EconAir

  By Dennis Schuchman   Everyone is saying that AI is about to change the world, and they’re right. After  decades of missteps and false promises, AI is coming of age and it will change the  world in ways that I can’t even imagine.   I’ve been in the computer industry for over 40 years now, but I’m not a computer  scientist. In fact, I’ve never even taken a computer science course. I’ve learned a  number of programming languages, how various operating systems work and how to configure hardware and software systems and networks to create computing  environments that let users get their work done. So, I’m not a scientist, but maybe more of an engineer. Or maybe just a mechanic. When it comes to AI, then, I’m just as much an outsider as anyone. Well, almost.   I think that the way the media present AI gives people the wrong idea of what it’s about. People seem to think that AI combines the best of human brilliance with cold, hard computer logic....

John von Neumann JOHN VON NEUMANN CREATES THE FUTURE If you want to understand the world we live in, you have to know about the thinking of three men – Alan Turing, Claude Shannon and John von Neumann.   I’ve talked a little about Alan Turing in an earlier essay.   All three men knew each other, discussed their ideas with each other and promoted each other’s ideas. John von Neumann has been called the smartest individual of the 20 th Century.   Even an outline of his accomplishments, which you can read about in  Wikipedia, is hard to believe.   He invented game theory, which I discussed in two earlier posts.   He headed up a group of mathematicians who invented new statistical techniques at Los Alamos that made the atomic bomb possible.   In 1944, he wrote a memo that outlined the structure of the modern computer.   He then managed the design and building of a modern general computer and consulted on the building of virtually all ...