Sure, artificial intelligence didn't start in Silicon Valley and it didn't start recently. Long before today's AI boom, a Black scientist from Centralia, Illinois, laid critical groundwork that modern AI systems still rely on.
Well, they break down the legacy of David Blackwell(photo below born 1919 and died in 2010), who was a pioneering mathematician and statistician whose work in probability theory, game theory, and decision-making under uncertainty directly influences how machines learn, optimize, and make decisions today. From Markov decision processes to statistical inference, Blackwell's contributions shaped the mathematical foundation of artificial intelligence, yet his name is rarely mentioned.
This is the history many were never taught. The only ppl who definitely heard of him or know him are mostly Whites. Ha-ha-ha!!
.
Re: David Blackwell Considered the Father of "A.I"
I know about him but not in the context of what AI has become.. Blackwell kinda remind me of the brilliant Black women mathematicians at NASA, especially someone like Katherine Johnson.
Which brings to this: A couple weeks ago I made the argument on another site that too many Black intellectuals & scholars are mediocre, at best. And I blamed programs like Affirmative Action which came about with good intentions but whose consequences turned out to be a disaster for us overall. One can make the argument that today's "diversity programs" are not all what it intended to be etc etc.
Even during the wicked days of segregation etc., we were still able to produce geniuses like David Blackwell, Katherine Johnson, W.E.B. Du Bois, with some of them whose early education started in ole rickety black schools.
Anyway I better stop before I get shot at...
Re: David Blackwell Considered the Father of "A.I"
Well, since Blacks chose to "integrate" with/in a racially "unfair" society I thought the goal of affirmative action was to proactively promote equal opportunity and diversity by increasing the representation of historically "underrepresented" or discriminated-against groups in employment, education, and government contracting. Affirmative action aimed to correct the effects of past and ongoing discrimination based on race, gender, or ethnicity, NOT TO GIVE A PASS TO MEDIOCRE BLACK STUDENTS OR SCIENTISTS. Perhaps if affirmative action existed in the 40s-50s the whole world would have heard of Dr. Blackwell at that time. Also if Blacks didn't choose to "integrate" then maybe the affirmative action would have never existed.
Now back to Dr.Blackwell, it is truly an honor to even hear his story. I encountered a couple videos about him unexpectedly, plus an article, but he was not well recognized and he said it himself in an interview "that they refused to put him in front of the classroom because he was Black",... yes, just like the Hidden Figures ladies who were mathematicians, just look how long it took for them to be publicly recognized in a film.
Previous Message
I know about him but not in the context of what AI has become.. Blackwell kinda remind me of the brilliant Black women mathematicians at NASA, especially someone like Katherine Johnson.
Which brings to this: A couple weeks ago I made the argument on another site that too many Black intellectuals & scholars are mediocre, at best. And I blamed programs like Affirmative Action which came about with good intentions but whose consequences turned out to be a disaster for us overall. One can make the argument that today's "diversity programs" are not all what it intended to be etc etc.
Even during the wicked days of segregation etc., we were still able to produce geniuses like David Blackwell, Katherine Johnson, W.E.B. Du Bois, with some of them whose early education started in ole rickety black schools.
Anyway I better stop before I get shot at...
Re: David Blackwell Considered the Father of "A.I"
No doubt I'm for Affirmative Action based solely on making sure the Black presence doesn't mean adjusting the standards - in other words, just be fair to Black students with an equal playing field.
What's most important to me is that our families STRESS EDUCATION from the get-go, making it a tradition in Black culture.
Previous Message