Can we build AI without losing control over it?

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This week on TED.com October 1, 2016

Talk of the week Sam Harris: Can we build AI without losing control over it? 14:27 minutes · Filmed Jun 2016 · Posted Sep 2016 · TEDSummit Scared of superintelligent AI? You should be, says neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris -- and not just in some theoretical way. We're going to build superhuman machines, says Harris, but we haven't yet grappled with the problems associated with creating something that may treat us the way we treat ants. Watch now »

Playlist of the week Dude, where's my driverless car? In 4 talks, learn about the extraordinary effort to create cars that drive themselves. Watch » 4 TED Talks • Total run time 39:38

Check out this week's amazing new TED Talks: Why do we dance? To show our identity -- and to share it. In this electric demonstration, packed with live performances, choreographer, educator and TED Fellow Camille A. Brown shows what happens when communities let loose and express themselves by dancing together. Watch » In our tech-driven, interconnected world, we've developed new ways and rules to court each other, but the fundamental principles of love have stayed the same, says anthropologist Helen Fisher. In this energetic tell-all from the front lines of love, learn how our faster connections are actually leading to slower, more intimate relationships. (Watch to the end for a lively discussion with love expert Esther Perel.) Watch » What do you get when you combine the strongest materials from the plant world with the most elastic ones from the insect kingdom? Super-performing materials that might transform ... everything. Nanobiotechnologist Oded Shoseyov walks us through examples of amazing materials found throughout nature, in everything from cat fleas to sequoia trees, and shows the creative ways his team is harnessing them in everything from sports shoes to medical implants. Watch » J.D. Vance grew up in a small, poor city in the Rust Belt of southern Ohio, where he had a front-row seat to many of the social ills plaguing America: a heroin epidemic, failing schools, families torn apart by divorce and sometimes violence. In a searching talk that will echo throughout the country's working-class towns, he shares what the loss of the American Dream feels like -- and asks: How can we help kids from America's forgotten places break free from hopelessness and live better lives? Watch »

Read more on ideas.ted.com Essay: How being an archeologist shaped me as a parent >> Sarah Parcak studies ancient civilizations -- and shares 5 long-lasting lessons about family Gallery: Simple, meaningful architecture that heals >> These buildings look plain ... but their purpose is powerful Nature: The sexual deceptions of plants >> Why would a plant want an animal to have sex with it? It's all in the chemistry

Quote of the Week “ If you had looked at my life when I was 14 years old and said, "Well, what's going to happen to this kid?" you would have concluded that I'd struggle with what academics call upward mobility. It's an abstract term, but it strikes at something that's very core at the heart of the American Dream. It measures whether kids like me who grow up in poor communities are going to live a better life, or whether they're going to stay in the circumstances where they came from." JD Vance America's forgotten working class

 

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