prod·i·gal/ˈprädəɡ(ə)l/adjective

1. 1.spending money or resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant."prodigal habits die hard"Similar:wastefulextravagantspendthriftimprovidentimprudentimmoderateprofligatethriftlessexcessiveintemperateirresponsibleself-indulgentrecklesswantonOpposite:thriftyeconomicalparsimonious
2. 2.having or giving something on a lavish scale."the dessert was crunchy with brown sugar and prodigal with whipped cream"

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Dreams are a...

Humanity May Reach Singularity By 2030

Darren Orf 11/30/2024

• By one unique metric, we could approach technological singularity by the end of this decade, if not sooner.
• A translation company developed a metric, Time to Edit (TTE), to calculate the time it takes for professional human editors to fix AI-generated translations compared to human ones. This may help quantify the speed toward singularity.
• An AI that can translate speech as well as a human could change society.

In the world of artificial intelligence, the idea of “singularity” looms large. This slippery concept describes the moment AI exceeds beyond human control and rapidly transforms society. The tricky thing about AI singularity (and why it borrows terminology from black hole physics) is that it’s enormously difficult to predict where it begins and nearly impossible to know what’s beyond this technological “event horizon.”

However, some AI researchers are on the hunt for signs of reaching singularity measured by AI progress approaching the skills and ability comparable to a human.

One such metric, defined by Translated, a Rome-based translation company, is an AI’s ability to translate speech at the accuracy of a human. Language is one of the most difficult AI challenges, but a computer that could close that gap could theoretically show signs of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).

“That’s because language is the most natural thing for humans,” Translated CEO Marco Trombetti said at a conference in Orlando, Florida, in December 2022. “Nonetheless, the data Translated collected clearly shows that machines are not that far from closing the gap.”

The company tracked its AI’s performance from 2014 to 2022 using a metric called “Time to Edit,” or TTE, which calculates the time it takes for professional human editors to fix AI-generated translations compared to human ones. Over that 8-year period and analyzing over 2 billion post-edits, Translated’s AI showed a slow, but undeniable improvement as it slowly closed the gap toward human-level translation quality.

On average, it takes a human translator roughly one second to edit each word of another human translator, according to Translated. In 2015, it took professional editors approximately 3.5 seconds per word to check a machine-translated (MT) suggestion—today, that number is just 2 seconds. If the trend continues, Translated’s AI will be as good as human-produced translation by the end of the decade (or even sooner).

“The change is so small that every single day you don’t perceive it, but when you see progress … across 10 years, that is impressive,” Trombetti said on a podcast. “This is the first time ever that someone in the field of artificial intelligence did a prediction of the speed to singularity.”

Although this is a novel approach to quantifying how close humanity is to approaching singularity, this definition of singularity runs into similar problems of identifying AGI more broadly. And while perfecting human speech is certainly a frontier in AI research, the impressive skill doesn’t necessarily make a machine intelligent (not to mention how many researchers don’t even agree on what “intelligence” is).

Whether these hyper-accurate translators are harbingers of our technological doom or not, that doesn’t lessen Translated’s AI accomplishment. An AI capable of translating speech as well as a human could very well change society, even if the true “technological singularity” remains ever elusive.

Darren lives in Portland, has a cat, and writes/edits about sci-fi and how our world works. You can find his previous stuff at Gizmodo and Paste if you look hard enough.

John 16:16-33 (NKJV)

16 “A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.”17 Then some of His disciples said among themselves, “What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?”18 They said therefore, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is saying.”19 Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’?20 “Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.21 “A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.22 “Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.23 “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.24 “Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.25 “These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father.26 “In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you;27 “for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.28 “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.”29 His disciples said to Him, “See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech!30 “Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You. By this we believe that You came forth from God.”31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?32 “Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Septuagint texts of Psalm 64(Masoretic Psalm 65) reads: “ode of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, the words of the sojourners when they depart"

Luke 15:12-32 (NKJV)

12“And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood.13“And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.14“But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want.15“Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.16“And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.17“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!18‘I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you,19“and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” ’20“And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.21“And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’22“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.23‘And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry;24‘for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.25“Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.26“So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.27“And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’28“But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him.29“So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends.30‘But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’31“And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.32‘It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’ ”

What are the 7 Churches in Revelation and what is the House of David?