jwzFeb 20, 2023

The best description I've ever heard of AI is the following. I heard this in the 80s, and it has held up since:

AI is magic.

1: You see a magic trick. You are amazed by the magic.

2: You are shown how the trick works. You are impressed by the technique.

3: You learn how to perform the trick. Now it's not magic, it's sleight-of-hand, or mirrors, or misdirection.

This is why "AI" is always bullshit: once you understand it, it's not AI any more, it's something else.

Show threadsortiusFeb 20, 2023
@jwz I like the analogy, but I'll say one thing having grown up in a magic household: you can still be amazed by the magic even when you know how a trick works, and that's the problem.
Show threadLisPiFeb 20, 2023
@sortius @jwz I'd say the loss of wonder and enjoyment in one's life is hardly something laudable.
Show threadsortiusFeb 20, 2023
@lispi314 @jwz nice straw man, you have no idea what you're talking about
Show threadLisPi
@sortius @jwz Just because you understand how the machines (which may as well be magic to those who don't understand their workings) around you work doesn't mean you have to cease to appreciate them.
Feb 20, 2023 at 8:42pmWeb
Show threadsortiusFeb 20, 2023

@lispi314 @jwz again, straw man, you're ignoring what I replied to and the context to get on your little soap box, all while you're totally uninformed on the topic you're speaking to.

BRAVO!