Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

You are the scariest monster in the woods

jamie.ideasasylum.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 405 posts

Re: You are the scariest monster in the woods

#21

Post by AlfredBarnes »

myrmidon wrote: post #13

I struggle to understand how people can just dismiss the possibility of artificial intelligence. Human cognition was basically bruteforced by evolution-- why would it be impossible to achieve the exact same result in silicon, especially after we already demonstrated some parts of those results (e.g. use of language) that critically set us apart from other animals? I'm not buying the whole "AI has no agency" line eith…

Wasn't there a story about healthcare companies letting AI determine coverage? I can't remember.

Re: You are the scariest monster in the woods

#22

Post by boole1854 »

myrmidon wrote: post #13

I struggle to understand how people can just dismiss the possibility of artificial intelligence. Human cognition was basically bruteforced by evolution-- why would it be impossible to achieve the exact same result in silicon, especially after we already demonstrated some parts of those results (e.g. use of language) that critically set us apart from other animals? I'm not buying the whole "AI has no agency" line eith…

If anyone knows of a steelman version of the "AGI is not possible" argument, I would be curious to read it. I also have trouble understanding what goes into that point of view.

Re: You are the scariest monster in the woods

#23

Post by Cthulhu_ »

fruitworks wrote: post #15
jvanderbot wrote: post #11

About as helpful as "Guns don't kill people ... " And equally rebutted by Eddie Izzards "Well, I think the gun helps".

All of the solutions to AI "safety" are analagous to gun control: it is a centralization of power.

Are you claiming a lack of gun / AI control is democratizing? That's not working for (the lack of) gun control in the US at the moment though.

Compare also with capitalism; unchecked capitalism on paper causes healthy competition, but in practice it means concentration of power (monopolies) at the expense of individuals (e.g. our accumulated expressions on the internet being used for training materials).

Re: You are the scariest monster in the woods

#24

Post by armada651 »

> Just like a hammer, sword, or a rifle lying on a ground is nothing to be feared, so too is AI. It’s just an inanimate object; a tool, potentially.

A bomb is an inanimate object too, but if you find some unexploded ordnance lying on the ground you should fear it.

Re: You are the scariest monster in the woods

#25

Post by gota »

> I don’t really believe in the threat of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence—human-level intelligence) partly because I don’t believe in the possibility of AGI and I’m highly skeptical that the current technology underpinning LLMs will provide a route to it.

I'm on board with being skeptical that LLMs will lead to AGI; but - there being no possibility seems like such a strong claim. Should we really bet that there is something special (or even 'magic') about our particular brain/neural architecture/nervous system + senses + gut biota + etc.?

Don't, like, crows (or octopuses; or elephants; or ...) have a different architecture and display remarkable intelligence? Ok, maybe not different enough (not 'digital') and not AGI (not 'human-level') but already -somewhat- different that should hint at the fact that there -can- be alternatives

Unless we define 'human-level' to be 'human-similar'. Then I agree - "our way" may be the only way to make something that is "us".

Re: You are the scariest monster in the woods

#26

Post by alansaber »

myrmidon wrote: post #13

I struggle to understand how people can just dismiss the possibility of artificial intelligence. Human cognition was basically bruteforced by evolution-- why would it be impossible to achieve the exact same result in silicon, especially after we already demonstrated some parts of those results (e.g. use of language) that critically set us apart from other animals? I'm not buying the whole "AI has no agency" line eith…

Perhaps the AGI people thinking we can catch up millions of years of evolution in a handful of years

Re: You are the scariest monster in the woods

#27

Post by roxolotl »

myrmidon wrote: post #13

I struggle to understand how people can just dismiss the possibility of artificial intelligence. Human cognition was basically bruteforced by evolution-- why would it be impossible to achieve the exact same result in silicon, especially after we already demonstrated some parts of those results (e.g. use of language) that critically set us apart from other animals? I'm not buying the whole "AI has no agency" line eith…

The point of the article isn’t that abstract super intelligent agi isn’t scary. Yes the author says that’s unlikely but that paragraph at the start is a distraction.

The point of the article is that humans wielding LLMs today are the scary monsters.

Re: You are the scariest monster in the woods

#28

Post by WJW »

whycombinetor wrote: post #17

"We (humans) are the scariest animal in the woods. We’re the scariest animal anywhere. At any time, in any location, under any circumstances, if there’s a human present then that’s the scariest motherfucker in the woods." Has this guy not heard of the Bengal tigers of the Sundarban forests, which kill ~50 humans per year? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_attacks_in_the_Sundarban...

I think he heard of all the other forests, where tigers are now extinct because humans are around.

Re: You are the scariest monster in the woods

#29

Post by snozolli »

At any time, in any location, under any circumstances, if there’s a human present then that’s the scariest motherfucker in the woods.

This guy has clearly never bumped into a grizzly bear momma, a moose in rut, a hippo, or loads of other animals.

Personally, I'm not even worried about AI itself, I'm worried about the people wielding it. MBAs are the scariest monsters in the woods.

Re: You are the scariest monster in the woods

#30

Post by myrmidon »

alansaber wrote: post #26
myrmidon wrote: post #13

I struggle to understand how people can just dismiss the possibility of artificial intelligence. Human cognition was basically bruteforced by evolution-- why would it be impossible to achieve the exact same result in silicon, especially after we already demonstrated some parts of those results (e.g. use of language) that critically set us apart from other animals? I'm not buying the whole "AI has no agency" line eith…

Perhaps the AGI people thinking we can catch up millions of years of evolution in a handful of years

If you make the same argument for flight it looks really weak.

Cognition is (to me) not even the most impressive and out-of-reach achievement: That would be how (our) and animals bodies are self-assembling, self-repairing and self-replicating, with an impressive array of sensors and actors in a highly integrated package.

I honestly believe our current technology is much closer to emulating a human brain than it is to building a (non-intelligent) cat.

Post reply on HN