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>> I think a breakthrough is really in the eye of the beholder . Society these days doesn't really provide a platform for creating and implementing breakthroug

by petra 8y ago

>> I think a breakthrough is really in the eye of the beholder . Society these days doesn't really provide a platform for creating and implementing breakthroughs. If you'd ask yuval-noah harari, an historian, he'll say that with today's and tomorrow's innovation in AI and robotics , we're at unprecedented era in history.

hoaw 8y ago
I don't know much about him, more than what I could find on Wikipedia. I just don't think most of these people have a significant enough hypothesis to warrant the expectation of breakthrough. If someone can propose the specific way AI will change e.g. medicine once it reaches a certain level, that might be something. At least if the difference is great enough. "It will change society", doesn't have so much standing in my opinion. I guess if you are a historian it probably does. Until someone start spending money for something specific (which might already be happening) I wouldn’t expect a breakthrough, because it doesn’t really matter.
x3tm 8y ago
Impact on society doesn't mean impact on science. What scientific breakthroughs were due to the internet? Yet, the internet had/has an unprecedented impact on history. On the other hand, when someone starts having public opinions on pretty much anything (from buddhism to AI), I tend to be very suspicious about their expertise.
- jacobolus 8y ago
  > What scientific breakthroughs were due to the internet? Many, many, many. But it’s hard to pinpoint them. Lower-friction communication between researchers and better access to published science is an incredible catalyst for every kind of advance (from trivial incremental improvements through to new paradigms) in every field.
  - x3tm 8y ago
    Better/faster communication can facilitate work, but it's not the same as causing a breakthrough like say new data/theory. In that regard, English as a unified scientific language has probably a bigger impact than the internet.
jonny_eh 8y ago
I've read two of his books. He's an amazing historian and writer, but I'm not a fan of his futurology. Studying history is important but it certainly doesn't predict the future.

by petra 8y ago

hoaw 8y ago

I don't know much about him, more than what I could find on Wikipedia. I just don't think most of these people have a significant enough hypothesis to warrant the expectation of breakthrough. If someone can propose the specific way AI will change e.g. medicine once it reaches a certain level, that might be something. At least if the difference is great enough. "It will change society", doesn't have so much standing in my opinion. I guess if you are a historian it probably does. Until someone start spending money for something specific (which might already be happening) I wouldn’t expect a breakthrough, because it doesn’t really matter.

x3tm 8y ago

Impact on society doesn't mean impact on science. What scientific breakthroughs were due to the internet? Yet, the internet had/has an unprecedented impact on history. On the other hand, when someone starts having public opinions on pretty much anything (from buddhism to AI), I tend to be very suspicious about their expertise.

jacobolus 8y ago
> What scientific breakthroughs were due to the internet? Many, many, many. But it’s hard to pinpoint them. Lower-friction communication between researchers and better access to published science is an incredible catalyst for every kind of advance (from trivial incremental improvements through to new paradigms) in every field.
- x3tm 8y ago
  Better/faster communication can facilitate work, but it's not the same as causing a breakthrough like say new data/theory. In that regard, English as a unified scientific language has probably a bigger impact than the internet.

jonny_eh 8y ago

I've read two of his books. He's an amazing historian and writer, but I'm not a fan of his futurology. Studying history is important but it certainly doesn't predict the future.