Harmonia Philosophica

Essence over Form…

What clues does our memory use to connect a current situation to a situation from the past? A study conducted by researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, – working in collaboration with CY Cergy Paris University in France – demonstrated that similarities in structure and essence (the heart of a situation) guide our recollections rather than surface similarities (the general theme, for example, or the setting or protagonists). It is only when individuals lack sufficient knowledge that they turn to the surface clues — the easiest to access — to recollect a situation.

The research calls into question the received idea that our memory is guided by the principle of the easiest option and that surface features dominate recall. “A human being’s way of remembering is less superficial than was thought, and in all likelihood favours structure over surface,” adds professor Sander. “It’s only out of ignorance that superficial clues will take precedence.” says professor Clément by way of conclusion. (1)

Think.

Remember.

The essence. Not the surface.

How can you think of the surface anyway?

There is nothing to see in the waves of the ocean.

It is its depths that hold the light.

Yes, you can swim well.

Only because you are afraid to drown…

Remember.

Think.

Was there any point in time when you couldn’t ride the waves?

Listen to the flowers.

Remember.

What could be deeper than the surface?

Against AI.

The new artificial intelligence system ChatGPT has become a sensation.

It can write poetry, it can program whatever you ask it to, it can reply to your answers. In summary, it can do whatever a human can do. Taking into account the fact that most humans have more limited knowledge than ChatGPT, it would be no exaggeration to say that the new AI system can outperform humans on almost everything.

(Except from the daunting task of opening a tight marmalade jar… Yet…)

But does this performance of AI mean anything?

Should we be worried, or should we be enthusiastic about it?

Harmonia Philosophica has for a long time commented on the most recent developments in Artificial Intelligence. And the main thing we must be concerned about is not the progress of computers, but the fact that humans themselves have started thinking like computers.

ChatGPT and any other artificial system can answer whatever it can answer. Yes, this is obviously a tautology – but an important one nonetheless. No system can ever deal with something it was not expected from its programmers. Yet, as Penrose has postulated some time ago, the humans are not only able to deal with unknown issues but sometimes they thrive with them.

Any artificial intelligence program will go up to where its creators have programmed it to go. And yes, this includes the machine learning aspect of the system, which itself cannot surpass the limits it cannot surpass based on the way it is working, the algorithm implemented in its code, the data it is fed with et cetera.

But humans will see the unknown and think about what was never thought before. Humans can envision the infinite in a cosmos that is finite and can grow no more. Humans can trust their intuition to discover what hides in the shadows. Or they can hide everything under the Sun…

We can see the Moon though and cry.

We can stare at the Sun and feel we are alive.

We can clap with one hand.

If only we accept that logic is dead.

And ChatGPT has nothing to do in a such a world.

Where we accept outself.

As being nothing but dead…

Humans will one day understand though.

That there is nothing artificial about thinking as they can…

Megaprojects.

Academics at UCL have identified 18 reasons why megaprojects such as HS2 and Crossrail often fail, as well as 54 preventative solutions. The study found that no isolated factor could account for the poor performance of megaprojects. Instead, the paper is the first to identify several causes and suggest a systemic approach to enhance understanding of megaprojects.

The team list the six themes as decision-making behavior; strategy, governance and procurement; risk and uncertainty; leadership and capable teams; stakeholder engagement and management; supply chain integration and coordination. They were found to be all of equal importance when analyzing why such projects seem doomed to fail. (1)

Aim high. Fall hard.

Does it matter?

Failures are signposts for success anyway. Why fear of them?

The question is not whether failure is good or bad, but whether we should strive for success in the first place! What is success really? Would you celebrate for a mega-project? Would you celebrate for changing the world? Or would that be a cause for sadness?

We admire those who succeed in life.

But they are essentially those who fail to accept death.

We admire change imposed by us.

But this only disguises failure to adapt to what already Is.

Can you see your feet?

Can you feel your heart?

In the midst of your journey…

Do you dare to ask?

Ancestral asymmetries…

The left and right side of the brain are involved in different tasks. This functional lateralization and associated brain asymmetry are well documented in humans, but little is known about brain asymmetry in our closest living relatives, the great apes. Using endocasts (imprints of the brain on cranial bones), scientists now challenge the long-held notion that the human pattern of brain asymmetry is unique. They found the same asymmetry pattern in chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. However, humans were the most variable in this pattern. This suggests that lateralized, uniquely human cognitive abilities, such as language, evolved by adapting a presumably ancestral asymmetry pattern. (1)

The universe is symmetrical. Or so we think it should be. But why think something like that in the first place? Is it that symmetry is beautiful and we are naturally inclined towards admiring beautiful? Could it be that symmetry of also an inherent part of our nature and, this, we tend to adhere to theories which include it?

Our brain is asymmetrical. Or so we think because we see differences in our two hemispheres in our brain. But why think that in the first place? Differences are there, this is certainly. But what makes us look at those differences? What if by seeing things from another perspective? What if that other perspective shows as that symmetry is preserved at another level?

Which belief is going to prevail?

Think.

What do you want to see?

Do you feel safe within a symmetrical universe? Would you feel more creative in an asymmetrical one? What it everything is symmetrical because everything is not? What if everything is asymmetrical because there is no other cosmos where symmetry exists?

Think.

There is no symmetry in anything.

Until you see asymmetry.

And decide to create a mirror…

Algorithms. Jail. Peoples’ lives.

An algorithm takes decisions about peoples’ live and decides whether and how they will potentially go to jail again. The algorithm is one of many making decisions about people’s lives in the United States and Europe. Local authorities use so-called predictive algorithms to set police patrols, prison sentences and probation rules. In the Netherlands, an algorithm flagged welfare fraud risks. A British city rates which teenagers are most likely to become criminals. Nearly every state in America has turned to this new sort of governance algorithm, according to the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a nonprofit dedicated to digital rights. Algorithm Watch, a watchdog in Berlin, has identified similar programs in at least 16 European countries. (1)

Robots deciding about our life. Robots that will never experience life.

That is why they can make such decisions anyway.

One can only decide on what he cannot understand.

Whenever you get to know something, you become that something. No one can decide on a life he lives. Life decides about him. You can easily end your life. Only because it is not your own. You can live your life. Only when you decide to leave it.

And as the robot will never understand, you will never understand neither.

And that is the only thing to ever understand.

Do you understand? Now go back to your jail.

And tell everyone that they are already free…