David Woods - How to Kill Zombie Ideas: Why do people tenaciously believe myths about the relationship between people & technology?
From Katie Gentilello
views
comments
From Katie Gentilello
Zombie ideas plague much of the discussions on deploying AI and other autonomous machine capabilities into fields of human activity. People consistently mis-envision the impact of deploying these technologies by a wide mark. Because these oversimplified and erroneous ideas about AI and autonomy reappear and persist even after repeated empirical and technical debunking, they are zombies. This gives rise to the query: how can we kill off zombies ideas, in this case, about AI and Autonomy to be deployed into Systems that Serve Human Purposes. As this question recurs over decades, and because the zombies are prevalent among technolologists, social scientists, and management ranks, there must be deep psychological roots to these misconceptions. Ultimately, these enduring misconceptions, when recognized as zombies, represent a path to see deeply into the ultimate nature of our biological universe.
To prepare ahead, try to list as many candidate myths about the relationship between people & technology as you can generate yourself or together with others. Second, think about the kind of reasoning fallacies that contribute to zombie ideas. Third can you deconstruct 3 popular oxymorons that appear to be essential yet are really zombies in disguise: ethical algorithms, explainable AI, assured autonomy.
Warning: Pointing out zombies/myths is a highly dangerous activity. Just listening to, much less participating in, deconstructing these myths can lead to disorientation, anxiety, confusion & the urge to defend zombies.