Emily and Alex time travel back to a conference of men who gathered at Dartmouth College in the summer of 1956 to examine problems relating to computation and "thinking machines," an event commonly mythologized as the founding of the field of artificial intelligence. But our crack team of AI hype detectives is on the case with a close reading of the grant proposal that started it all.

This episode was recorder on November 6, 2023. Watch the video version on PeerTube.

References:

"A Proposal for the Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence" (1955)

Re: methodological individualism, "The Role of General Theory in Comparative-historical Sociology," American Journal of Sociology, 1991

Fresh AI Hell:

Silly made-up graph about “intelligence” of AI vs. “intelligence” of AI criticism

How AI is perpetuating racism and other bias against Palestinians:
The UN hired an AI company with "realistic virtual simulations" of Israel and Palestine
WhatsApp's AI sticker generator is feeding users images of Palestinian children holding guns
The Guardian on the same issue
Instagram 'Sincerely Apologizes' For Inserting 'Terrorist' Into Palestinian Bio Translations

Palette cleanser: An AI-powered smoothie shop shut down almost immediately after opening.

OpenAI chief scientist: Humans could become 'part AI' in the future

A Brief History of Intelligence: Why the evolution of the brain holds the key to the future of AI.

AI-centered 'monastic academy':“MAPLE is a community of practitioners exploring the intersection of AI and wisdom.”

Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.

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Emily

Bluesky: emilymbender.bsky.social
Mastodon: dair-community.social/@EmilyMBender

Alex

Music by Toby Menon.
Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park.
Production by Ozzy Llinas Goodman.

Mariah & Noah discuss the influence of social media and social proof