yarrrivMay 17, 2023
I am interested to know if there are any physical scientists at all hanging out in the AI-alarmist spaces, as opposed to mathematicians and computers scientists, because these folks' view of science is just cartoonishly out of touch with how it works in reality
Show threadyarrrivMay 17, 2023

Physical sciences are primarily experimental endeavors. Theorists are there to provide tools and understanding, usually in retrospect, and their work is secondary to the people who actually work in the lab trying things out.

I say this as a *theoretical* physicist

Show threadyarrrivMay 17, 2023

So you're left with this cartoon of the AI... numerically simulating experiments? Which is nonsense, at least when it comes to quantum mechanics.

These are problems with exponentially large computational spaces, there are physical limits on computation that prevent you from numerically calculating the answers you need.

Show threadRedFishBlueFish
@yarrriv Yeah I've always been pretty skeptical of the nanotech claims, the two most plausible things to me have always been hacking into nuclear weapon systems and cresting a virus, both of which seem pretty realistic for a superintelligence to do
May 17, 2023 at 3:47pmWeb