In which we are joined by Ezri of Swampside Chats, to continue our discussion of "Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgement to Calculation" by Joseph Weizenbaum. In this episode we cover the first chapter of the book.
Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgment to Calculation (1976) by Joseph Weizenbaum displays the author's ambivalence towards computer technology and lays out the case that while artificial intelligence may be possible, we should never allow computers to make important decisions because computers will always lack human qualities such as compassion and wisdom.
Weizenbaum makes the crucial distinction between deciding and choosing. Deciding is a computational activity, something that can ultimately be programmed. It is the capacity to choose that ultimately makes one a human being. Choice, however, is the product of judgment, not calculation. Comprehensive human judgment is able to include non-mathematical factors such as emotions. Judgment can compare apples and oranges, and can do so without quantifying each fruit type and then reductively quantifying each to factors necessary for mathematical comparison.
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Links:
021 - Accelerate
020 - Yeoman Coders
019 - The Cybernetic Brain, Part 2: Stafford Beer
018 - The Cybernetic Brain, Part 1: Ontological Theatre
017 - The Dispossessed, with Fraser Simons
016 - An Intersectional Analysis Of Geoengineering, with Tina Sikka
015 - Technology And The Worker
014 - Markets In The Name Of Socialism
013 - Alternatives
012 - All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace, Part 3
011 - All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace, Part 2
010 - All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace, Part 1
009 - Red Plenty, Part 2
008 - Red Plenty, Part 1
007 - Alienation
006 - Of Flying Cars And The Declining Rate Of Profit
005 - The Californian Ideology
004 - Blade Runner 2049, Part 2
003 - Blade Runner 2049, Part 1
002 - Four Futures
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