{"id":856,"date":"2017-04-19T00:09:26","date_gmt":"2017-04-18T23:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wellbeingandcontrol.com\/?p=856"},"modified":"2017-04-28T17:08:07","modified_gmt":"2017-04-28T16:08:07","slug":"thought-for-the-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/?p=856","title":{"rendered":"Thought for the Day &#8211; 3rd April 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>3rd April 2017<\/h2>\n<h3>The Coincidence of Living at this Time<\/h3>\n<p><em>(Press the red &#8216;play&#8217; button to hear the audio &#8211; 3:20 minutes)<\/em><\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"450\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F318281799&#038;auto_play=false&#038;hide_related=false&#038;visual=true&#038;show_comments=true&#038;color=false&#038;show_user=true&#038;show_reposts=false\"><\/iframe>\n<h3>Transcript of the Audio <\/h3>\n<p><strong>On April 3rd 1973<\/strong> Martin Cooper of Motorola made the <strong>first handheld mobile phone call<\/strong> to Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs and on 3rd April <strong>2010 Apple release the first iPad<\/strong>.  In 2017, as I spend my idle moments researching the latest in science and technology, I can\u2019t help falling over developments that have the most enormous implications for the future of humanity and our morality.<\/p>\n<p>Here are just a few:<br \/>\n<UL><\/p>\n<p><LI><strong> Artificial Intelligence:<\/strong>  We have now developed machine learning algorithms to the point where artificial intelligent machines can identify individuals, drive cars, translate speech to text, translate and synthesise speech from text, answer complex quiz questions, play Go and Chess better than any human, transfer knowledge from one domain to another, and anticipate what we want better than we can ourselves. Robots are routinely used in manufacture and work on robot \u2018companions\u2019 is advancing.  <\/p>\n<p><LI> <strong>Genomics:<\/strong>  We have now sequenced the human genome, are proceeding to map from the DNA sequences to human characteristics, and can precisely manipulate the genome in plants, animals and humans in order to produce \u2018designer life\u2019.<\/p>\n<p><LI> <strong>The Internet:<\/strong>  Much of the planet is connected such that any of its 7.5 billion inhabitants can now, in principle, access almost any information or any person from almost anywhere. The world is already becoming littered with cameras, other sensors, and devices (from toasters to power plants) that can activate (often autonomously) from either local or remote instruction.<\/p>\n<p><LI> <strong>Physics:<\/strong>  There are about 500 nuclear power plants and 9 nuclear weapon states. The existence of the Higgs-Boson (the so called \u2018God\u2019 particle) was established in 2012, and attempts continue to unify quantum physics and gravity.  We are building quantum computers, grappling with ideas like entanglement and the relationship between the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, free will and consciousness. Some physicists speculate that we are living in a simulated reality like in The Matrix.<\/p>\n<p><LI> <strong>Neuroscience:<\/strong>  We are now mapping the functions of the brain in great detail, understanding it\u2019s structures and how these change as we learn.  We are beginning to understand conscious subjective experience in terms of the activations of neural circuits and have embarked on several projects to model the entire brain. We are using this knowledge to feedback into the design of neural network technology, which brings us back to machine learning and artificial intelligence.<br \/>\n<\/UL><\/p>\n<p>All this has happened in my lifetime (which seems an uncanny coincidence in itself) and is growing at an exponential rate. Soon we will be applying machine learning to individual genomes, implanting devices into our bodies and brains, uploading our minds to the cloud, and generally <strong>merging humanity with artificial intelligence<\/strong> as we progress towards <strong>omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>All this, and at the same time I still have to sit for ages in traffic, argue with my telecoms supplier, and my son is being taught things in school geared to the needs of a Victorian employer poised for the industrial revolution.  Who said <strong>\u2018the future is here, it\u2019s just not very evenly distributed?\u2019<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png?w=605&#038;ssl=1\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\",\"Email\",\"Print\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Thought%20for%20the%20Day%20-%203rd%20April%202017\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>3rd April 2017 The Coincidence of Living at this Time (Press the red &#8216;play&#8217; button to hear the audio &#8211; 3:20 minutes) Transcript of the Audio On April 3rd 1973 Martin Cooper of Motorola made the first handheld mobile phone &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/?p=856\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Thought for the Day &#8211; 3rd April 2017<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\",\"Email\",\"Print\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Thought%20for%20the%20Day%20-%203rd%20April%202017\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[169,170,1],"tags":[172,171,177,174,175,181,173,20,180,178,179,176,182],"class_list":["post-856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inequality","category-science","category-uncategorized","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-future","tag-genomics","tag-internet","tag-iot","tag-machine-learning","tag-neuroscience","tag-omnipotence","tag-omnipresence","tag-omniscience","tag-physics","tag-singularity"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4OZBF-dO","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":823,"url":"https:\/\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/?p=823","url_meta":{"origin":856,"position":0},"title":"True Value","author":"Rod Rivers","date":"January 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"In January 2017, Oxfam released a report claiming that 8 people between them now own half of the world's wealth (last year it was 62). If this is true, then how did the other 7.5 billion people let this happen? The Oxfam 2018 report claims the richest 1% own 82%\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Control&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Control","link":"https:\/\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/wealth-poverty-copy.jpg?fit=1012%2C368&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/wealth-poverty-copy.jpg?fit=1012%2C368&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/wealth-poverty-copy.jpg?fit=1012%2C368&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/wealth-poverty-copy.jpg?fit=1012%2C368&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1172,"url":"https:\/\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/?p=1172","url_meta":{"origin":856,"position":1},"title":"UK Industrial Strategy, November 2017","author":"Rod Rivers","date":"November 29, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) has just published its response to the new UK Industrial Strategy and both BIT and I are pretty positive about it. Let me tell you why and then, let me tell you what\u2019s still wrong with it. Experimentation and Evaluation The strategy (see link at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Accountability&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Accountability","link":"https:\/\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/?cat=183"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/industial_strategy_pic02.jpg?fit=1024%2C930&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/industial_strategy_pic02.jpg?fit=1024%2C930&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/industial_strategy_pic02.jpg?fit=1024%2C930&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/industial_strategy_pic02.jpg?fit=1024%2C930&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":62,"url":"https:\/\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/?p=62","url_meta":{"origin":856,"position":2},"title":"It\u2019s Like This","author":"Rod Rivers","date":"October 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"We are all deluded. And for the most part we don\u2019t know it. We often feel as though we have control over our own decisions and destiny, but how true is it?\u00a0 It\u2019s a bit like what US Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld,\u00a0famously said in February 2002\u00a0about the \u2018known knowns\u2019,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Mind&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Mind","link":"https:\/\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/?cat=14"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/ted7.jpg?fit=358%2C264&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":911,"url":"https:\/\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/?p=911","url_meta":{"origin":856,"position":3},"title":"The Story of Your Life","author":"Rod Rivers","date":"July 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"14th July 2017 - Independence Day! Why you should change your Facebook settings When I ask if anybody \u2018would like an ice-cream?\u2019, do I really mean it, or is it just that I want an ice-cream myself? They say I'm a man of the world Let me tell you about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Constructivism&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Constructivism","link":"https:\/\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/?cat=193"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/story.jpg?fit=913%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/story.jpg?fit=913%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/story.jpg?fit=913%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/story.jpg?fit=913%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1062,"url":"https:\/\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/?p=1062","url_meta":{"origin":856,"position":4},"title":"Human Operating System 4 &#8211; Ways of Knowing","author":"Rod Rivers","date":"September 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"How do we know what we know? This article considers: (1) the ways we come to believe what we think we know (2) the many issues with the validation of our beliefs (3) the implications for building artificial intelligence and robots based on the human operating system. I recently came\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Belief&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Belief","link":"https:\/\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/?cat=196"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image_machines-that-think_01.jpg?fit=1200%2C599&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image_machines-that-think_01.jpg?fit=1200%2C599&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image_machines-that-think_01.jpg?fit=1200%2C599&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image_machines-that-think_01.jpg?fit=1200%2C599&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image_machines-that-think_01.jpg?fit=1200%2C599&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":453,"url":"https:\/\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/?p=453","url_meta":{"origin":856,"position":5},"title":"Are We Free?","author":"Rod Rivers","date":"February 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Consciousness, freedom and moral responsibility Answering the question 'Are we free?' at the level of society suggests that the big multi-nationals have assumed control over many aspects of our lives (see: \"What is control?\"). Answering the same question at the level of the individual is much more difficult. It raises\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Control&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Control","link":"https:\/\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/dna-1.jpg?fit=488%2C330&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=856"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":878,"href":"https:\/\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856\/revisions\/878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellbeingandcontrol.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}