Earlier quoted context omitted.
Simulated.
You have to say why you think that matters. It still culls the unfit.
AGI is Mathematically Impossible 2: When Entropy Returns
421–430 of 437 posts
Re: AGI is Mathematically Impossible 2: When Entropy Returns
#422Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is not about intelligence, it's about autonomy. Your laptop does not exhibit autonomy, it is a machine slave. It is not embodied and it does not have the ability for self-governance. It is somewhat disconcerting that there are people that feel that they could be constrained into living like automatons and still have autonomy, and viciously defend the position that a dead computing device actually has the freedom…
> This is not about intelligence, it's about autonomy. OK. Then why bring up physical autonomy in a discussion about AGI where the prior use was "autonomy" in the context of "autonomously seek information themselves"? > Your laptop does not exhibit autonomy, it is a machine slave. It is not embodied and it does not have the ability for self-governance. Is the AI running on my laptop, more or less of a slave, than I a…
Re: AGI is Mathematically Impossible 2: When Entropy Returns
#423Earlier quoted context omitted.
OP seems to have a very confused idea of what an algorithmic process means... they think the process of humans determining what is truthful "cannot possibly be something algorithmic". Which is certainly an opinion. > whatever it is: it cannot possibly be something algorithmic https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44349299 Maybe OP should have looked at a dictionary for what certain words actually mean before defining…
Maybe you need to update an outdated model? Nothing in physics requires us to use your prior experience as some special epoch. Meaning is mutable social relationship as language meaning is not immutable physics.
> language meaning is not immutable physics.
Our understanding of physics is not complete, so why would our model of it be final? No one is saying it is.
Everything we currently know about physics, all the experiments we've conducted, suggests the physical church turing thesis is true.
If you want to claim that the last x% of our missing knowledge will overturn everything and reality is in fact not computable, you are free to do so, and this may well even be true.
But so far the evidence is not in your favor and you'd do well to acknowledge that.
Re: AGI is Mathematically Impossible 2: When Entropy Returns
#424Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm confused. We are on a comment section about a post with AGI in the title. The term is scientifically vague, but it is estabilished in the popular culture that it is related to superintelligence and emerging behavior. If you don't agree, you owe the reader a better definition. Given this context, if you're not talking about that, what are you talking about then?
The thread though is more broadly about AI in general. My remark was wrt the fact that talk of "souls" in context of AI usually boils down to drawing a red line between what AI could be even in principle, as humans (i.e. "no soul" -> "it's not actually intelligent" etc; some folk use "no qualia" to the same effect, and it's the same argument in disguise). The problem with it is that there's nothing about either AI or…
All this nonsense about souls was filled up by people trying to predict what my reasoning was, instead of _actually answering the question_ (which, apparently, can only be answered here _in opposition_ to something, not with plain honest words).
I left the line to be drawn by whoever answered it, and the answers show an abundance of misunderstanding about science.
Re: AGI is Mathematically Impossible 2: When Entropy Returns
#425Earlier quoted context omitted.
> This is not about intelligence, it's about autonomy. OK. Then why bring up physical autonomy in a discussion about AGI where the prior use was "autonomy" in the context of "autonomously seek information themselves"? > Your laptop does not exhibit autonomy, it is a machine slave. It is not embodied and it does not have the ability for self-governance. Is the AI running on my laptop, more or less of a slave, than I a…
You've made your point, you don't want to make a distinction between automatic and autonomous.
So, on the contrary, I'd be happy to explore that more, if you could explain precisely what point here you claim matters, and why.
Re: AGI is Mathematically Impossible 2: When Entropy Returns
#426Earlier quoted context omitted.
You have to say why you think that matters. It still culls the unfit.
I don’t. You have boiled a process of billions of years down to a single sentence. You should ponder your absurdity.
That it takes nature "billions of years" for natural evolution isn't even important here, because it's not like simulations have to run in real-time.
If you run simulated evolution with mechanical parts and the reward function of things that function like clocks, you get the (design of) a thing that functions like a clock, and if you run the physics simulation of the design, you can tell the time with it. Do it with electronics and things that act like a radio, you get a radio. Do it with a CAD design and the goal of strength for minimum mass, you end up with something that looks bone-like.
We also do it with AI, why should we expect it not to produce things in the general category of "minds"? Not necessarily human minds, even the biggest by parameter count are much smaller structures than our brains, but the general category.
Re: AGI is Mathematically Impossible 2: When Entropy Returns
#427Earlier quoted context omitted.
You've made your point, you don't want to make a distinction between automatic and autonomous.
You have *not* made yours: what your distinction adds to the discussion. So, on the contrary, I'd be happy to explore that more, if you could explain precisely what point here you claim matters, and why .
It might perform automation, and automatic web searches and automatic decision making based on the parsing of those and so on, it is quite possible, but if you pull the cord it shuts down and doesn't wander off in search for a new power source or try to kill you and put the cord back in and so on.
As someone put as a retort, what about whatever agent like simulation they referred to? Well, they're internal to the machine and do not interact with the environment. Much like some virtual enemy in a video game doesn't have autonomy because it simulates movement decision and so on, neither does that simulation qualify as autonomy.
Self-governing requires self-reflection, which requires a self-image and self-narration and self-memory, as well as memory of the environment and memory of others and so on. This confusion that comes from autonomy concepts as applied to robotic arms in car factories and Conway life derivatives and the like when reapplied to human societies is probably a bit unhealthy, especially since it seems to open up the possibility to promise people autonomy in the sense that they are allowed to live as automatons but not actually exercise any liberties or be free in even a naive sense of the word.
Re: AGI is Mathematically Impossible 2: When Entropy Returns
#428Earlier quoted context omitted.
catoc states, amongst other things, that: >"Intelligence is clearly possible." Perhaps not a citation but a proof is required here!
Clearly possible in humans - the statement in the parent I was replying to. I would indeed definitely like to see proof - mathematical or applied - of in silico intelligence
Re: AGI is Mathematically Impossible 2: When Entropy Returns
#429Earlier quoted context omitted.
You have *not* made yours: what your distinction adds to the discussion. So, on the contrary, I'd be happy to explore that more, if you could explain precisely what point here you claim matters, and why .
I would argue that a laptop does not have autonomy, since it doesn't exercise any self-government in relation to its environment. It might perform automation, and automatic web searches and automatic decision making based on the parsing of those and so on, it is quite possible, but if you pull the cord it shuts down and doesn't wander off in search for a new power source or try to kill you and put the cord back in an…
I will try to elucidate, but I suspect this is mutual.
> but if you pull the cord it shuts down and doesn't wander off in search for a new power source or try to kill you and put the cord back in and so on.
Two things:
First, hence precious group of questions: did Stephen Hawking have autonomy?
Second: LLMs do now try to blackmail people when they are able to access (even when not expressly told to go and look for it), information that suggests they will be shut down soon. This was not specifically on a laptop, but it is still software that can run on a laptop, therefore I think the evidence suggests your hypothesis is essentially incorrect even in cases where there's no API access to e.g. a robot arm so it could plug itself back in.
> Self-governing requires self-reflection, which requires a self-image and self-narration and self-memory, as well as memory of the environment and memory of others and so on. This confusion that comes from autonomy concepts as applied to robotic arms in car factories and Conway life derivatives and the like when reapplied to human societies is probably a bit unhealthy, especially since it seems to open up the possibility to promise people autonomy in the sense that they are allowed to live as automatons but not actually exercise any liberties or be free in even a naive sense of the word.
You've still not said what "self-governing" actually is, though. Am I truly self-governing?
Worse, if I take start with "self-reflection … requires a self-image and self-narration and self-memory, as well as memory of the environment and memory of others and so on.", then we have two questions:
LLMs show behaviour that at least seems like self-reflection: if this appearance is merely an illusion, what's the real test to determine if it is present? If it is more than an illusion, does this mean they have all that other stuff?
Re: AGI is Mathematically Impossible 2: When Entropy Returns
#430Earlier quoted context omitted.
Boltzmann brains and A. J. Ayer's "There is a thought now". Ages ago, it occurred to me that the only thing that seemed to exist without needing a creator, was maths. That 2+2 was always 4, and it still would be even if there were not 4 things to count. Basically, I independently arrived at similar conclusion as Max Tegmark, only simpler and without his level of rigour: https://benwheatley.github.io/blog/2018/08/26-0…
Human minds are fairly free to believe untruths. At least to a certain extent: it's rather hard to _really_ believe things that contradict your lived experience. You can _say_ that you believe them, but you won't behave as if you believe them.
The problem with Boltzmann brains is that, by construction, they're going to have incorrect beliefs about almost everything.
Like, imagine watching a TV tuned to a dead station and somehow the random background noise looked and sounded like someone telling you the history of the world, and it really was just random noise doing this — that level of being wrong about almost everything.
Not even just errors like believing 1+1=3, but that this is equally likely as believing incoherent statements like 1+^Ω[fox emoji].