ABCtech #97 20-OCT-17 Machine Learning ala AlphaGO Zero

ABCtech #97 20-OCT-17 Machine Learning ala AlphaGO Zero

“IT” has happened. Google’s new AlphaGO Zero computer has demonstrated the capability to learn from scratch. The system employs the principles of reinforcement – as do humans. The difference?  It does so with accuracy and speed far superior to humans. Even more impressive is that AlphaGO Zero learned these principles on its own in weeks, something it took humans thousands of years/generations to learn and encode in their DNA. Now what?

Forecasts will flow.  Aready Dennis Hassabis, co-founder of DeepMind, speculates that if applied to health issues, AlphaGO Zero could come up with cures in weeks.  HERE http://fortune.com/2017/10/19/google-alphago-zero-deepmind-artificial-intelligence/

The advance brings us one step closer to Singularity – the collapse of knowledge boundaries; the integration of all knowledge through machines that learn. We are now witnessing the arrival of the holy grail of the knowledge economy –  machines that far outstrip humans in mental performance.

What will this innovation mean – socially, economically? What lies ahead – heaven or hell, utopia or … ? A collapse or a transition? We speculated in an earlier editorial, the future of the professions and the beginning of the end of the knowledge economy – attached. In the coming weeks we will explore the impact – the threats and opportunities further. Stay tuned. – Editor

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The Future of the Professions. This book predicts the decline of today’s professions and introduces the people and systems that will replace them. In an internet-enhanced society, according to Richard Susskind and Daniel Susskind, we will neither need nor want doctors, teachers, accountants, architects, the clergy, consultants, lawyers, and many others, to work as they did in the 20th century.     HERE  https://books.google.ca/books?id=iYpmCgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false      ALSO HERE

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