Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
Good morning! Those are the first words I carved into the rock wall of my cave this morning. Just imagine. If all the digital jibbity jab typed on electronic devices every day was carved into stone, there would be no stone larger than a grain of sand left in the world. Good thing all this stuff is stored in something other than hardcopy before it eventually vaporizes.
Thought leaves less litter and the brain eventually decomposes.
Just playing around a little before I get started. But thinking IS the best way to travel. It is eco-friendly.
Many different kinds of mistakes can be made in treasure hunting or metal detecting (I consider metal detecting to be a subset of treasure hunting). Many mistakes, rather than being acknowledged, are explained away by just saying there is nothing out there to be found. That is the type of error that is easy to make and difficult to correct. As I've said before, you never find out what you missed - just what you found. I've seen detectorists get really aggravated when they do found out what they missed. I've seen detectorists throw a fit when they just covered an area and then soon after saw someone else recover something very nice from the same ground. You can't really get it all though.
One tool that is receiving increasing attention as it relates to metal detecting is AI. Just a couple days ago, I mentioned Subterrix.com, which is a new platform that uses AI for site analysis and other things.
While AI is becoming a more useful tool as we learn how to use it better and as it continues to be developed, it is important to also be aware of the risks and dangers of using AI. In the past, I've described some of the incorrect information AI has given. A day or two ago, I gave some examples of bad information given by Subterrix.
You've probably heard it said how a person having a hammer will view every problem as a nail. AI, like other tools, including metal detectors, can change the user. Awareness of the potential risks as well as benefits can maximize the benefits and minimize the dangers of the risks.
A metal detector that offers target ID, can actually result in reduced good finds if the user doesn't use it wisely. It is not uncommon to put too much faith in a detector's target ID capabilities and end up passing over a lot of very good targets.
AI provides source links that you can check. In many cases, AI is doing little more than reporting what some other site says and saving you the time of finding those sources yourself. That is a good thing, but AI is acting more like a search engine than something that I would describe as adding intelligence (artificial or otherwise). In such cases, basically a database with a great search engine. Maybe the "intelligent" part of it is contextualizing and seeming to "understand" your query.
A day or two ago, I asked copilot about the dangers or risks of using AI, and to my surprise, it listed several. I'll give you some of what I got from Copilot. I'll try to condense it and add the source links so you can look into it more on your own if you want to.
Here are the highlights from Copilot's response along with some of my additional comments.
Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping human cognition, influencing how we think, learn, and make decisions. The impact is both potentially empowering and risk-prone, depending on how we engage with AI.
I was a little surprised to see Copilot mentioned the risks. It is good to be surprised.studies suggest that excessive reliance may contribute to cognitive atrophy, shrinking critical thinking abilities over time.
For something of an analogy, when kids started using calculators for math in school, some got to the point they could not do simple arithmetic calculations without a calculator. AI, like fact checkers, can become something of a crutch that results in atrophy.Metacognitive awareness to monitor how AI influences thought and decision-making.
Seeking embodied, diverse experiences to counteract narrow personalization.
Critical engagement with AI outputs, understanding their limitations and biases...
The two sources Copilot used follow.
Is AI dulling our minds? — Harvard Gazette
The Psychology of AI's Impact on Human Cognition | Psychology Today
I was surprised that Copilot admitted to the risks even though I knew about them. I was also surprised that psychologists were publishing on the topic. That is the kind of research I was interested in when I first got into the computer networks in the 1970s. AI is becoming prevalent in every field, including treasure hunting and metal detecting. And as I've said, can be used with great benefit but also comes with some risk.
===
Watching Skinwalker Ranch, I noticed the new EEG system. I wish I had that when I was researching psychophysiology. Our EEG reuired the subject to be sitting still in a chair with electrodes pasted to his head. Much more limiting and awkward. Maybe I'll talk about Skinwalker in the future. The approach is so much more intelligent than Oak Island.
---
The Treasure Beaches Report has been getting 30,000 daily views during the slow summer period.
---
The surf remains flat along the Treasure Coast, which is good for water hunting and shipwreck salvage, but poor for beach detecting, however, there are always opportunities.
The afternoon low tide are still pretty big.
There was some summer storm developments in the Gulf. We are into hurricane season.
Good hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net