To me, if artificial intelligence means anything, it means automating mundane tasks -- most of which humans can accomplish already. If someone tells me they're

To me, if artificial intelligence means anything, it means automating mundane tasks -- most of which humans can accomplish already. If someone tells me they're an AI pessimist because they think automating tasks like "converse intelligently about nearly any subject at length" and "drive my car anywhere while I sleep in the back" isn't an impressive AI achievement, then I think our disagreement pertains to our ambitions for the field, and lies outside the realm of the technical.