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Seems like the same problem as nuclear power, GM foods, and just about every other new but complex technology. People don't understand it, and we always fear wh

Seems like the same problem as nuclear power, GM foods, and just about every other new but complex technology. People don't understand it, and we always fear what we don't understand.

adityab 9y ago
True, but none of those fields have the same kind of "end of humanity" connotations attached, in the general psyche. Clarifications by well-known researchers don't travel as far and wide as urgency-signaling clickbait...
- lotyrin 9y ago
  Nuclear power generation and agricultural GMOs definitely do have their opponents that use end-of-the-world kinds of arguments, and the uninformed that accept those. Nuclear especially would be my go-to pristine example of this effect.
  - tgragnato 9y ago
    The nuclear has been demonized (in popular culture) due to the psyops of the Cold War. A backslash against nuclear power generation has always been expected. The use of GMOs has been demonized since corporations decided to patent them and sue farmers that owns naturally hybridized plantations. (see agricultural patent trolls) Abuse is what generates criticism and resistance to the use of new technology. Yes, the reasons you hear may not be wholly technically correct. Again, if the trust of internet users is abused, and those who browse are tracked and profiled and spyed on; then should we be surprised that there are publications like this? That's how you get stories about creepy AIs. And a "technically wrong" label doesn't help, preventing abuse is much more effective.
  - pjc50 9y ago
    Nuclear has the disadvantage that high-profile accidents actually happened, and the period where everyone in western Europe had to watch their food chain for bioaccumulative radionucletides tends to stick in the memory. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-17472698 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-17472698 Part of the problem was dealt with by export: https://www.wiseinternational.org/nuclear-monitor/349-350/contaminated-foodstuffs-dumped-world-market https://www.wiseinternational.org/nuclear-monitor/349-350/co...
- coldtea 9y ago
  >True, but none of those fields have the same kind of "end of humanity" connotations attached, in the general psyche. Well, nuclear bombs have been associated with "Doomsday" / end of civilization ("Doomsday device") etc.
CamperBob2 9y ago
True, and it doesn't exactly help that respected people like Elon Musk are cranking up a lot of irrational FUD for reasons known only to themselves.
- computerex 9y ago
  Lately, I think the attention is getting into Elon's head.. It's so unsettling because Elon was our lord and savior and now as if corrupted by his newly found fully grown hair, he has it seems given in to the media attention. Tesla, PayPal and SpaceX I can get behind. Hyperloop? AI neurolink thing? Wtf happened to you Elon?
- joopxiv 9y ago
  I think it's quite strange that when respected and rational people like Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking warn against dangers of AI, some people still dismiss it as irrational FUD. Did you consider they might have a point?
  - odabaxok 9y ago
    Can you please write what concerns do they have? I have tried to google Elon Musk's quotes about AI, but all I found was that he said, we should fear AI, because it is like summoning a demon... Does he have some thought-out points you refer to? ..because from all of his quotes it seems that he doesn't know how ai works.
    - joopxiv 9y ago
      I think the AI concerns have been summarised below in this thread: A) We're striving to make strong AI. B) It seems plausible that as computing and AI research continues, we'll get to strong AI eventually given that brains are "just" extremely complex computers. C) We do not know what strong AI will be able to do or how it will act, if it exceeds human intelligence. The concern is not with the current state of the art, but what could happen in the future if we continue improving AI without seriously considering some safeguards against making a system that at some point becomes clever enough to start making itself even smarter. I won't claim I'm an AI expert, but I think people like Musk and Hawkins deserve (based on their accomplishments) to be taken serious when they express concerns. I very much doubt that everyone in this thread dismissing their comments as irrational fear mongering have enough knowledge on the topic to do so.
coldtea 9y ago
>Seems like the same problem as nuclear power, GM foods, and just about every other new but complex technology. People don't understand it, and we always fear what we don't understand. Well, it's also that people who do understand it, can also be severely worried about scientists not understanding it and playing fast and loose for profit. Medicine/biology can not even put out a decent non-conflicting dietary advice that holds its position for more than 10 years, but they are allowed to assemble genes they half-understand and put them out in an ecosystem whose interactions and complex interplays they understand 10% and just see what happens...
- blowski 9y ago
  Agreed. Even if ignorant people think it's a bad idea, doesn't mean it's a good idea. But perhaps they're wrong about _why_ it's a bad idea.

Seems like the same problem as nuclear power, GM foods, and just about every other new but complex technology. People don't understand it, and we always fear what we don't understand.

adityab 9y ago

True, but none of those fields have the same kind of "end of humanity" connotations attached, in the general psyche. Clarifications by well-known researchers don't travel as far and wide as urgency-signaling clickbait...

lotyrin 9y ago
Nuclear power generation and agricultural GMOs definitely do have their opponents that use end-of-the-world kinds of arguments, and the uninformed that accept those. Nuclear especially would be my go-to pristine example of this effect.
- tgragnato 9y ago
  The nuclear has been demonized (in popular culture) due to the psyops of the Cold War. A backslash against nuclear power generation has always been expected. The use of GMOs has been demonized since corporations decided to patent them and sue farmers that owns naturally hybridized plantations. (see agricultural patent trolls) Abuse is what generates criticism and resistance to the use of new technology. Yes, the reasons you hear may not be wholly technically correct. Again, if the trust of internet users is abused, and those who browse are tracked and profiled and spyed on; then should we be surprised that there are publications like this? That's how you get stories about creepy AIs. And a "technically wrong" label doesn't help, preventing abuse is much more effective.
- pjc50 9y ago
  Nuclear has the disadvantage that high-profile accidents actually happened, and the period where everyone in western Europe had to watch their food chain for bioaccumulative radionucletides tends to stick in the memory. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-17472698 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-17472698 Part of the problem was dealt with by export: https://www.wiseinternational.org/nuclear-monitor/349-350/contaminated-foodstuffs-dumped-world-market https://www.wiseinternational.org/nuclear-monitor/349-350/co...
coldtea 9y ago
>True, but none of those fields have the same kind of "end of humanity" connotations attached, in the general psyche. Well, nuclear bombs have been associated with "Doomsday" / end of civilization ("Doomsday device") etc.

CamperBob2 9y ago

True, and it doesn't exactly help that respected people like Elon Musk are cranking up a lot of irrational FUD for reasons known only to themselves.

computerex 9y ago
Lately, I think the attention is getting into Elon's head.. It's so unsettling because Elon was our lord and savior and now as if corrupted by his newly found fully grown hair, he has it seems given in to the media attention. Tesla, PayPal and SpaceX I can get behind. Hyperloop? AI neurolink thing? Wtf happened to you Elon?
joopxiv 9y ago
I think it's quite strange that when respected and rational people like Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking warn against dangers of AI, some people still dismiss it as irrational FUD. Did you consider they might have a point?
- odabaxok 9y ago
  Can you please write what concerns do they have? I have tried to google Elon Musk's quotes about AI, but all I found was that he said, we should fear AI, because it is like summoning a demon... Does he have some thought-out points you refer to? ..because from all of his quotes it seems that he doesn't know how ai works.
  - joopxiv 9y ago
    I think the AI concerns have been summarised below in this thread: A) We're striving to make strong AI. B) It seems plausible that as computing and AI research continues, we'll get to strong AI eventually given that brains are "just" extremely complex computers. C) We do not know what strong AI will be able to do or how it will act, if it exceeds human intelligence. The concern is not with the current state of the art, but what could happen in the future if we continue improving AI without seriously considering some safeguards against making a system that at some point becomes clever enough to start making itself even smarter. I won't claim I'm an AI expert, but I think people like Musk and Hawkins deserve (based on their accomplishments) to be taken serious when they express concerns. I very much doubt that everyone in this thread dismissing their comments as irrational fear mongering have enough knowledge on the topic to do so.

coldtea 9y ago

>Seems like the same problem as nuclear power, GM foods, and just about every other new but complex technology. People don't understand it, and we always fear what we don't understand. Well, it's also that people who do understand it, can also be severely worried about scientists not understanding it and playing fast and loose for profit. Medicine/biology can not even put out a decent non-conflicting dietary advice that holds its position for more than 10 years, but they are allowed to assemble genes they half-understand and put them out in an ecosystem whose interactions and complex interplays they understand 10% and just see what happens...

blowski 9y ago
Agreed. Even if ignorant people think it's a bad idea, doesn't mean it's a good idea. But perhaps they're wrong about _why_ it's a bad idea.