AI: there is nothing to fear

© by Mark Ollig

Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to be in the news.

In 1955, American computer scientist John McCarthy coined “artificial intelligence” at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH.

McCarthy had organized a summer workshop at Dartmouth that year, inviting researchers to explore the potential of computers to simulate human intelligence, and marked the birth of AI as a field of study.

During the early years of research, the primary focus was creating, writing, and executing AI computer program algorithms or sets of calculated operating instructions.

In the 1960s, researchers shifted their focus from symbolic AI (which relied on formal rules and logical reasoning) to connectionist AI (which relied on neural networks modeled after the brain).

In 1966, Joseph Weizenbaum, a computer scientist and professor at MIT, created Eliza, the first AI chatbot allowing interactive human-machine text conversation using a natural language processing computer program.

The 1970s and 1980s saw significant breakthroughs in AI research with computing protocols using rule-based expert systems to mimic human decision-making.

The introduction of these systems formed the development of revolutionary AI techniques like machine learning and natural language processing, leading to a transformation in the landscape of artificial intelligence.

Other early AI research included complex problem-solving, language-recognizing grammatical patterns, and natural language processing.

These early efforts were fueled by optimism and a belief that human-level AI was just around the corner.

The 1990s and 2000s witnessed a significant breakthrough in AI research with the emergence of machine-learning procedures and large digital data sets.

These advancements broke ground for developing sophisticated AI systems that accurately predict outcomes by recognizing patterns within the data.

Recent advances in AI computer technology have strengthened its primary usage of human speech; however, research leading to it comprehending complex human language contexts, nuances, and inflection meaning is still ongoing.

Deep learning AI model networks are a type of artificial neural network that use multiple layers of interconnected network nodes to learn and recognize patterns in various data.

These systems also process audio data, with the ability to accurately recognize and produce speech with astonishing precision.

AI systems are becoming better at understanding and responding to natural human language interactions.

Another deep learning breakthrough is developing neural networks that use internal assessment to understand complex speech patterns, representing a deep learning milestone.

Language AI systems serve various applications, such as virtual business assistants, healthcare diagnosis, intelligent device interactions, computer vision, human speech and face recognition, language translation, and interactions with chatbots.

In 2016, Sophia, a humanoid robot physically resembling an adult woman in her late 20s, was built by Hanson Robotics.

Its AI software responds by observing people’s facial expressions and processing conversational and emotional data it uses to form relationships with the humans it interacts with.

Sophia is known for its lifelike appearance and ability to hold conversations with humans using natural language processing and architectural components, including script software and an artificial intelligence program for general reasoning.

In April 2018, “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” featured a segment introducing Sophia. Fallon, the audience, and this writer were very impressed with Sophia’s human-like conversational interaction.

To see Sophia’s appearance on “The Tonight Show,” go to http://bit.ly/2rxDC8m.

As AI becomes embedded in our phone apps, personal and work computing software, intelligent devices, homes, smart cities, and cars, questions are raised concerning our privacy, security, and even the future of our working lives.

Some worry AI will become unmanageable, as portrayed in science fiction movies with intelligent machines running amok.

Another concern is the application of AI technology to create video deepfakes, cloning individuals’ likenesses and voices, whether they are famous or someone you know.

AI synthetic voice generator programs can accurately replicate the sound and tone of a known person’s speech pattern, raising potential misuse concerns.

Others worry about AI’s intentional exploitation by a government or corporation.

Many fear losing their job to AI technology.

Some suggest future AI networks may wield excessive power, and a human-designed “off-switch” needs to be available.

Given the rapid pace at which AI technology advances, predicting how an eventual autonomous AI network may perform is difficult.

Currently, top computing semiconductor makers are busy manufacturing AI electronic components.

Today, AI’s use is seen in healthcare, banking, education, transportation, government, commerce, telecommunications call routing, and commercial power grid path selections, and the list keeps growing.

AI-powered virtual assistants (Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, et al.) are everywhere.

I see the future of artificial intelligence becoming deeply interwoven into most segments of our society on Earth, and the spacecraft and satellites used throughout the solar system.

Quantum qubit processors with neuromorphic computing (emulating the human brain) will generate unique AI paradigms and technologies in the distant future.

Addressing one’s fear of AI requires continued public discussion and research to ensure its monitored and safe use with current and future applications.

As President Franklin D. Roosevelt said in 1932, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

 Artificial Intelligence chip architecture 3D rendering model

‘Washington–Moscow Direct Communications Link’

© by Mark Ollig

Sixty years ago, its objective was to ensure both countries could communicate quickly and clearly to prevent a nuclear war.

In early 1963, the US proposed installing a direct phone line, or hotline, between President Kennedy and Russian Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.

Kennedy’s proposal resulted from events during October 1962, when the Soviet Union secretly deployed offensive nuclear weapons in Cuba.

These nuclear weapons, if launched, would strike US cities within minutes.

Communications between the Kremlin and the Pentagon were plagued by delayed encrypted messages relayed by slow and periodically unreliable telegraph and radio systems.

President Kennedy demanded the missiles removal, but the Soviet leader refused.

This situation became known as the Cuban Missile Crisis, a tense two-week period that nearly triggered a nuclear war that would have likely caused the mutual destruction of both nations.

The US had an arsenal of 25,500 warheads at the time, while the Soviet Union possessed an estimated 3,350.

Thankfully, President Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev resolved the missile crisis peacefully.

The fear of future misunderstandings and miscalculations led to a mutual agreement to improve communications between the two countries.

It was decided that a dedicated direct phone circuit would be installed between Washington, DC, and the Kremlin in Moscow.

The US location of the hotline is the National Military Command Center in the basement of the Pentagon in Washington, DC.

This US-Russian hotline, formally known as the Washington–Moscow Direct Communications Link, was believed by many to include a red telephone wired from Washington to Moscow.

Communicating over the US-Russian hotline was performed using teleprinters or teletype machines, not telephones.

On Aug. 30, 1963, a full-duplex encrypted direct communication link was established between Moscow and Washington, DC. As a result, messages could now be quickly transmitted and received between the two countries.

After exchanging initial test text messages, the Pentagon announced the communications link was “completely satisfactory.”

They then declared the new direct communications link (DCL) “operational and made available for exchange of official messages between the two governments.”

“The direct communications link between Washington and Moscow is now operational,” read a statement from the US Defense Department.

A buried physical copper cable connection between the Pentagon and the Kremlin was routed from Washington, DC, to London, England, over the Transatlantic Cable No.1 (TAT-1). It then continued via buried physical copper cable through Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Helsinki, ending in Moscow.

I learned that the copper cable’s splicing terminations in London were underground in a protected telephone circuit switching exchange.

Cryptography protocols securely protected the information transmitted and received over the cable; however, it was reported that the cable was accidentally cut numerous times.

In addition to the primary hotline physical link over the TAT-1 cable, an auxiliary full-duplex radio link existed, which served as an alternative backup link.

The Pentagon’s hotline teletype machine was operated by the United States Army Signal Corps and housed in a secure bunker beneath the White House in Washington, DC.

Both the primary and backup direct communications links were tested daily.

The hotline is a secure telecommunication system that allows officials from both countries to exchange messages and hold discussions in real time.

The system is staffed by trained operators available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

On Sept. 30, 1971, the United States and the Soviet Union reached an agreement to enhance the dependability of the hotline.

Both agreed to abandon the terrestrial radio link and put two dedicated satellite circuit channels into service for the hotline.

On Jan. 23, 1972, the 3,058-pound Intelsat (International Telecommunications Satellite) IV F-4 launched from Cape Canaveral, FL, atop an Atlas SLV-3D Centaur-D rocket and was placed in a geostationary orbit above the Earth.

The US dedicated one highly-secured satellite channel through the Intelsat IV F-4 for the US-Russian hotline.

The USSR established the other satellite channel using its Molniya-2 (11F628) communication satellite, which kept a highly elliptical orbit over our planet.

In May of 1983, President Reagan suggested upgrading the hotline with high-speed facsimile capabilities. The Soviet Union formally agreed to this July 17, 1984.

Since 1990, voice communications with Moscow officials over the hotline have been available, most likely using direct voice link (DVL) satellite channels.

On Jan. 1, 2008, a highly-secured computer network became operational using two dedicated satellite channels between Moscow and Washington, DC.

Also, in 2008, an older backup copper cable used with the hotline was replaced with a fiber optic cable.

Over the past 60 years, many US presidents have used the hotline.

Two films depicting the use of the hotline are “Fail Safe” (1964) and “The Sum of All Fears” (2002).

So far, communication between the two superpowers using the hotline has prevented disagreements from escalating into a direct military confrontation.

The United States Department of State and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs operate the US-Russian hotline.

Air Force Sgt_John Brotoski and Army Lt_Col_Charles Fitzgerald 
Testing the "Hotline" at The US Pentagon
(August 1963)

The Great Pyramids and Apollo 11

© by Mark Ollig

Building the Great Pyramids of Giza and the Apollo 11 Moon landing mission revealed an extraordinary determination to triumph over seemingly unattainable objectives.

Constructed some 4,500 years ago during the reign of the Pharaohs in ancient Egypt, the three pyramids were built on a rocky plateau on the western bank of the Nile River near Al-Jīzah (Giza), located in northern Egypt.

Thousands of workers labored for an estimated 60 years to build the pyramids.

The pyramids were constructed using rudimentary tools and methods.

The massive limestone blocks were quarried nearby and pulled on sleds over sand. Ramps, levers, and pulleys were used to lift and drag blocks up slopes. However, the growing height of the pyramid required more resources and extended ramps.

The workers cut and shaped the blocks using copper tools and hammers, then placed them in precise positions to create the pyramid's structure.

The Great Pyramids' interior included numerous chambers, passageways, and corridors.

In the early 1960s, the United States and the Soviet Union competed for technological supremacy in what became known as the "space race."

On April 12, 1961, the first person to orbit Earth from space was Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

Many felt this achievement left the United States trailing in the space race.

On May 25, 1961, in an address to a Joint Session of Congress, President John F. Kennedy proclaimed, "This nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth."

He added, "It will not be one man going to the moon; it will be an entire nation."

NASA had existed for only two years, seven months, and 24 days.

It had just completed its first crewed 15-minute Earth suborbital space flight 20 days before Kennedy's speech, with astronaut Alan Shepard in a small Mercury spacecraft named Freedom 7, 116 miles above the Earth.

NASA was now tasked with sending a person 240,000 miles to the moon and safely returning them within nine years and seven months.

May 25, 1961, Minneapolis Star evening edition newspaper led with the headline, "Kennedy Summons U.S. to 'a Great Adventure.'"

Despite talk that this goal was beyond the country's current technology and knowledge, our nation rose to the challenge.

Sending astronauts to the moon inspired people in the United States to work together to achieve what was considered science fiction.

To fulfill Kennedy's promise and win the Space Race to the moon, NASA scientists, engineers, astronauts, computer programmers, and space equipment system contractors worked together to build spacecraft and develop new technologies.

With the success of the Mercury and Gemini NASA space programs, it moved on to the Apollo program and the spacecraft and computing which would take America to the moon.

Thousands of engineers, scientists, and technicians worked tirelessly on the Saturn V rocket, lunar module, new computers, and software coding, along with a global interconnected network of ground-based communication satellites working together.

Construction of the Apollo Saturn V rocket and lunar module required engineering precision, extensive testing, and modification improvements.

The 363-foot tall Saturn V rocket was impressive, with its three stages, independent fuel systems, and robust engines.

The lunar module's spidery appearance contained two compartment stages: ascent crew cabin and lower descent stage.

Both compartments were lightweight and constructed using metal alloys, titanium, and an aluminized polyamide mylar. A thin gold leaf layer coating acted as a thermal blanket, protecting the lunar module.

Its unique design allowed operation only in space, landing on the moon's surface and lifting off again using its ascent module engine.

On July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, aboard the Apollo 11 lunar module called Eagle, landed on the moon.

President Kennedy's goal was achieved before the decade ended.

There was one more moon landing in 1969.

On Nov. 24, 1969, the Apollo 12 lunar module Intrepid with astronauts Charles "Pete" Conrad and Alan Bean made it to the moon and back to Earth.

Before the 1960s had ended, four people landed on the moon, walked on its surface, and safely returned to Earth.

The Great Pyramids, according to estimates, will be recognizable for the next 100,000 years.

Tranquility Base, where Apollo 11 landed on the moon, its scientific equipment, lunar descent stage, and footprints are expected to be recognizable for thousands or possibly millions of years.

Both past accomplishments showcase human determination and problem-solving future generations can reflect upon when facing seemingly insurmountable challenges.

AI created image of the Great Pyramids and
  the Apollo 11 lunar module and astronauts on the moon

The first liquid-propelled rocket

© by Mark Ollig

At a young age, Robert’s interest in science was encouraged by his parents, who provided him with resources to explore his curiosity, including a microscope, telescope, and a subscription to Scientific American magazine.

On Oct. 19, 1899, he daydreamed about space travel after reading published magazine installments of the H. G. Wells science fiction novel, “War of the Worlds.”

“I imagined how wonderful it would be to make some device which had even the possibility of ascending to Mars,” Robert recalled in 1927.

Robert was born Robert Hutchings Goddard Oct. 5, 1882, in Worcester, MA.

In 1907, while attending Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Goddard ignited a powder rocket in the basement of the physics building, producing a lot of smoke and much attention from the school’s teachers, who became interested in his rocket.

In 1912, at Princeton University in New Jersey, Goddard became an instructor in the physics department, where he continued his research on rocketry.

In 1914, Goddard obtained his first two US patents, numbered 1,102,653 and 1,103,503, respectively, for inventing a liquid-fuel rocket and a multistage step rocket.

“A rocket apparatus having, in combination, a combustion chamber, a casing containing a supply of combustible material, and means for successively-feeding portions of said material to said combustion chamber,” Goddard described in his second patent.

As an assistant physics professor at Clark University in Worcester, MA, in 1915, Goddard demonstrated that rocket engines could generate thrust in a vacuum, thereby establishing their space flight capability.

On March 29, 1919, the Boston Globe reported on Dr. Goddard’s new rocket, invented with US War Department assistance, titled “Worcester Man Invents Deadly War Rocket.”

The report said the rocket “would have been used [in WWI], but for the Armistice [cessation of war hostilities], and “required no cannon to start it on its flight.”

In early 1926, Goddard prepared to launch the first liquid-fueled propelled rocket from the Asa Ward Farm in Auburn, MA, owned by his relative, Effie Ward.

The 10-foot tall rocket, later called “Nell,” contained a 2-foot-long motor engine powered by a mixture of liquid oxygen in one chamber and gasoline in another.

In the early afternoon of March 16, 1926, Goddard, his wife, Esther, Henry Sachs, and Percy Roope, an assistant professor from Clark University, were present during the historic rocket launch.

The rocket’s fuel chamber was ignited by Sachs using a blowtorch fastened to the end of a pipe, and a loud “pop,” followed by a “roar,” was heard during liftoff.

The combined oxidizer and fuel chemical mixture ignited and burned, providing thrust to propel the rocket into the sky.

The first liquid-propelled rocket flight reached an estimated speed of 59.65 mph and landed in the field, where it had run out of fuel.

On March 16, 1926, Goddard wrote the following, “March 16. Went to Auburn with Mr. Sachs in the morning. Esther and Mr. Roope came out at 1 p.m. Tried rocket at 2:30 p.m. It rose 41 ft, and went 184 ft, in 2.5 sec, after the lower half of the nozzle burned off. Brought materials to lab. Read Mechanics, Physics of Air, and wrote up experiment in evening.”

Yes, this was a short rocket flight; however, it was historically comparable with the Wright Brothers’ first airplane flight in 1903, which lasted 12 seconds and traveled 120 feet.

The next day, he wrote, “March 17. The first flight with a rocket using liquid propellants was made yesterday at Aunt Effie’s farm in Auburn. Even though the release was pulled, the rocket did not rise at first, but the flame came out, and there was a steady roar.”

Goddard continued, “After a number of seconds, it rose slowly, until it cleared the frame, and then at express train speed, curving over to the left, and striking the ice and snow, still going at a rapid rate.”

With limited space in Auburn for Goddard’s rocket experiments, he moved his research facilities to Roswell, NM.

His tests resulted in the first gyro-controlled rocket guidance system and variable thrust, liquid-propellant rockets.

In the mid-1930s, Goddard’s rockets reached speeds exceeding 741 mph and ascended almost two miles in the sky.

Dr. Robert Hutchings Goddard, an engineer, physicist, inventor, and professor whose research on rockets significantly contributed to modern space exploration, passed away Aug. 10, 1945, at 62.

I learned Goddard was often ridiculed for recommending rockets for space travel to the moon.

On  July 16, 1969, astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin brought a miniature book titled “Robert Hutchings Goddard – Father of the Space Age,” during Apollo 11’s rocket flight to the moon.

Dr. Robert H. Goddard had 214 patents in rocketry, and is today considered the father of modern rocket propulsion.

In Auburn, MA, within the Pakachoag Golf Course along the ninth fairway, is a rectangular granite obelisk containing the words “Site of Launching of World’s First Liquid Propellant Rocket by Dr. Robert H. Goddard, March 16, 1926.”

Ex Libris Immersive Museum of History created an excellent 3D recreation video of Goddard’s liquid-fueled rocket’s March 16, 1926 launch at https://bit.ly/3nBqQ61.

Robert H. Goddard with his first liquid-fueled rocket.
(NASA Goddard Space Center)