AI: Neither Artificial, Nor Intelligent – A Talk with Rob Cardinal
As humankind careens inexorably towards a technological singularity, a point of “advancement” beyond which we are no longer able to predict our own future, we will have finally created a problem that we cannot ever hope to solve. Or have we already done so? Our modern societal disconnection from the natural world is nearly complete. While some futurists revel in the “heights” of intelligence, material progress, and longevity they foresee, they don’t take into account any of the current lessons on our doorstep of how we have overstepped our bounds, of how pointless and meaningless these “benefits” are without our home or humanity intact. Humility, respect, and gratitude have become as artificial as our technology.
About Rob Cardinal: I am the STEM Coordinator at Siksika Board of Education, the President of IndigeSTEAM Society, worked with the Manitou Asiniy Iniskim Tsa Xani Centre not-for-profit, as well as sit on the Indigenous Advisory Circle at Telus SPARK Science Centre in Calgary AB. I hold a B.Sc. in Astrophysics, and previously worked in planetary science for the Canadian Space Agency as a member of the Science Team for the NEOSSat microsatellite project. I am also a proud member of Siksika Nation. I have discovered two comets that bear my name and have an asteroid named after me. I have also named an asteroid “Siksika” in honor of my Nation and Niitsitapi ancestry. I have crossed the ocean of despair from the 60s Scoop and intergenerational trauma. I have a keen interest in computation, number theory, quantum theory, and philosophy.