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Episode 10 - Technology and Current Benevolent Overlords
The state of our current social media technology. 
What is Artificial Intelligence? A computer that mimics the pattern recognition features of a human. Early types of this attempted to do this by rote. 
What is a machine learning computer? A machine that takes AI to another level. It is capable of writing its own code based on patterns that it sees in large sets of data. The datasets usually stretch across entire platforms of information. Imagine all interactions on Facebook or all interactions on Twitter. 
Machine learning AI is given goals to put eyeballs on screens and increase "engagement". This is called the "attention economy".
What are the purposes of these machines? Why does anyone build them?
These technologies are learning more every year about how to influence us. Is this healthy?
What are Current Benevolent Overlords? Our current social media technologies (and the resulting invasion of privacy that comes with them) are being used to distort the electorate and sell more shoes. There is a bigger danger that these technologies could be used for far worse invasions of privacy. They could be used by the CBOs to learn potentially embarrassing personal details about important individuals. They could be used to do the same to silence any single dissenting voice about any topic.


Links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_learning
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Blue_versus_Garry_Kasparov
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AlphaZero
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AlphaFold
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acquisition_of_Twitter_by_Elon_Musk