David Chalmers: “Once we have a human-level artificial intelligence, there’s just no doubt that it will change the world. A.G.I.s are going to be beings with powers initially equivalent to our own and before long much greater than our own. To that extent, I’m on board with people who say that we need to think hard about how we design superintelligence in order to maximize good consequences.” – The New York Times
Tag: 06.18.19
Farewell, Transparency? Sotheby’s Plans to Go Private (plus a possible glitch)
This flight from public accountability will deal a knockout blow to whatever transparency remains in “willing buyer-willing seller” auction transactions. Adieu, fair market value. – Lee Rosenbaum
The Ongoing Destruction Of The Bamiyan Buddhas (As If What The Taliban Did Weren’t Bad Enough)
“Most of the time, the remains of the monument are so poorly guarded that anyone can buy a ticket ($4 for foreigners, 60 cents for Afghans), walk in and do pretty much whatever he wants. And many do. Souvenir-hunters pluck pieces of painted stucco decorations from the network of chambers or take away chunks of fallen sandstone. Graffiti signatures, slogans, even solicitations for sex abound.” – The New York Times
Sotheby’s Going Private Will Mean Less Transparency About The Art Market
While the financial deals carved out by Christie’s with buyers, sellers and third-party guarantors (one of whom is often thought to be the firm’s owner itself, François Pinault) remain a closely-guarded secret, Sotheby’s obligatory filings were revelatory in many cases. – The Art Newspaper
Baltimore Symphony Musicians Are Officially Locked Out
“Sunday’s decision by the orchestra’s board of trustees locking out the players was not unexpected. Despite the picketers carrying signs reading ‘I Make Less Than I Did a Decade Ago,’ the letters to the editor from concerned music lovers and the angry words exchanged by both sides, the nonprofit is all but out of money and has proposed shortening the concert season from 52 weeks a year to 40 and reducing players’ pay by about 20 percent.” – The Baltimore Sun
No More All-Male Comedy-Writing Teams, Declares UK TV Network
“ITV will no longer commission comedy shows with all-male writers’ rooms, the broadcaster’s head of comedy has said. Saskia Schuster said she realised last year that ‘an awful lot of my comedy entertainment shows are made up of all-male writing teams. … Too often the writing room is not sensitively run. It can be aggressive and slightly bullying.'” – BBC