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It took life millions of years of evolution to produce us. Look at what artificial intelligence has achieved in decades.

nzonbi 11y ago
General AI could be the biggest ever discovery for humanity. But it will never be if we don't put a hard enough effort. The bad thing, is that economy laws seem to assign a limited effort toward it. In my opinion we should be trying harder. Worth mentioning is OpenAI (https://openai.com/ https://openai.com/), an effort by Y Combinator, Elon Musk and others. Brilliant initiative.
- partycoder 11y ago
  Overpopulation and the deterioration of the environment will push us to find solutions through AI.
  - platz 11y ago
    environment is an issue, but I think the overpopulation card is overplayed and controversial
    - mikeash 11y ago
      Overpopulation in terms of running out of space is definitely overplayed. But it's a direct multiplier for our effect on the environment. If the world's population were cut in half, we'd emit about half as much pollution, half as much greenhouse gas, half the land used for farming would be left wild, etc.
      - fma 11y ago
        Not necessarily...carbon emissions per capita is not constant around the globe. Energy use is skewed towards modern countries, i.e United States. If you wiped out the 300 million people in the US, you would save more on carbon emissions than wiping out 300 million in China. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_...
        mikeash 11y ago
        That's true. It depends on which Chinese people, too! But overall, the point remains: reduce the population, reduce the environmental impact.
fma 11y ago
You mean look at what we, a product of evolution of millions of years, have produced of artificial intelligence in decades.
- mirimir 11y ago
  Wait until AI starts producing AI ;) That's already happening, at least somewhat, right?

nzonbi 11y ago

General AI could be the biggest ever discovery for humanity. But it will never be if we don't put a hard enough effort. The bad thing, is that economy laws seem to assign a limited effort toward it. In my opinion we should be trying harder. Worth mentioning is OpenAI (https://openai.com/ https://openai.com/), an effort by Y Combinator, Elon Musk and others. Brilliant initiative.

partycoder 11y ago
Overpopulation and the deterioration of the environment will push us to find solutions through AI.
- platz 11y ago
  environment is an issue, but I think the overpopulation card is overplayed and controversial
  - mikeash 11y ago
    Overpopulation in terms of running out of space is definitely overplayed. But it's a direct multiplier for our effect on the environment. If the world's population were cut in half, we'd emit about half as much pollution, half as much greenhouse gas, half the land used for farming would be left wild, etc.
    - fma 11y ago
      Not necessarily...carbon emissions per capita is not constant around the globe. Energy use is skewed towards modern countries, i.e United States. If you wiped out the 300 million people in the US, you would save more on carbon emissions than wiping out 300 million in China. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_...
      - mikeash 11y ago
        That's true. It depends on which Chinese people, too! But overall, the point remains: reduce the population, reduce the environmental impact.

fma 11y ago

You mean look at what we, a product of evolution of millions of years, have produced of artificial intelligence in decades.

mirimir 11y ago
Wait until AI starts producing AI ;) That's already happening, at least somewhat, right?