Quote Of The Week

Quote of the Week 22 "A computer  is the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds. " ― Steve Jobs Triggered by the use of the quote in a Microsoft keynote by Satya Nadella last week:

Quote of the Week 21 " He who can go to the fountain does not go to the water jar. " ―  Leonardo da Vinci Cited in the biography " Leonardo da Vinci " by Walter Isaacson. Triggered by a recent vacation trip to Florence .

Quote of the Week 20 "'No' is a complete sentence . " ―  Anne Lamott Actually, I do prefer a variation of the statement : "'No' is a valid answer . " Triggered by Bary Kaufman's tweet : "No is a complete sentence." @JFM — Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman ⛵🛵 (@sbkaufman) May 8, 2023

  Quote of the Week 19 "I f you want to reveal yourself, you also have to know where to stop. " ― Keith Jarrett (*May 8, 1945) Happy birthday to the master of perfect improvisation.* Triggered by unforeseen and hence unplanned circumstances during a recent vacation trip that reminded me of the story behind " The Köln Concert " bestselling solo-piano album ever  ―  in any genre  ―  covered here : "If I did The Köln Concert again, there'd be so much less ornamentation. It's all been transcribed and exists as sheet music now, but that just shows me all the sections I'd cut out. One thing you learn: if you want to reveal yourself, you also have to know where to stop." Source: " There is no plan " (The Guardian, October 2006) *See The Aesthetics of Imperfection in Music and the Arts for those that don't agree with the juxtapostion of "perfection" and "improvisation".

2nd Quote of the Week 18 " The road to AI is paved with good attentions. " ― Alan Bipe Malaphorism triggered by the title of Gary Marcus' blog  "The Road to AI We Can Trust".

  Quote of the Week 18 " Just because chatbots can't think doesn't mean they can't lie. " ― Maria Bustillos Triggered by the title of the article in The Nation covering the Internet Archive .

  Quote of the Week 17 " A ruler who is not wise can never get good advice. " ―  Niccolò Machiavelli See also:  https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/p/the-prince/summary-and-analysis/chapters-2223

Quote of the Week 16 " Nukes don't make stronger nukes. But AI makes stronger AI. " ― Aza Raskin  (The A.I. Dilemma)  Triggered by the use of the quote in the thought-provoking (and controversial) talk " The A.I. Dilemma " by  Aza Raskin and Tristan Harris : BTW, I was not able to find another reference of the Yuval Harari quote they used in the presentation. [ LinkedIn ]

Quote of the Week 15 " Art must hurt. " ― Theodor W. Adorno    Triggered by the use of the German  quote   "Kunst muss weh tun." in a piece on German TV without referencing Adorno. Can AI-generated art ever qualify? See also: "Art must hurt. First, it must hurt the artist himself; the artist must experience pain before he creates. Otherwise, he won't be able to produce tears. A true artist must describe the things he is most afraid of, all that which he wished to avoid." ―  Itamar Yaoz-Kest [ LinkedIn ]

Quote of the Week 14 " Large Language Models are going to do to human discourse what fossil fuels did to climate. " ― Alan Cooper  Triggered by Alan 's tweet : Large Language Models are going to do to human discourse what fossil fuels did to climate. — Alan Cooper (@MrAlanCooper) March 31, 2023 See also " I am not afraid of robots. I am afraid of people. " by Gary Marcus: " ... the reality is that large language models remain exactly what I have always described them to be: bulls in a china shop, powerful, reckless, and difficult to control. Making new systems that are “more accurate, safe, interpretable, transparent, robust, aligned, trustworthy, and loyal” should literally be at the top of everyone’s agenda." [ LinkedIn ]