Human intuition

TL;DR -- In our technology thrust, AI is a regular feature needing attention. Recent papers suggest that a proper maturity is being sought by players of importance. One of these is the US DOD in this case represented by its US Army with respect to issues of using data from research, classification and control. 

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This post is short for various reasons. We just want to report some recent articles plus another from 2019. These deal with humans and artificial intelligence. Or, we'll use machine learning for the last one. 

Essentially, discussions come down to one question: who ought to be in charge? Humans have been for all of time that we know, some humans that is. And, there are many things that we do not control. Just look at the storms (tornados) that rip across the interior of the U.S. on a regular basis in the spring. 

There is a new player, though, the machine. Hence when it learns, marvels seem to appear. We'll skip over that as the press has been full of stories along this line for almost two years now. For one thing, we just remind everyone, there is no creature emerging from the antics of artifical modes such as we see with heated circuitry. Too, "smarts" is debatable. Yet. 

There has been no end to the discussion. We are leaning toward the thought that humans and their talents are such as to be of importance in this matter. That has been on the table for a while. We might just be seing evidence that technology can help us in the matter by establishing the ways and means that people can use to raise their focus and involvement.

So, let's look briefly at three articles. 

• Demystifying data mesh -- this article is from June of 2023 which is recent and targeted toward the C-suite. McKinsey is a consulting firm of note. They discuss "data mesh" which comes out of data science which is a type of predecessor of machine learning. There are several key themes to the topic. One thing is that machine learning is highly dependent upon the quality of the data that is being used to teach it what is supposed to know. Another is that the mode of control, whether decentralized or centralized, has a huge impact. One theme is that business purposed need to keep the human element involved. For one thing, decisions need human involvement. Then, usual practices that are human-oriented must come into play. 

One might ask, where did this notion come from? 

• How to Move Beyond a Monolithic Data Lake to a Distributed Data Mesh -- from May of 2019, this article was written about the issues of data science which evolved to be the thingc concerned with data and its managment. It addresses the importance of viwpoint; as well, works like "trustworthy" and "truthful" are used. In 2024, we all remember a year of trying to deal with and to understand the "hallucinating" world of machine learning in the guise of the large language model (LLM). The author stresses human involvement as essential. 

Where would such insightful thoughts find its influence?  Late last year, the USDOD announced its guidelines on AI. In that report, machine learning was noted to be problematic. Hence, people with training and expertise were seen to be the key factors in maintaing stability as a way of computational life. This month, a team of engineers for the US Army brought their focus to the public. 

• Human Intuition and Algorithmic Efficiency Must Be Balanced to Enhance Data Mesh Resilience -- from May of 2024, this article stresses that humans need to be involved in decisions made by a machine. This involvement can range from small for inconsequential, regular processing. However, as the stakes rise, so too ought the human oversight. It is interesting that "intuition" is utilized. This article references the one of the former bullet. The context is military which brings in imporatnt differences not considered in normal business, for the most part. 

These three are merely represenetative, as many other articles on the subject have come to fore. In short, they represent a normalization of thinking after the shock of the recent release of AI. ChatGPT is an example. Now, these are being called GenAI. Some use LLM for the language processing that is involved. 

The balance for
data mesh resilience 

For the most part, these approaches are applied mathematics. Some of the issue that arose are due to lack of understanding of the underlying operational approaches which can be overcome by education and public discussion. It is refreshing to see that the complicated world of the military hs the insight to note the importance of human talent and training. 

But, taking the U.S. and its 250th coming up, we can look at the military experience as a whole and consider how the culture has changed. The U.S. military will face even more complexities as time goes on. Using machine learning as an assitance ought to be a natural step forward. These papers suggest that and ought to be on everyone's table for reference.  

Remarks: Modified: 05/15/2024

05/15/2024 -- 

Old L.A. and the U.S.

TL;DR -- We continue to look at CA via two cities in order to learn more about the Spanish period that preceded the entry of New England's influence into the area. Period photos are the enabling technology. 

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We have been looking at two CA cities, LA and SF. Early on, we had Jedediah Strong Smith representing the eastern culture in his wanderings across that country. He was there in the 1830s. Later, we looked at the Butterfield Express which brought people, goods and mail from St. Louis, MO and from points in between, such as TX and AZ, to LA and onward to SF. This was in the 1850s and was quite successful despite the arduous nature of the trip. However, the Civil War interrupted the business for a few years, but post that conflict things boomed again. 

There were several motivations for looking at this area of the country which include the early explorations when it was a territory of Spain, then the initial comings and goings by sea and land, the acceleration of the New England influence after the Civil War, and, in particular, an area of DTLA that was known as Bunker Hill. As we have mentioned, it now is full of sky scrapers (high-rise corner), but the area represents changes that were fast and furious over the years. However, a huge change was the introduction of the railroad across the country. We can read of this: Samuel Clemens took the trip by stage coach; later, R. W. Emerson took a similar trip by rail. Clemens disliked the journey so much that he returned to the east coast by sea which was no mean feat either.  

W e have mentioned, before, the Cathedral (St. Vibiana's) that moved from the base of Bunker Hill to being on top in the latter part of the 1900s as urban renewal took its toll. The older building still stands, near the LA City Hall and serves the function of an event center. Today, we saw an early photo which was from before the time that the Cathedral was built. It is a smaller Catholic church with an interesting history with respect to our continuing studies of the other colonial experiences in the founding of the U.S.  

Before going further, let's pause to recognize and honor the work of the Water and Power Associates (WPA) which has collected photos related to the history of Los Angeles. This is their mission statement: 

to inform and educate its memberrs, public officials, and the general public on critical water and energy issues affecting the citizens of Los Angeles, Southern California and the State of California.

The below photos and information are courtesy of their virtual museum and collection of period photos. 

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We start by looking at an earlier church (La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles - Wikipedia). It is on the left of this photo that looks north on the Calle Principal which is now Main Street (Wikipedia) and which has been mentioned many times. We can consider the area to be at the foot of hills to the west of DTLA such as Bunker Hill. 

Old Plaza Church 

Zanja Madre

The caption for the photo at the WPA site mentions the "Mother Trench" (Wikipedia) with this caption:

The "Old Plaza Church" facing the Plaza, 1869. The brick reservoir in the middle of the Plaza was the original terminus of the Zanja Madre.

As mentioned, LA is a very dry place. So, water was brought in early and has continued to be of concern as the population abounded, and still abounds, almost without bounds. 

But, in the beginning: 

The Pueblo de Los Angeles was an official settlement of Spain. They had three types of settlements in Alta California: presidio (military), mission (religious) and pueblo (civil). The pueblos would provide the commercial and agricultural needs of the military as an alternative to the missions. (source Wikipedia) 

When researching Jedediah's experiences, we looked briefly at the military aspect of the community. The Old Plaza Church and St. Vibiana's are examples of the religious. In some of the early photos that we show below there were other churches appearing as New England's influence grew. But, for now, let's look at travel and trade, again. Butterfield is mentioned in one of these photos. 

Old Plaza Church
and the LA City Hall

In our earlier look, we mentioned how his coaches came into the area where the Times-Mirror building is now. Let's use a photo of Main Street looking south to set the dimensions. The photo is from 1928 which was not long after City Hall was finished. We see that the civic building is just down the street from the church. 

And, the facilities used by Butterfield (and his cohorts) would have been just on the other side of the City Hall from the church. 

Quoting the WPA site: 

The Overland Mail Company operated by John Butterfield (the founder of American Express) rented space for a station until it built new quarters in 1860 at Second and Spring--the present location of Mirror Building. The Wells, Fargo and Company also had their office here and Phineas Banning (Wikipedia) operated coaches to Wilmington and San Bernardino from the hotel.

But, that brings up another view to consider. We will be looking more at the history of Bunker Hill, eventually. It is just south of Fort Moore Hill which is in the background of the church in this photo. From this perspective, one can see why there was an effort to tunnel through these hills to go west. 

Fort Moore Hill to 
the west of the 
Old Plaza Church

The PWA site on Fort Moore hill: 

Fort Hill (also known as Fort Moore Hill) was a prominent hill overlooking the pueblo of Los Angeles. Its commanding view of the city made it a strategic location.

Fort Moore was an historic U.S. Military Fort during the Mexican–American War. Its approximate location was at what is now the Hollywood Freeway near the intersection of North Hill Street and West Cesar Chavez Avenue, downtown. The hill on which it was built became known as Fort Moore Hill, most of which was removed in 1949 for construction of the freeway. The hill was located one block north of Temple Street and a short distance south of present day Cesar Chavez Avenue, between the Los Angeles Civic Center and Chinatown.

The fort is now memorialized by the Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial, 451 North Hill Street.

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Now, getting back to Butterfield, the building where he started was built in 1835. That is very early as the area was still under Spanish control. This next photo is from 1865 and shows the state of the building after additional floors were constructed. 

1865 view after
addition to 1835 building of
Isaac Williams (Wikipedia)

Quoting the PWA site: 

The Bella Union Hotel was considered the first hotel in Los Angeles. It became the Clarenden in 1873 and the St. Charles in 1875.

Constructed in 1835 as the home of Isaac Williams, a New England merchant who moved to Los Angeles three years earlier, the one story adobe became the last capitol of Alta California during the Mexican era when Governor Pio Pico purchased it for his office.

After the conquest of Los Angeles by American forces in 1847, the building was used by Lt. Archibald Gillespie, who commanded the occupying forces. Later it housed American troops, and after they left, it became a saloon. By early 1850, the building was operating as the Bella Union Hotel. Later that year, it became the county's first courthouse and beginning in 1858, it was the region's transportation hub. The Overland Mail Company operated by John Butterfield (the founder of American Express) rented space for a station until it built new quarters in 1860 at Second and Spring--the present location of Mirror Building. The Wells, Fargo and Company also had their office here and Phineas Banning operated coaches to Wilmington and San Bernardino from the hotel. 

Wikipedia quote: 

On October 7, 1858, the first Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach from the East, arrived 21 days after leaving St. Louis, Missouri. "Warren Hall was the driver, and Waterman Ormsby, a reporter, the only through passenger. In that era it was the region's transportation hub: Wells, Fargo & Co. and Phineas Banning's coaches to and from Wilmington and San Bernardino had offices there.

By way of comparison, the Sante Fe trail went from Independence, MO through Fort Larned, KS on its way to NM after passing through Gardner, KS. That trek, western MO to western KS took three weeks of hard work, daily. The coach trip took the same. Mostly, the horses did the work. However, think of the difficulties of the trip compared to our modern times and its highways. 

Isaac Williams is an example of the multifaceted gents who were into fur searching, trading and then ranching. Earlier, we looked at William S. Bent, New Englander, and his adventures in the middle of the country; he was a cohort of Kit Carson and others. Williams was close to the same time and followed Jedediah Strong Smith out through the Mojave Desert to the lower coast.  

Connection: One owner was Obed Macy (WikiTree) who was a Thomas Gardner descendant of a Nantucket Island family. 

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Let's do one more photo as the three-story building that started as the Bella Union Hotel (Wikipedia) and became the St. Charles Hotel was there for a long while. And, it has a storied history that needs some attention. We will look more closely. The Daily Mirror sent an artist to visit the St. Charles and published a sketch March 16, 1936. It was demolished in 1940. 

As well, we will look at Bunker Hill houses and other buildings and identify those built by New England families. There are many photos to browse through which show the houses to be quite demonstrative of culture and money, considering the problems of LA and obtaining building materials. In one case, a mansion was converted to an apartment hotel and operated for years. 

Labeled photo, 1869

This photo is from one end of Bunker Hill which sweeps around to the right. It mentions the Times building and the "old" Overland Stage Corral. The Civil War interrupted the flow of traffic. This was several years after that conflict. Notice that the 3rd Street dig for the tunnel had already started. 

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So, as grounding or control, here is a modern view of the Bunker Hill area and its surroundings from Kenneth Hahn State Park (Times article). 

May human curators reign for a long while. Thank you, Power and Water Associates. 

Remarks: Modified: 05/01/2024

05/01/2024 --