The Intellectual Titanic and Sister Ships at Sea: Ethical Ballast and Flawed GPS Aboard

June 1, 2023

Note: This essay is the work of a real and still-alive dinobaby. No smart software involved, just a dumb humanoid.

I read “Researchers Retract Over 300 COVID-Era Medical Papers For Scientific Errors, Ethical Concerns.” I ignored the information about the papers allegedly hand crafted with cow outputs. I did note this statement, however:

Gunnveig Grødeland, a senior researcher at the Institute of Immunology at the University of Oslo, said many withdrawn papers during COVID-19 have been the result of ethical shortcomings.

Interesting. I recall hearing that the president of a big time university in Palo Alto was into techno sci-fi paper writing. I also think that the estimable Jeffrey Epstein affiliated MIT published some super positive information about the new IBM smart WatsonX. (Doesn’t IBM invest big bucks in MIT?) I have also memory tickles about inventors and entrepreneurs begging to be regulated.

Bad, distorted values chase kids the Lane of Life. Imagine. These young people and their sense of right and wrong will be trampled by darker motives. Image produced by MidJourney, of course.

What this write up about peer reviewed and allegedly scholarly paper says to me is that ethical research and mental gyroscopes no longer align with what I think of as the common good.

Academics lie. Business executives lie. Entrepreneurs lie. Now what’s that mean for the quaint idea that individuals can be trusted? I can hear the response now:

Senator, thank you, for that question. I will provide the information you desire after this hearing.

I suppose one can look forward to made up information as the increasingly lame smart software marketing demonstrations thrill the uninformed.

Is it possible for flawed ethical concepts and out of kilter moral GPS system to terminate certain types of behavior?

Here’s the answer: Sure looks like it. That’s an interesting gain of function.

Stephen E Arnold, June 1, 2023

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under Business strategy, News

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.