On 03/01/2024 19:49, Narelle Clark wrote: > From the November issue of the IEEE Communications Magazine there are some > papers on 'Semantic Communication': "In contrast to the Shannon paradigm that > focuses on correct reception of the transmitted packet regardless of its > meaning, semantic communication is concerned with the issue of how to > efficiently transmit and receive the desired meaning of the source content to > the destination. By transmitting only the meaning or semantics of the source > content, semantic communication holds the promise of making wireless networks > significantly more energy-efficient, robust, and sustainable than ever > before." > > Just what we need embedded in everything, huh? AI determining the "meaning" > and summarising the lower layer communications for more efficient > transmission.
I can think of an even more efficient way of communicating: forget about all those difficult theoretical concepts like Shannon's Equation or Entropy, and let the listener just assume they know what the human at the other end is saying! Why bother about physics, it's all too difficult and too hard to market. I must be feeling in a cynical mood this morning. "Semantic communication" is quite often known as poetry, which conveys its message by conjuring the listener's emotions and imagination, their shared experience of life, and their empathy for others. However humans have been developing such understanding and mental capacity one way and another since the dawn of sentient life, and the human brain began its evolution perhaps two million years ago. Furthermore, human cerebral reactions cannot be separated from the rest of the body's biochemistry, such as the endocrine system, the sympathetic & para-sympathetic nervous system, and so on. This is essentially why AI machines should be conceived (by humans!) as fast correlation processors. That's not to deny they're an extremely important technology with vast potential to improve the lot of humanity, and also to destroy it. I don't agree that AI is some sort of technology bubble which will just disappear given time. Yes? No? _ David Lochrin_ _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] https://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
