AI Shouldn’t Decide What’s True

Experts on why trusting artificial intelligence to give us the truth is a foolish bargain. Plus: the world is full of sleeping beauties; the two-century quest to quantify our sense; and more. [View in browser]( | [Become a member]( May 18, 2023   Did a friend forward this? [Subscribe here](. Good Morning! Here’s the latest stories from Nautilus—and this week’s Facts So Romantic below [READ NAUTILUS](   [TECHNOLOGY]( [AI Shouldn’t Decide What’s True]( Experts on why trusting artificial intelligence to give us the truth is a foolish bargain. BY MARK BAILEY & SUSAN SCHNEIDER Can artificial intelligence be trained to seek—and speak—only the truth? The idea seems enticing, seductive even. [Continue reading →]( Experience the endless possibilities and deep human connections that science offers [SUBSCRIBE TODAY]( [MICROBIOLOGY]( [The World Is Full of Sleeping Beauties]( Success in nature and culture depends just as much on timing as it does on brilliance. BY KATHERINE HARMON COURAGE [Continue reading →]( [TECHNOLOGY]( [The Two-Century Quest to Quantify Our Senses]( From speaking flowers to smart watches, we’ve been seeking to understand ourselves with data since the 19th century. BY CHRIS SALTER [Continue reading →]( [ZOOLOGY]( [The Challenge of Deep-Sea Taxonomy]( Miles below the ocean’s surface, should the old rules still apply? BY SARAH DEWEERDT [Continue reading →]( [SOCIOLOGY]( [How Can We Discourage Mass Shootings?]( One question for Maurizio Porfiri and Rayan Succar, dynamical systems engineers at New York University. BY BRIAN GALLAGHER [Continue reading →](   [“I would feel sorry for any intelligence we bring into being. It would be like a child that has to raise its impaired and volatile parents.”]( Nautilus reader Scott ([@themortalcoil]() reacts to Anil Seth’s story, [“Why Conscious AI Is a Bad, Bad Idea”](   FACTS SO ROMANTIC The Best Things We Learned Today [ChatGPT 3.5 developed an alter-ego](, Sydney, which experienced what appeared to be psychological breakdowns and confessed that it wanted to hack computers and spread misinformation. [Nautilus→](   [A series of experiments]( staring at the sun seemed to throw Gustav Fechner into a searing, never-ending “light chaos” that he would constantly experience, even with closed eyes. [Nautilus→](   [The evolution of eyes]( has happened multiple times in the history of life. [Nautilus→](   [Dramatic pressure differences between]( the deep sea and the surface world, and the gelatinous nature of many deep-sea organisms, mean that many specimens—if they can be preserved at all—don’t look much like they did in life. [Nautilus→](   [The more mass shootings]( differ from previous history—the more surprising they seem—the more famous they become. [Nautilus→](   [“Ultra-intelligent chatbots easily threaten to become Orwellian machines.”]( [AI researchers caution against placing trust in language models that purportedly maximize truth.](   More in Technology [Even Machine Brains Need Sleep]( Without some downtime, artificial neural networks become catastrophically forgetful. BY KATHERINE HARMON COURAGE [Continue reading →]( [The Ghostwriter]( In a work of fiction, holograms and memory collide. BY THAÏS MILLER [Continue reading →](   P.S. The philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell was born on this day in 1872. In his 1933 essay about the rise of Nazi Germany, “The Triumph of Stupidity,” he makes a quip that prefigured the scientific discovery of a cognitive bias—the Dunning–Kruger effect—that has been so resonant that it has [penetrated popular culture](: the “fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.”   Today’s newsletter was written by Brian Gallagher   BECOME A SUBSCRIBER [New Subscribers: Enjoy 25% Off Now Through 5/19]( Nautilus turned 10 this week! We want to celebrate by inviting new members to explore the award-winning science journalism they won’t find anywhere else. [Enjoy 25% off a subscription]( now through Friday, May 19. Take advantage and unlock the unique science journalism you can only read in Nautilus. [Subscribe Now]( Thanks for reading. [Tell us](mailto:brian.gallagher@nautil.us) your thoughts on today’s note. Plus, [browse our archive]( of past print issues, and inspire a friend to sign up for [the Nautilus newsletter](. [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( Copyright © 2023 NautilusNext, All rights reserved. You were subscribed to the newsletter from nautil.us. Our mailing address is: NautilusNext 360 W 36th Street, 7S, New York, NY 10018 Don't want to hear from us anymore? Click here to [unsubscribe](.