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Give AI curiosity, and it will watch TV forever (2018)

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Re: Give AI curiosity, and it will watch TV forever (2018)

#61
post #31

This trait must serve us in some capacity. You see this with children and iPads. My kids know 3x what I did when I was their same age. It's as if something can finally fill their bandwidth, keep up with their thoughts, and answer those questions in real-time. No wonder they get angry when it's time to put away the iPad - they're engaged at a high level. Much like when I am programming on a sideproject and my focus is…

> It's as if something can finally fill their bandwidth, keep up with their thoughts, and answer those questions in real-time.

There's a problem with your line of thinking.

E.g., I remember the epiphany when I realized that a particular C codebase was an implementation of a (more or less) object-oriented dynamic programming language. Ooh, here's the part that implements classes. Here's the part that instantiates the objects. Here's the method-dispatcher.

Ooh, here's the half-baked templating system that lets the user associate custom classes with 2d vector drawings and instantiate objects from them!

I was taking in the code of that codebase as fast as I could scroll and read the functions and structs.

At most, reading this code took up perhaps 20% of the time I was devoting to this endeavor. The other 80% was thinking through those design choices and their implications, during my unstructured time-- going on a walk, sitting on a bus, etc.-- when I was away from the computer.

If your kids are exposed to 3x of my example screen time, they're going to require vastly more unstructured time than I had to think through the implications of everything the screen put in front of their eyeballs. Trends in cell phone usage-- and even basic arithmetic of 24 hours in a day-- tells me that your kids aren't getting that.

Re: Give AI curiosity, and it will watch TV forever (2018)

#62

With the definition of curiosity from the article, it’s not that surprising? A dynamic “screen” is always more interesting than the static map. Definition: The definition that OpenAI team used for artificial curiosity was relatively simple: The algorithm would try to predict what its environment would look like one frame into the future. When that next frame happened, the algorithm would be rewarded by how wrong it w…

To me the real question is if humans are really much more complicated. We evolved running around on the plains without TV or drugs or electric guitars or virtual worlds. How long until we completely crack our definition?

Re: Give AI curiosity, and it will watch TV forever (2018)

#63
post #53
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would LOVE this feature for my kids.

You would voluntarily subject your kids to short-form media consumerism?

Short-form media is not necessarily bad. Like all forms of media, it can be a useful learning tool or it can be a massive time sink. Social media has just weaponized it to optimize for engagement at all costs.

Re: Give AI curiosity, and it will watch TV forever (2018)

#64
post #26

This is similar to how human minds work, things are bland when it’s predictable like stories, work like factories. We would tend to avoid it

Except that when things work like factorio we love it. There's kind of a sweet spot when humans discover something predicable but not downright repetitive.

Re: Give AI curiosity, and it will watch TV forever (2018)

#66
post #31

This trait must serve us in some capacity. You see this with children and iPads. My kids know 3x what I did when I was their same age. It's as if something can finally fill their bandwidth, keep up with their thoughts, and answer those questions in real-time. No wonder they get angry when it's time to put away the iPad - they're engaged at a high level. Much like when I am programming on a sideproject and my focus is…

> It's as if something can finally fill their bandwidth, keep up with their thoughts, and answer those questions in real-time. There's a problem with your line of thinking. E.g., I remember the epiphany when I realized that a particular C codebase was an implementation of a (more or less) object-oriented dynamic programming language. Ooh, here's the part that implements classes. Here's the part that instantiates the…

Thinking through the design/implications - does that have to come from unstructured time?

What if it were more thoughtful content - a series of problem(s) proposed at the beginning, walking through possibilities, and then the solutions revealed at the end?

Is it possible that the content can teach us both knowledge and how to think/reason?

Re: Give AI curiosity, and it will watch TV forever (2018)

#67
post #31

This trait must serve us in some capacity. You see this with children and iPads. My kids know 3x what I did when I was their same age. It's as if something can finally fill their bandwidth, keep up with their thoughts, and answer those questions in real-time. No wonder they get angry when it's time to put away the iPad - they're engaged at a high level. Much like when I am programming on a sideproject and my focus is…

> Such a massive opportunity for education - e.g. inserting more academic videos in between entertainment.

I whole heartedly disagree with this. I believe that one of the key aspects in early education is learning patience - love NG term personal fulfillment is not something you can do between the dopamine hits Og YouTube videos.

Re: Give AI curiosity, and it will watch TV forever (2018)

#68
post #31

This trait must serve us in some capacity. You see this with children and iPads. My kids know 3x what I did when I was their same age. It's as if something can finally fill their bandwidth, keep up with their thoughts, and answer those questions in real-time. No wonder they get angry when it's time to put away the iPad - they're engaged at a high level. Much like when I am programming on a sideproject and my focus is…

Does that "x3" include useful stuff that isn't internet factoids?

Re: Give AI curiosity, and it will watch TV forever (2018)

#69
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You would voluntarily subject your kids to short-form media consumerism?

Short-form media is not necessarily bad. Like all forms of media, it can be a useful learning tool or it can be a massive time sink. Social media has just weaponized it to optimize for engagement at all costs.

it really depends on what you want to learn.

personally I don't believe that 5 minute trivia is going to be worth a dime in the AI ridden world Og tomorrow.

Re: Give AI curiosity, and it will watch TV forever (2018)

#70
post #31

This trait must serve us in some capacity. You see this with children and iPads. My kids know 3x what I did when I was their same age. It's as if something can finally fill their bandwidth, keep up with their thoughts, and answer those questions in real-time. No wonder they get angry when it's time to put away the iPad - they're engaged at a high level. Much like when I am programming on a sideproject and my focus is…

> It's as if something can finally fill their bandwidth, keep up with their thoughts, and answer those questions in real-time. There's a problem with your line of thinking. E.g., I remember the epiphany when I realized that a particular C codebase was an implementation of a (more or less) object-oriented dynamic programming language. Ooh, here's the part that implements classes. Here's the part that instantiates the…

There's also a problem with your line of thinking: you are not a child. You do not have the neuroplasticity they do. Their brains are learning in ways that we simply cannot any longer; it' a real apples:oranges situation.
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