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AI IN THE GARDEN…AND OTHER PLACES
On Sept. 11, Walter Hubbard, president , PCQuickhelp, spoke at the Jenks Center in a hybrid meeting of The Wilson Forum.
He asked “Have you ever wondered: What can AI do for me?” Or maybe “I sure would like some ideas for my garden?”
Well, here’s your chance!
Walter Hubbard explored how to answer both those questions he is presentation “AI in the Garden.” It’s fun! It’s easy! Walter discussed the transformation of his backyard into a garden inspired by Monet’s Giverny. And he performed a live redesign of the Jenks garden!
With this, and maybe a little luck, you can go home and do the same to your own garden. It is that simple!
Hubbard is the owner of PC QuickHelp now located in his home in Winchester. For 30 years, he has been helping clients solve computer issues, such as virus removal, hacking, and data recovery. He holds a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Rhode Island and an MBA from University of Michigan.
Prior to his current career, he designed, installed, and troubleshot turbine generators for the fossil and nuclear power industries.
AI PATHOLOGIES, WITH AI’S IMPACT IN BUSINESS ON JUDGMENT AND COMMITMENTS
In this session on Sept. 25, Steve Strassmann addressed the following question: “What will AI mean to us?” The simpler predictions for its impact sound like pulp fiction, with AI either the hero or the villain of the story, depending on who's telling it.
Science fiction author Frederik Pohl said…”A good science fiction story should be able to predict not the automobile but the traffic jam.”
Steve presented a view of AI’s present frailties and near future, informed by systems thinking, biology, and behavioral economics. The real world is a complex system of self-organizing and reactive participants. All behavior must face responses and repercussions. Evolution and market forces can produce stunning innovation and advances, but organisms and businesses do not achieve perfection or immortality. Something unexpected always shows up, like a traffic jam or a disease, whose origin is obvious in hindsight.
AIs malfunction. They’re not immune (and they never will be) to same kinds of forces that cause diseases in organisms. Steve described how AIs are susceptible to very real forms of malnutrition, parasites, degenerative and congenital diseases, mental disorders, and even cancer. And he described one disease in detail, related to how organizations exercise judgement and make commitments. He showed how this affects business today, and what can be done about it.
Steve Strassmann is a software engineer and pioneer in the field of AI pathology: cataloging, diagnosing, and treating digital diseases that cause AI malfunctions. He is CEO and founder of Longreach, which helps improve the judgement of organizations that use AI.
He has held senior engineering roles at Apple, Benchling, Kyruus, Orange, VMware, and others. He served as CTO of Massachusetts, and has been entrepreneur-in-residence and a visiting scholar at Harvard Medical School and the Wyss Institute. He is a three time founder and mentors entrepreneurs at the Harvard iLab.
Steve is an inventor on seven patents, and has received three degrees from MIT, including a PhD in AI.
UPCOMING WILSON FORUM PRESENTATIONS
Oct. 23: Olivia Lanes, from IBM Quantum, will talk about Quantum Computers
All Wilson Science & Technology Forum presentations are recorded and can be streamed free on demand at the Wilson Forum’s website, https://jenksst.blogspot.com/
WinCAM broadcasts recordings of Forum presentations at 3 p.m. on Mondays and Fridays. For the schedule, go to https://wincam.org/schedule/education/ and search for “Wilson.” Likewise, our YouTube channel includes our video presentations: https://www.youtube.com/@wilsonsciencetechnologyfor3746/videos .
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The Wilson Forum’s meetings are via Zoom, at 10:30 a.m. on the second and fourth Fridays of each month, with the exception of July and August.
