Quote(s) Of The Week - 12/31/18

"AI is currently very, very stupid. It is really good at doing certain things which our brains can't handle, but it's not something we could press to do general-purpose reasoning involving things like analogies or creative thinking or jumping outside the box."

Andrew Moore, Google vice president – in comments on whether or not AI will replace humans anytime soon

 “The ethics of the experimenter can charitably be described as substandard: the experiment was wildly premature, focused on a medical condition which already has both treatment and prevention methods; was done in secret, and without either peer review or adequate consent; and was done without any credible plan to protect the resulting children (and their children, and their children’s children) from harm.” 

George Annas, MD, Director of the Center for Health Law, Ethics & Human Rights at the Boston University School of Public Health on the announcement of secret research by a Chinese scientist using CRISPR technology to splice the genes of twins.

“Our societal silence over the last several years has been deafening.  As we enter the holiday season and a time of reflection, it seems to me that now is the time for a cacophony of compassion to rise up and overwhelm the people of our nation with the spirit of our founding mothers and fathers.”                               

Kevin Fickenscher, MD – in a moment of reflection on his own forefathers and foremothers who came by many routes “yearning to breathe free…”