Some thoughts on new technologies

Op Ed by Helge Nome

Those who read this blog are fully aware of the extent to which I use AI to to investigate questions that pop into my head during the day (and night).

It is like having a team of reporters at your fingertips 24/7 going out, checking sources and providing requested reports at a snap. A quantum leap up from doing manual web searches and providing reports in the old fashion way.

As a frequent user of this new technology, I am becoming increasingly aware of its power and limitations: The popular hype is well ahead of reality.

On the positive side, the volume of information that can be usefully exposed for examination over a given period of time is greatly increased, facilitating rapid digestion of new concepts, etc.

As an old professional computer guy from the 1960ies, I have taken an interest in poking my nose into quantum computing and its implications. And have come to question some of the hype associated with this new technology.

AI is another fascinating development made possible by ongoing developments and refinements of conventional digital computer technology.

It is now beginning to change the nature of the society in which we participate.

On the other hand, I see a lot of debate and confusion on the fringes of science where new and powerful instruments continually expand what we can observe in the microworld and the cosmos in general.

Please note that I did not use the term "Universe" because the use of that statement implicitly excludes the idea of a "Multiverse" of which our presently observable home, called the "Universe", might simply be an insignificant piece.

Along with observations, theories are evolving to try to account for, in an intellectually satisfying way, what is being observed.

That's where things get challenging: The theories seem to get more complicated than that which they are trying to describe, which should give us pause to hesitate about adopting them as factual.

The nice and useful thing about science is that you can know something about an observed phenomenon without claiming to know everything.

And build on what you have to improve knowledge over time.





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