6 ms·

We're doing it to ourselves too.

by kache_ 5y ago

HenryKissinger 5y ago
Software engineer ejected from self driving car during Sunday crash found in server farm, herding sheep?
- Xpletivedeleted 5y ago
  ... found in server room, dreaming of electric sheep?
- meowface 5y ago
  *cats
  - catherd 5y ago
    Exited self-driving car project to make hardware and herd cats, which turns out to be the same thing.
- goodcanadian 5y ago
  Patching software.
  - xbar 5y ago
    Failing to write documentation.
- zoomablemind 5y ago
  ...browsing HN, as if nothing happened. Tons of good stuff, need to know!
wizzwizz4 5y ago
Not via selective breeding. At least, not very successfully; there have been attempts, but fortunately most eugenicists let their “I wanna hurt the Inferior People™ – err, Not-People™” rule over actually doing eugenics properly, so we merely got atrocities. And even if they had, you can't get much eugenics done in a handful of generations; I'm not aware of any eugenics campaign longer than ten generations, and even the longest of those are mostly just slow-motion genocides. In fact, we've mostly neutered evolutionary pressures on ourselves. In ten thousand years, this might be a minor problem, but we'll probably have figured out a way of doing genetic modification without being monsters by then.
- praptak 5y ago
  Getting mauled by a wild animal isn't the only kind of evolutionary pressure. As long as you die without having offspring, the pressure got you.
- wyager 5y ago
  > Not via selective breeding Yes via selective breeding. Look into Landian analysis of urban centers as “IQ shredders”. Cities attract the smartest people and then tank their birth rate. > we've mostly neutered evolutionary pressures on ourselves. In ten thousand years, this might be a minor problem It’s going to be a problem much sooner than that. Look into Yudkowsky’s analysis of evolutionary error correction bandwidth.
  - wizzwizz4 5y ago
    > Cities attract the smartest people and then tank their birth rate. That's pretty simplified – but even if it wasn't, we're not going to run out of “clever genes” because it's not as simple as that. (But even if it were, the selection isn't strong enough for that to happen.) > It’s going to be a problem much sooner than that. If our artificial selection pressures remain the same. Which they won't. Two hundred years ago, our society's “artificial selection” was completely different; in two hundred years, it'll be completely different again.
    - wyager 5y ago
      > the selection isn't strong enough for that to happen Your model is busted - the Flynn effect has already reversed and intelligence is decreasing again. You’re right that it’s “not as simple” as my one-sentence summary but my claim is directionally correct. > it’ll be completely different again The risk has nothing to do with what the concrete pressures are, but how much error correction bandwidth we have vs background mutation load rate.
      - TameAntelope 5y ago
        It's far from a conclusion that the Flynn effect has certainly reversed, for what it's worth. The 2018 study most often cited is on a small group of military aptitude tests from families in Norway and hasn't been replicated since.

We're doing it to ourselves too.

by kache_ 5y ago

We're doing it to ourselves too.

HenryKissinger 5y ago

Software engineer ejected from self driving car during Sunday crash found in server farm, herding sheep?

Xpletivedeleted 5y ago
... found in server room, dreaming of electric sheep?
meowface 5y ago
*cats
- catherd 5y ago
  Exited self-driving car project to make hardware and herd cats, which turns out to be the same thing.
goodcanadian 5y ago
Patching software.
- xbar 5y ago
  Failing to write documentation.
zoomablemind 5y ago
...browsing HN, as if nothing happened. Tons of good stuff, need to know!

wizzwizz4 5y ago

Not via selective breeding. At least, not very successfully; there have been attempts, but fortunately most eugenicists let their “I wanna hurt the Inferior People™ – err, Not-People™” rule over actually doing eugenics properly, so we merely got atrocities. And even if they had, you can't get much eugenics done in a handful of generations; I'm not aware of any eugenics campaign longer than ten generations, and even the longest of those are mostly just slow-motion genocides. In fact, we've mostly neutered evolutionary pressures on ourselves. In ten thousand years, this might be a minor problem, but we'll probably have figured out a way of doing genetic modification without being monsters by then.

praptak 5y ago
Getting mauled by a wild animal isn't the only kind of evolutionary pressure. As long as you die without having offspring, the pressure got you.
wyager 5y ago
> Not via selective breeding Yes via selective breeding. Look into Landian analysis of urban centers as “IQ shredders”. Cities attract the smartest people and then tank their birth rate. > we've mostly neutered evolutionary pressures on ourselves. In ten thousand years, this might be a minor problem It’s going to be a problem much sooner than that. Look into Yudkowsky’s analysis of evolutionary error correction bandwidth.
- wizzwizz4 5y ago
  > Cities attract the smartest people and then tank their birth rate. That's pretty simplified – but even if it wasn't, we're not going to run out of “clever genes” because it's not as simple as that. (But even if it were, the selection isn't strong enough for that to happen.) > It’s going to be a problem much sooner than that. If our artificial selection pressures remain the same. Which they won't. Two hundred years ago, our society's “artificial selection” was completely different; in two hundred years, it'll be completely different again.
  - wyager 5y ago
    > the selection isn't strong enough for that to happen Your model is busted - the Flynn effect has already reversed and intelligence is decreasing again. You’re right that it’s “not as simple” as my one-sentence summary but my claim is directionally correct. > it’ll be completely different again The risk has nothing to do with what the concrete pressures are, but how much error correction bandwidth we have vs background mutation load rate.
    - TameAntelope 5y ago
      It's far from a conclusion that the Flynn effect has certainly reversed, for what it's worth. The 2018 study most often cited is on a small group of military aptitude tests from families in Norway and hasn't been replicated since.