From Simple Patterns to Sentience’s Complexity

“In order for AI to be able to overtake a programmers job, implies that the client knows what he wants. We’re safe…”
This job related predicament rises, as I see it, only in a brief moment in a much broader natural course. It is the kind of meme that strives to survive, it probably deserves a definitive NFT minting as of 03.2022 before it will soon fall into oblivion.
I want to start tackling its survival efficiency by talking about the AI and its power as I see it from this stand point: in which in the past decade the AI’s potential reached only its first steps in its infancy with clear signals to world changing capabilities. This goes further down, through refinements (of its rightly chosen) ontology.
Preamble
We live in a world (or better said, this is the way the world works) in which almost everything employs from within some mechanics of refinement and adaptation. A machinery that moves things towards escaping chaos – and this with great energy consumption – but energy that partly comes from within (as the “will” opposed to the “death drive”). This goes from the inherent patterns in nature up to the end spectrum of the human activity(1). The underlying battle between order and entropy(2) on the underlying surface of our particular(3) universe with its laws. And above this, as the layer of simple emerging patterns to the ultimate, macro refinement substrate of sentient manifestations, and on top of it with the layer of symbolic, cultures and abstract thinking. A predictable pattern alright, further on rising within the brain energy patterns, a culmination tip, that leads to the creation of synthetic worlds, artificial sentience, transcendental states of being in the digital universe, as the next steps. A macro, ever growing vertical ontology at work.
Refinement
Within this broader context the refinement produces further deepening of the domains and within AI domain, the current advances allow neural training of some larger than ever data sets, like in the language, vision, with a touch of symbolic, towards incipient meaning. In the context of programming we see first results in training upon some good part of all the human written programming code. And that we are able to put that to work in the business requirements with the programming languages on the real use cases (necessary for a program to have a purpose) for now in the form of AI assisted programming(4).
And further refinement would lead to a more natural way of conceiving programs through language processing of the requirements, from the problems to the actual code generation. And with, again, a further refinement into the symbolic AI with the actual predictable outcome not by only answering the questions, but with solutions offered by AI prior asking the question(5). All that within a domain criteria based on programming/AI ethics, best practices solutions, security, cultural impact, etc.
Symbolic
On the side of symbolic AI at this time there is an upward trend of trying different models of processing, a process in itself that requires further research. At the same time I see that this process is hindered by the fact that the models are still mapping or try mimicking some partial models of the mind, of trying to explain how brain works, and by posing answers to the questions related to consciousness(6).
I am still on the path and researching on my own symbolic model within the essentials, unspoiled concepts advanced through the innovative approach by Ludwig Wittgenstein:

“The reason computers have no understanding of the sentences they process is not that they lack sufficient neuronal complexity, but that they are not, and cannot be, participants in the culture to which the sentences belong. A sentence does not acquire meaning through the correlation, one to one, of its words with objects in the world; it acquires meaning through the use that is made of it in the communal life of human beings.”

There is not only – many would call with yesterday’s standards as a “grim” future – but there is in fact to be reminded that one cannot oppose the refinements because it requires also effort and energy none is possessing enough. Through self cultivated death drive that will only help on the short run…so remember this meme and laugh at its NFT later.

(1) forms of life with language games adaptation, creation activities with continuous refinements of their ontological models, circulating concept cultures.
(2) with simple patterns from which something emerges and with the counter action of opposite forces from nature up to the psyche and symbolic, the death drive.
(3) multiverse theory, in which very briefly explained: the eternal timeless energy waves produces bubbles of universes each with its fundamentals.
(4) copilot software that has the basis all of the github source code.
(5) if we have the right domain question we have the answer, in that the answer is there, it is only that briefly something is obscuring it from view.
(6) on questions related to the knowledge of ourselves, which in fact, are not of scientific nature.

C. Stefan / 24.03.2022

Open letter to AI Startups and AI researchers

Update 02.2022: there is hope, with the help of decentralization systems, with the help of underling blockchain platforms, the power of AI can become non-custodial too. There are a few examples in this direction, for example AGI pursuers from singularity network*.

Update 11.2020: It is clear now that the crisis is pushing digitalization needs with an unprecedented demand across all fields and that the shape of the company, the world and economy will look very different from the one before COVID. The way we work is changing, the way we interact is changing, the way we buy and do things are also different and slowly are evolving to a new normal state.
For a company to survive in the new normal, there is an imperative need to foster an organizational culture of rapid adaptation through digitalization into all domains. Also, to create a work environment with less top-down structure of control and with silos of information, towards a team work collaboration, based on trust, with clearer purposeful aims and encouraging the teams in achieving a better emotional quotient within it. The more receptive to these aspects the companies are, the more the better the transition to the new normal will be.

Original text 03.2020: The actual COVID-19 crisis has a lot of lessons to teach us. And we have nothing learned from past pandemics. We’re just falling a downward spiral of human and economic depression. We are living with the hope that this fall will end soon and that we can recover fast. This remains to be seen but besides the many scenarios, we can say for sure that we (as EU to local administrations) were not prepared for the pandemic fight.

My criticism here is simple and only towards the AI field in which investors, CEOs, funding parties, stakeholders, must accept the failure in serving the vital interests, human needs and a failure to set these priorities. In old programming therms, it’s like we are developing a nice GUI, with no good business logic, no solid platform, obsolete middle tier connections. There is no way to advance here until we are not addressing the base layers.

Every single AI researcher should from now on follow a new AI ethic book and focus on what is essential first. The AI research field is so stretched in a multitude of domains and situations while no field excels actually. You can imagine how would have been if all the concentrated AI efforts were to be focused on health-care, fully automated hospitals and personal-care assistants & anti-virus development first. And only after that worked, to try to develop AI based sex-dolls, what a shame to all of us!

I feel myself uneasy now, regretting that I should have pursued what I started in the first place, AI medical informatics with agents that help fight addictions and the build of persuasive personal agents to help for a better healthy life of the individual. With the good AI.

In a hope that this crisis does not deepen and throw us in a new AI stone age we were just escaping, I expect that things will change, and a better evaluation of our AI priorities will be taken into consideration. Maybe a new AI authority will have to take the helm and supervise the further development.

C.Stefan – March 2020.

Job Breakthroughs

Startup vs. Larger Company:
Working for a smaller company is that you get to make more of an impact: Working in a larger corporation might have more benefits or a higher salary but a startup is where you can really make a difference and see the influence your work is having on the business. You’re heavily involved in each stage of production and your opinion is more likely to carry weight than at a larger, more structured operation. Decentralization of big companies would be done through tokenization. The shares will be done through ICOs.
Jobs in IT:
In Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, data security, virtual reality and augmented reality, virtual worlds (and virtual assets) and bank-less, free nodes back-boned, Internet of payment. Jobs to see as or related to: big data engineer, Software 2.0 Engineer (maintain Neural Networks that write code), full-stack developer, security engineer, IoT architect and VR/AR engineer and hybrid engineers, with agile mindsets through the teams, with solid technology stacks knowledge that working together are able to bind different ends of the domain spectrum (similarly like DevOps is to the “from Code to Infrastructure” mindset paradigm), runners of decentralized Internet (sustained by Blockchain and other similar technologies yet to come, in order to back-up the Virtual Assets in the Virtual Worlds in the Decentralized Network).
Thus the skills needed to succeed in the IT jobs of tomorrow revolve around security certifications, programming and applications development, proficiency with cloud, decentralized architectures and mobile technologies, and other specialized skill sets giving also way to the hybrid IT roles that bind the business to IT.
Roles grow vertically based on business domain vs. technology stacks. For example: a Solutions Architect has the business domain knowledge but has also a technical background. He will develop complex technology solutions in a specific business domain. Software Architect knows in a deeper way the technology stacks. He will design the architecture of the technical implementation. Technical Lead is one with deeper knowledge of the, or a part of the technology stack. He designs using established patterns, coaches teams into the adopted technologies and unlocks teams in order to succeed in project delivery.
Data Scientists: it is essential for data scientists to work with languages like R, Python, SAS, Hadoop, Netezza in which they apply their knowledge in statistics, mathematics (algebra), matrices (multivariable) calculus. And to have a knowledge in platforms like MapReduce, GridGain, HPCC, Storm, Hive, Pig, Amazon S3.
The user as valuable “in the network” resource, in parallel digital universes (eg. Metaverse). Their actions should be monetized and generate income. We are producing valuable data even now by only navigating on FB, Google and other social networks which the system themselves uses it to become better (the long therm plan is building the future AI systems together). The “Internaut” will be one of the nicest job of the future.