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Problems that attract smart people

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21–30 of 106 posts

Re: Problems that attract smart people

#21
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The washing machine is one of the biggest game changer in the world, allowing people to suddenly have, like a noble used to have, the equivalent of a servant to do a tremendously costly chore. Without the slavery part. I think AI has the same potential: filling administrative work, walking the complexity of an information overloaded world, keeping up to date with laws you can't ignore but have no way to know about, p…

You're just extending the lines in a way you like to imagine. Kinda like wishing for flying cars when we can't even make them navigate 2D city streets autonomously.

Isn't flight autopilot an easier problem than ground vehicle autopilot?

Re: Problems that attract smart people

#22
post #6

Does enabling to run LLMs at home really strengthen democracy? People may believe that, but it potentially enables AI to run on any device with a low footprint for surveillance purposes as well, and governments don't even have to pay for the development...

Much of the fear of AI is really a fear of concentrated increase in power of those controlling it. Decentralizing models mitigates that risk by spreading the power amongst a more diffuse population.

I don't see how it should be any different from the PC revolution. We've all got a 1970s supercomputer in our pocket now, for better or worse. But it's certainly preferable to only the richest and most powerful having one.

Re: Problems that attract smart people

#23
post #6

Does enabling to run LLMs at home really strengthen democracy? People may believe that, but it potentially enables AI to run on any device with a low footprint for surveillance purposes as well, and governments don't even have to pay for the development...

Much of the fear of AI is really a fear of concentrated increase in power of those controlling it. Decentralizing models mitigates that risk by spreading the power amongst a more diffuse population. I don't see how it should be any different from the PC revolution. We've all got a 1970s supercomputer in our pocket now, for better or worse. But it's certainly preferable to only the richest and most powerful having one…

Computers can’t think for themselves. It’s more like if everybody had a trained police dog - one of those dogs that will bite and not let go, would you feel safer walking around?

“Hey OpenChatGPT, find a list of every person who has ever wronged me and constantly harass them with death threats from behind seven proxies”

Yeah that will make the world better.

Re: Problems that attract smart people

#24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Much of the fear of AI is really a fear of concentrated increase in power of those controlling it. Decentralizing models mitigates that risk by spreading the power amongst a more diffuse population. I don't see how it should be any different from the PC revolution. We've all got a 1970s supercomputer in our pocket now, for better or worse. But it's certainly preferable to only the richest and most powerful having one…

Computers can’t think for themselves. It’s more like if everybody had a trained police dog - one of those dogs that will bite and not let go, would you feel safer walking around? “Hey OpenChatGPT, find a list of every person who has ever wronged me and constantly harass them with death threats from behind seven proxies” Yeah that will make the world better.

"Hey OpenChatGPT, find a list of every person who's asked OpenChatGPT to harass me, and block any harassing messages likely originating from them."

It works both ways. Attack and defense.

Re: Problems that attract smart people

#25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Computers can’t think for themselves. It’s more like if everybody had a trained police dog - one of those dogs that will bite and not let go, would you feel safer walking around? “Hey OpenChatGPT, find a list of every person who has ever wronged me and constantly harass them with death threats from behind seven proxies” Yeah that will make the world better.

"Hey OpenChatGPT, find a list of every person who's asked OpenChatGPT to harass me, and block any harassing messages likely originating from them." It works both ways. Attack and defense.

Spot on. Broadly speaking, if you want peace you have to prepare for war. If you don’t distribute and democratize power, those who typically control it in concentrated form will weaponize and wield it (power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely and all that jazz).

You may not feel the need to construct a strong defense because of your disposition and mental model, but you should because of the motivations and mental models of those building a strong offense.

A take as old as time. History books are always written by the victors.

Re: Problems that attract smart people

#26
post #6

Does enabling to run LLMs at home really strengthen democracy? People may believe that, but it potentially enables AI to run on any device with a low footprint for surveillance purposes as well, and governments don't even have to pay for the development...

Much of the fear of AI is really a fear of concentrated increase in power of those controlling it. Decentralizing models mitigates that risk by spreading the power amongst a more diffuse population. I don't see how it should be any different from the PC revolution. We've all got a 1970s supercomputer in our pocket now, for better or worse. But it's certainly preferable to only the richest and most powerful having one…

Would you feel safer if somebody made it easy to make nuclear weapons in your garage?

Re: Problems that attract smart people

#27
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're just extending the lines in a way you like to imagine. Kinda like wishing for flying cars when we can't even make them navigate 2D city streets autonomously.

Isn't flight autopilot an easier problem than ground vehicle autopilot?

In airliners that cruise for hours at 3 times the height of the highest mountains...

Re: Problems that attract smart people

#28
The premise of this is ridiculous. The smartest people I know personally and that I'm aware of generally are not attracted by AI. Person 1 was interested in fundamental physics (dark matter) but had to leave physics due to lack of job opportunities. Person 2 is Terrence Tao. Person 3 is Ed Witten, etc etc.

This reflects the hubris of the tech world that overestimates its own intelligence....

Re: Problems that attract smart people

#29
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're just extending the lines in a way you like to imagine. Kinda like wishing for flying cars when we can't even make them navigate 2D city streets autonomously.

Exactly! Nobody should imagine and articulate any possibilities unless they are sure they will be correct. It's so embarrassing.

You just did the same thing with what I said to draw a ridiculous conclusion and attack that...

Re: Problems that attract smart people

#30
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're just extending the lines in a way you like to imagine. Kinda like wishing for flying cars when we can't even make them navigate 2D city streets autonomously.

Isn't flight autopilot an easier problem than ground vehicle autopilot?

Yes
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