mccFeb 4

RE: https://mastodon.social/@mcc/116004809011481588

Anyway the reason I roll my eyes at most of the discussion about "AI", "AGI", "the singularity", "intelligence self-improvement feedback loop" is that like, it happened, it's already happened, it's been happening, it's us. We're it.

Kurzweil talked about lusting for a machine that can make him smarter. I have that, it's a piece of paper. I can write math on a piece of paper and solve problems I can't solve in my head. I can upload all the information in the world directly into my brain (books).

Show threadJohn "Dobbymoodge" Lamb
@mcc yep this is where I got off the bus that Kurzweil, transhumanists, BEAM roboticists, "AGI" optimists etc. still ride. It's clear that "human-like intelligence" has as much or more to do with hardware than software. They're trying to use the wrong tools to build this stuff, and they're all getting high on their own farts and saying "any day now"...
Feb 4 at 11:47pmPachli
Show threadJohn "Dobbymoodge" LambFeb 4
@mcc ...Meanwhile I created two arguably intelligent systems - let's call them creatures, or children - and I used my ding-dong to make them! I didn't do it on my own though, I had to collaborate with a woman, and delegate all of the difficult manufacturing work to her. That's the insurmountable barrier these techbros will never get past.
Show threadmccFeb 5
@dobbymoodge :O dicks are awesome… women are awesome… wow…
Show threadJohn "Dobbymoodge" LambFeb 5
@mcc I was being jokey, but I think there's something about human physiology that makes our intelligence unique (so far). I'm not going to say a full set of sensory inputs are required to be human (that's discriminatory at best), but the way it's all wired up is important. In any case, the big advantage of computers is that they do exactly what you tell them to without deviation or error. Why would we want to spend gobs of energy to make them suck at the one thing they're good at?
Show threadmccFeb 5
@dobbymoodge So the hardware thing you mention is an interesting point. But what's more interesting to me is the zillionaires don't seem to be *interested in intelligence* when it comes in human form, so why would they have any more use for it if it were embedded in silicon. Outside silicon, the zillionaires only seem to like "intelligence" if they can assign a fishy number to it and then wield the fishy number to justify job discrimination against black people
Show threadJohn "Dobbymoodge" LambFeb 5
@mcc oh absolutely. What they want is slaves, 100%, because their plans for technology are so depraved and selfish that no thinking creature would willingly contribute to them. The AGI angle is for marketing and bragging rights, but the end goal is the extraction of "knowledge work", either from humans or "human-like" AI, without obtaining consent. It makes no difference if their "goals" are even possible, they're about the journey. And the journey is about consolidating wealth and power.
Show threadJohn "Dobbymoodge" LambFeb 5
@mcc they're infuriated that the fields of labor that built the economy of the past decades can't be optimized and automated like manufacturing has been. So they want to devalue that labor by convincing the world that it "well actually it can be automated", thus driving wages down and creating pressure on tech workers so they're more willing to work on whatever awful shit the zillionaires want next. We're already seeing stories of skilled workers being laid off and re-hired as AI babysitters...
Show threadJohn "Dobbymoodge" LambFeb 5
@mcc there's an argument to be made that some AI tech has value for speeding up dev work or docs management, etc., but I'm not sold. Show me something that brings real value *without being subject to enshittification*. I'm not holding my breath. Current AI solutions seem tied to token/subscription/upsell profit models, and I can't think of any useful tech that got started as thoroughly encumbered by the instruments of scamming as AI agent bullshit. It stinks, even if some of the code is "ok".