic manner. They are essentially stifling market competition through the establishment of these ecosystems and the power it gives them over both customers and thousands of small merchants.
The Chinese e-Commerce giant, Alibaba has now captured more than 75% of China’s retail e-Commerce and more than 20% of China’s traditional, brick and mortar retail sector. Jack Ma, the Chinese billionaire founder of Alibaba also runs the Fintech, Ant Financial. Ant was recently on the verge of being floated on the public equity markets when Chinese regulators intervened and prevented the listing just days before the commencement of trading. It was a huge shock to investors and banking syndicates who were stakeholders in the planned listing, which, at $38 billion, was billed as the largest IPO in history. This episode has led many market watchers and policy observers to conclude that there is a tectonic shift underway in the Chinese Tech Sector as a result of the changing philosophy and growing concern amongst the Chinese Communist Party’s seven-member Politburo Standing Committee as well as amongst CCP Regulators.
In recent years, the US and EU have also taken great exception with the behavior of Chinese companies. They have been concerned about Chinese theft of intellectual property rights [IPR] from leading Western scientific and technology leaders as well as the increasing potential for the Chinese State’s surveillance of American and European citizens and organizations via Huawei’s presence in domestic 5G wireless networks. Additionally, both the current US Administration and the incoming Biden Administration are geopolitically hawkish with regards to China. This is also true for large parts of Western Europe and the UK.
As a result of aggressive Chinese bullying and militarism in support of their territorial claims in the South China Sea [Nine-Dash-Line (recently upgraded to Ten-Dash-Line), SMOGFish], the Chinese clamp down on political opposition by Hong Kong legislators and protestors in response to China’s rejection of the official “One Country Two System” policy, the open display of threatening military behavior by flying fighter jets into Taiwanese airspace, the incarceration in prison camps [Re-education Camps] of nearly 1.5 million Turkic peoples in Xinjiang, the aggressive, hostile behavior along the Chinese-Indian border and the expansion of China’s Belt and Road Initiative [the 21st century reincarnation of the ancient Silk Roads] which has led to high levels of debt in parts of Asia and Africa, general sentiment has been firming in Western capitals that Xi Jinping’s China is no longer a partner that can be trusted.
For a long time, the sentiment in Western Capitals was that the more China integrates with Western Markets and Industry the freer and increasingly open and transparent their society and system of government would become. We now know this is not the case. China has moved towards a substantially more Authoritarian posture than at any time in the previous four decades.
There is no separation of powers between administration, judiciary or legislature and there is no free press. There is no way to differentiate banking, finance and industry from government either. The fabric of government and industry is tightly woven and seamless and therefore under the full control of the CCP. As a consequence, commercial relationships with China involving the sharing of sensitive information is being strongly discouraged by Federal Authorities in Europe and the US, and in some cases, formally restricted through legislation and regulatory policy.
Whether such rising sentiments amongst many Western governments, industrialists and multinationals is justified or not, the reality is that many of the important Chinese Tech companies mentioned above – companies leading in the rapid advancement of Chinese knowledge and expertise in AI – will struggle once disconnected from the EU and the US scientific and technological academic and industrial ecosystems. An important manifestation of this new reality is: China is very dependent on the West for R&D and manufacturing technology related to integrated circuitry and chip fabrication plants – the Chinese are at least five years behind in such fabrication technology – and this is likely to severely handicap their Tech industry.
As the Northern Hemisphere struggles with surging rates of Coronavirus infections, hospitalizations and deaths, virtually every Developed Country in the East and West is anxiously awaiting vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and other leading Western pharmaceutical companies. Although China has vaccines available and ready to ship today, thus far, not a single one of these developed countries has requested China to supply them with vaccines. It seems the Developing World will be the only market that
will accept China’s vaccines. This is a very clear indication of the lack of trust in the Chinese State that has now crystalized in the Developed World.
In conclusion, we must be very mindful of these geopolitical and geostrategic developments and how they are likely to impact China’s ability to continue to advance their basic R&D as it relates to Artificial Intelligence because this will in turn impact their ability to apply advanced AI technology to the Life Sciences, as is so important to the work of Hevolution Foundation. At present, it appears increasingly likely that there will be two distinct spheres of development or ecosystems in Fourth Industrial Revolution sciences and technologies, including AI. Investing in one or the other will yield advantages but also consequences. Investing in both may prove prohibitively expensive and politically problematic.
Vicar Sayeedi
December, 2020
Vicar Sayeedi is a Computer Scientist and Engineer, a Lecturer and a Consultant. Vicar is also the author of several books. His most recent book is about Artificial Intelligence and is titled, The Génome Affair.
Vicar is most interested in the big questions facing humankind. He is particularly focused on studying at the confluence of the five great disciplines of Human History, Political Science and Thought, International Affairs, Science and Technology. This intersection offers a deep understanding and pedagogically important lessons of how advances in human endeavor have influenced and impacted civilization.
You can find Vicar’s recent book on AI, The Génome Affair on Amazon at this link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YQ7M9Q7
The most recent episodes of Vicar’s ai & u! Podcast are on YouTube at the following links:
Episode 1 - https://youtu.be/yNYr28jtY_k
What is Artificial Intelligence? What is Human Intelligence?
Episode 2 - https://youtu.be/kAEgDNh1Nwc
How Did We Get Here? Machine Learning, Neural Networks & the AI Lexicon, Exciting AI Agents
Episode 3 - https://youtu.be/3PYCyv1pCgM
Deep Mind - How Powerful is Narrow AI? State Surveillance and Surveillance Capitalism
Episode 4 - https://youtu.be/WvobCMIM_H4
Impact on Societies That Possess Artificial Intelligence Versus Those that Do Not!
Episode 5 - https://youtu.be/4JVpvm4g79g
Surveillance Capitalism, Surveillance State, 4th Industrial Revolution, Bifurcation of Sapiens
Episode 6 - https://youtu.be/e1q2GgcWQok
AI, Blockchain & Quantum Computing - Implications for Global and National Governance
Episode 7 - https://youtu.be/4bDSUvrOdd4
Popular Perceptions of Intelligence, the Seat of Human Intelligence and Implications for AI
Episode 8 - https://youtu.be/3GjHqQZL7Pk
AI - Why Should I care? Plus Exciting Updates from Elon Musk and Neuralink!
Episode 9 - https://youtu.be/enpecqDecC8
AI - Excellence, Innovation & Genius
Episode 10 - https://youtu.be/UsriESlTjdA
Implications for AI as China and the West Decouple
Episode 11 - https://youtu.be/0CpaMb-yw3g
Artificial Intelligence: Ethics, Law & Society
Episode 12 - https://youtu.be/PLzodrLWMq0
AI & Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
Episode 13 - https://youtu.be/Lm_nrNyJRbA
AI & the Future of Work in Industry 4.0 – the 4th Industrial Revolution
Episode 14 - https://youtu.be/_3E1Mhr_Dt8
Artificial Intelligence and its Implications for Authoritarianism and Democracy
Episode 15 - https://youtu.be/IpMUqHOEd7w
Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness & the Future of Homo Sapiens
Episode 16 - https://youtu.be/mIf7_VMzGKo
AI and its Implications for America's Political Environment
Episode 17 - https://youtu.be/gsMRPnovZGI
Special Episode: Reading From The Génome Affair
Episode 18 - https://youtu.be/UxNxtWDCREM
Artificial Intelligence - Digital Tyranny, Datocracy and the Imitation Game
Episode 19 - https://youtu.be/Db8U0QQWWuY
Does Artificial Intelligence Really Replicate Human Intelligence?
Episode 20 - https://youtu.be/Np18AEq-6DM
AI & Rising Geopolitical Tensions Between China & The West
Episode 21 - https://youtu.be/fOMSvNiixA0
AI & In-vitro Fertilization [IVF]
Episode 22 - https://youtu.be/EQPpRhIV6Kw
AI & Human Intelligence: A Complex Relationship
Episode 23 - https://youtu.be/EAbQ7stY7JQ
AI Upends the World of Structural Biology
Episode 24 - https://youtu.be/Bsb1F8uoBpA
AI & COVID-19: An Extraordinary Contribution
Episode 25 - https://youtu.be/PqL5PCRc8tA
AI, Connectomics & Transhumanism: the Future of Humankind
Episode 26 - https://youtu.be/HI8Zjl8VM8U
Dramatic Upheaval Inside Google's Ethical AI Team
Episode 27 - https://youtu.be/TqWwJYc2GxQ
AI & Cyber Espionage | How Will the Sunburst Attack Affect Our Security?
Episode 28 - https://youtu.be/89BcThqgcfQ
AI & the Rapidly Escalating Threat from Deep Fake Videos
Episode 29 - https://youtu.be/zvOHRMmJNB4
AI, Facial Recognition Technology & The Digital Surveillance State
These companies are approximately equivalent to their American counterparts, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Netflix. These companies provide similar services in the US and are also America’s leading experts in the development of Narrow AI Agents, and, perhaps more importantly, in Artificial General Intelligence.
A cornerstone of Chinese industrial philosophy is to invest heavily in and then leverage Applied R&D to focus on near-term commercial opportunities that can typically be monetized within a one to three year window. The Chinese tend to invest more modestly in forward-looking, basic R&D. As a consequence, they have only a nascent capability in General Artificial Intelligence. In contrast, America and Europe take a long-term view in science and technology and invest substantially in basic R&D with no requirement for short or near term monetization. Thus, it’s generally important for Chinese industrialists and more specifically, for AI specialists to maintain close scientific and technological collaboration at both the academic and industrial level with the West.
Recently, Chinese Tech giants have found themselves under tremendous pressure from the Communist Party’s Market Regulators. These Tech giants have become very large and have created their own commercial ecosystems. They are leveraging the characteristics of these closed ecosystems to behave in an increasingly monopolistic manner. They are essentially stifling market competition through the establishment of these ecosystems and the power it gives them over both customers and thousands of small merchants.
The Chinese e-Commerce giant, Alibaba has now captured more than 75% of China’s retail e-Commerce and more than 20% of China’s traditional, brick and mortar retail sector. Jack Ma, the Chinese billionaire founder of Alibaba also runs the Fintech, Ant Financial. Ant was recently on the verge of being floated on the public equity markets when Chinese regulators intervened and prevented the listing just days before the commencement of trading. It was a huge shock to investors and banking syndicates who were stakeholders in the planned listing, which, at $38 billion, was billed as the largest IPO in history. This episode has led many market watchers and policy observers to conclude that there is a tectonic shift underway in the Chinese Tech Sector as a result of the changing philosophy and growing concern amongst the Chinese Communist Party’s seven-member Politburo Standing Committee as well as amongst CCP Regulators.
In recent years, the US and EU have also taken great exception with the behavior of Chinese companies. They have been concerned about Chinese theft of intellectual property rights [IPR] from leading Western scientific and technology leaders as well as the increasing potential for the Chinese State’s surveillance of American and European citizens and organizations via Huawei’s presence in domestic 5G wireless networks. Additionally, both the current US Administration and the incoming Biden Administration are geopolitically hawkish with regards to China. This is also true for large parts of Western Europe and the UK.
As a result of aggressive Chinese bullying and militarism in support of their territorial claims in the South China Sea [Nine-Dash-Line (recently upgraded to Ten-Dash-Line), SMOGFish], the Chinese clamp down on political opposition by Hong Kong legislators and protestors in response to China’s rejection of the official “One Country Two System” policy, the open display of threatening military behavior by flying fighter jets into Taiwanese airspace, the incarceration in prison camps [Re-education Camps] of nearly 1.5 million Turkic peoples in Xinjiang, the aggressive, hostile behavior along the Chinese-Indian border and the expansion of China’s Belt and Road Initiative [the 21st century reincarnation of the ancient Silk Roads] which has led to high levels of debt in parts of Asia and Africa, general sentiment has been firming in Western capitals that Xi Jinping’s China is no longer a partner that can be trusted.
For a long time, the sentiment in Western Capitals was that the more China integrates with Western Markets and Industry the freer and increasingly open and transparent their society and system of government would become. We now know this is not the case. China has moved towards a substantially more Authoritarian posture than at any time in the previous four decades.
There is no separation of powers between administration, judiciary or legislature and there is no free press. There is no way to differentiate banking, finance and industry from government either. The fabric of government and industry is tightly woven and seamless and therefore under the full control of the CCP. As a consequence, commercial relationships with China involving the sharing of sensitive information is being strongly discouraged by Federal Authorities in Europe and the US, and in some cases, formally restricted through legislation and regulatory policy.
Whether such rising sentiments amongst many Western governments, industrialists and multinationals is justified or not, the reality is that many of the important Chinese Tech companies mentioned above – companies leading in the rapid advancement of Chinese knowledge and expertise in AI – will struggle once disconnected from the EU and the US scientific and technological academic and industrial ecosystems. An important manifestation of this new reality is: China is very dependent on the West for R&D and manufacturing technology related to integrated circuitry and chip fabrication plants – the Chinese are at least five years behind in such fabrication technology – and this is likely to severely handicap their Tech industry.
As the Northern Hemisphere struggles with surging rates of Coronavirus infections, hospitalizations and deaths, virtually every Developed Country in the East and West is anxiously awaiting vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and other leading Western pharmaceutical companies. Although China has vaccines available and ready to ship today, thus far, not a single one of these developed countries has requested China to supply them with vaccines. It seems the Developing World will be the only market that
will accept China’s vaccines. This is a very clear indication of the lack of trust in the Chinese State that has now crystalized in the Developed World.
In conclusion, we must be very mindful of these geopolitical and geostrategic developments and how they are likely to impact China’s ability to continue to advance their basic R&D as it relates to Artificial Intelligence because this will in turn impact their ability to apply advanced AI technology to the Life Sciences, as is so important to the work of Hevolution Foundation. At present, it appears increasingly likely that there will be two distinct spheres of development or ecosystems in Fourth Industrial Revolution sciences and technologies, including AI. Investing in one or the other will yield advantages but also consequences. Investing in both may prove prohibitively expensive and politically problematic.
Vicar Sayeedi
December, 2020
Vicar Sayeedi is a Computer Scientist and Engineer, a Lecturer and a Consultant. Vicar is also the author of several books. His most recent book is about Artificial Intelligence and is titled, The Génome Affair.
Vicar is most interested in the big questions facing humankind. He is particularly focused on studying at the confluence of the five great disciplines of Human History, Political Science and Thought, International Affairs, Science and Technology. This intersection offers a deep understanding and pedagogically important lessons of how advances in human endeavor have influenced and impacted civilization.
You can find Vicar’s recent book on AI, The Génome Affair on Amazon at this link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YQ7M9Q7
The most recent episodes of Vicar’s ai & u! Podcast are on YouTube at the following links:
Episode 1 - https://youtu.be/yNYr28jtY_k
What is Artificial Intelligence? What is Human Intelligence?
Episode 2 - https://youtu.be/kAEgDNh1Nwc
How Did We Get Here? Machine Learning, Neural Networks & the AI Lexicon, Exciting AI Agents
Episode 3 - https://youtu.be/3PYCyv1pCgM
Deep Mind - How Powerful is Narrow AI? State Surveillance and Surveillance Capitalism
Episode 4 - https://youtu.be/WvobCMIM_H4
Impact on Societies That Possess Artificial Intelligence Versus Those that Do Not!
Episode 5 - https://youtu.be/4JVpvm4g79g
Surveillance Capitalism, Surveillance State, 4th Industrial Revolution, Bifurcation of Sapiens
Episode 6 - https://youtu.be/e1q2GgcWQok
AI, Blockchain & Quantum Computing - Implications for Global and National Governance
Episode 7 - https://youtu.be/4bDSUvrOdd4
Popular Perceptions of Intelligence, the Seat of Human Intelligence and Implications for AI
Episode 8 - https://youtu.be/3GjHqQZL7Pk
AI - Why Should I care? Plus Exciting Updates from Elon Musk and Neuralink!
Episode 9 - https://youtu.be/enpecqDecC8
AI - Excellence, Innovation & Genius
Episode 10 - https://youtu.be/UsriESlTjdA
Implications for AI as China and the West Decouple
Episode 11 - https://youtu.be/0CpaMb-yw3g
Artificial Intelligence: Ethics, Law & Society
Episode 12 - https://youtu.be/PLzodrLWMq0
AI & Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
Episode 13 - https://youtu.be/Lm_nrNyJRbA
AI & the Future of Work in Industry 4.0 – the 4th Industrial Revolution
Episode 14 - https://youtu.be/_3E1Mhr_Dt8
Artificial Intelligence and its Implications for Authoritarianism and Democracy
Episode 15 - https://youtu.be/IpMUqHOEd7w
Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness & the Future of Homo Sapiens
Episode 16 - https://youtu.be/mIf7_VMzGKo
AI and its Implications for America's Political Environment
Episode 17 - https://youtu.be/gsMRPnovZGI
Special Episode: Reading From The Génome Affair
Episode 18 - https://youtu.be/UxNxtWDCREM
Artificial Intelligence - Digital Tyranny, Datocracy and the Imitation Game
Episode 19 - https://youtu.be/Db8U0QQWWuY
Does Artificial Intelligence Really Replicate Human Intelligence?
Episode 20 - https://youtu.be/Np18AEq-6DM
AI & Rising Geopolitical Tensions Between China & The West
Episode 21 - https://youtu.be/fOMSvNiixA0
AI & In-vitro Fertilization [IVF]
Episode 22 - https://youtu.be/EQPpRhIV6Kw
AI & Human Intelligence: A Complex Relationship
Episode 23 - https://youtu.be/EAbQ7stY7JQ
AI Upends the World of Structural Biology
Episode 24 - https://youtu.be/Bsb1F8uoBpA
AI & COVID-19: An Extraordinary Contribution
Episode 25 - https://youtu.be/PqL5PCRc8tA
AI, Connectomics & Transhumanism: the Future of Humankind
Episode 26 - https://youtu.be/HI8Zjl8VM8U
Dramatic Upheaval Inside Google's Ethical AI Team
Episode 27 - https://youtu.be/TqWwJYc2GxQ
AI & Cyber Espionage | How Will the Sunburst Attack Affect Our Security?
Episode 28 - https://youtu.be/89BcThqgcfQ
AI & the Rapidly Escalating Threat from Deep Fake Videos
Episode 29 - https://youtu.be/zvOHRMmJNB4
AI, Facial Recognition Technology & The Digital Surveillance State
October 16, 2020
Podcast #17
This week I recorded a recitation from my book, The Génome Affair. You can listen to Episode #17 of this special ai & u! podcast here: https://youtu.be/gsMRPnovZGI
You can find my book, The Génome Affair on Amazon at this link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YQ7M9Q7
It explores what the world might be like if some of the more extraordinary capabilities of AI forecast to be realized in the future were actually realized today.
#artificialintelligence #ai
The Génome Affair
You can find my book, The Génome Affair on Amazon at this link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YQ7M9Q7
It explores what the world might be like if some of the more extraordinary capabilities of AI forecast to be realized in the future were actually realized today.
#artificialintelligence #ai
The Génome Affair
