AI has a bad rap

I seriously think that we are not far away from the creation of a true artificial intelligence (AI). The success of Alphago had sparked my interest in the subject of AI. I have been watching many videos and reading books related to the topic. The most recent and the most hyped method to implement a general purpose AI is machine learning. Personally, my knowledge on machine learning is limited to what I had learned in school and knowledge is not understanding. But from what I understand from Deepmind's explanation on Alphago, it seems really promising to me. With that said, there is the question : should we be worry about AI?

Nowadays, we can all agree that there is no lacking of fear of an evil AI overthrowing the human race. Ever since Hal 9000 in 2001 : A Space Odyssey, AI has been equivalent to evil in the mindset of many people. Plus the popularity of the Terminator saga, it has done nothing but further damaging AI's reputation. Back in March this year when Alphago beat Lee Sedol, almost every news article written about it, started with a mention of the Skynet or T-800 robot. In fact, I myself had done the same in my entry on the subject matter. It is silly. At the same time, it also says so much about how the general public perceives AI.  

Not only Terminator, in fact there is a long list of Hollywood movies in which the AI becomes the antagonist (spoiler!). Alien, Prometheus, Matrix, I. Robot, Age of Ultron, Resident Evil, ..., the list just goes on and on. Personally, the idea of AI being evil is so deep in my subconscious that it sometimes ruins my movie-going experience. Watching movies with an AI character, such as Interstellar and Moon, I just keep waiting for the AI to turn the table. Even though they are not evil until the end, I still suspect a secret plan or something malicious that I miss out.

On the other hand, it doesn't mean that we can be fully optimistic about AI either. Any technology is a two-edged sword. Nick Bostrom compares true AI with nuclear energy (What happens when our computers get smarter than we are). Nuclear energy is used to power our world but it can also destroy it in a blink of an eye. In some sense, a true AI can be more dangerous than nuclear energy since it can become way more powerful than we could imagine. Elon Musk even said AI researches were like summoning the demon. Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking also more or less share the same view. They are not against the AI. What they say is we should be extremely careful (Elon Musk and Bill Gates on AI).

Following the same logic, I would prefer to compare the creation of a true AI to fire, one of the first technologies of human race. Fire had propelled the human progress but it is also a dangerous tool. The saying of "playing with fire" is there for a reason. I believe true AI will bring the same level of paradigm shift as fire, in terms of the contribution to human progress. Regarding AI, we shouldn't be overly worry to the level of hysteria. Like ColdFusion (DeepMind Explained), we should be cautiously optimistic.

Many Ironman but there will be only a few Alpsman

Ironman, not Robert Downey Jr. Ironman. Ironman is a distance. 3.8km swim, 180km bike, and a 42km marathon. Ever since I got into the sport of triathlon, completing an Ironman has been one of the goals in my list. As the sport gets more and more famous, unfortunately Ironman has also become a brand. There are many Ironman-branded triathlons all around the world but the participation fee of anyone of them is so expensive. Even you don't mind the price, getting a ticket is still so difficult simply because Ironman is so famous and many people want a piece of it. The two Ironman triathlons nearest to me are the one in Nice and Zurich. Two years ago, I had tried to register for the one in Nice. Even though it was still November and the race would be in June the next year, the race was sold out! 

That little incident of Ironman Nice had me realized just how mainstream the Ironman has become. It is a good thing that more and more people are doing triathlon but I myself am a bit hipster-ish. I tend to avoid anything mainstream. If more and more people are becoming Ironman, then no one is. I want something unique. Unable to register for Ironman Nice, I was forced to search for other non Ironman-branded triathlons. It was the year I did Triathlon Alpe d'Huez. 

In fact, there are some little known, non Ironman-branded, Ironman-distance triathlons. Norseman, Swissman, Embrunman, etc, all these races are way harder than most Ironman branded triathlons. They are called extreme triathlons for many reasons. Norseman got the coldest water to swim in and it finishes off with a footrace to a mountain summit. And it is an unsupported race, that means participants got to have their own support team for food and refill along the course. Swissman is deep in the Alps where the weather can change so quickly, passing by some mountain passes where sometimes there will be snow, and also a summit finish marathon. Embrunman is also characterized by its super hard bike route passing by Col d'Izoard. A Norseman participant commented on Ironman-branded triathlons quite harshly, saying : "... where as an Ironman is just a parade where people are just cheering and clapping." (Isklar Norseman 2014)

I tend to agree too. I would even argue that Triathlon Alpe d'Huez is already at the same level of difficulty as an ordinary Ironman. Watching NBC coverage of Ironman World Championship of Kona now, it does give me the impression of a lot of cheering and clapping. They used to inspire me but now, sadly but honestly, I kinda despise these exaggerated documentaries. Retrospectively, I know I have grown and I no longer see an Ironman as a challenge. My goal has changed. My goal is turning towards an extreme triathlon.

The reason that I haven't done a triathlon since Alpe d'Huez is because all the extreme triathlons I mentioned just now are quite far away from where I stay. Ever since Alpe d'Huez, I have been working towards another goal in my list -- completing an ultra trail, Ut4M more specifically. In August this year, I will give a try again. May be it is the cliche destiny. By chance, there will be a new extreme triathlon called Alpsman coming up this year October (Alpsman -Teaser). It will be held in Lake Annecy, a lake in my neighborhood and it is also the place where I did my very first triathlon. I would say the course is quite similar to Norseman with the swim starts off by jumping off the boat into the middle of the lake and summit finish marathon. Alpsman is calling out to me and I answer the call! 

Preparing for ultra trail gives me more than enough mental strength to do Alpsman. Plus I will have a full month of free time in September to train. While I am still not so sure about completing Ut4M, my confidence is very high with Alpsman. It feels so good to go back to triathlon again. With the Ut4M, I am so damn excited for the coming months.