The Botany of Desire

Initially, humans believed to have direct control over plants, but no one has thought that plants control us to ensure their long-term survival. Human beings, unfortunately, do not give enough credit to plants even though they satisfy our wants that is why we carefully select what plants to grow and engineer. Plants can satisfy people's wants by providing things such as beauty (tulip), control over nature (potato), intoxication (marijuana) and sweetness (apple). The relationship between plants and how they satisfy desires of humans is known as The Botany of Desire. (Pollan, 2008)

Plants create molecules that can change or alter human perception and their mind. For example, Marijuana has enabled humans to change their perception of consciousness, which goes to show how plants can control humans if people actively are willing to change their understanding of plants. The Botany of Desire written by Michael Pollan has broadened my perspective regarding humans' relationship with their environment and how plants are essential in satisfying our desires. (Pollan, 2008)

Works Cited

Pollan, Michael. The Botany of Desire: A Plant's Eye View of the World. Random House, 2008. 

“The Botany of Desire, with Michael Pollan.” PBS, 2008. 

Random Post #1

My mother; the jack of all trades. She is artistic, respectful, solution-oriented, hardworking, helpful, compassionate, and result-driven. A lady who advocates for internal happiness rather than short-term external (i.e., materialistic) satisfaction. She is someone who truly values and understands the meaning of a genuine friendship where both parties abide by a set of principles and morals that they will never deviate from. My mother, an independent lady, who maintains self-respect regardless of the circumstances she faces, has inspired me to act with my conscience rather than my desires. She is not materialistic and does not judge people from a socioeconomic perspective, which are important attributes that I aspire to learn from her.

As a result of my mother's teachings and principles, I would like to share an experience of mine where I was inspired by her to show respect in regards to other peoples opinions and improve by any means necessary.

I believe that character is shown when someone commits an act of kindness and expects nothing in return. The principles that demonstrate my character are honesty, reflection, and respect, which enable me to become a better person over time. Being honest and reflective are essential for me. Implementing those principles in my approach towards life will help me identify my weaknesses, and by reflecting on them, I can seek solutions to solve those problems. For example, in my junior year of high school, I was not immediately accepted onto the varsity tennis team because the coaches felt that I needed to improve my game strategy and serves. Given that I successfully identified these problems, I practiced with a private coach seven days a week for two hours until I made the varsity tennis team before the final cut. In my opinion, respect occurs when one shows admiration for another person's qualities, weaknesses, or accomplishments. And if it weren't for my mother's hard work ethic and solution-oriented personality, I would have probably taken the easy route of accepting failure. 

I would like to commemorate how my mother has inspired me to be respectful and result-oriented instead of being careless and ignorant. She has enabled me to make better decisions that will hopefully help shape a more prosperous path for my future. I am eternally indebted and grateful to her for teaching me these valuable lessons. 

Expert article

The Artificial Intelligence Revolution: Blessing or Threat?

By Amirteymour Moazami (Spring 2018)

How Artificial intelligence (AI) & Machine learning (ML) are disrupting traditional industries but yet can pose a threat to humanity

Imagine a world where cars can drive themselves, reduce traffic, and increase safety. Imagine a world where robots fight wars instead of soldiers. Is AI dangerous or convenient? Historically, ideas like this were just part of one’s imagination, yet, today, AI & ML are making these once science-fiction ideas become a reality!

What is the difference between AI & ML?

Artificial intelligence is software that performs tasks which involve intuition and would usually require human intelligence. Human intelligence: our ability to reason, make decisions, form plans, understand information, which can all be done with AI. In other words, AI helps computer systems to think like humans. Do you know Siri, the smart personal assistant on an iPhone that helps you get things done by using speech recognition? (Gruber, 2017) That’s the power of AI. 

Artificial intelligence gave birth to machine learning. The aim of ML is to teach computers how to learn and act on their own by feeding it information and finding patterns in the data. ML helps computerized systems get smarter over time through experiences without depending on programming — a technique that is known as unsupervised learning. Imagine you are teaching an airplane how to fly. Every time the plane successfully takes off and lands you say, “good airplane” and every time the airplane crashes you say, “bad airplane.” This example of machine reinforcement learning is dependent on rewards. Every time the airplane performs the correct task it gets a positive reward. Over time, the machine understands how to work itself to maximize positive rewards (Ng, “Machine Learning Lecture”). Another powerful example is how Tesla learns over time as they collect more and more data from cars driving on streets while in assisted-driving mode. As machines become more knowledgeable, so do humans.

Is AI a blessing?

AI & Driverless cars

                                                   Source: Qualcomm & TomTom

Self-driving cars are here. Waymo, Google’s driverless car division, has been laser-focused on developing its self-driving technology since 2009. They are committed to creating a safer driver that is fully aware of its surroundings at all times and never gets distracted, so people and things can move around effortlessly without the need for a human driver. Waymo is working hard to offer a reliable and cheap source of transportation to everyone, making roads safer, while still being eco-friendly. Google’s self-driving vehicles have already obtained more than 4 million miles of driving experience on city streets in areas like Austin, TX and Phoenix, AZ. This significant amount of self-driving experience from Google’s fleet of vehicles implies that these cars are continuously learning on their own by collecting information. And this data helps the driverless car control all sorts of real-world situations and conditions in a safe and non-disruptive manner. AI & ML is an important part that has enabled Waymo to make significant progress on driverless vehicles, which intrigues me. Intriguing is: ability of computers to learn, behave, and render judgment almost as good as humans.

How self-driving cars work?

Self-driving vehicles have sensors, radars, cameras, and software within them that is programmed to detect road work, other cars, cyclists and pedestrians up two hundred yards away in all directions. Given that self-driving vehicles are computerized systems, they are continuously gathering information that updates to the cloud in real-time, which allows the car to become smarter about its environment the more miles it drives (“Waymo Safety Report on the Road to Fully Self-Driving” 12-15).

For example, if your self-driving car’s sensor sees that another vehicle in front of it is slowing down, then the software predicts that the car in front of you is approaching a stop sign or a red light. This observation would cause your car to stop comfortably to avoid an accident. Or imagine crossing the road while you are using your phone. A car is driving towards you, and you’re unaware of it. But all of the sudden the driverless car detects you and slows down automatically. Wouldn’t you and your family appreciate that?

Safer streets

According to the Waymo Safety Report, “94% of crashes involve human choice or error” that led to 1.25 million deaths globally in 2014. Accidents caused by humans are usually because the driver is either drunk or distracted. So, developing driverless cars that are always paying attention, learning in real-time and making roads safer can cut down accidents by about 90% and save $190 billion in healthcare costs as told by a report conducted by McKinsey (Ramsey 2015). And this is all possible because of AI and ML. Isn’t this awesome?

Or is AI a threat to humanity?

Will intelligent machines control humans, or will we control intelligent machines? AI systems can become smarter than any human and outperform them in almost all intellectual domains, which means that it will be nearly impossible for humans to predict how these systems will behave. As machines learn to think for themselves and adapt to their immediate environments, they present a substantial risk to humanity.

Autonomous weapons

Weaponized AI is built to cause disruption. Autonomous weapons have artificial intelligence systems within them and can be in the form of guns, robots or drones. Intelligent weapons have the capability of carefully choosing and eliminating targets (people and establishments) without human intervention. If autonomous weapons are in the hands of the wrong people, it can result in a large number of deaths or injuries without difficulty (“Benefits & Risks of Artificial Intelligence). For example, an armed drone is a plane that does not have a human pilot and can damage targets based on a specific pre-established criterion.

Militaries around the world realize the potential of AI and how it can be a useful tool in warfare. If any dominant military organization around the globe follows through with the development of autonomous weapons, an AI arms race is bound to happen. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, “the leader in AI will rule the world.” An AI arms race between militaries can lead to a high death rate globally. An AI war is not helpful for human advancement. But using AI to make the combat zone a safer place for people, especially for ordinary citizens is beneficial to humanity. According to Dr. Peter J. Bentley, a computer scientist, and professor at University College London, “We can reduce casualties in conflicts since losing a drone is better than losing a person” (Allison, 2017). He says it is easier to use drones in warfare rather than a person since the cost of human life will never equal the value of weaponized AI regardless of how pricey it is.

How to manage a future with AI?

AI can pose a risk to humanity. But it can also help solve diseases such as cancer using genomic data and let robots fight wars instead of humans. Being mindful of the dangers presented by AI and applying best practices possible to manage its potential consequences through proactive regulation can make AI beneficial for humanity. It’s our decisions as humans to decide whether AI will compete with us or help satisfy our needs and improve our well-being.

References

Allison, Peter Ray. “Will Killer Robots Make Us Safer?” Alphr, 14 Dec. 2017                                           www.alphr.com/arificial-intelligence/1007974/will-killer-robots-make-us-safer

“Benefits & Risks of Artificial Intelligence.” Future of Life Institute,   futureoflife.org/background/benefits-risks-of-artificial-intelligence/.

“How AI Can Enhance Our Memory, Work and Social Lives.” Performance by Tom Gruber, TED, Apr. 2017,             www.ted.com/talks/tom_gruber_how_ai_can_enhance_our_memory_work_and_social_li  ves.

Karpukhin, Sergei. “Putin Says the Country Who Leads the Development of A.I. Will Rule the    World.” CNBC, 4 Sept. 2017, www.cnbc.com/2017/09/04/putin-leader-in-artificial-intelligence-will-rule-world.html.

Ng, Andrew. “Machine Learning Lecture.” Palo Alto, California, Stanford University.

Ramsey, Mike. “Self-Driving Cars Could Cut Down on Accidents, Study Says.” Wall Street        Journal, 2 March 2015, https://www.wsj.com/articles/self-driving-cars-could-cut-down- on-accidents-study-says-1425567905

Walsh, Toby. “AUTONOMOUS WEAPONS: AN OPEN LETTER FROM AI & ROBOTICS     RESEARCHERS.” Future of Life Institute, 28 July 2015, futureoflife.org/open-letter-           autonomous-weapons/.

“Waymo Safety Report on the Road to Fully Self-Driving.” Waymo, pp. 1–42.,     storage.googleapis.com/sdc-prod/v1/safety-report/waymo-safety-report-2017.pdf.