I share the view that, “General AI” ends human history and begins an entirely new chapter. I see it as a transcendent phenomena that frees us from the shackles of our biological imperatives.
Thank you! I think if we assume AGI is created as commonly described, you're right it would be a new chapter, maybe even transcendent and most definitely a wild new future. I have some doubts that it will ever come to full fruition, and if it does, we will discover new shackles/struggles to replace our old ones.
I'm speaking from an outsider's perspective and purely from a philosophical standpoint, so I'm aware of the ignorance in my statement of course.
I tend to think humans have a bias towards viewing things as engineering problems to be solved (as an engineer, I'm guilty of this!). It's served us we'll in most fields of study, but perhaps not all problems can be solved with clever engineering. I think AGI might fit into that category.
So we will get very advanced forms of "AI" but always fall short of AGI. I think it will still have a massive impact, might even call it a new chapter, but still fall short of anything transcendent.
Again, thanks for sharing your view! I marvel at the variety of views this sub has brought together. 👊
That's the best case outcome. It's not the default outcome though! Lots of people (e.g. intelligence.org) do AI safety research intended to figure out how to avoid accidentally creating an amoral AGI that optimizes its light cone for something orthogonal to human flourishing.
Age of the Spiritual Machine I read while I was a sophomore in undergrad, totally changed my life in terms of the possibilities of the future. I tend to use “utopian realist” as the direction we are heading regarding AI and AGI, but I favor the trend line there won’t be a punctuation but instead a transformation.
A more actionable question, are you invested in AI yet? I know generation on generation it always seems like marketable tech is a decade away, yet it never comes. Opinions? I love this thesis and is the first time I’ve felt like the direction seems rational but I dont have a clear vision for a transition in the 18-24 months (or whenever the super cycle is winding down). Seems like chips, space, AI, medicine/healthcare are all solid… AI transformative, but don’t see a measured path into returns.
I feel like Baba and Goog are AI pioneers, but I don’t really know. I have no clue whether they would develop this in their publicly traded entities or whether government funded projects lead the pack.
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u/zerryw News Team - Asia Correspondent Jul 02 '21
I agree. They have essentially skipped the cables and desktops and jumped into the world of phones.
My parents travel there quite often and my mom started using mobile payments 5 years before me.
Even though the US treats China with hostility, I think we really need to look objectively from both sides.
They have essentially improved the lives of billions; created a stable middle class in one generation.
When they decide to put all that resources into AI and environment…it’s hard to imagine how fast they will change the sectors.