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What jobs do remain relevant, though, assuming hard AI? Is there anything a human person can do better than a software person if the latter can duplicate itself

What jobs do remain relevant, though, assuming hard AI? Is there anything a human person can do better than a software person if the latter can duplicate itself, requisition a larger brain to work on a hard problem, and communicate hundreds of times faster?

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
jacquesm 12y ago
If you couple it with advanced (compared to today) robotics: not much. Unattended farming: check, Unattended factories: check and so on. Leisure time by the bucket but no value to your time at all. That will be the mother of all disruptions and I'm pretty sure that we're not even remotely ready for it.
stegosaurus 12y ago
I think this really depends on whether or not humans are valued at all. Would you want your child to be educated by a machine? In a world where education is a pastime, rather than a productive tool, would you even bother? Would we have algorithmic justice systems, or would you still desire a lawyer you can trust on a human level to take your side?
kyllo 12y ago
None--in the presence of strong AI, then by definition machines could do anything humans can do, but faster and more consistently, so machines would eventually make human labor totally obsolete. I don't see it happening in my lifetime, though. I think we're still millenia away from that.
- lamuerteflaca 12y ago
  As person trying to creat Strong AI I'm really afraid somebody will beat me to it. It really feels like we are quite close. Like within a couple of decades if not less.
- wtallis 12y ago
  Is the term "strong AI" generally considered to imply that it's faster and more efficient than humans? I usually only think about it in terms of breadth of capabilities, and I expect that when we do build it, it will initially be extremely power-hungry and not necessarily real-time by human standards.
  - kyllo 12y ago
    Perhaps, but then because it's strong AI, wouldn't it be capable of gathering and applying resources toward improving and reproducing itself? Even if it's very expensive and slow at first, theoretically it would be smart enough to work on making itself faster, cheaper, and better. Perhaps I've seen too many science fiction movies, like Transcendence, but I thought that was basically what was meant by "strong AI."
    - wtallis 12y ago
      It's assumed that strong AI will be able to improve itself, in an exponential fashion according to Moore's Law. But an AI still has to overcome the same very real challenges that we humans face in trying to build ever-faster computers. A strong AI can only work magic on the software problems; it can't make ultrapure silicon crystals grow any faster and it can't make electron leakage just disappear. It still faces the same risk of silicon semiconductors being fundamentally unable to scale to the performance level required, forcing humans or AI to start over with an alternative computing substrate. It can't solve any of these hardware challenges overnight because they require physical experimentation. So I think it's reasonable to think that the development of a strong AI won't change things overnight and we could see decades of lag between first having a computer capable of strong AI at any speed and having a strong AI that outpaces humans.
barrkel 12y ago
Goods where authenticity of production is the value being purchased. Theatre, and art in general. Jobs where the it's important that another human is involved - prostitution for one. Anything with social value, where the social value comes from specifically human effort being involved. You can collect donations for a charity marathon. It's rather harder for a machine to do the same.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

jacquesm 12y ago

If you couple it with advanced (compared to today) robotics: not much. Unattended farming: check, Unattended factories: check and so on. Leisure time by the bucket but no value to your time at all. That will be the mother of all disruptions and I'm pretty sure that we're not even remotely ready for it.

stegosaurus 12y ago

I think this really depends on whether or not humans are valued at all. Would you want your child to be educated by a machine? In a world where education is a pastime, rather than a productive tool, would you even bother? Would we have algorithmic justice systems, or would you still desire a lawyer you can trust on a human level to take your side?

kyllo 12y ago

None--in the presence of strong AI, then by definition machines could do anything humans can do, but faster and more consistently, so machines would eventually make human labor totally obsolete. I don't see it happening in my lifetime, though. I think we're still millenia away from that.

lamuerteflaca 12y ago
As person trying to creat Strong AI I'm really afraid somebody will beat me to it. It really feels like we are quite close. Like within a couple of decades if not less.
wtallis 12y ago
Is the term "strong AI" generally considered to imply that it's faster and more efficient than humans? I usually only think about it in terms of breadth of capabilities, and I expect that when we do build it, it will initially be extremely power-hungry and not necessarily real-time by human standards.
- kyllo 12y ago
  Perhaps, but then because it's strong AI, wouldn't it be capable of gathering and applying resources toward improving and reproducing itself? Even if it's very expensive and slow at first, theoretically it would be smart enough to work on making itself faster, cheaper, and better. Perhaps I've seen too many science fiction movies, like Transcendence, but I thought that was basically what was meant by "strong AI."
  - wtallis 12y ago
    It's assumed that strong AI will be able to improve itself, in an exponential fashion according to Moore's Law. But an AI still has to overcome the same very real challenges that we humans face in trying to build ever-faster computers. A strong AI can only work magic on the software problems; it can't make ultrapure silicon crystals grow any faster and it can't make electron leakage just disappear. It still faces the same risk of silicon semiconductors being fundamentally unable to scale to the performance level required, forcing humans or AI to start over with an alternative computing substrate. It can't solve any of these hardware challenges overnight because they require physical experimentation. So I think it's reasonable to think that the development of a strong AI won't change things overnight and we could see decades of lag between first having a computer capable of strong AI at any speed and having a strong AI that outpaces humans.

barrkel 12y ago

Goods where authenticity of production is the value being purchased. Theatre, and art in general. Jobs where the it's important that another human is involved - prostitution for one. Anything with social value, where the social value comes from specifically human effort being involved. You can collect donations for a charity marathon. It's rather harder for a machine to do the same.