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

I'm scared about biological computing

kuber.studio

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

251–260 of 271 posts

Re: I'm scared about biological computing

#251

Post by cindyllm »

butlike wrote: post #243
kjkjadksj wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the end of the day vegans play the same game as meat eaters where some line is drawn. For meat eaters it is with livestock meats and for pescatarians that is no go, but fish are alright. And for vegans that is all off limits. Except of course the life we deem base enough to not care it is being eaten alive. Slaughter all the lettuce you want. There are no lettuce advocates. All this to say the moral arguments are…

To your last point, I still think slaughtering with a knife is more humane. You slit the animals throat, it's traumatizing, it's painful, but you've started the "bleed-out timer." The bodily processes know that's NOT GOOD, and plan accordingly. If it's anything like humans, perhaps the animal's body will dump large amounts of feel good chemicals near the end. Juxtapose that against the airgun, a sudden impulse to the…

[dead]

Re: I'm scared about biological computing

#252

Post by dennis_jeeves2 »

rjh29 wrote: post #160
moondance wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An amusing quip, but since you brought Neil up- his takes on veganism are generally disappointing and facile.

As are his takes on almost everything.

True, the guy is has somewhat banal views. Guess he still has an audience.

Re: I'm scared about biological computing

#253

Post by tyg13 »

blks wrote: post #162
zelon88 wrote: post #161

Biological computers are inevitable. We are the most compelling proof of concept of this that we have. Our entire civilization may be a prototype of one already. From my perspective, I belive things will happen in the following order; 1. AI will eventually take over all silicon chip design. Human designs pale in comparison. Moores Law, which currently indicates that humans are reaching the practical limitations of th…

Fantasy land type mindset.

The way some people talk about AI is so distinctly religious to me. The comment above reads like some perverse prophecy. The author is clear to indicate that it's only supposition, but it induces a sort of second-hand embarrassment in me to hear someone talk about "Claude's Law" without a shred of irony.

Re: I'm scared about biological computing

#254

Post by rjh29 »

the_af wrote: post #224
rjh29 wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As are his takes on almost everything.

That's a very broad claim. Can you elaborate?

Two things. He's obviously an expert in astrophysics but his explanations are condescending and "well actually", like he is trying to convince you how smart he is. That's given him a reputation as a blowhard online.

Outside of that field, his takes are your typical "genius in one thing believes he's a genius in everything". Someone even made a list of his mistakes: https://hopsblog-hop.blogspot.com/2016/01/fact-checking-neil...

One of his tweets that HN will love: "Obama authorized North Korea sanctions over cyber hacking. Solution there, it seems to me, is to create unhackable systems."

Re: I'm scared about biological computing

#255

Post by akomtu »

DangitBobby wrote: post #149
akomtu wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They aren't. However there is a coordinated effort to push this pseudo-philosophy on masses. On the one hand it degrades the idea of human consciousness or soul, calling it a fiction. On the other hand it props the AI, calling its pile of transistors almost brain-like.

Who is coordinating this effort?

Whoever profits from it.

Re: I'm scared about biological computing

#256

Post by the_af »

rjh29 wrote: post #254
the_af wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very broad claim. Can you elaborate?

Two things. He's obviously an expert in astrophysics but his explanations are condescending and "well actually", like he is trying to convince you how smart he is. That's given him a reputation as a blowhard online. Outside of that field, his takes are your typical "genius in one thing believes he's a genius in everything". Someone even made a list of his mistakes: https://hopsblog-hop.blogspot.com/2016/01/fact-check…

Thanks for the list!

I agree that the fundamental thing here is:

> "genius in one thing believes he's a genius in everything"

No disagreement here, and sadly I think this is an unfortunate part of human nature.

Other than that, I'd say the person who wrote that list has a beef with Tyson, there's a mix between honest mistakes and debatable things, a lot of nitpicking (with a dose of cherry-picking), and ultimately this doesn't prove that "most of [Tyson's] takes" are mistaken. I agree that some things he says are dumb (like the cybersecurity tweet you mentioned) but I wouldn't dwell too much on them. "Cosmos", in all of its incarnations, is amazing. Of course, I'm not arguing the script is his, but his delivery and screen presence are solid.

I see Tyson commented on that blog, and some of what he says makes sense (e.g. picking on his colloquial use of "exponential" seems a bit mean spirited, though he could have been more precise; some people misunderstand the spirit of his comments on scifi movies; etc). In general, his replies in that blog to what at some points amounted to personal attacks left me the impression that Tyson knows how to gracefully and politely handle flamebait.

Re: I'm scared about biological computing

#257

Post by the_af »

dennis_jeeves2 wrote: post #252
rjh29 wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As are his takes on almost everything.

True, the guy is has somewhat banal views. Guess he still has an audience.

> the guy is has somewhat banal views

...on some things, because he's only human, and some pretty solid views on other things :)

Re: I'm scared about biological computing

#258

Post by JK-Swizzle »

the_af wrote: post #95
JK-Swizzle wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe you are missing the forest for the trees. It is bringing up the question of what defines self will. It is unrelated to veganism in all but text. An easy example is dogs. We have bred dogs for centuries to love doing work for us. If they hated doing the work, it would be easy to call it cruel. If they loved it by nature, it would be easy to call it kind. But since we created them into a thing that loves the…

> Dogs we changed by accident (I know your point wasn't about dogs either, it just reminded me of something). I love Neil de Grasse Tyson's line in Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey : "This wolf has discovered what a branch of its ancestors figured out some 15.000 years ago... an excellent survival strategy: the domestication of humans."

That just makes it even more interesting. Have we been selectively modified to think dogs are cute? If I showed a toy poodle to a caveman, would he also want to put it in a little bag with only its head poking out?

Re: I'm scared about biological computing

#259

Post by rjh29 »

the_af wrote: post #256
rjh29 wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two things. He's obviously an expert in astrophysics but his explanations are condescending and "well actually", like he is trying to convince you how smart he is. That's given him a reputation as a blowhard online. Outside of that field, his takes are your typical "genius in one thing believes he's a genius in everything". Someone even made a list of his mistakes: https://hopsblog-hop.blogspot.com/2016/01/fact-check…

Thanks for the list! I agree that the fundamental thing here is: > "genius in one thing believes he's a genius in everything" No disagreement here, and sadly I think this is an unfortunate part of human nature. Other than that, I'd say the person who wrote that list has a beef with Tyson, there's a mix between honest mistakes and debatable things, a lot of nitpicking (with a dose of cherry-picking), and ultimately th…

I did not notice he commented on the blog so thanks for pointing it out.

His response was impressive I agree, he has matured. You can see that from his initial response to the Bush quote (claiming his memory is infallible, and then condescendingly talking about "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" when the burden of proof is on HIM) vs. his comment where he said he'd made "inexcusable errors"

Full disclosure I'm not American so my main exposure to this guy is his tweets and occasional Reddit threads about how much they hate him.

Re: I'm scared about biological computing

#260

Post by the_af »

rjh29 wrote: post #259
the_af wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the list! I agree that the fundamental thing here is: > "genius in one thing believes he's a genius in everything" No disagreement here, and sadly I think this is an unfortunate part of human nature. Other than that, I'd say the person who wrote that list has a beef with Tyson, there's a mix between honest mistakes and debatable things, a lot of nitpicking (with a dose of cherry-picking), and ultimately th…

I did not notice he commented on the blog so thanks for pointing it out. His response was impressive I agree, he has matured. You can see that from his initial response to the Bush quote (claiming his memory is infallible, and then condescendingly talking about "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" when the burden of proof is on HIM) vs. his comment where he said he'd made "inexcusable errors" Full disclos…

I'm also not American (well, I am South American), and I wouldn't count Reddit threats about how much people hate someone else as evidence of anything (other than Reddit being Reddit) :)

Some of the comments in that blog, pushing back against the blog post, say more or less what I think about this.

> my main exposure to this guy is his tweets

In that case, I wholeheartedly recommend the sequels to Sagan's "Cosmos", "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey" and "Cosmos: Possible Worlds". I think they have the potential to make you like Tyson!

Post reply on HN