Feels like 1999 all over again. This time, I think it really is different.
The Gentle Singularity
21–30 of 557 posts
Re: The Gentle Singularity
#22“We” are not wondering whether AI can write “a beautifully written novel.” Yes, some people are.
Other people know a novel cannot be written by a machine— because a novel is human by definition, and AI is not human, by definition.
It’s like wondering if a machine can express heartfelt condolences. Certainly a machine can string words together that humans associate with other humans who express heartfelt condolences, but when AI does this they are NOT condolences. Plagiarized emotional phrases do not indicate the presence of feeling, just the presence of bullshit.
Re: The Gentle Singularity
#23> The rate of new wonders being achieved will be immense. It’s hard to even imagine today what we will have discovered by 2035; maybe we will go from solving high-energy physics one year to beginning space colonization the next year; or from a major materials science breakthrough one year to true high-bandwidth brain-computer interfaces the next year.
How about affordable housing?
Re: The Gentle Singularity
#24> It’s hard to even imagine today what we will have discovered by 2035; maybe we will go from solving high-energy physics one year to beginning space colonization the next year I heard similar things in my college dorm, amid all the hazy smoke. It’s very difficult to take this stuff seriously. It’s like the initial hype around self driving cars wound up by 1000x. Because we got from 1 to 100 of course we’ll get from…
I find it hard to believe too, but at the same time, Demis Hassabis has also said that AI will help us "colonize the galaxy" in as little as five years [1]. Maybe Sam Altman was emboldened by Hassabis' statement. I would not be opposed to living in a future where I can personally live in space. It would be quite fun. [1] (paywalled) https://fortune.com/2025/06/06/google-deepmind-ceo-demis-has...
Fun? It would be like signing up to live in an inescapable prison.
Re: The Gentle Singularity
#25> It’s hard to even imagine today what we will have discovered by 2035; maybe we will go from solving high-energy physics one year to beginning space colonization the next year I heard similar things in my college dorm, amid all the hazy smoke. It’s very difficult to take this stuff seriously. It’s like the initial hype around self driving cars wound up by 1000x. Because we got from 1 to 100 of course we’ll get from…
I find it hard to believe too, but at the same time, Demis Hassabis has also said that AI will help us "colonize the galaxy" in as little as five years [1]. Maybe Sam Altman was emboldened by Hassabis' statement. I would not be opposed to living in a future where I can personally live in space. It would be quite fun. [1] (paywalled) https://fortune.com/2025/06/06/google-deepmind-ceo-demis-has...
To extend my previous comparison, I believe Altman and Hassabis are the ones in the smoky room passing a joint around the circle. They’re absolutely emboldened by each other but that doesn’t mean they’re tethered to reality.
(my comparison is incomplete though, it doesn’t factor in that these two also have a huge financial incentive to be hyping this stuff up)
Re: The Gentle Singularity
#26> " I hope we will look at the jobs a thousand years in the future and think they are very fake jobs, and I have no doubt they will feel incredibly important and satisfying to the people doing them." So when AGI comes, I am curious what the new jobs are? I see that prompt engineer is one of the jobs created because it's the way to ask a LLM certain tasks, but now AI can do this too. I'm thinking that any new jobs AI…
> Are there new jobs coming from this abundance that is on the horizon?
Yes: we still have a long way to go in restoring equilibrium to the climate and producing more sustainable alternatives to our current cities, products and materials. It's a megaproject which could take hundreds of years, and will require plenty of human involvement.
The planet is going to be fine either way, but if capitalism doesn't figure out how to price in externalities, it will slowly run out of human consumers.
Re: The Gentle Singularity
#27> The rate of new wonders being achieved will be immense. It’s hard to even imagine today what we will have discovered by 2035; maybe we will go from solving high-energy physics one year to beginning space colonization the next year; or from a major materials science breakthrough one year to true high-bandwidth brain-computer interfaces the next year. How about affordable housing?
No, that's too complicated. Best we can do is space colonization.
Re: The Gentle Singularity
#28> The rate of new wonders being achieved will be immense. It’s hard to even imagine today what we will have discovered by 2035; maybe we will go from solving high-energy physics one year to beginning space colonization the next year; or from a major materials science breakthrough one year to true high-bandwidth brain-computer interfaces the next year. How about affordable housing?
I wonder if the California High Speed Rail will be done by then.
Re: The Gentle Singularity
#29This reminds me of Pat Gelsinger quoting the Bible on Twitter, lol.
Between this and Ed Zitron at the other end of the spectrum, Ed's a lot more believeable to be honest.
Re: The Gentle Singularity
#30> It’s hard to even imagine today what we will have discovered by 2035; maybe we will go from solving high-energy physics one year to beginning space colonization the next year I heard similar things in my college dorm, amid all the hazy smoke. It’s very difficult to take this stuff seriously. It’s like the initial hype around self driving cars wound up by 1000x. Because we got from 1 to 100 of course we’ll get from…
nah, 100 to 200 would be mere limitless linear growth, but we're in the age of exponentials now. So it'll be at least 100 to 100.000 obviously!