Posts Tagged ‘als’
A person with ALS needed to have his voice box removed. But before that happened, he recorded his voice so that computing devices would help him speak.
He recorded 3000 stock phrases and many of his own favourites so that he could artificially create new speech and call up original recordings. One of his choice phrases (at the 12min 57sec mark) was:
A little knowledge may be a dangerous thing, but it’s not half as bad as a lot of ignorance.
I agree, and there is more than one way to interpret that statement.
The common way is to cite an example like nuclear fission. When that was discovered, it unlocked a massive potential that was as useful for energy production as it was for weapons of mass destruction. That knowledge was indeed dangerous.
Another way of interpreting the sentence starts with focusing on “little knowledge”. It could mean not enough, e.g., little knowledge of how the SARS-CoV-2 vaccines were developed and how they work. Such knowledge can become the basis of conspiracy theories and pseudoscience, e.g., microchips in vaccines and learning styles, respectively.
We do not have to be experts at everything. We simply cannot. But there is such a state as having too little knowledge. In this state, we fill in the void with our own experiences, biases, and cultural cues. For example, much understanding of AI seems to come from movies made for entertainment and these AI want to dominate or destroy human life.
With enough knowledge from credible and reliable sources, we might understand the opposite. For example, the person whose voice is partly powered by AI is roboticist, Dr Peter B Scott-Morgan. In his 1984 publication, he declared (17min 25sec mark):
If the path of enhanced human is followed, then it will be possible for mankind and robot to remain on the same evolutionary branch rather than humanity watch the robots split away. In this way, mankind will one day be able to replace its all too vulnerable bodies with more permanent mechanisms and use the supercomputers as intelligence amplifiers.
This philosophy of AI as partner instead of rival flies in the face of popular culture. It stems from deep knowledge and critical practice in the field of AI and robotics. It is nowhere as glamorous or attention-grabbing as dystopian Hollywood fare.
Dr Scott-Morgan’s bit of deep knowledge is worth more than money-spinning loads of ignorance. It offers a hopeful and productive way forward.
The Age of AI 3
Posted on: December 28, 2019
This episode focused on how we might use artificial intelligence (AI) to augment ourselves to end human disability.
The first example in the video was artificial legs with embedded AI. The AI used machine learning to process a person’s movement to make the continuous and tiny adjustments that we take for granted. What was truly groundbreaking was how such limbs might be attached to existing muscles so that the person can feel the artificial limb.
The second example was improving existing abilities like analysis and decision-making in sports. The role of AI is to take large amounts of data and make predictions for the best payoffs. But despite the AI ability to process more than humans can intuit, we sometimes hold AI back because its recommendations seem contradictory.
We trust AI in some circumstances (e.g., recommending travel routes) but not in others (e.g., race strategies). The difference might be the low stakes of the former and the higher stakes of the latter.
The third example highlight how we might enhance our vision and hearing while increasing trust in AI in high stakes situations. It featured glasses that augmented vision for firefighters so that they could see is now or zero visibility. The camera and AI combined detect and highlight edges like exits and victims.
The video ended with the message that increased trust in AI will make it ubiquitous and invisible. But trust to be built, we need to remove ignorance, bias, and old perspectives.
AI can be a tool that we shape. But I am reminded of the adage that we first shape our tools and that our tools also shape us. This was true in our past and it will apply in our future.
The Age of AI 2
Posted on: December 27, 2019
The second episode of the YouTube Original series on artificial intelligence (AI) focused on how it might compensate for human disease or conditions .
One example was how speech recognition, live transcription, and machine learning helped a hearing-impaired scientist communicate. The AI was trained to recognise voice and transcribe his words on his phone screen.
Distinguishing usage of words like “there”, “their”, and “they’re” required machine learning of large datasets of words and sentences so that the AI learnt grammar and syntax. But while such an AI might recognise the way most people speak, the scientist had a strong accent and he had to retrain it to recognise the way he spoke.
Recognising different accents is one thing, recognising speech by individuals afflicted with Lou Gehrig’s disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is another. The nerve cells of people with ALS degenerate over time and this slurs their speech. Samples of speech from people with ALS combined with machine learning might allow them to communicate with others and remote control devices.
Another human condition is diabetic retinopathy — blindness brought on by diabetes. This problem is particularly acute in India because there are not enough eye doctors to screen patients. AI could be trained to read retinal scans to detect early cases of this condition. To do this, doctors grade initial scans on five levels and AI learns to recognise and grade new scans.
This episode took care not to paint only a rosy picture. AI needs to learn and it makes mistakes. The video illustrated this when Google engineers tested phone-based AI on the speech patterns of a person with ALS.
Some cynics might say that the YouTube video is an elaborate advertisement for Google’s growing prowess in AI. But I say that there is more than enough negativity about AI and much of it is based on fiction and ignorance. We need to look forward with responsible, helpful, and powerful possibilities.
Pause for a cause
Posted on: August 29, 2014
You probably will not know what the ALS ice bucket challenge is only if you have been living under a rock.
It seems that anyone who is some body (or has designs on being somebody) has uploaded a video of themselves being dunked with a bucket of ice to raise awareness of ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.
The participants have the option of donating money to alsa.org or dunking themselves. Some chose to do both. Whatever they do, the point is to raise awareness and money for ALS.
Like many things the dunking and sharing of videos seems to have taken a life of its own. It might leave you wondering if the folks who do this are just being part of a fad or serving their own cause (e.g., building their celebrity status).
But there is at least one celebrity who has stayed true to the spirit of things. Benedict Cumberbatch not only got dunked several times, he also made it a point to highlight the cause and a number to call to donate.
When your heart is in the right place, it is obvious to the people around you.
Another dot in the blogosphere? 