2 ms·
"Garbage In, Garbage Out" has long been a foundational saying in computer science. I'm genuinely curious why so many in this generation of AI researchers and de
by humanistbot 7y ago
"Garbage In, Garbage Out" has long been a foundational saying in computer science. I'm genuinely curious why so many in this generation of AI researchers and developers seem to think they're immune to this.
- LeifCarrotson 7y ago> On two occasions I have been asked, — "Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?" In one case a member of the Upper, and in the other a member of the Lower, House put this question. I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question. > Passages from the Life of a Philosopher (1864), ch. 5 "Difference Engine No. 1" A very long time indeed! I think the key source of confusion (both in 1864 and today) is that non-technical people hope that the machine has some wisdom correlated with its arithmetic prowess. Charles Babbage's mechanical calculator did not have wisdom. Even when you give a bleeding-edge algorithm Big Data and lots of processing power, it doesn't yet have wisdom. But hope springs eternal.