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This is a very bizarre article. The opening starts off stating that neural networks may "wake up", and never goes on to explain what that means. The concerns i
by icepat 4y ago
This is a very bizarre article.
The opening starts off stating that neural networks may "wake up", and never goes on to explain what that means. The concerns in here have been around for decades, and really don't sound like anything new: runaway development, the technology now is more advanced than we've ever seen, ect.
Then the post leaps from these points, does not bother proving them, accepts them as fact, and launches into a series of progressively more alarmist "what ifs". I don't see anything of substance here, and the authors very confident predictions have been made countless times before. It's important if you're going to write something that ends in prescriptive action points, that you try and convince of of _why_ you believe this to be true. Just the author's confidence is insufficient for the leaps this article takes.
The whole thing reads like a Cybernetic Cultural Research Unit story from the 90's.
With the (later realised) fact that this _is_ from the 90's, I think we should classify this along with contemporary works (like the above CCRU stuff).
- bigdict 4y agoWell, it was written in 1993…
- hotpotamus 4y agoFrom a quick look, this is the paper that coined the idea of the technological singularity? I was aware of the concept but not the history.
- FemmeAndroid 4y agoI’m not 100% sure this paper is the first time he used it, but the author did coin the term.
- jahsome 4y agoDid you happen to spot the copyright date?
- icepat 4y agoI did not, I noticed a comment from the poster of the article using the same sort of language in the article and mistakenly concluded they were the author (new account, and this is their only submission). I don't think that takes away from my analysis, just makes it stronger since it adds context. The 90's was rife with this sort of technoculture apocalypse fear mongering, so I'm even more willing to shelve this with the CCRU's work.
- randallsquared 4y agoAn interesting question: How much more seriously are you prepared to take this now that you realize that it was written 30 years ago, about the future of roughly 30 years from then?
- icepat 4y agoLess so, actually! I've read a lot of stuff from that era about techno apocalyptic fears, and this has the exact same sort of content. I'd put this is the same category as early Land and his technoculture meltdown predictions.