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Some thoughts on AI in Canada

/ Dennis A. Gray / Leave a comment

I’ve been thinking about AI, like a lot of you, and I’ve come to a few conclusions.

1: It’s not going anywhere. It’s too powerful, too easy to use, and no amount of legislation is going to put this genie back in the bottle. So what does this mean?

2: If we don’t develop a plan, as a society, as a nation, and as a government, to develop and control how and by whom AI is used some other country will do it for us. Likely either the US or China. We’ve made that mistake before, we can’t afford to make it where AI is concerned.

3: Fear of AI is counter productive. The reason Canadians, including our policy makers, are so afraid of AI is because most of the tech bros that control or are trying to control AI are horrendous caricatures of Bond villains. Musk, for example. The ones who aren’t, aren’t in the public eye. We need to focus on them.

4: The thing is those same Bond villains will solve AI’s problems for the same reason they want to own AI to begin with – to make money. Cooling AI is expensive, figuring out how cool data centers efficiently, with as little water as possible, will cost less and thus improve profits. The same with energy usage, size of buildings, everything. Solving these issues will increase profits so they will solve them – eventually.

5: Therefore, the way to control AI is NOT to make it illegal. It’s to speed up that process by making it even more expensive. Make using water to cool data centers expensive enough to encourage R&D into using less but not enough to drive them out of the country. Same with energy, land, and everything else. Just banning it will not stop it. We’ve tried that before too.

Conclusion: As I said before, if we don’t have a plan for AI use and development one will be imposed upon us because trying to make it illegal simply won’t work. We need to make Canada a profitable place to invest in AI that makes doing in a responsible way the most profitable of all.

Mercy, not sacrifice

/ Dennis A. Gray / 1 Comment

Like many of you I’ve spent the last week trying to process the events in Washington DC. Watching the church embrace the alt-right has been a huge source of anxiety these last four years. Not the greatest, the Pandemic holds that honour, but it has certainly been up there. I’m appalled, worried, saddened, and yes, even shocked, though frankly people should have seen this coming.

As the events unfolded, I was reminded of the lyrics of a Shawn Mullins song from the album Mercyland: Hymns for the Rest of Us. It’s called Give God the Blues (you really should check it out) and the verse makes a statement very relative for these times (emphasis is mine).

God ain’t no Republican
He ain’t no Democrat
He ain’t even Independent
God’s above all that

There is a real tendency among Christians to invoke the notion of a “Christian Nation.” Personally, I tend to balk at this. Mostly because the history of the so-called Christian nations has not been what I would call Christian in its character and actions. In the grand history of such nations and empires, from Rome through all of Europe through to America, more decent God-fearing people have been martyred by those acting under the authority of the church then by all the enemies of the church combined.

It’s completely understandable then that many people are questioning the validity of Christianity as a faith, as a religion, as a lifestyle, as… well… anything based on the behaviour of those who claim to follow Jesus and his teachings. Not surprisingly, Jesus had something to say about this.

…22Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’  (Matthew 7:22-23)

In my mind this verse (and others like it) should drive all the arrogance from any believer. Note that these people were doing all the things that we tend to associate with great faith. They cast out demons, they prophesied, they performed miracles, they did it all. So why does Jesus respond the way he does? I’m going to suggest they lacked one key ingredient to their faith.

But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ (Matthew 9:13)

On the surface this sounds kind of strange because didn’t God instruct the Jews in the offering of that would amount the thousands of sacrifices a year of everything from grain and oil to lambs and bulls? So, what gives? Paul puts it this way…

1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and exult in the surrender of my body, but have not love, I gain nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

There wasn’t a whole lot of love or mercy on display in Washington this week.