Artificial intelligence (AI) researchers have spent a lot of time and effort trying to build machines that look like humans and operate largely independently like humans. But have those dreams of science fiction androids distracted many of them from where real progress might already be taking place? The Conversation brought this interesting topic to our attention in their article, “What alchemy and astrology can teach artificial intelligence researchers.”
Should the focus be on enhancing rather than replacing human capabilities?. To accelerate the shift to new ways of thinking, AI designers and developers could take some lessons from the missteps of past researchers and scientists.
Optimistic astrologers and alchemists had high hopes and made big promises in the beginning. As alchemy and astrology evolved, the participants became more scientific about their studies, which led to significant findings.
Instead of shooting for the news-gathering accomplishments that mirror Hollywood, more down-to-earth user-centered designs for information search, e-commerce sites, social media and smartphone apps have experienced success and should continue to pursued.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Access Innovations, the world leader in taxonomies, metadata, and semantic enrichment to make your content findable.
