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Humans with fewer skills than the elite were not pushed out of the employment market by the invention of dishwashers, laundry machines, or vacuum cleaners. The

Humans with fewer skills than the elite were not pushed out of the employment market by the invention of dishwashers, laundry machines, or vacuum cleaners. The invention of AI is hardly different.

terhechte 10y ago
A dishwasher or a laundry machine can do one thing. For every task, you need to create a very particular machine. AI is different, you just train it on the task like you'd train a human worker and that's it. No need to invent a new machine.
- crdoconnor 10y ago
  >A dishwasher or a laundry machine can do one thing. For every task, you need to create a very particular machine. AI is different It's absolutely not. Siri's never driven a car or beaten a human at Go.
  - vinceguidry 10y ago
    Even if it was, unless you're saying robots are going to buy and sell things to each other, all economic activity is oriented around humans. There's no point to AI without us. As well put a dishwasher in the jungle. The monkeys might like it, but they sure won't use it to wash clothes.
    - thomasahle 10y ago
      > There's no point to AI without us. But all of us? That's where the class thing comes in.
      - vinceguidry 10y ago
        If AI is truly useful, then it'll be put to use for everybody. Technology has been dicking around with our social classes for thousands of years. You could argue that technology is the whole reason we have social classes in the first place. You have to ask yourself what's so different about AI. It's an interesting question, but none of the more dramatic answers are really unprecedented. It's a "what is true isn't new, and what's new isn't true," sort of deal. Is it going to make some of us useless? Then it's going to make all of us useless, because there won't be any point in just deploying AI to serve only the elites. All technology eventually filters out to serve everyone.
        thomasahle 10y ago
        > there won't be any point in just deploying AI to serve only the elites. Why? If it's the elites that deploy it?
        vinceguidry 10y ago
        Technology is always deployed first by the elites to serve the elites. But those elites don't live in a vacuum and are never completely self-sufficient. So eventually they'll want to trade access to their technology for something they do want. An example of this is military tech. The US sells surplus military equipment to anybody that will buy it, even sophisticated kit like F-16s. Naturally, they keep the best stuff to themselves, you can't buy an F-22 at the moment for any price. But eventually even the F-22 will be old tech and you'll be able to buy one.
    - new_hackers 10y ago
      To be fair, I don't use my dishwasher to wash clothes either
      - vinceguidry 10y ago
        Hah, whoops. Well played, sir, now I can't change it.
        new_hackers 10y ago
        No worries, even with the typo you did make a valid point
  - PostOnce 10y ago
    We're not talking about now, we're talking about the future. Computers in the 50s couldn't talk to you or how to tell you whether its raining in Tulsa just by you asking it. AI is early days. This amuses me: https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=movie+where+a+professor+sits+around+talking+to+other+professors https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=movie+where+a+professor+si... The third result is the one I'm looking for. DeepMind can learn atari games on its own. The future is arriving quickly.
    - 1_player 10y ago
      This is the third link for me, and I don't think it answers the question (I've just skimmed it): http://www.businessinsider.com/professors-craziest-students-2014-10?IR=T http://www.businessinsider.com/professors-craziest-students-... I don't see any link that could answer that question in my first page of results.
      - PostOnce 10y ago
        Hmm, the filter bubble will damn us all. the answer is: "The Man From Earth", a movie. A very good movie.

Humans with fewer skills than the elite were not pushed out of the employment market by the invention of dishwashers, laundry machines, or vacuum cleaners. The invention of AI is hardly different.

terhechte 10y ago

A dishwasher or a laundry machine can do one thing. For every task, you need to create a very particular machine. AI is different, you just train it on the task like you'd train a human worker and that's it. No need to invent a new machine.

crdoconnor 10y ago
>A dishwasher or a laundry machine can do one thing. For every task, you need to create a very particular machine. AI is different It's absolutely not. Siri's never driven a car or beaten a human at Go.
- vinceguidry 10y ago
  Even if it was, unless you're saying robots are going to buy and sell things to each other, all economic activity is oriented around humans. There's no point to AI without us. As well put a dishwasher in the jungle. The monkeys might like it, but they sure won't use it to wash clothes.
  - thomasahle 10y ago
    > There's no point to AI without us. But all of us? That's where the class thing comes in.
    - vinceguidry 10y ago
      If AI is truly useful, then it'll be put to use for everybody. Technology has been dicking around with our social classes for thousands of years. You could argue that technology is the whole reason we have social classes in the first place. You have to ask yourself what's so different about AI. It's an interesting question, but none of the more dramatic answers are really unprecedented. It's a "what is true isn't new, and what's new isn't true," sort of deal. Is it going to make some of us useless? Then it's going to make all of us useless, because there won't be any point in just deploying AI to serve only the elites. All technology eventually filters out to serve everyone.
      - thomasahle 10y ago
        > there won't be any point in just deploying AI to serve only the elites. Why? If it's the elites that deploy it?
        vinceguidry 10y ago
        Technology is always deployed first by the elites to serve the elites. But those elites don't live in a vacuum and are never completely self-sufficient. So eventually they'll want to trade access to their technology for something they do want. An example of this is military tech. The US sells surplus military equipment to anybody that will buy it, even sophisticated kit like F-16s. Naturally, they keep the best stuff to themselves, you can't buy an F-22 at the moment for any price. But eventually even the F-22 will be old tech and you'll be able to buy one.
  - new_hackers 10y ago
    To be fair, I don't use my dishwasher to wash clothes either
    - vinceguidry 10y ago
      Hah, whoops. Well played, sir, now I can't change it.
      - new_hackers 10y ago
        No worries, even with the typo you did make a valid point
- PostOnce 10y ago
  We're not talking about now, we're talking about the future. Computers in the 50s couldn't talk to you or how to tell you whether its raining in Tulsa just by you asking it. AI is early days. This amuses me: https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=movie+where+a+professor+sits+around+talking+to+other+professors https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=movie+where+a+professor+si... The third result is the one I'm looking for. DeepMind can learn atari games on its own. The future is arriving quickly.
  - 1_player 10y ago
    This is the third link for me, and I don't think it answers the question (I've just skimmed it): http://www.businessinsider.com/professors-craziest-students-2014-10?IR=T http://www.businessinsider.com/professors-craziest-students-... I don't see any link that could answer that question in my first page of results.
    - PostOnce 10y ago
      Hmm, the filter bubble will damn us all. the answer is: "The Man From Earth", a movie. A very good movie.