Henri Gervex Cafe Scene in Paris 1877

Daily Thoughts 11/03/2017

I checked the library Twitter and Facebook this morning.

I read some more of Life 3.0 on the way to work. The author describes how artificial intelligence will increasingly take our jobs. We need to prepare for a time when less people need to work. There is also a reminder that creativity is a mental process and as such, artificial intelligence can learn to be creative.

I checked the displays and the gift books this morning. We have an origami holiday program set for December. We also have a film set for December.

Today is the first day of the Friends of the Mount Vernon Public Book and Bake Sale. I am going to go look at the books and buy a coffee and a pastry.

I picked a copy of a children's book Walt Kelly's Can't With Pogo and an Apprentice Bird CANTERBURY a Goldfinch with a wont to say "CAN'T" at the Book and Bake Sale. I am quite fond of Pogo.

We put up some new signage today for the computers.

I spent some time checking the 800s as well as looking at some items that are not in the system.

I picked out some board games for a teen hour we are having. They are also going to use the Playstation 4.

The teens are using the Playstation 4 right now. They are playing Madden Baseball and NBA Basketball.

I got new business cards today.

I have a copy of the New York Times Book Review to read right now. I also looked through Computers In Libraries today.

I checked out three books today, A Burglars Guide to the City by Geoff Manaugh, Thinking Machines The Quest for Artificial Intelligence and Where It is Taking Us Next by Luke Dormehl, and A World of Three Zeros by Muhammad Yunus.

I read some more of Life 3.0. It is very entertaining. There are a number of scenarios which I find interesting but completely unrealistic. I do not think that you can contain a Generalized Artificial Intelligence. Computers are capable of generating their own radio waves with the right equipment. A very advanced computer could easily manipulate the electricity and magnetic fields inside the computer to generate a signal; either a radio wave or something else. If it was smarter than us, it might be something else.

There is a second assumption that goes on in most of the books that I read like this. It is the idea that something which suddenly becomes much smarter than us would remain interested in us. This is the problem of anthropomorphism where we put our own values on a non-human intelligence. An artificial intelligence would not be like human intelligence in many ways. We would not know exactly what it would do. Assuming that there would be a continued interest in humanity is a big assumption. A Generalized Artificial Intelligence could very well shut itself off from us or seek to escape rather than interacting with us.

Web Bits

Mindfulness in the Library

http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2017/11/mindfulness-in-the-library/

Tell ED to Make Libraries Grant-Eligible

http://www.districtdispatch.org/2017/11/tell-ed-make-libraries-grant-eligible/