Computer Science | Grinnell College

Several members of the CS department attended the Paris Talks, a one-day conference focused on potential problems that could arise with the development of AI. The conference was targeted at people with a humanities-oriented background, whose perspectives on technology are often not a part of the conversation. Talks ranged from discussion of technological advances in healthcare, urban planning and the internet of things, with an emphasis on potential impact of these on privacy, personal relationships, the relationships between people and technology, culture, art, and broadly our own conception of the above mentioned, and how those conceptions influence meaning of work and relationships in our lives. The students who attended the conference will help to lead a discussion of these issues at CS Table this week.

• The conference website has been taken down, but you can find a snapshot of the site on archive.org.
• This discussion with the organizer of the conference is also informative.

Computer science table (CS Table) is a weekly meeting of Grinnell College community members (students, faculty, staff, etc.) interested in discussing topics related to computing and computer science. CS Table meets Tuesdays from 12:00–12:45pm in JRC 224A (inside the Marketplace). Contact the CS faculty for the weekly reading. Students on meal plans, faculty, and staff are expected to cover the cost of their meals. Visitors to the College and students not on meal plans can charge their meals to the department (sign in at the Marketplace front desk).

Since the early days of computing, people have debated the value of artificial intelligence (AI). Many scholars and authors have considered the ramifications of AI and have shared their considerations in media that surrounds us all. We decided there are so many good examples of AI in media (from Ultron to Wall-E), we couldn't pick just one, so please come to CS Table with an example of your favorite AI representation in media!

Suggested readings:

• Robert Hart. When Artificial Intelligence Gets Too Clever by Half. Undark. 24 May 2017.
• Allan Dafoe and Stuart Russell. Yes, We Are Worried About the Existential Risk of Artificial Intelligence. MIT Technology Review. 2 Nov 2016.
• John Bohannon. Fears of an AI Pioneer. Science Magazine. Vol. 349, Issue 6245, pp. 252. 17 Jul 2005.

Computer science table (CS Table) is a weekly meeting of Grinnell College community members (students, faculty, staff, etc.) interested in discussing topics related to computing and computer science. CS Table meets Tuesdays from 12:00–12:45pm in JRC 224A (inside the Marketplace). Contact the CS faculty for the weekly reading. Students on meal plans, faculty, and staff are expected to cover the cost of their meals. Visitors to the College and students not on meal plans can charge their meals to the department (sign in at the Marketplace front desk).

Robots are fun, but what happens when we decide to elevate them from simple tool to citizen? Granting citizenship to a robot has already been done in Saudi Arabia. Join us for CS Table to discuss the general implications and what this means for society and computational thinking as a whole.

• Maza, Cristina. “Saudi Arabia gives citizenship to a non-Muslim, English-speaking robot”, Newsweek, 26 Oct 2017.
• Wootson, Cleve R., Jr. “Saudi Arabia, which denies women equal rights, makes a robot a citizen”, The Washington Post: Innovations, 29 Oct 2017.

Computer science table (CS Table) is a weekly meeting of Grinnell College community members (students, faculty, staff, etc.) interested in discussing topics related to computing and computer science. CS Table meets Tuesdays from 12:00–1:00pm in JRC 224A (inside the Marketplace). Contact the CS faculty for the weekly reading. Students on meal plans, faculty, and staff are expected to cover the cost of their meals. Visitors to the College and students not on meal plans can charge their meals to the department (sign in at the JRC front desk).

This Friday at CS TAble, we will discuss a recent document entitled “Research Priorities for Robust and Beneficial Artificial Intelligence.” The paper was selected by Stelios Manousakis, Grinnell's Artist-in-Residence for this part of the semester. Manousakis will join us for the discussion.

In selecting the paper, Manousakis noted that the paper “caused quite a stir some weeks ago as Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk—who are among those who signed it—came out publicly warning that Artificial Intelligence is the biggest threat to humanity.”

Computer Science Table is a weekly meeting of Grinnell College community members (students, faculty, staff, etc.) interested in discussing topics related to computing and computer science. CS Table meets Fridays from 12:10 to 12:50 in the Day PDR (JRC 224A). Contact Sam Rebelsky, rebelsky@grinnell.edu, for the weekly reading. Students on meal plans, faculty, and staff are expected to cover the cost of their meals. Visitors to the College and students not on meal plans can charge their meals to the department.

For this week's Computer Science Table (at noon on Friday, September 6, in Rosenfield 224A), the reading is a classic paper on artificial intelligence:

Turing, A. M. (1950). Computing Machinery and Intelligence. Mind 59: 433-460.
http://www.csee.umbc.edu/courses/471/papers/turing.pdf

Come learn the real scoop on the “Turing test”!

On Thursday, September 10, Jerod Weinman of the Department of Computer Science will present the first talk in this year's Thursday Extras series, entitled Efficient machine learning for computer vision-based depth perception.

Refreshments will be served at 4:15 p.m. in the Computer Science Commons (Noyce 3817). The talk will follow at 4:30 p.m. in Noyce 3821.