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> Isaac Asimov describes artificial intelligence as “a phrase that we use for any device that does things which, in the past, we have associated only with human
by janalsncm 2y ago
> Isaac Asimov describes artificial intelligence as “a phrase that we use for any device that does things which, in the past, we have associated only with human intelligence.”
This is a pretty good definition, honestly. It explains the AI Effect quite well: calculators aren’t “AI” because it’s been a while since humans were the only ones who could do arithmetic. At one point they were, though.
- azinman2 2y agoAlthough calculators can now do things almost no humans can do, or at least in any reasonable time. But most (now) wouldn’t call it AI. It’s a tool, with a very limited domain
- janalsncm 2y agoThat’s my point, it’s not AI now. It used to be.
- hinkley 2y agoSimilarly, we esteem performance optimizations so aggressively that a lot of things that used to be called performance work are now called architecture, good design. We just keep moving the goal posts to make things more comfortable.
- saalweachter 2y agoI mean, at one point "calculator" was a job title.
- timewizard 2y agoThe abacus has existed for thousands of years. Those who had the job of "calculator" also used pencil and paper to manage larger calculations which they would have struggled to do without any tools. That's humanity. We're tool users above anything else. This gets lost.
- musicale 2y agoAnd "computer".