Letters to the Editor

Is the ‘dumbing down’ of America happening now?

What is happening to America? I attended an outstanding public school where the teachers were focused on equal treatment for all students regardless of race or religion. My parents did not have to purchase school supplies as they were included in the school budget.

Teachers were paid a decent living wage. This was before public schools converted to the mindset of corporate America. Washoe County and Clark County school superintendents receive a base salary of $280,000 and upward to $400,000 plus paid medical, dental, vision, vacation/sick leave, car allowance/travel expenses.

There are numerous other ridiculous unnecessary specialty jobs that have been created to further drain money away from paying our teachers the money they deserve. No wonder Nevada schools are rated one of the worst in the nation.

And speaking of our nation, I am heartbroken that many are not well-educated concerning what has been termed the dumbing down of America. Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America only directs the secretary of the interior to update GNIS. The Geographic Names Information System covers the USA federal and national geographic nomenclature only. The rest of the world does not recognize this change.

Sadly, Google CEO Sundar Pichai has changed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America on Google maps. Please, do your own research and you will find this change occurs on Google maps for United States users only.

The dumbing down of America is happening in real time and the rest of the world is watching and laughing at us.

Respectfully,

Roslyn Aubuchon

The good and bad about artificial intelligence

Whether we realize it or not we are going through two and so far, “non-violent” revolutions. The first is the start of what most of us taxpayers hope will be the actual transparency of our federal government and where, who, and why our wealth gets spent.

So far, the only real opposition are many bureaucrats, politicians, and people that run NGOs with close government ties. They, for the most part, are very loud and boisterous, but don’t make any real sensible arguments of specific things that will be cut. And as more and more people see those cuts, most will ask why were they ever funded anyway. This revolution isn’t about any people on either side, it’s about a principle and whether we get back to those principles and even with its many complications and powerful people that don’t want “status quo” to change, it could be an easier victory than the second revolution - the AI revolution. That can bring an unbelievable future to the entire human race as a fantastic positive or a dreary negative. Computers have been common for a while and for the most part they’ve been a great plus to our lives.

I’m old enough to remember seeing about 100 men carrying their lunch boxes to work at the “Studebaker” factory to join thousands of others working there. About 20 years later I worked on the factory that built Humvees and stayed long enough to see the plant start-up. There were more people sitting at desks running computers than people doing actual labor on the factory floor. The robots did most of the work and did it well with no breaks, no lunch, no clock watching, no sick time, just some maintenance and a few people who knew how the robots worked. That is what very basic AI is.

Today there have been major gains in AGI, which is Artificial General Intelligence, which are more or less like “servants” and are already available to the public. But the one that will likely be capable of bringing massive change to humanity itself will be ASI, Artificial Super Intelligence, that is feverishly being worked on by a number of entities and countries, and human nature being what it is, if ASI will be possible to control, who will control it and how will they use that control.

I’ve been following some people involved with ASI and their opinions of its future vary from extreme optimism to extreme caution of possible negative results from the humans that control it to ASI itself. Keep in mind, an ASI computer, machine, whatever physicality it may have, would have all the knowledge that has ever been put on a computer and be able to apply it in split seconds to answer or solve anything it deems important. Even the highest IQs in the world would be like ants in the area of brain power.

Some say we may never reach that pentacle of ASI, while others believe it’s not very far away. That revolution is being waged and there’s no stopping it at this point, but hopefully, we all can agree it is a surefire way to stop it if it gets out of control.

Also, if it is as successful as many say, something must be done with the billions of humans on earth because ASI will provide all human necessities, some talk about providing games and drugs to what they call “non-essential” humans and possibly a “humane elimination,” so I know it can be scary, but hopefully we can make the right decisions for everyone.

David Jaronik