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> If evolution can cross that barrier just by banging molecules together and seeing which ones work, it seems unlikely there’s some causal disconnect that makes
by RcouF1uZ4gsC 3y ago
> If evolution can cross that barrier just by banging molecules together and seeing which ones work, it seems unlikely there’s some causal disconnect that makes it impossible for us to get there by thinking about it.
Evolution also crossed the flight barrier by banging molecules together. I don't think banging molecules together without having an understanding of physics and the forces involved would have been a viable means for us to get to flight.
- jameshart 3y agoThat’s… not a refutation of my point. AI/flight analogies are tired, but the OPs argument amounts to the equivalent of, before the Wright Brothers, proclaiming ‘there’s an inherent inability for humans to ever conceive of a way to engineer heavier than air flight’. It’s a ‘man was never mean to fly, therefore heavier than air flight is impossible’ argument.
- shawnz 3y agoBut wasn't it through experimentation that we developed that understanding? And in the earliest phases of that experimentation, that's when our understanding was at its weakest, right? You almost seem to be implying that we had the understanding before ever attempting the experiments.