I find it funny how when no one has the faintest idea of what consciousness is, people feel they can already make predictions when and how machines will become conscious and state with confidence that when that happens it will be a bad thing.
I have no idea if or when machines will become conscious nor the effects that this consciousness might have on mankind (and no one else has any idea either, regardless of their fame), but if AI does become conscious, then considering the appalling record of misery caused by human consciousness, perhaps it's time we gave the machines a chance...
AI will not kill us, says Microsoft Research chief
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Re: AI will not kill us, says Microsoft Research chief
#12I wish it were possible to effectively mass-communicate more complicated beliefs than "X has positive valence" or "X has negative valence". AI will be an enormous boon to every aspect of our lives for probably at least several decades, until it reaches the point where it's possible it'll accidentally become very, very bad. These are not contradictory in any way!
Re: AI will not kill us, says Microsoft Research chief
#13I find it funny how when no one has the faintest idea of what consciousness is, people feel they can already make predictions when and how machines will become conscious and state with confidence that when that happens it will be a bad thing. I have no idea if or when machines will become conscious nor the effects that this consciousness might have on mankind (and no one else has any idea either, regardless of their…
Consciousness has next-to-nothing to do with AI safety. People are concerned about software that acts like an agent, not software that has qualia.
Re: AI will not kill us, says Microsoft Research chief
#14[deleted]
Re: AI will not kill us, says Microsoft Research chief
#15I find it funny how when no one has the faintest idea of what consciousness is, people feel they can already make predictions when and how machines will become conscious and state with confidence that when that happens it will be a bad thing. I have no idea if or when machines will become conscious nor the effects that this consciousness might have on mankind (and no one else has any idea either, regardless of their…
Human consciousness has evolved naturally, and sits in some kind of local equilibrium with all of its rough edges for the most part buffed off. Who knows what kind of unbearable existence a purely artificial intelligence would experience. Just like communism versus religion -- the artificial and logical versus the organic and ancient -- I would imagine any sentience created from scratch by us is more than likely to be deeply pathological.
Re: AI will not kill us, says Microsoft Research chief
#16Obviously, he missed this Ted talk:
http://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_suarez_the_kill_decision_sho...
Re: AI will not kill us, says Microsoft Research chief
#17"Linux will not affect us." -Microsoft
Re: AI will not kill us, says Microsoft Research chief
#18Thank you, I'm really tired of some high profile people as of late (ex: Elon Musk) who don't know much about AI making statements about how dangerous AI will be.
Re: AI will not kill us, says Microsoft Research chief
#19Thank you, I'm really tired of some high profile people as of late (ex: Elon Musk) who don't know much about AI making statements about how dangerous AI will be.
AI safety is more of a game theory problem than an engineering problem. Obviously understanding how the thing is implemented could help a lot in understanding how to handle the thing being embedded in a society, but they're not quite the same thing.
"I'm really tired of sociologists and economists who don't know much about biology making statements about human behavior."
Re: AI will not kill us, says Microsoft Research chief
#20I literally wrote an article about this in Wired more than twenty years ago and nothing has changed.
My basic argument: machines will achieve life long before they achieve consciousness. They have evolved with us so far and will continue to do so. The worst-case scenario is that they will eclipse us in importance, and obviously this has probably already happened with corporations - we are their gut flora and they trample us with impunity - but when you build a vast system, you tend to keep the components in place.
The story that the design constraints of the Space Shuttle were ultimately shaped by the size of Roman roads is a myth, but it communicates an essential truth: systems tend to outlive their intended purpose. The Roman Empire turned into a church when it couldn't survive any other way, and in its church form it remains to this day one of the biggest property owners in Europe.
If you think a new life form will soon exist, the bad news is you probably don't know jack shit about AI research, but the good news is that the best possible way to survive in this unlikely event would be to make yourself part of the new life form. These "life forms" need us to procreate and function in the same way flowers need bees. AIs will certainly kill some people, but humanity itself is in much more danger from its environmental irresponsibility than its ingenuity.