ciphergoth: (Default)
[personal profile] ciphergoth
I never post, so here's a rant written in IM I want to preserve. Edited somewhat.

here's how it seems to me
there's an argument for the singularity that goes like this
"A, B, C, D, and E all seem likely"
"E says that A + B + C + D = Singularity"
and then people say "No, the singularity is rubbish"
and we say "do you disagree with A, B, C, D, or E?"
and they say "You're all a bunch of wild-eyed dreamers"
and we say "Err, so is that C you disagree with?"
and they say "It's religion for geeks, man!"
and we say "Err, but..."
and ... they just DON'T FUCKING ENGAGE AT ALL.
That's why I keep pointing at http://ciphergoth.dreamwidth.org/357313.html
it takes the contrapositive, and says "If not singularity, then either ¬A or ¬B or ¬C or ¬D or ¬E"
No-one said "oh wait, you forgot F"
but none of ¬A or ¬B or ¬C or ¬D or ¬E got a lot of support.

I am willing to accept that this misrepresents singularity critics horribly - you certainly don't all call us names for example! But I hope the broad form of my frustration is clear and if I'm confused I hope it makes it easier for you to clear up my confusion :-)

Date: 2012-02-21 01:53 pm (UTC)
djm4: (Default)
From: [personal profile] djm4
In that post you link to, you got at least two 'what about F?'s:

* We might in principle be able to create superintelligent minds and try, repeatedly, but always fail.
* We might build superior intelligences, and not realise we've done it/be able to interact with them in any meaningful way.

Both from me (although the first was a modification of an earlier suggestion, based on your comments), neither with a reply from you. I don't know whether this is because you thought I was too trivially missing the point to engage with, but I do feel a bit misrepresented there. If either of us was refusing to engage in that thread - and I'm not saying we were - it visibly wasn't me.

Also, it's possible that none of ¬A or ¬B or ¬C or ¬D or ¬E got a lot of support because you didn't actually ask for any of us to support them. You were explicitly drawing up a list and asking what you missed, not asking for critique on the ones you'd already got on the list.

Date: 2012-02-21 11:24 pm (UTC)
purplerabbits: (Default)
From: [personal profile] purplerabbits
What David said, especially the latter point. Perhaps if you wanted people to vite for one you should have provided ticky boxes :-)

Personally I go for a hefty dose of global warming with a side order of AI is really REALLY hard. I doubt if it's impossible, but I have hopes that before we solve it we may realise what a silly idea it could be.

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ciphergoth: (Default)
Paul Crowley

January 2025

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