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> considering that we can understand what constituent things would make up a superintelligence Can we? What constituent things would make up a superintelligenc
by satvikpendem 2y ago
> considering that we can understand what constituent things would make up a superintelligence
Can we? What constituent things would make up a superintelligence? Who's to say that our answer to that question is what is actually true in the case of a real superintelligence?
> Both seem to rely more on defining concepts first and then assuming their existence as a consequence.
Unlike religious philosophers like Anselm of Canterbury and Descartes and their ontological argument for the existence of a supreme being merely by imagining it, I don't believe anyone in the study of superintelligence is presupposing that they exist, or even can exist, they only presuppose how one might hypothetically exist.
- keiferski 2y agoPresumably the AI is in charge of things that humans used to manage and therefore understand. Worms don’t understand anything about even a slice of human society, so I don’t think it’s a great metaphor.
- satvikpendem 2y agoWhy does an AI have to handle human affairs at all? It could exist outside of human goals, that would not make it not a superintelligence, just as we don't really care about worms.
- keiferski 2y agoI guess it doesn’t, but at this point what exactly are we speculating about? Because it seems like imaginary sci-fi, dependent on the definition of superintelligence and not on any real world developments. It seems much more realistic to me that AI will be running systems that humans used to run, and therefore will understand at some level.
- satvikpendem 2y agoWell that is what the book is about, it is a speculative look at what hypothetical superintelligences might look like, it is explicitly not about the real world at all. Remember that the author is a philosopher, not an engineer, philosophy is all about hypotheticals.
- keiferski 2y agoPhilosophy is not all about hypotheticals. Philosophy of technology especially is mostly about technologies that already exist and their impact on society. Not speculation.
- satvikpendem 2y agoSome philosophy (of technology, among others) relates to that, not all. It is not necessarily all about concrete impacts either, it depends on the author and their interests.