4 ms·

Choice quote from the end: But it was alarming how many people I talked to who are highly placed people in AI who have retreats that are sort of ‘bug out’ house

• vdaniuk 13y ago
  Certainly they do, those sneaky "highly placed people in AI" know perfectly well that it will be quite easy to hide from the strong AI in some rural area. Its not like AI could access real estate databases or build some flying droids to find those people. /s
  • seiji 13y ago
    One of my favorite hard takeoff scenarios: the AI quickly figures out how to manufacture nanobots and does so at a scale to blanket the planet, thus becoming instantly omniscient with a global field of sensors, giving it a coherent view of everything in the world at every given instant in time from that point forward. Also see: "metamorphosis of prime intellect" and "mind war: the singularity" and to a lesser extent "a young lady's illustrated primer"
    • fumar 13y ago
      I always think of the Grey Goo theory when the subject of nanobots taking over Earth comes up. "a hypothetical end-of-the-world scenario involving molecular nanotechnology in which out-of-control self-replicating robots consume all matter on Earth while building more of themselves" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_goo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_goo
      • seiji 13y ago
        We're working on it: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/08/magazine/crazy-ants.html http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/08/magazine/crazy-ants.html
        • grannyg00se 13y ago
          That has nothing to do with AI or anything we're working on.
• drzaiusapelord 13y ago
  I suspect this is an exaggeration of talking to some high-level eccentrics that find their way into academia, especially in the computer science department. I'm dumber than a high level AI of fiction, and I could find your little cabin or panic room easily. A machine with drones, access to tax/real estate records, etc would have no problem here. Heck, why not just hire a mercenary group to fish these guys out of their little holes? AI money is as good as human money.
  • seiji 13y ago
    exaggeration of talking to some high-level eccentrics that find their way into academia Well, he does spend most of the article gushing over the magic insight of Kurzweil. It's really a "baby's first exposure to the concept of self-advancing AI" article with a movie promo thrown in at the end. (Maybe? I just skimmed.)
• josefresco 13y ago
  Doubt it. I would imagine a lot like to talk about it, or refer to their second/vacation home as such. Claiming to have a remote house for when "shit hits the fan" for most means a regular home/house in a less densely populated area than their primary residence. I wouldn't expect these homes to be built with any sort of defenses or preparations for a true apocalypse. I visit rural Maine frequently and often hear residents talk about their guns, and their "readiness" for world ending events. Yet most have done nothing to actually prepare, beyond living remotely and stock up on some guns.
• motters 13y ago
  The article doesn't say who these AI researchers are, and I suspect that the statement is utterly baseless and intended to add drama to the article. At most it's possible that Hugo deGaris plausibly might have a "bug out" house, but I doubt that anyone else does.
• mkingston 13y ago
  Unlikely. Maybe it's an AI academic in-joke and the author didn't cotton on? I hope so..