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If you make the same argument for flight it looks really weak. Cognition is (to me) not even the most impressive and out-of-reach achievement: That would be ho

If you make the same argument for flight it looks really weak. Cognition is (to me) not even the most impressive and out-of-reach achievement: That would be how (our) and animals bodies are self-assembling, self-repairing and self-replicating, with an impressive array of sensors and actors in a highly integrated package. I honestly believe our current technology is much closer to emulating a human brain than it is to building a (non-intelligent) cat.

jncfhnb 1y ago
Flight leverages well established and accessible world engine physics APIs. Intelligence has to be programmed from lower level mechanics. Edit: put another way, I bet the ancient Greeks (or whoever) could have figured out flight if they had access to gasoline and gasoline powered engines without any of the advanced mathematics that were used to guide the design.
bangaroo 1y ago
> if you make the same argument for flight it looks really weak. flight is an extremely straightforward concept based in relatively simple physics where the majority of the critical, foundational ideas involved were already near-completely understood in the late 1700s. i really don't think it's fair to compare the two
- ACCount37 1y ago
  I'm sure that intelligence is an extremely straightforward concept based in relatively simple math where the majority of the critical, foundational ideas involved were already near-completely understood in the late 1900s. If you read about in a textbook from year 2832, that is.
- tavavex 1y ago
  I think the argument holds. It's not about how straightforward something is, it's that evolutionary time scales are incomparable to the time it takes to purposefully invent something. The ways these goals are achieved are just too different for time comparisons to make sense. If I was living in the 19th century, I could recreate the same argument by saying that it took nature X billion years since life appeared for animals to first take flight, so surely our technology ever catching up to it is improbable if not impossible.
yjftsjthsd-h 1y ago
As sibling comment points out, flight is physically pretty simple. Also, it took us centuries to figure it out. I'd say comparing to flight makes it look pretty strong.

jncfhnb 1y ago

Flight leverages well established and accessible world engine physics APIs. Intelligence has to be programmed from lower level mechanics. Edit: put another way, I bet the ancient Greeks (or whoever) could have figured out flight if they had access to gasoline and gasoline powered engines without any of the advanced mathematics that were used to guide the design.

bangaroo 1y ago

> if you make the same argument for flight it looks really weak. flight is an extremely straightforward concept based in relatively simple physics where the majority of the critical, foundational ideas involved were already near-completely understood in the late 1700s. i really don't think it's fair to compare the two

ACCount37 1y ago
I'm sure that intelligence is an extremely straightforward concept based in relatively simple math where the majority of the critical, foundational ideas involved were already near-completely understood in the late 1900s. If you read about in a textbook from year 2832, that is.
tavavex 1y ago
I think the argument holds. It's not about how straightforward something is, it's that evolutionary time scales are incomparable to the time it takes to purposefully invent something. The ways these goals are achieved are just too different for time comparisons to make sense. If I was living in the 19th century, I could recreate the same argument by saying that it took nature X billion years since life appeared for animals to first take flight, so surely our technology ever catching up to it is improbable if not impossible.

yjftsjthsd-h 1y ago

As sibling comment points out, flight is physically pretty simple. Also, it took us centuries to figure it out. I'd say comparing to flight makes it look pretty strong.