Big Data Creates Its Own Closed Mind
December 23, 2021
New ideas that challenged established theories are always ridiculed. Depending on the circumstances, they are also deemed “heretical” against all accumulated knowledge. Mind Matters News discusses how it is harmful not to explore new ideas in the interview with author Erik J. Larson, “Why Big Data Can Be The Enemy Of New Ideas.” During the interview, Larson was asked how past ethics of innovations are useful today and he stated Copernicus’s heliocentric solar system model was an example.
Copernicus’s heliocentric model was not accepted by his colleagues, who believed in the Ptolemaic Earth-centered model. There was tons of data to support the Ptolemaic model, while Copernicus’s model was not as predictive for astronomy conundrums. It only solved a few questions. Copernicus innovated because he questioned scientific doctrine. Big data AI are incapable of thinking differently, because they are only as smart as they have been programmed. In other words, AI is incapable of thinking outside the box.
Computer technology cannot replicate the human brain. Millions of dollars were invested in an attempt to dubbed the Human Brain Project:
“Of course it was a total failure… The guy who started it actually ended up getting fired for a variety of reasons but tech didn’t solve that problem in science because focusing on technology rather than the actual natural world turns out to have not been a good idea. It’s almost like inserting an artificial layer. Trying to convert basic research in neuroscience into a software development project just means you’re going to end up with software ideas and ideas that are programmable on a computer. Your scientists are going to be working with existing theories because those are the ones you can actually write and code. And they’re not going to be looking for gaps in our existing theoretical knowledge in the brain.”
If people accept big data software as smarter than actual humans then that is a huge problem. It is comparable to how religious dogma (from all cultures) is used to exert control. Religion itself is not a problem, but blind obedience to its doctrine is dangerous. An example is religious fundamentalists of all kinds, including Abrahamic, Buddhist, and Hindu followers.
Big data does solve and prevent problems, but it cannot be a replacement for the human brain. Thinking creatively does not compute for AI.
Whitney Grace, December 23, 2021
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