3 ms·

Reminds me of this episode of star trek: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Bough_Breaks_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When

Reminds me of this episode of star trek: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Bough_Breaks_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Bough_Breaks_(Star_Tr... It's about an ancient civilization so advanced they have tools and computers that can create art just from their intent. But they have grown so distant from the inner workings of these tools that they are incapable of modifying or repairing them and their survival is put into jeopardy because of it.

ravenstine 3y ago
For as substandard as most of the season 1 TNG episodes were, there was a lot of interesting ideas sprinkled here and there like the one you mentioned. It's too bad that poor acting and the ridiculously small scale of the conflict in the episode distracted from things like that. They probably should have abandoned the whole "we can't reproduce so let's kidnap children" thing for contrasting that civilization's relationship to technology with that of Earth's. IMO, there's already a moral dilemma in whether a failing technological civilization should be taught how to reproduce by outsiders whose relationship with technology is successful.
- kristofferg 3y ago
  Sub what “standard”? I, for one, find the “mixed bag of soapy philosophy” a timeless treat. Not including the later Enterprise and the JJA movies.
  - dekhn 3y ago
    I think the standard was set in the last few seasons of TNG and the entirety of DS9. The crew gelled better and the topics were more weighty, yet human. I think probably it was around the time that Picard became Locutus and then the cardassian war
aaroninsf 3y ago
This is us now if you squint. Survival risk, maybe not, but we are certain to see massive die-off and a decades-long cold start given a perturbation maybe an order larger than the COVID pandemic, when the system is already undergoing unprecedented stress from climate change, as appears likely in the coming century...
- rbanffy 3y ago
  COVID was already a lot of disruption to industrial supply chains. A one-two punch like that and we might see some sizeable societal collapse.
TeMPOraL 3y ago
If we're on the topic of Star Trek, observe how the crew of Enterprise-D talked with the ship's computer. LLMs are the quality jump in technology that, for the first time, make it possible to create this kind of DWIM interaction, where the computer can actually understand what you mean when you talk to it like to a person, in natural language, instead of a restricted language. Ironically, later shows dialed down on the smartness of Starfleet computers - from what I heard, TNG level voice interface seemed too advanced to be believable. But it turns out, the unbelievable became reality sooner than anyone expected.
- biomcgary 3y ago
  If only reality had given us warp drives instead of talking computers.
Terr_ 3y ago
Or The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster, which I think has held up pretty well for something published 114 years ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machine_Stops https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machine_Stops
high_5 3y ago
The problem is the perverse incentive of the market currents. It doesn't matter how you do it, just make the product work before the competition does (an cheaper). If anything crops up, you'll fix it later. AI promises just that and will act as a negative feedback loop for our understanding of the code. The result is Idiocracy scenario where people are just too dumb to realize that the AI organizing the society is not that intelligent.
syndicatedjelly 3y ago
Shameless self-plug: I wrote a couple of short stories which explore the idea that society forgets how to do stuff after outsourcing its knowledge to machines https://ashwinsundar.com/blog/compiled/untitled-part1.html https://ashwinsundar.com/blog/compiled/untitled-part1.html https://ashwinsundar.com/blog/compiled/automonk.html https://ashwinsundar.com/blog/compiled/automonk.html
rickydroll 3y ago
I was thinking about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Feeling_of_Power https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Feeling_of_Power

ravenstine 3y ago

For as substandard as most of the season 1 TNG episodes were, there was a lot of interesting ideas sprinkled here and there like the one you mentioned. It's too bad that poor acting and the ridiculously small scale of the conflict in the episode distracted from things like that. They probably should have abandoned the whole "we can't reproduce so let's kidnap children" thing for contrasting that civilization's relationship to technology with that of Earth's. IMO, there's already a moral dilemma in whether a failing technological civilization should be taught how to reproduce by outsiders whose relationship with technology is successful.

kristofferg 3y ago
Sub what “standard”? I, for one, find the “mixed bag of soapy philosophy” a timeless treat. Not including the later Enterprise and the JJA movies.
- dekhn 3y ago
  I think the standard was set in the last few seasons of TNG and the entirety of DS9. The crew gelled better and the topics were more weighty, yet human. I think probably it was around the time that Picard became Locutus and then the cardassian war

aaroninsf 3y ago

This is us now if you squint. Survival risk, maybe not, but we are certain to see massive die-off and a decades-long cold start given a perturbation maybe an order larger than the COVID pandemic, when the system is already undergoing unprecedented stress from climate change, as appears likely in the coming century...

rbanffy 3y ago
COVID was already a lot of disruption to industrial supply chains. A one-two punch like that and we might see some sizeable societal collapse.

TeMPOraL 3y ago

If we're on the topic of Star Trek, observe how the crew of Enterprise-D talked with the ship's computer. LLMs are the quality jump in technology that, for the first time, make it possible to create this kind of DWIM interaction, where the computer can actually understand what you mean when you talk to it like to a person, in natural language, instead of a restricted language. Ironically, later shows dialed down on the smartness of Starfleet computers - from what I heard, TNG level voice interface seemed too advanced to be believable. But it turns out, the unbelievable became reality sooner than anyone expected.

biomcgary 3y ago
If only reality had given us warp drives instead of talking computers.

Terr_ 3y ago

Or The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster, which I think has held up pretty well for something published 114 years ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machine_Stops https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machine_Stops

high_5 3y ago

The problem is the perverse incentive of the market currents. It doesn't matter how you do it, just make the product work before the competition does (an cheaper). If anything crops up, you'll fix it later. AI promises just that and will act as a negative feedback loop for our understanding of the code. The result is Idiocracy scenario where people are just too dumb to realize that the AI organizing the society is not that intelligent.

syndicatedjelly 3y ago

Shameless self-plug: I wrote a couple of short stories which explore the idea that society forgets how to do stuff after outsourcing its knowledge to machines https://ashwinsundar.com/blog/compiled/untitled-part1.html https://ashwinsundar.com/blog/compiled/untitled-part1.html https://ashwinsundar.com/blog/compiled/automonk.html https://ashwinsundar.com/blog/compiled/automonk.html

rickydroll 3y ago

I was thinking about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Feeling_of_Power https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Feeling_of_Power