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As Rocks May Think

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Re: As Rocks May Think

#51

Post by [deleted] »

measurablefunc wrote: post #5
munificent wrote: post #4

> We are entering a golden age in which all computer science problems seem to be tractable, insomuch as we can get very useful approximations of any computable function. Alternatively, we are entering a dark age where the billionaires who control most of the world's capital will no longer need to suffer the indignity of paying wages to humans in order to generate more revenue from information products and all of the…

What you fail to understand Bob is that as long as we let the billionaires do what they want then we all automatically win. That's just how the system is designed to work, we can't lose as long as Musk & his buddies are at the helm.

[deleted]

Re: As Rocks May Think

#52

Post by skybrian »

munificent wrote: post #4

> We are entering a golden age in which all computer science problems seem to be tractable, insomuch as we can get very useful approximations of any computable function. Alternatively, we are entering a dark age where the billionaires who control most of the world's capital will no longer need to suffer the indignity of paying wages to humans in order to generate more revenue from information products and all of the…

I don't think you've read those quotes very closely? He's writing about all computer science problems. And "just about any short digital problem" is not the same as solving the world's problems.

AI ghosts can do a lot of things, but they're limited by being non-physical.

Re: As Rocks May Think

#53

Post by tejohnso »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #42
tejohnso wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we'd need a lot more suffering before we have enough people to start that kind of action. If we see 35% unemployment over the next 5 years with insufficient time to adjust, then maybe the pitchforks come out.

So then we should just go slightly slower? What if it’s over 10 years?

Well, time is one aspect but we'd also need motivation and proper execution for a reasonable chance at successful adaptation. My guess is we'll coast along the boundary. I don't imagine things will move so fast as to cause the sort of general upheaval that I think you're talking about. But I do think things will move fast enough to cause significant harm on a larger scale than we've seen recently in the West.

Re: As Rocks May Think

#54

Post by akovaski »

zozbot234 wrote: post #16
xyzsparetimexyz wrote: post #15

[flagged]

Nah, the ugliest prose is clanker prose and this definitely isn't. This stuff comes 100% from an actual carbon-based lifeform.

I think that Gemini regularly generates inane metaphors like the above. As an example, here's a message that it sent me when I was attempting to get it to generate a somewhat natural conversation:

----

Look, if you aren't putting salt on your watermelon, you’re basically eating flavored water. It’s the only way to actually wake up the sweetness. People who think it’s "weird" are the same ones who still buy 2-in-1 shampoo.

Anyway, I saw a guy at the park today trying to teach a cat to walk on a leash. The cat looked like it was being interrogated by the FBI, just dead-weighting it across the grass while he whispered "encouragement."

Physical books are vastly superior to Kindles solely for the ability to judge a stranger's taste from across a coffee shop. You can’t get that hit of elitism from a matte gray plastic slab.

----

This was with a prompt telling it to skip Reddit-style analogies.

Re: As Rocks May Think

#55

Post by lrc »

if you click through to the linked Vannevar Bush article and scroll down there are a bunch of vintage ads around the prose that are kind of interesting. And some of the predictions have been well overtaken by events!

Re: As Rocks May Think

#56

Post by AndrewKemendo »

tejohnso wrote: post #53
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So then we should just go slightly slower? What if it’s over 10 years?

Well, time is one aspect but we'd also need motivation and proper execution for a reasonable chance at successful adaptation. My guess is we'll coast along the boundary. I don't imagine things will move so fast as to cause the sort of general upheaval that I think you're talking about. But I do think things will move fast enough to cause significant harm on a larger scale than we've seen recently in the West.

Yeah, I agree that’s the most likely future.

Re: As Rocks May Think

#57

Post by wavemode »

johnfn wrote: post #49
piekvorst wrote: post #48

> Chief among all changes is that machines can code and think quite well now. They can’t and never will.

Are you really claiming that there isn't a machine in existence that can code? And that that is never possible?

I think "quite", "well", and "now" are the objectionable parts of the quote.

Re: As Rocks May Think

#58

Post by wtetzner »

akovaski wrote: post #54
zozbot234 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, the ugliest prose is clanker prose and this definitely isn't. This stuff comes 100% from an actual carbon-based lifeform.

I think that Gemini regularly generates inane metaphors like the above. As an example, here's a message that it sent me when I was attempting to get it to generate a somewhat natural conversation: ---- Look, if you aren't putting salt on your watermelon, you’re basically eating flavored water. It’s the only way to actually wake up the sweetness. People who think it’s "weird" are the same ones who still buy 2-in-1 sha…

I buy 3-in-1 shampoo, conditioner and body wash.

Re: As Rocks May Think

#60

Post by munificent »

skybrian wrote: post #52
munificent wrote: post #4

> We are entering a golden age in which all computer science problems seem to be tractable, insomuch as we can get very useful approximations of any computable function. Alternatively, we are entering a dark age where the billionaires who control most of the world's capital will no longer need to suffer the indignity of paying wages to humans in order to generate more revenue from information products and all of the…

I don't think you've read those quotes very closely? He's writing about all computer science problems. And "just about any short digital problem" is not the same as solving the world's problems. AI ghosts can do a lot of things, but they're limited by being non-physical.

He does also say:

> The entire global economy is re-organizing around the scale-up of AI models.

> Software engineering is just the beginning; ...

> Air conditioning currently consumes 10% of global electricity production, while datacenter compute less than 1%. We will have rocks thinking all the time to further the interests of their owners. Every corporation with GPUs to spare will have ambient thinkers constantly re-planning deadlines, reducing tech debt, and trawling for more information that helps the business make its decisions in a dynamic world.

> Militaries will scramble every FLOP they can find to play out wargames, like rollouts in a MCTS search. What will happen when the first decisive war is won not by guns and drones, but by compute and information advantage? Stockpile your thinking tokens, for thinking begets better thinking.

So he is extending this to more than just computer science.

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