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People believe in ghosts, and nobody bats an eye. People believe in gods, and nobody bats an eye. People believe in aliens, and nobody bats an eye. People be

by mdrzn 4y ago

People believe in ghosts, and nobody bats an eye. People believe in gods, and nobody bats an eye. People believe in aliens, and nobody bats an eye. People believe in a conscious AI, and everybody loses their shit? People have attributed intelligence to imaginary friends since the birth of time, let them have fun in their make-believe world.

rantallion 4y ago
I don't think it's people's beliefs that are the problem here (and agree with you that make-believe is fine). It's the implications of what a sentient AI would actually mean. Many of us grew up with movies like Wargames and Terminator, so it's easy to see how people make the leap from 'is this machine sentient' to 'machines will take over the world'. That said, it's still a knee jerk reaction at this point - we don't have sentient AI, so don't have to worry about it eventually wiping out humankind.
- mdrzn 4y ago
  "Belief in AI sentience is becoming a problem", the issue is just regarding people who are starting to believe AI is sentient, it's not even an issue of "is it really sentient or not" because that's just a dumbfounded question as everyone even tangentially in the field can respond.
- contextfree 4y ago
  How are those questions related, though? The Bostrom/LessWrong/EA argument for AI existential risk doesn't rely on sentience at all, or take any position on it; conversely I'm not sure why a sentient AI would be any more dangerous than a non-sentient one?
rpigab 4y ago
It might be a problem if a bunch of people start asking that you treat your toaster with respect, and give it voting rights.
tiborsaas 4y ago
Ghosts, gods, aliens can be discarded with a very high probability that they don't exists, or we can say that nobody came up with evidence so far. Computers rule our world, their existence is not a question so people's reaction and interest is understandable. There are very real fears that AI could mass destroy jobs before we can fix our social systems and benefits, like universal basic income.
- tim333 4y ago
  Belief in God remains quite common.
shikoba 4y ago
I believe in aliens. I don't believe they have already visited us, but I believe they exist in the Universe. Thinking that we're alone in the Universe sounds so crazy.
danaris 4y ago
With the exception of gods, nothing else in that list besides AI implies any kind of specific action to be taken in the real world that affects people much beyond the ones holding the belief. People who believe in conscious/sentient AI—and, more specifically, believe that some of our current AIs have these properties—consequently believe they have reason to call for changes to how we as a society treat AIs. Those changes are likely to vary—some may call for restricting or banning them entirely, while others call for giving them rights, depending on just what stories about AI they've bought into—but whatever their overall direction, if taken seriously, they would be likely to severely hamper our ability to continue to progress technologically using machine learning.

by mdrzn 4y ago

rantallion 4y ago

I don't think it's people's beliefs that are the problem here (and agree with you that make-believe is fine). It's the implications of what a sentient AI would actually mean. Many of us grew up with movies like Wargames and Terminator, so it's easy to see how people make the leap from 'is this machine sentient' to 'machines will take over the world'. That said, it's still a knee jerk reaction at this point - we don't have sentient AI, so don't have to worry about it eventually wiping out humankind.

mdrzn 4y ago
"Belief in AI sentience is becoming a problem", the issue is just regarding people who are starting to believe AI is sentient, it's not even an issue of "is it really sentient or not" because that's just a dumbfounded question as everyone even tangentially in the field can respond.
contextfree 4y ago
How are those questions related, though? The Bostrom/LessWrong/EA argument for AI existential risk doesn't rely on sentience at all, or take any position on it; conversely I'm not sure why a sentient AI would be any more dangerous than a non-sentient one?

rpigab 4y ago

It might be a problem if a bunch of people start asking that you treat your toaster with respect, and give it voting rights.

tiborsaas 4y ago

Ghosts, gods, aliens can be discarded with a very high probability that they don't exists, or we can say that nobody came up with evidence so far. Computers rule our world, their existence is not a question so people's reaction and interest is understandable. There are very real fears that AI could mass destroy jobs before we can fix our social systems and benefits, like universal basic income.

tim333 4y ago
Belief in God remains quite common.

shikoba 4y ago

I believe in aliens. I don't believe they have already visited us, but I believe they exist in the Universe. Thinking that we're alone in the Universe sounds so crazy.

danaris 4y ago

With the exception of gods, nothing else in that list besides AI implies any kind of specific action to be taken in the real world that affects people much beyond the ones holding the belief. People who believe in conscious/sentient AI—and, more specifically, believe that some of our current AIs have these properties—consequently believe they have reason to call for changes to how we as a society treat AIs. Those changes are likely to vary—some may call for restricting or banning them entirely, while others call for giving them rights, depending on just what stories about AI they've bought into—but whatever their overall direction, if taken seriously, they would be likely to severely hamper our ability to continue to progress technologically using machine learning.