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Pew Research Center
Aaron Smith is an associate director of research at the Pew Research Center.
PROFILE
Aaron W. Smith
Guest
FROM Aaron W. Smith
One Year Later
How is Trump affecting your family relationships? Many Americans are facing a Thanksgiving filled with family feuds about politics, President Trump and whether they voted the right way in 2016. How do you repair a family that's as divided as Congress?
To the Point
Artificial intelligence on the Loose! Artificial intelligence might be the death of humanity. That’s from no less an authority than Stephen Hawking, the world’s best-known physicist. Other scientists are heeding his warning that programs could outsmart their programmers with unintended consequences that can’t be predicted. Massive investment by Google, Facebook and others, they say, is making that much more likely to happen, much sooner, than anybody expected. How do Americans feel about science fiction made real? Will developers agree not to go too far before it’s too late? Since Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey , out-of-control technology has been a staple of science fiction. Remember when the computer Hal refused to let the astronaut Dave back into the spaceship that was orbiting Jupiter? It might become real much sooner than ever expected. That’s according to Hawking, who’s warning against what he calls “potentially our worst mistake in history.” From a man with advanced ALS, who depends on robotics to live, that has the rest of the scientific community paying attention.
To the Point
Artificial Intelligence: Is the Promise Worth the Peril? Artificial intelligence might be the death of humanity. That’s from no less an authority than Stephen Hawking, the world’s best-known physicist. Other scientists are heeding his warning that programs could outsmart their programmers with unintended consequences that can’t be predicted. Massive investment by Google, Facebook and others, they say, is making that much more likely to happen, much sooner, than anybody expected. How do Americans feel about science fiction made real? Will developers agree not to go too far before it’s too late? Since Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, out-of-control technology has been a staple of science fiction. Remember when the computer Hal refused to let the astronaut Dave back into the spaceship that was orbiting Jupiter? The current film, Transcendence, has updated that terrifying scenario, and it might become real much sooner than ever expected. That’s according to Hawking, who’s warning against what he calls “potentially our worst mistake in history.” From a man with advanced ALS, who depends on robotics to live, that has the rest of the scientific community paying attention.
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To the Point
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.
To the Point
Trump's new look at civil rights and global warming President Trump is reportedly ready to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We look at the possible consequences. On the second half of the program, we hear about cuts in Obama-Era civil rights programs called for by the Trump Administration's first budget plan.
To the Point
Replacing Obamacare: Now you see it… now you don’t As the Senate deliberates replacing Obmacare, health coverage for millions of people is at stake. There've been no public hearings, and a draft measure won't be made public. Is the House version so unpopular that that Senate is hiding a version that looks much the same?