Thanks for sharing this, Adrian- I've long wondered about the future of Personal AI Assistant, and now I think I have a better understanding. For one, I'd like them to be able to make my morning tea/coffee. So maybe one day. Hope you're well this week, Adrian-
Morning Thalia, I'm sure that will come. A physical assistant for everyone will be economically harder to pull off, but a software assistant running in the cloud will happen soon. I have Grammarly looking over my text as I type this reply, medical records are online, social media already has many profiles about me, etc. Some small startups are already working on creating software that will allow you to control all that information about you, and maybe even get paid for it, for example when you comment on a Facebook post. That little comment or like has economic value. There are already programs that play the role of a psychologist, having such a program learn more about you, store that knowledge, and assist with your well-being is just a natural progression. Thank you for commenting and reminding me to make coffee, have a good day, wherever you happen to be.
Hi Adrian, thanks for touching base. I checked out your sub stack and read your article “Free Will And Democracy”. Interesting stuff. I am more of an institutionalist, meaning while I believe we have some degree of “free will,” I also believe that free will is greatly defined and, I would go so far as to say, severely constrained, by the institutions that define our society, our family, our individual lives. Within the limits of those institutions, we have a degree of free will. Beyond the institutions, a closely related factor of “culture” also greatly define, and severely constrain, our free will. In your article, of a subsection called “National Differences” – those national differences exist substantially due to the differences in institutions, as well as the differences in culture. In the two of these are generally mutually reinforcing of each other. There are loads of examples I could give which illustrate these dynamics, but I’m sure you know what I mean.
Thank you Steven! Yes, I know what you mean. I agree that there are institutional and cultural constraints on the exercise of free will, although I work on the assumption that it exists on its own. I don't even try to justify it, I just take that existence as an axiom, makes the rest of the material in the publication more cohesive. And secondly, as I gathered from your article "Lessons of democracy, from its bloody roots", I am happy to see that we both look at democracy as an ongoing process. (As an aside, I spent quite a bit of time in both Athens and Rome, so your article had an additional significance for me.)
Thanks for sharing this, Adrian- I've long wondered about the future of Personal AI Assistant, and now I think I have a better understanding. For one, I'd like them to be able to make my morning tea/coffee. So maybe one day. Hope you're well this week, Adrian-
Morning Thalia, I'm sure that will come. A physical assistant for everyone will be economically harder to pull off, but a software assistant running in the cloud will happen soon. I have Grammarly looking over my text as I type this reply, medical records are online, social media already has many profiles about me, etc. Some small startups are already working on creating software that will allow you to control all that information about you, and maybe even get paid for it, for example when you comment on a Facebook post. That little comment or like has economic value. There are already programs that play the role of a psychologist, having such a program learn more about you, store that knowledge, and assist with your well-being is just a natural progression. Thank you for commenting and reminding me to make coffee, have a good day, wherever you happen to be.
Hi Adrian, thanks for touching base. I checked out your sub stack and read your article “Free Will And Democracy”. Interesting stuff. I am more of an institutionalist, meaning while I believe we have some degree of “free will,” I also believe that free will is greatly defined and, I would go so far as to say, severely constrained, by the institutions that define our society, our family, our individual lives. Within the limits of those institutions, we have a degree of free will. Beyond the institutions, a closely related factor of “culture” also greatly define, and severely constrain, our free will. In your article, of a subsection called “National Differences” – those national differences exist substantially due to the differences in institutions, as well as the differences in culture. In the two of these are generally mutually reinforcing of each other. There are loads of examples I could give which illustrate these dynamics, but I’m sure you know what I mean.
Thanks, all the best
Thank you Steven! Yes, I know what you mean. I agree that there are institutional and cultural constraints on the exercise of free will, although I work on the assumption that it exists on its own. I don't even try to justify it, I just take that existence as an axiom, makes the rest of the material in the publication more cohesive. And secondly, as I gathered from your article "Lessons of democracy, from its bloody roots", I am happy to see that we both look at democracy as an ongoing process. (As an aside, I spent quite a bit of time in both Athens and Rome, so your article had an additional significance for me.)