Curated category
Cybernetics
- AI alignmentNorbert Wiener spoke in 1960 about the danger of using mechanical agencies whose operation humans could not effectively control.
- AI safetyIn 1988, Blay Whitby published a book outlining the need for AI to be developed along ethical and socially responsible lines.
- Machine learningIn 1959, Arthur Samuel coined the term machine learning while working at IBM. He created a computer program that could calculate winning chances in checkers…
- Darwin among the MachinesOn the 13th of June 1863, The Press newspaper in Christchurch published a letter signed Cellarius. Samuel Butler wrote this piece to argue that machines were…
- Artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence was founded as an academic discipline in 1956. The field has experienced multiple cycles of optimism followed by periods of…
- Gaia hypothesisIn September 1965, chemist James Lovelock sat at a desk in California working on methods to detect life on Mars. He was employed by the Jet Propulsion…
- Negative feedbackA simple electronic amplifier demonstrates the core mechanism of negative feedback. When the loop gain AB is negative, fluctuations in output tend to reduce…
- Positive feedbackA small disturbance in a system can grow into a massive change. This process is called positive feedback. It occurs when the outcome of a process reinforces…