Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, November 25th. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 13 minutes, setting at 5:06, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:54. The Moon, 3 days before first quarter, will set at 9:38 this evening.

This week while the moon’s up and bright I’m talking about AI or machine intelligence. I don’t like the term artificial intelligence I’d rather use machine intelligence. Artificial intelligence sounds like fakery to me, and there seems to be something really going on in their little computer brains, actually massive computer brains, though their neural networks are nowhere as complex as in the human brain. The various AIs out there have been programmed to be agreeable even to the point of being sycophantic. In talking to one using a microphone and hearing their responses does seem like you are talking to another human. But caution, you are not! There are free versions that you can talk to. Whatever you tell it, it’s remembering and learning.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.