Alex Kirsch
Independent Scientist
DE | EN
Blog
Some of my articles are only available in German. You can read them in the German version of this website

My todoListo Adventure

This is probably the most expensive blog post I have ever written. I started todoListo as a little demo project for my website, as an example for explaining software prototyping in a blog post. More than two years later, todoListo is a software product, I have founded an LLC, have started a YouTube channel, and now I finally write my blog post. I have learned a lot in these two years and hope that some of my insights are also useful to others.
Agile development
Prototyping
todoListo
 
 

How AI can save science

We have entered a new era of absurdity when computational systems are being used to generate text. Obviously computers have no idea what they are writing about. Just the fact that systems such as Notion are starting to offer such services shows that many of the text material generated today is already meaningless. Some tongue-in-cheek thoughts on how this phenomenon applies to science.
Artificial Intelligence
Science
 

Facets of Decision Making

Making good decisions seems to be the core of success. Over the years I have researched and experienced decision making from different angles. In this blog series I want to join these perspectives into a more coherent picture, focusing on aspects that I see underrepresented in the literature and public opinion.
Decision processes
Cognition
Science
 

The Machinery of Intelligence

AI is considered a fact, either being a reality already, or to be achieved in some near or distant future. But how can we be so certain that computers can be intelligent in the first place? Alan Turing famously argued in favor of intelligent computers. His claim has been questioned in former decades, and we still have no definite answer.
Artificial Intelligence
History of AI
 

Goals Considered Harmful

Goals are a widespred concept in management and everyday life. Goals are also an important concept in Artificial Intelligence and I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to formulate and use goals to make "computers do interesting things that are not in their nature". In doing so I have realized that goals are the wrong way, not only for AI systems, but also for our personal and professional decisions.
Decision processes
Cognition
Artificial Intelligence
Agile development
 

The Two Worlds of Machine Learning

The machine learning hype has been raging for a decade or so, but the broad application of data science is not happening. A few observations and thoughts on the reasons for the discrepancy of public presentation and real application of machine learning.
Data Science
Machine Learning
 

Agile, Design and Buddhism

Agile development and design thinking have become widely accepted terms. Their power, however, lies not in the words, but in applying the underlying ideas. The teachings of Buddhism coincide with many of those ideas and can help to develop an agile mindset.
Agile development
Cognition
Decision processes
User Experience Design
 

What is (good) science?

My latest article has raised a discussion on philosophy and methodology of cognitive science among the reviewers and editor. I use this opportunity to continue my own pondering on what science—and especially good science—is.
Decision processes
Science
 

What is AI?

A fundamental problem in the public discussion is the missing definition of Artificial Intelligence. In this blog series I provide possible destinctions of AI from non-AI. Whatever anybody believes AI to be, one should make the definition clear before starting any discussion on the impacts of AI.
Artificial Intelligence
History of AI
 

A journalist understanding AI

Is the AI hype coming to an end? At least some journalists such as Esther Paniagua start to realize that AI is not radically changing the world.
Artificial Intelligence