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It's worth remembering that this isn't restoration. This is imagination. It's the construction of an imagined face that fits the blur. You literally can't get

It's worth remembering that this isn't restoration. This is imagination. It's the construction of an imagined face that fits the blur. You literally can't get more information than the blur itself encodes. So everything more specific, is a plausible lie.

sillysaurusx 5y ago
Photographs themselves are plausible lies. They’re no more real than this. If that sounds absurd, remember how much information about the world is lost when projected into 2D RGB. For example, one could imagine arguing vehemently “… but you can’t see depth anymore! You can’t possibly understand their facial geometry from a 2D projection. Color is totally different; that’s not how our brains work.” The lie is that we feel photographs are more real than the plausible lies our minds tell us each day. That’s reductive. But it’s not merely a dumb philosophical debate. I believe the outputs here are more real than the blurry source images. So real that you can imagine having a conversation with them. People are so focused on the authoritarian abuse of power / dystopia angle that I think this is often overlooked. If these are lies, are you sure the truth is useful? Depends what you use it for. But I’m aiming for “star trek holodeck.” We can do it; all the pieces are there. This is a step towards it, and everyone on the Enterprise understood that the holodeck was delightful fiction. I’m bearish about AGI, so I’m surprised to hear myself say this: I give a >10% chance that within our lifetimes, someone might fall in love with one of these convincing simulations. Legitimate, actual love, as real as your love for your SO. People will cry their eyes out if these lies are deleted, since it will feel to them like someone died. I think it’s best to get comfortable with those ideas sooner than later. Because from where I’m sitting, that paragraph seems a lot less fictitious than a Mars colony, at least over the next 30 years.
- pedalpete 5y ago
  Well, your memory is also more fungible than you think. Photographs at least capture a realistic portrayal of what the lens saw. Your mind adds and removes features without your knowledge.
deleted 5y ago
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sillysaurusx 5y ago

Photographs themselves are plausible lies. They’re no more real than this. If that sounds absurd, remember how much information about the world is lost when projected into 2D RGB. For example, one could imagine arguing vehemently “… but you can’t see depth anymore! You can’t possibly understand their facial geometry from a 2D projection. Color is totally different; that’s not how our brains work.” The lie is that we feel photographs are more real than the plausible lies our minds tell us each day. That’s reductive. But it’s not merely a dumb philosophical debate. I believe the outputs here are more real than the blurry source images. So real that you can imagine having a conversation with them. People are so focused on the authoritarian abuse of power / dystopia angle that I think this is often overlooked. If these are lies, are you sure the truth is useful? Depends what you use it for. But I’m aiming for “star trek holodeck.” We can do it; all the pieces are there. This is a step towards it, and everyone on the Enterprise understood that the holodeck was delightful fiction. I’m bearish about AGI, so I’m surprised to hear myself say this: I give a >10% chance that within our lifetimes, someone might fall in love with one of these convincing simulations. Legitimate, actual love, as real as your love for your SO. People will cry their eyes out if these lies are deleted, since it will feel to them like someone died. I think it’s best to get comfortable with those ideas sooner than later. Because from where I’m sitting, that paragraph seems a lot less fictitious than a Mars colony, at least over the next 30 years.

pedalpete 5y ago
Well, your memory is also more fungible than you think. Photographs at least capture a realistic portrayal of what the lens saw. Your mind adds and removes features without your knowledge.

deleted 5y ago

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