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There is a focus on artificial intelligence rather than intelligence augmentation because the former seems easier to accomplish. I also think we will reach a l

by hbt 10y ago

There is a focus on artificial intelligence rather than intelligence augmentation because the former seems easier to accomplish. I also think we will reach a limit when it comes to intelligence augmentation. Artificial intelligence will never have a limit and it doesn't have all the evolutionary baggage we have. An AI can be a rational agent. It doesn't have to fight impulses, temptations, attention control, exercise emotional regulation etc. It is not stuck in a body limiting it and putting constraints on its time. For now, research on AI and IA go somewhat hand in hand. We still don't really understand what differentiates us from intelligent animals other than the ability to handle higher complexity. AI researchers focused on replicating every brain module in the hope it will become intelligent are most likely to create a smart animal but nothing comparable to human. Looking at our ancestors, they were able to create tools, fire, communicate etc. Hell, neanderthals could copulate with us. Something happened in our brains between the age of neanderthals and us. 99.5% similarity and if we could find what that 0.5% is, maybe we could focus on enhancing/replicating that instead of every brain module. People speculate it is creativity (divergent thinking) since art appeared in caves but there was none prior to that. The language gene was present in neanderthals and so what the ability to create tools, cooperate in groups to hunt etc. The fear of AI destroying everything is a genuine one. If we create something as smart as a bear, it still wouldn't be smart enough to compete against us in every arena but like a bear, it can use its sheer power & speed to overwhelm us. PS: I find the subject of neanderthals fascinating, if anyone has a good recommendation on the evolution of intelligence or finding what that 0.5% is, please let me know.

tlb 10y ago
The best book on this is Sapiens, by Yuval Noah Harari.
- hbt 10y ago
  Thanks!
fennecfoxen 10y ago
> Artificial intelligence will never have a limit and it doesn't have all the evolutionary baggage we have. Untrue. We operate in a universe with fundamental limitations built in, where both physics and computer science suggest that what can be obtained with a finite number of steps, or a finite amount of matter and energy, are limited. Any communication is limited by the speed of light, and the amount of matter and energy accessible in the light-cone of any AI produced on Earth is finite as well. Even an AI putting a Dyson sphere around every star would need to break physics to transcend finitude. Any near-term artificial intelligence running off Earth's power grid with semiconductors manufactured in traditional facilities will surely limited in even more fundamental ways, and unlikely to control all of its inputs.
- adrianN 10y ago
  The fundamental limits on computation [1] that we can prove with current physics are so fantastically far from what we can achieve with current engineering that we might as well say that there are no limits. It's like saying that I can sort any list you can give me in O(1) time, because there is only a constant number of bits encodable in the visible universe, so the length of your list has a constant upper bound. While it's a true statement, it's also rather boring, which is why we typically ignore such limits in casual speech. http://www.arturekert.org/miscellaneous/physical-limits.pdf http://www.arturekert.org/miscellaneous/physical-limits.pdf
  - mcbits 10y ago
    If we're talking about triggering an exponentially self-improving lineage of intelligences/computers, then they will either hit a wall fairly quickly (in the grand scheme) or face increasing practical constraints that flatten the curve. The limit may be at an unfathomably high level compared to where we stand, but it will come fast. That's unless, say, it turns out the universe can adapt its physics to meet certain types of ever-increasing demands.

by hbt 10y ago

tlb 10y ago

The best book on this is Sapiens, by Yuval Noah Harari.

hbt 10y ago
Thanks!

fennecfoxen 10y ago

> Artificial intelligence will never have a limit and it doesn't have all the evolutionary baggage we have. Untrue. We operate in a universe with fundamental limitations built in, where both physics and computer science suggest that what can be obtained with a finite number of steps, or a finite amount of matter and energy, are limited. Any communication is limited by the speed of light, and the amount of matter and energy accessible in the light-cone of any AI produced on Earth is finite as well. Even an AI putting a Dyson sphere around every star would need to break physics to transcend finitude. Any near-term artificial intelligence running off Earth's power grid with semiconductors manufactured in traditional facilities will surely limited in even more fundamental ways, and unlikely to control all of its inputs.

adrianN 10y ago
The fundamental limits on computation [1] that we can prove with current physics are so fantastically far from what we can achieve with current engineering that we might as well say that there are no limits. It's like saying that I can sort any list you can give me in O(1) time, because there is only a constant number of bits encodable in the visible universe, so the length of your list has a constant upper bound. While it's a true statement, it's also rather boring, which is why we typically ignore such limits in casual speech. http://www.arturekert.org/miscellaneous/physical-limits.pdf http://www.arturekert.org/miscellaneous/physical-limits.pdf
- mcbits 10y ago
  If we're talking about triggering an exponentially self-improving lineage of intelligences/computers, then they will either hit a wall fairly quickly (in the grand scheme) or face increasing practical constraints that flatten the curve. The limit may be at an unfathomably high level compared to where we stand, but it will come fast. That's unless, say, it turns out the universe can adapt its physics to meet certain types of ever-increasing demands.