Summer, 2024
This summer, it’s less one particular event, and more an evolving theme: “spinning straw into gold.”
But first, some backstory.
During April through May, 2024, we had an explosion of people watching our YouTubes, subscribing to our YouTube channel, and “Opting-In” with Themesis. In short, our community grew by an order of magnitude within just a few weeks.
This means that there are about a thousand new YouTube subscribers, and over ten thousand people who’ve watched one of our recent YouTubes, “AGI Wars.”
It was THIS YOUTUBE that shifted things:
Over this summer, we’ll be building out this theme – of how the main ideas that are the precursors to AGI contrast-and-compare with each other.
Being a Bit of a “Mother Hen”
Have you ever seen a mother hen with her chicks?
Growing up and spending most of my life on the USA mainland, I’d never seen a live chicken – until I moved to the Big Island of Hawai’i during the July 4th weekend of 2016.
And then, I started seeing feral chickens – the sort that lived all over the island. (And all over ALL of the Hawai’ian islands!)
For the first time, I got a very good sense of what it was like to be a “mother hen.” Those hen mothers are BUSY! (And they’re hugely diligent. Impressive!)
As we head into summer, I’m feeling very “mother hen,” with LOTS of new chicks! (The chicks in the picture below are actually a bit mature; that’s ok, they’ve mature chicks who’ve just joined this flock.)
Summer Theme: “Spinning Straw into Gold”
As I mentioned — for the summer of 2024, it’s not so much a single event; it’s a theme underlying a series of events and activities – mostly developing solid material that can take you into the AGI world.
The theme for this summer is “spinning straw into gold.”
“Spinning straw into gold” is, as we know, a magical act. It’s a transformational process – and that’s what I’m doing this summer; it’s what we’re doing in Themesis, and it’s what you can do as well.
The straw is a lot of old AI material – it’s what I put together when I first developed the “AI and Deep Learning” special topics course for Northwestern University in 2017.
The “spinning into gold” is when we go through what we already know about AI, neural networks, and machine learning – and go deeper into the essence of what we know, and extract the core essence that will carry us into the emerging AGI world.
The whole idea of “spinning straw” is a lot like separating “wheat from chaff.” Some of what we know – and some of the news that shows up – is valuable. And a lot isn’t.
So an essential part of “spinning straw into gold” is developing discernment – what is worth our time and attention? What can we gloss over, or simply discard? And what do we need to study more deeply?
Any specific application can emerge – have its strengths praised, and its flaws exposed – and slide into obscurity within months.
There are just THREE THINGS that can help us stay on top without being overwhelmed with the AI “straw whirlwind”:
- Anchor into the deep fundamentals,
- Build and consistently maintain your network, and
- Identify and work with your Muse.
These are needs that we ALL have, no matter how long we’ve been in the AI field, and no matter what our job or position may be.
To support you in each area, we offer the following:
- Themesis short courses (the “Themesis Academy“),
- Monthly AI Salon, and
- Working with your Muse.
What we’re doing this summer: spinning straw into gold:
- Building new Themesis courses; updating existing ones; bringing old material up-to-date with NEW concepts and ways to understand the “big picture,” converting course material into a more easily-accessed form.
- Shifting our focus from “AI” and “gen-AI” to artificial general intelligence, or AGI, and
- Creating opportunities for you to work with us, one-on-one, as your private Muse.
How to Get Invited
Opt-In with Themesis to receive:
- Email invitations to Salons (and word on the latest YouTubes and blogpost releases),
- Flash sale notifications – we hold flash sales for Salons, short courses, and “Work with Your Muse” opportunities, and
- Advance notice of special events – whether live (free webinars, Salon community call-in days, or other live events), or recorded – you need to get the word. Opting-in gets you there the fastest!
To Opt-In, go to our ABOUT page. (See Menu at top.)
Scroll down. See the Opt-In form. Fill it in. Hit the “submit” button.
Go to your email inbox. (Your fave one – the one that you used to Opt-In.) Find the confirmation email from us. Confirm.
THEN … MOVE THE THEMESIS EMAILS to your PREFERRED / PRIORITY / MUST-READ Inbox Folder.
You’ll start getting invitations and “latest word” notices from us.
Monthly Salons
Our next Themesis AI Salon, Sunday, June 23, 2PM Eastern. We’ll provide the Salon background shortly.
To be invited (Live Zoom event, no recording) – you MUST be Opted-In with Themesis to get your email invitation!
We really are having a bit of an “AI singularity” moment. At the same time, we STILL DON’T HAVE AGI (artificial GENERAL intelligence).
Master Generative AI Vocabulary: “Top Ten Terms in Statistical Mechanics”
More Information HERE
Recent Events
How to Build an AGI, in Your Spare Time (with Tools and Parts around the House)
Trenton Computer Festival (TCF), March 16, 2024.
Trenton Computer Festival Conference Presentation: Alianna Maren (Speaker) with Lee Goldberg (Moderator):
Community and Technology, Radio Talk Show with Hosts David Burstein and Stuart Reid
Previously, on Wednesday, March 20th: Radio Conversation with Hosts David Burstein and Stuart Reid, Community and Technology, WHCR-FM 90.3, special guest Alianna Maren, on “Artificial General Intelligence.”
“Community & Technology” explores the impact of technology on our lives as it explores ways to understand and harness the breathtaking pace of technology development to transform our communities from mere technology consumers to producers and owners.
Here’s the YouTube of that conversation.
Join us later this year (late summer/early autumn, 2024), when Dr. Maren again joins hosts Stuart Reid and Dave Burstein to discuss the role of AI in elections: deep fakes, fake news, and micro-targeting voter populations.