Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 38, No. 20.
Department of Digital Humanities, University of Cologne
Hosted by DH-Cologne
www.dhhumanist.org
Submit to: humanist@dhhumanist.org
[1] From: Mcgann, Jerome (jjm2f) <jjm2f@virginia.edu>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 38.18: 'the sky is falling' (71)
[2] From: maurizio lana <maurizio.lana@uniupo.it>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 38.18: 'the sky is falling' (46)
[3] From: Manfred Thaller <manfred.thaller@uni-koeln.de>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 38.18: 'the sky is falling' (62)
--[1]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2024-05-30 18:17:54+00:00
From: Mcgann, Jerome (jjm2f) <jjm2f@virginia.edu>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 38.18: 'the sky is falling'
Dear Willard,
AI is computation and computation is essentially counting. That basic fact
about computational “intelligence” is fundamental.
Any living or nonliving entity at any scale can be modelled computationally.
Self-organization, whether autopoietic or sympoietic, is still a computational
process.
So: what is it that “doesn’t count”? Or: what can’t be accounted for?
Deviation? Not hardly. Loss? Not that either.
Nothing can’t be accounted for.
Lucretius accounted for the atoms with the swerve. But his account couldn’t
account for the plague.
Best,
Jerry
From: Humanist <humanist@dhhumanist.org>
Date: Thursday, May 30, 2024 at 3:04 AM
To: Mcgann, Jerome (jjm2f) <jjm2f@virginia.edu>
Subject: [Humanist] 38.18: 'the sky is falling'
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 38, No. 18.
Department of Digital Humanities, University of Cologne
Hosted by DH-Cologne
www.dhhumanist.org<http://www.dhhumanist.org>
Submit to: humanist@dhhumanist.org
Date: 2024-05-30 06:59:28+00:00
From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty@mccarty.org.uk>
Subject: the continuing problem of 'impact'
I refer to that event in Oxford, 'The Impact of Generative AI on the Digital
Humanities: Disruption in Research and Education", reported just an hour
or so earlier.
No one, I suppose, could argue against the wisdom of taking
precautionary measures in light of signs indicating the explosion of a
nearby volcano, say, or the arrival of a tsunami. But this is not what
we're facing with AI. Accepting the rhetoric of 'impact' renders those
who witlessly accept it passive victims. Of course it's prudent to stay
aware of what the tech giants and their fellow travellers are up to, but
this is not the same thing as assuming its inevitability, as if it were
a force of nature rather than a very human project. Do we not have a
responsibility, as hackers to hack for the good, as scholars to keep a
clear head and write and lecture accordingly, asking Lenin's
question--"What is to be done?--and coming up with persuasive arguments?
Comments?
Yours,
WM
--
Willard McCarty,
Professor emeritus, King's College London;
Editor, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews; Humanist
www.mccarty.org.uk<http://www.mccarty.org.uk>
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--[2]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2024-05-30 11:09:57+00:00
From: maurizio lana <maurizio.lana@uniupo.it>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 38.18: 'the sky is falling'
Il 30/05/24 09:03, Humanist ha scritto:
> I refer to that event in Oxford, 'The Impact of Generative AI on the Digital
> Humanities: Disruption in Research and Education", reported just an hour
> or so earlier.
>
> No one, I suppose, could argue against the wisdom of taking
> precautionary measures in light of signs indicating the explosion of a
> nearby volcano, say, or the arrival of a tsunami. But this is not what
> we're facing with AI. Accepting the rhetoric of 'impact' renders those
> who witlessly accept it passive victims. Of course it's prudent to stay
> aware of what the tech giants and their fellow travellers are up to, but
> this is not the same thing as assuming its inevitability, as if it were
> a force of nature rather than a very human project. Do we not have a
> responsibility, as hackers to hack for the good, as scholars to keep a
> clear head and write and lecture accordingly, asking Lenin's
> question--"What is to be done?--and coming up with persuasive arguments?
i completely support your position.
we face a naïve enthusiasm for AI which expresses itself in most extreme
form when nearly any statistical data elaboration is now described as
made by/with AI.
as that of AI is a human project, we people of DH have the
responsibility to slow down the pace, to cool down the uncritical
enthusiasm, to study which are the effective uses where AI can enhance
our capabilities, to support and promote a secular vision of AI ("let us
examine the pros and cons of AI systems one by one and see what to do"),
and not a religious one ("our salvation is in AI")
the first step is to stop using expressions like "the AI", and starting
to speak of "AI systems", "AI software", and so on
(and uncritical enthusiasm seems to be more among humanists than among
computer scientists...)
Maurizio
------------------------------------------------------------------------
one of the things I really believed in is the idea of simplicity,
that life should always be moving toward more simplicity
rather than more complexity
yvon chouinard
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maurizio Lana
Università del Piemonte Orientale
Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici
Piazza Roma 36 - 13100 Vercelli
--[3]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2024-05-30 07:36:39+00:00
From: Manfred Thaller <manfred.thaller@uni-koeln.de>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 38.18: 'the sky is falling'
Dear Willard,
I could not agree more:
> Do we not have a
> responsibility, as hackers to hack for the good, as scholars to keep a
> clear head and write and lecture accordingly, asking Lenin's
> question--"What is to be done?--and coming up with persuasive arguments?
But would that not imply, that the Humanities do not simply comment on
the developments of the technologies, but get involved in their formation?
To be "hackers to hack for the good" in that context seems to me to ask
for a technical engagement, which is not way, but ways beyond the
mainstream in the Humanities' engagement with technology currently
occurring.
Kind regards,
Manfred
Am 30.05.24 um 09:04 schrieb Humanist:
> Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 38, No. 18.
> Department of Digital Humanities, University of Cologne
> Hosted by DH-Cologne
> www.dhhumanist.org
> Submit to:humanist@dhhumanist.org
>
>
>
>
> Date: 2024-05-30 06:59:28+00:00
> From: Willard McCarty<willard.mccarty@mccarty.org.uk>
> Subject: the continuing problem of 'impact'
>
> I refer to that event in Oxford, 'The Impact of Generative AI on the Digital
> Humanities: Disruption in Research and Education", reported just an hour
> or so earlier.
>
> No one, I suppose, could argue against the wisdom of taking
> precautionary measures in light of signs indicating the explosion of a
> nearby volcano, say, or the arrival of a tsunami. But this is not what
> we're facing with AI. Accepting the rhetoric of 'impact' renders those
> who witlessly accept it passive victims. Of course it's prudent to stay
> aware of what the tech giants and their fellow travellers are up to, but
> this is not the same thing as assuming its inevitability, as if it were
> a force of nature rather than a very human project. Do we not have a
> responsibility, as hackers to hack for the good, as scholars to keep a
> clear head and write and lecture accordingly, asking Lenin's
> question--"What is to be done?--and coming up with persuasive arguments?
>
> Comments?
>
> Yours,
> WM
> --
> Willard McCarty,
> Professor emeritus, King's College London;
> Editor, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews; Humanist
> www.mccarty.org.uk
--
Prof.em.Dr. Manfred Thaller
formerly University at Cologne /
zuletzt Universität zu Köln
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