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Barack Obama on A.I., Autonomous Cars, and the Future of Humanity

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Re: Barack Obama on A.I., Autonomous Cars, and the Future of Humanity

#131

Post by golergka »

dwaltrip wrote: post #108
golergka wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of comments like yours are based on the assumption of "giving back". I don't quite understand it. Let's suppose I've founded booking.com and put a LOT of travel agents out of business. At what point did I assume the responsibility of giving back to those travel agents? I agree that they are miserable because of my actions. However, in real life, nothing happens because of a single reason. They are also miserabl…

Your successful web business would be a very small event at the end of an innumerably long causal chain involving billions of humans and tens of thousands of years [1]. Can you name every event that would have enabled you to be ready to create the business, and all aspects of the world that would allow for its success? It's impossible. This is why we have to give back. [1] We could obviously go back further, but it b…

> This is why we have to give back.

OK, so how do you determine where "back" is?

Why is "back" in pockets of people being laid off and not on an altar of Cthulhu? By your logic, we never would be able to know the reason anyway, so giving to the Dark One seems to be just as reasonable.

Re: Barack Obama on A.I., Autonomous Cars, and the Future of Humanity

#132

Post by Red_Tarsius »

V-2 wrote: post #115

> JOI ITO: This may upset some of my students at MIT, but one of my concerns is that it’s been a predominately male gang of kids, mostly white, who are building the core computer science around AI, and they’re more comfortable talking to computers than to human beings. A lot of them feel that if they could just make that science-fiction, generalized AI, we wouldn’t have to worry about all the messy stuff like politic…

I'm trying to stop reading news from US/UK sources. The depth of political discourse only goes as far as your self-appointed identity. Actions don't matter anymore.

White people are guilty of colonialism much like Catholic children inherit the Original Sin, that is, it's a means of control by anti-intellectuals.

I wouldn't support Trump, but the American Left is especially dangerous because it relies on gender / racial divide to get the most votes. In some twisted sense, the problem is not supposed to be solved.

Skin color does not make Obama an expert in race relations. If he had said "...but one of my concerns is that it’s been a predominately male gang of kids, mostly black, who are building the core computer science around AI..." there would have been riots in the streets. Tim Hunt's joke was taken out of context and almost ruined his career.

EDIT: To be clear, his white remark was fully intentional.

Re: Barack Obama on A.I., Autonomous Cars, and the Future of Humanity

#133

Post by bcook »

Red_Tarsius wrote: post #132
V-2 wrote: post #115

> JOI ITO: This may upset some of my students at MIT, but one of my concerns is that it’s been a predominately male gang of kids, mostly white, who are building the core computer science around AI, and they’re more comfortable talking to computers than to human beings. A lot of them feel that if they could just make that science-fiction, generalized AI, we wouldn’t have to worry about all the messy stuff like politic…

I'm trying to stop reading news from US/UK sources. The depth of political discourse only goes as far as your self-appointed identity. Actions don't matter anymore. White people are guilty of colonialism much like Catholic children inherit the Original Sin , that is, it's a means of control by anti-intellectuals. I wouldn't support Trump, but the American Left is especially dangerous because it relies on gender / rac…

Can you share a link to the Dawkins' out-of-context joke?

Re: Barack Obama on A.I., Autonomous Cars, and the Future of Humanity

#134

Post by [deleted] »

inimino wrote: post #93
greeneggs wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trolley problem is just an extreme example, that people can easily understand and think about. Less extreme versions of it occur all the time. For example, say you are driving along a road, passing a bicyclist. You'd like to give the cyclist more room, but there's an oncoming car in the lane next to you. How much room do you give? At exactly what threshold do you decide to wait to pass the cyclist? What if the cy…

Exactly, and if a few high-profile accidents give a manufacturer a reputation as a public menace, lawsuits and legislation won't be far behind.

[deleted]

Re: Barack Obama on A.I., Autonomous Cars, and the Future of Humanity

#135

Post by toomanybeersies »

helthanatos wrote: post #33
toomanybeersies wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unemployment is a very difficult number to define and calculate. Do you count those that are not actively looking for work, and don't want to look for work? e.g. House(wife|husband)s, semi-retired people. Do you count those that have given up looking for work? Do you count those that are working part time, but looking for full time work (i.e. the underemployed)? Do you count those that aren't really looking for work…

Employment: the condition of having paid work. a person's trade or profession. Just count those that want work or should have work (need to support a family/receiving government aid)

> Just count those that want work or should have work

As I just commented, that's easier said than done.

Re: Barack Obama on A.I., Autonomous Cars, and the Future of Humanity

#136

Post by [deleted] »

helthanatos wrote: post #33
toomanybeersies wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unemployment is a very difficult number to define and calculate. Do you count those that are not actively looking for work, and don't want to look for work? e.g. House(wife|husband)s, semi-retired people. Do you count those that have given up looking for work? Do you count those that are working part time, but looking for full time work (i.e. the underemployed)? Do you count those that aren't really looking for work…

Employment: the condition of having paid work. a person's trade or profession. Just count those that want work or should have work (need to support a family/receiving government aid)

[deleted]

Re: Barack Obama on A.I., Autonomous Cars, and the Future of Humanity

#137

Post by Red_Tarsius »

bcook wrote: post #133
Red_Tarsius wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm trying to stop reading news from US/UK sources. The depth of political discourse only goes as far as your self-appointed identity. Actions don't matter anymore. White people are guilty of colonialism much like Catholic children inherit the Original Sin , that is, it's a means of control by anti-intellectuals. I wouldn't support Trump, but the American Left is especially dangerous because it relies on gender / rac…

Can you share a link to the Dawkins' out-of-context joke?

I wrote the comment in a hurry, I meant Tim Hunt. Sorry, I'm going to fix the original post.

On 8 June 2015, during the 2015 World Conference of Science Journalists in Seoul, at a lunch for female journalists and scientists, Hunt was asked on short notice to give a toast (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Hunt). He made a self-deprecating comment and media vultures run with it. He was shamed out of the Royal Society and UCL.

Re: Barack Obama on A.I., Autonomous Cars, and the Future of Humanity

#138

Post by CPLX »

cjbprime wrote: post #5

> OBAMA: The way I’ve been thinking about the regulatory structure as AI emerges is that, early in a technology, a thousand flowers should bloom. I gotta say, I thought he'd be more familiar with that metaphor. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Flowers_Campaign

When some startup CEO says they are on a crusade to change customer service do you get visions of knights on horses riding through Asia Minor? When your girlfriend tells you not to put words in her mouth do you flash back to 2 Samuel 14:3?

Language is great at evolving and incorporating colorful and evocative phrases while stripping out the original connotations.

Re: Barack Obama on A.I., Autonomous Cars, and the Future of Humanity

#139

Post by proteinbased »

s_q_b wrote: post #34
cjbprime wrote: post #5

> OBAMA: The way I’ve been thinking about the regulatory structure as AI emerges is that, early in a technology, a thousand flowers should bloom. I gotta say, I thought he'd be more familiar with that metaphor. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Flowers_Campaign

I think he knew the origin, but chose it anyway. It is an elegant phrase. Communists could be very eloquent. How else do you think they managed to convince so many people to be communists?

I am not a communist, but I must point out, that it works exactly the same way with capitalism too. If you got some time, there is a great documentation called 'The Century of the Self', which shows (among other things) how modern marketing in western countries started and evolved.

Re: Barack Obama on A.I., Autonomous Cars, and the Future of Humanity

#140

Post by cheriot »

Red_Tarsius wrote: post #132
V-2 wrote: post #115

> JOI ITO: This may upset some of my students at MIT, but one of my concerns is that it’s been a predominately male gang of kids, mostly white, who are building the core computer science around AI, and they’re more comfortable talking to computers than to human beings. A lot of them feel that if they could just make that science-fiction, generalized AI, we wouldn’t have to worry about all the messy stuff like politic…

I'm trying to stop reading news from US/UK sources. The depth of political discourse only goes as far as your self-appointed identity. Actions don't matter anymore. White people are guilty of colonialism much like Catholic children inherit the Original Sin , that is, it's a means of control by anti-intellectuals. I wouldn't support Trump, but the American Left is especially dangerous because it relies on gender / rac…

> Skin color does not make Obama an expert in race relations.

Nor does your observation mean he's NOT an expert in race relations. You're making the same mistake as the people you criticize in applying generalities to specific cases.

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