Dr. Jabe writes Jabe On AI as the Taboontologist
Let me tell you a #story. A #real one. Not #created by an #AI or any other #SimulatedIntelligence. But a real #human story, about AI and a #journey to #understand#Cogniton. The Back story on #JabeOnAI (my new regular posts to come).
So, we begin at the start, or maybe a little earlier. In a long distant time, called the #1980s. #AlongtimeagoinaGalaxyfarfaraway … a friend lent me a book. The time was Autumn 1987, and the book was called #GodelEscherBach(#GEB), it was the first time I had picked up a ‘real book’ on #ArtificialIntelligence, rather than some #ScienceFiction (oh, #HappyStarWarsDay / #StarWarsDay) … it cast a light on a new world for me. A year later, I spied the book #GEB on a shelf belonging to a friend’s older brother who was away at the #UniversityofSussex. Turned out his brother was away at University studying of all things … an #ArtsDegree in #artificialintelligence . I was on a #mission …
… with a bit of hard studying, and coding to an audio #cassette recorder … my #AcornElectron#computer had no hard drive! … in #1989 … I arrived at #COGS– the #CentreforCognitiveScience, exercise one writing a version of the #Eliza(#ChatBot) in #POP11 on a #Vax8530 computer … it began and I have been studying, coding and working with AI for 35 years.
Over that time I have been blessed to study with #MargaretBoden, #AaronSloman, and many other #stars of the AI world whose experience stretched back to the #founding#pioneering days of AI, right back to the 1950s. Since then, I have worked in a few #technology companies, and had the good fortune to arrive at #ElsevierScience (now #Elsevier) just as it was starting it’s #digital journey, working with talented #technologists and #subjectmatterexperts, and with partners and customers in #commercial R&D companies (across #Pharma, #Energy, #Engineering, #LifeSciences, #Chemistry and #Physics), through the days of #textmining, #semanticweb, #knowledgegraphs, early #deeplearning, #predictiveanalytics and now … the #hype of the moment #GenerativeAI.
Having done the early heavy lifting in #PhilosophyofMind; #ComputationalModels of Psychological Processes; Natural Language processing and #Linguistics; #LogicBasedProgramming, and Connectionist programming (I.e. #ArtificialNeuralNetworks, or #MachineLearning) when people ask me over coffee about AI, I feel that I have a pretty good handle on it.
There are huge #existential#risks and #opportunities in front of us. Each of us who is able, needs to #stepup and #playourpart in #steering towards #goodoutcomes rather than ill.
My first thought. I read the recent opinion piece by #YuvalNoahHarari … who I respect #immensely. He stated that we are seeing an #Alien Intelligence. It made me #thinkdifferently. I say: “What we are seeing with this #waveofAI is #us. All of us, #reflectedinthemirror. This is us and who we are.” We all need to step up and start #steering. In the true sense of the word ‘#cyber’ to #steer. #letsdothis ! … more soon!
More info
Linked-in: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jabewilson/
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Biography, Dr. Jabe Wilson, has been studying and working with Artificial Intelligence since 1987; He grew up in an Artist household, holidaying in Aberaeron in the 1970s – where his family visited with the painters Duffy Ayers and George Chapman. He was a member of the mid-1970s skateboard gang “The Street Dogs” with Ian “Davross” Scuds (the first professional UK street skater) –which he credits to his first-hand experience of flow states; He was a barman at the mythical “Yellow Heaven Soup Kitchen” in the late 1980s frequented by the ‘Mutoid Waste Company”; and he claims was loosely associated with the mid 1980s Hip-Hop collective the “Main-AGT” (Art Graffiti Terrorists) – Jabe is a very poor turntablist; he attended the early nights of the Shoom Club, Clink Street, and The Trip, in 1987-1988 (hence his interest in altered states of consciousness 😉 ). He studied at Sussex University an Honours Degree in Artificial Intelligence 1989-1992; and in Human Centred Computer Systems MSc 1992-1993; worked for Brighton Based Software company Desktop Display in the early 1990s and was there at the earliest days of the Silicon Roundabout in Shoreditch working for the new media and product design agency IN.form 1994; He has taught interaction design at The Royal College of the Arts; University of the Arts, London and Birkbeck College. He studied for (and received) a PhD 1994-2000 with a PhD supervisor jointly from Sussex University & the University of the Arts, London; and since 1999 (approx. 25 years) has held various roles at the Scientific Publisher and Analytics company RELX (Elsevier) for which one of his projects was reported in the (now defunct) “News of the World” as delivering one of the world’s first AI predicted Drug repurposing results in 2018. He has an MBA from Warwick Business School awarded in 2009. He has 4 children born between the years 1996 and 2018 (two Daughters and two Sons). He still regularly injures himself skateboarding and has yet to master the “Dark Slide” immortalised by Rodney Mullen.
The three faces of Jabe: Serious (Double Espresso); Thoughtful (Arabica Cappuccino); Experimental (Espresso Martini).
Serious (Double Espresso)
Thoughtful (Arabica Cappuccino) – Jabey On Kenob-AI
Experimental (Espresso Martini)