Books 2017: Probably Nothing to Do with Chess

[David Robertson]

Hat-tipping the old S&B series, here's a couple of books, forthcoming this May

The first is a discussion of Artificial Intelligence and the scope of Human Creativity called Deep Bollox in which a well-known celebrity gets well above his pay grade to the benefit of his bank balance.

The second, called Tenuous Connections, is a far-fetched attempt to yoke chess with international conflict in sophisticated game theory. Ho hum

Happy reading. Happy New Year

[David Robertson]

Following up the reference above to chess and international conflict, the Financial Times (Sun Jan 8th) carries the following report - full text since (£). Chess paragraphs marked [***] for those who just want the chess

Chess is a troubling metaphor as Turkey turns to the east
by Elif Shafak

Identity is an insoluble dilemma in Turkey. Who exactly are we? People of the west or the east? Forever situated between conflicting cultures, we are a nation confused. From the late Ottoman Empire to the present day, Turkish political history can be read as the story of an endless struggle between two opposite camps: the progressives and the isolationists. Today the isolationists control every aspect of daily life from politics to education to the media. They offer their own answer to the identity crisis: Turkey belongs in the east.

It does not help that relations with Europe are at a low ebb. In November the European Parliament urged EU governments to freeze membership talks with Turkey. In response, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan again threatened to end Turkey’s refugee deal with the EU: “If you go any further, these border gates will be opened.” Progressives in Turkey have been watching with growing alarm. The difficulty is that the European Parliament did not make a distinction between the government and the people. Turkey is a complicated, multi-layered country with a diverse civil society — it is certainly much more than Mr Erdogan and his supporters. The failure to make this distinction is dangerous. Pushing Turkey away from Europe plays into the hands of the isolationists. The prevailing view among these isolationists is that the country’s EU adventure is over. In this age of populism and tribalism, they believe, everyone needs to “return to their own region”.

The media in Turkey — overwhelmingly pro-government — endorses suggestions by Mr Erdogan that the country could join the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation — a security and economic bloc known as the Shanghai Pact, involving Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. One of the common denominators of Shanghai Pact members is the poor quality of their democracies. It is the perfect place for Turkey’s rulers, who do not want to be criticised for their dark record on human rights and freedom of speech. Turkey has become the world’s biggest jailer of journalists, surpassing China. Since the bloody and horrific coup attempt in July, Mr Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) has carried out a massive purge across the country targeting all critics. Today few people dare to speak up for fear of being labelled as traitors.

*** The prevalent view among Turkey’s isolationists is that international relations resemble a board game. According to this view, what the country needs is not a proper pluralistic democracy, but a smarter strategy and a strong “baba” or father — hence the Turkish elite’s admiration of Russia. The AKP elite approaches foreign policy as though it were a chess board where the aim is to outplay your opponent once and for all. In its nationalist rhetoric, the Ottoman Empire was an exemplary regime that brought justice and goodness wherever it expanded its power and influence. That was a golden era that came to an abrupt end because of the interference of outside powers.

*** In a speech in 2014, the then minister of family and social policy, Aysenur Islam, said: “Westerners are good at playing chess: they make decisions, they strategise, they play. People of the east are backgammon players: they roll the dice, they surrender whatever the outcome.” She claimed under Mr Erdogan this pattern had changed. Turkey was no longer a backgammon player. It had become a chess player instead. Ms Islam claimed that previous attempts to effect such a change had been rebuffed by western powers — that is, until Mr Erdogan arrived: “Each time a wind blew and the chess table was overturned. Not any more . . . We will say to the entire world: check mate!”

The AKP’s ambitious but inconsistent foreign policy in the Middle East, particularly in Syria, is a direct outcome of this desire to become a major chess player. Paranoid isolationists say Europe does not want Turkey to succeed in this because the bloc knows that if it does, it is bound to win. Meanwhile terrorism remains the main threat to Turkish security, with both Isis and the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) escalating violence in major cities. The latest attack was the car bomb assault in Izmir on Thursday, which followed the Reina club shooting on New Year’s Day that left 39 dead but, as one person tweeted, “hurt millions”.

One obvious problem with treating foreign and domestic policy as a game of chess is that it turns politics into a zero-sum game of constant “warfare” — if not physical, then psychological. It is highly dangerous to define international relations so simplistically, especially in a region as turbulent as the Middle East.

[Brian Towers]

The first is a discussion of Artificial Intelligence and the scope of Human Creativity called Deep Bollox in which a well-known celebrity gets well above his pay grade to the benefit of his bank balance.

A lot of trees would be saved if writers would first read John Searle's "Minds, Brains and Science", still in print if Amazon is to be believed, before publishing their views on AI. This was basically the text version of his 1984 Reith lectures.

[NickFaulks]

Does Searle address the problem of computers which cheat?

[Brian Towers]

Does Searle address the problem of computers which cheat?

That would be covered under his assertion that "syntax is not semantics". It's not the computers cheating but the people using them.

[Roger de Coverly]

It's not the computers cheating but the people using them.

I wonder whether one of the "witchfinder" programs could verify that Deep Blue was actually playing all its own moves without the benefit or otherwise of human intervention.