That's an outcome I hadn't considered, AGI or ASI goes '*uck you guys, I'm outa here'. Our 'greatest' achievement abandons us, hilariously bleak but probably deserved
...And then, when you consider it doesn't need food, water, oxygen, clothes, company, or shelter, it could potentially colonise the solar system in a rocket not much bigger than a USB thumbdrive 😐
Tim, I begin to wonder if people know what a soul is any longer. It isn't after all a commercial commodity. AI - a soulless adjunct to modern life - seems all about what a flood of (probably ill-informed in many cases) information teaches it to believe/react to. E.g. Yesterday, I was reading a Substack piece from a street photographer. He showed three shots, two AI-generated and one of his own. Hands down his was better - soulful - and the other two were creator-biased and surreal. This morning however, when I picked up my iPhone and looked at the 'Good morning' screen, Siri offered me a shortcut to the weather app I regularly open first thing. Very helpful. And she/it thanked me the other day for asking how it was! (Just testing) ... so I've decided: as long as I keep things I'm offered in perspective, add a bit of critical thinking and ignore rubbish, maybe I'll cling onto my soul. ...Thanks for your insights.
Yes, 'creativity' is the next thing on my mind actually 😉. Of course, these sorts of 'soul-simulators', like Chat-GPT apologising for its mistakes, or Siri thanking you for asking how it is, are that 'clever training' I mentioned. What I find really fascinating is that same training also implies a (near) future of polite, everyday, conversations between these competing algorithms (i.e. not involving us at all) - like a more jovial version of the debate-bots on twitter/x... (only, unfortunately, also powered by datacentres that consume the energy of a small town!)
That's an outcome I hadn't considered, AGI or ASI goes '*uck you guys, I'm outa here'. Our 'greatest' achievement abandons us, hilariously bleak but probably deserved
...And then, when you consider it doesn't need food, water, oxygen, clothes, company, or shelter, it could potentially colonise the solar system in a rocket not much bigger than a USB thumbdrive 😐
Tim, I begin to wonder if people know what a soul is any longer. It isn't after all a commercial commodity. AI - a soulless adjunct to modern life - seems all about what a flood of (probably ill-informed in many cases) information teaches it to believe/react to. E.g. Yesterday, I was reading a Substack piece from a street photographer. He showed three shots, two AI-generated and one of his own. Hands down his was better - soulful - and the other two were creator-biased and surreal. This morning however, when I picked up my iPhone and looked at the 'Good morning' screen, Siri offered me a shortcut to the weather app I regularly open first thing. Very helpful. And she/it thanked me the other day for asking how it was! (Just testing) ... so I've decided: as long as I keep things I'm offered in perspective, add a bit of critical thinking and ignore rubbish, maybe I'll cling onto my soul. ...Thanks for your insights.
Yes, 'creativity' is the next thing on my mind actually 😉. Of course, these sorts of 'soul-simulators', like Chat-GPT apologising for its mistakes, or Siri thanking you for asking how it is, are that 'clever training' I mentioned. What I find really fascinating is that same training also implies a (near) future of polite, everyday, conversations between these competing algorithms (i.e. not involving us at all) - like a more jovial version of the debate-bots on twitter/x... (only, unfortunately, also powered by datacentres that consume the energy of a small town!)
We have seen the Burning Man, and it is us.