Artificial intelligence: Our final invention?
washingtonpost.com
Artificial intelligence: Our final invention?
1–10 of 99 posts
Re: Artificial intelligence: Our final invention?
#2Obligatory:
"Welcome to the Desert of the Real. We have only bits and pieces of information but what we know for certain is that at some point in the early twenty-first century all of mankind was united in celebration. We marveled at our own magnificence as we gave birth to AI.”[1]
Also:
http://sysopmind.com/singularity/aibox
Re: Artificial intelligence: Our final invention?
#3[deleted]
Re: Artificial intelligence: Our final invention?
#4Choice quote from the end: But it was alarming how many people I talked to who are highly placed people in AI who have retreats that are sort of ‘bug out’ houses” to which they could flee if it all hits the fan.
Does HN agree or disagree a significant number of those "bug out" people truly exist?
Re: Artificial intelligence: Our final invention?
#5[deleted]
A happy narrative, but an unlikely one. Our brains are not designed to be end-user modifiable. It's naive in the extreme to think we could keep pace (in terms of intellectual enhancement) with minds that are.
Re: Artificial intelligence: Our final invention?
#6Choice quote from the end: But it was alarming how many people I talked to who are highly placed people in AI who have retreats that are sort of ‘bug out’ houses” to which they could flee if it all hits the fan. Does HN agree or disagree a significant number of those "bug out" people truly exist?
Certainly they do, those sneaky "highly placed people in AI" know perfectly well that it will be quite easy to hide from the strong AI in some rural area. Its not like AI could access real estate databases or build some flying droids to find those people. /s
Re: Artificial intelligence: Our final invention?
#7Some counter-points on this narrative, with which I'm very familiar.
1. Philosophers and AI theoreticians have a hard time defining what they mean by the term "intelligence". Talking about systems millions of times more intelligent than a human is nonsense unless you can define what it is you're talking about.
2. Whatever intelligence is it only makes any sense within the context of some environment. Environments impose a multitude of constraints. In the "intelligence explosion" scenario the environment is assumed to be constraint free, or something close to it.
3. Be wary of people trying to sell you ideas based on fear. It's usually snake oil, concealing some other agenda - such as trying to obtain or maintain grant money for projects.
4. That many top AI people have "bug out" houses is simply false. An exaggeration, intended to add drama to the article.
5. Historically, the predictions of top AI researchers have not proven to be particularly accurate, although that does not mean that this will always be the case.
Re: Artificial intelligence: Our final invention?
#8Choice quote from the end: But it was alarming how many people I talked to who are highly placed people in AI who have retreats that are sort of ‘bug out’ houses” to which they could flee if it all hits the fan. Does HN agree or disagree a significant number of those "bug out" people truly exist?
Certainly they do, those sneaky "highly placed people in AI" know perfectly well that it will be quite easy to hide from the strong AI in some rural area. Its not like AI could access real estate databases or build some flying droids to find those people. /s
One of my favorite hard takeoff scenarios: the AI quickly figures out how to manufacture nanobots and does so at a scale to blanket the planet, thus becoming instantly omniscient with a global field of sensors, giving it a coherent view of everything in the world at every given instant in time from that point forward.
Also see: "metamorphosis of prime intellect" and "mind war: the singularity" and to a lesser extent "a young lady's illustrated primer"
Re: Artificial intelligence: Our final invention?
#9Choice quote from the end: But it was alarming how many people I talked to who are highly placed people in AI who have retreats that are sort of ‘bug out’ houses” to which they could flee if it all hits the fan. Does HN agree or disagree a significant number of those "bug out" people truly exist?
I suspect this is an exaggeration of talking to some high-level eccentrics that find their way into academia, especially in the computer science department.
I'm dumber than a high level AI of fiction, and I could find your little cabin or panic room easily. A machine with drones, access to tax/real estate records, etc would have no problem here. Heck, why not just hire a mercenary group to fish these guys out of their little holes? AI money is as good as human money.
Re: Artificial intelligence: Our final invention?
#10"I’m talking about the risks posed by “runaway” artificial intelligence (AI). What happens when we share the planet with self-aware, self-improving machines that evolve beyond our ability to control or understand? Are we creating machines that are destined to destroy us?"
The reason no one is worrying about this is because "AI" is still a) just a bunch of math (and still surprisingly stupid) b) nowhere near sentient.
My Kinect can barely follow my hand or consistently recognize what I'm saying with any accuracy. I'm really not concerned with it plotting my demise.