The Wow I Can't Believe That News Story Thread

@ OH

Exactly. It's a complete gamble. And technology proliferates in a decentralized ad hoc sort of way so even if there is a specific way to harness AI without it ever threatening us, it's hard to ensure that nobody is going to go outside those parameters and create something that could pose a threat.

There's an inherent incentive to create AGI because of the inherent utility of intelligence and seeing that AGI would match and eventually surpass human intelligence in every domain, that would include creating new, even more effective forms of AGI.

So with each successive generation of AGI, the engineers creating the next generation grow smarter and smarter because at the point the engineers themselves are robots.

This creates a feedback loop that allows for an exponential growth in AI that humans will not be able to keep up with because we are working with inherent biological constraints.

@ elph

There's no reason they shouldn't be able to, if we are ourselves biochemical machines. Without invoking magic to explain human intelligence it's hard to imagine that it's impossible.

But yes, this entire argument is predicated on the assumption that AGI gets developed. If it doesn't then obviously it doesn't pose any threat.

[OccultHawk]

Originally Posted by elphenor

We don't even know yet that AI can ever mimic human intelligence

To merely mimic would just mean to pass the Turing test

No two intelligences on earth are really comparable be it plant, insect, microbial, or animal (including human). Whether a machine’s intelligence is even comprehensible within the parameters of our consciousness is likely irrelevant to the amount of harm it may inflict.

We have a very ˈspeciesist definition of what intelligence is. We sure think we’re smarter than mosquitos with our books and buildings and all but if Kafka turned you into one you’d be the dumbest mosquito in town. And boy they sure can kill some folks.

@ OH

That's a good point as well. Certain insects like ants and bee colonies have a collective form of Intelligence that makes them har capable of making complex decisions as a group without any individual ant or bee being conscious.

They're all basically robots following very simple rules which collectively results in complex decision making as a group. We have a very hard time controlling or containing the spread of these insects as it stands, even with the supposedly limited Intelligence they have.

That's a system that was developed ad hoc by trial and error via evolution. It's easy to imagine with direct engineering we can develop systems far more advanced and potentially menacing.

@ elph

We won't "know" until it happens. But the general trend that AI us advancing and is already surpassing humans in specific domains of Intelligence such as computers playing chess, go, etc.

[OccultHawk]

we don't totally understand how human intelligence works,

We don’t understand how any intelligence works.

capable of making complex decisions as a group without any individual ant or bee being conscious.

We don’t know if they’re conscious. I personally think they are.

[Lucem Ferre]

Originally Posted by OccultHawk

We don’t know if they’re conscious. I personally think they are.

They are. They don't really work how JWB says. Ants have been known to war over which female should become a queen and the queen doesn't actually tell them what to do. Bees are very similar.

Originally Posted by Lucem Ferre

They are. They don't really work how JWB says. Ants have been known to war over which female should become a queen and the queen doesn't actually tell them what to do. Bees are very similar.

I think you just misunderstood me. Many types of ants and bees operate collectively as a colony because their genetic lineage flows through the queen. I never suggested the queen gives orders.

It's not that an individual ant or bee has no decision making mechanisms, they just behave more predictably and follow pretty simple rules. It takes the colony as a whole to make more complex decisions, such as picking a suitable nest site.

[OccultHawk]

Why are you so obsessed with the human brain as some kind of benchmark?

[OccultHawk]

Originally Posted by elphenor

I think it's obviously the most impressive thing on the planet

bees can get ****ed

scientists are going to make robot bees

Obvious to a human brain that thinks like a human brain.

I actually agree the human brain is the most impressive form of Intelligence on the planet

And the human brain was developed ad hoc through evolution. Humans have dominated the planet in the last 10,000 or so years through the introduction of agriculture which allows for specialization of labor which allows for an increase in technological developement. In the last 10,000 years the human race has changed the planet and their role on it more than they did for millions of years of homonid evolution preceding the agricultural revolution.

Once the industrial revolution happened this rapid pace of technological advancement sped up exponentially.

The idea of the singularity is based on the rapid developement of computing technology and so the basic trend suggests that the engineering capabilities of humans through technology evolves much quicker than any organism.

Seeing that this is the case I find it hard to believe that evolution was able to create the human brain but that the technology the human brain is creating won't eventually surpass that benchmark.

[OccultHawk]

A watermelon seed carries enough information to transform a backyard into a watermelon patch.

The human brain might be the most impressive 3 lbs in the entire universe.

It’s still a circular paradox that as far as we know the only thing impressed by the human brain is the human brain.

Seeing that this is the case I find it hard to believe that evolution was able to create the human brain but that the technology the human brain is creating won't eventually surpass that benchmark

Surpass how though.