

The sheer stupidity of artificial intelligence - JamesArgo
http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9252311/the-sheer-stupidity-of-artificial-intelligence/?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=WEDNESDAY%20PREVIEW%20NEWSLETTER

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netcraft
So the argument is, machine intelligence isn't going to happen, but its bad
that we're trying?

But this idea: "In short, we can make the Singularity more likely by
stupefying ourselves into becoming machines instead of simply seeing machines
for what they are — useful tools." is interesting. PBS Idea Channel just
released a video that I think is related:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLieeAUQWMs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLieeAUQWMs)

What I think both the author of this post and the Idea channel video have in
common is that they both are thinking of humans (or animals for that matter)
as something different from a computer - but what are we but the excitation
and suppression of electrical signals? Does the fact that we were grown
instead of constructed make a difference?

In reality, we are just a very complicated machine - once you learn enough
about how we work you could build your own. And the singularity, specifically
the melding of mind and machine is a logical path along that road. Are there
real concerns that we need to be thinking about? Sure. Will the 2045 timeframe
be accurate? Who knows. But I think we are going to start seeing the lines
blurred more and more as we approach that timeframe.

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avmich
Let's replace "believe in machine" in 2014 with "believe in flying to the
Moon" in 1961. Imagine how ridiculous flying to the Moon was to some
individuals then. Imagine how they could write quite similar articles. Now,
after men landed and returned and dust settled decades ago - how we're looking
to those possible articles?

May be they had some merit - may be, because it's hard to forecast what's
going to happen. Who knows - may be we have a chance to cure cancer in three
years, if we only look to the right place today, but we won't and the progress
will takes much longer. Who knows - it may very well be possible that Kurzwell
predictions won't come true. But that's besides the point. We don't know - and
the article is written with suggestion that we actually won't, so the author
does know that it won't happen. Just because the matter is so strange to him.

That's an unreliable ground to build forecasts on.

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drewcummins
A lot of name-calling and false equivalencies with nothing to support claims
aside from a conversation with Andrew Blake.

