‘Superintelligence,’ Ten Years On
AI catastrophe is easy to imagine, but a lot has to go consistently and infallibly wrong for the doom theory to pan out.
Sean Welsh
· 12 min read
AI
A collection of 32 posts
The Digital Mirror of Narcissus
Technology steers my life along tracks chosen for my digital double, not for me. But this proxy personalisation wouldn’t work at all if I didn’t play my part.
Timandra Harkness
· 11 min read
ChatGPT’s Moral Compass
We hear much talk of “aligning AI with human values” but relatively little delineation of what these values are.
Sean Welsh
· 15 min read
Google and the Gemini Debacle
This cock-up was not caused by a bug that went unnoticed; it was deliberately engineered.
Toadworrier
· 9 min read
Robots, Rats and Hoverchairs: Three Dystopian AI Fantasies
Human beings need meaning, and a life in which all one’s needs were met by external agents would fail to provide it.
Stewart Slater
· 9 min read
Faking Hope: AI Art as Propaganda
There is a new contender for the most effective weapon in the propaganda wars: photorealistic, generative AI art.
Julia Friedman
· 8 min read
Old Model, New Tricks
On the 85th anniversary of his death, a look back at the legacy of Nikolai Kondratiev and its implications for the coming age of GenAI.
Elliot Leavy
· 6 min read
AIs Will Be Our Mind Children
We must free our artificial descendants to adapt to their new worlds and choose what they will become.
Robin Hanson
· 7 min read
AI: Let’s Worry About the Right Things
There are valid concerns and there are unfounded fears. Let us separate the two.
Brendan Craig
· 13 min read
ChatGPT, Lobster Gizzards, and Intelligence
Chat knows more, gizzards are more complex, and you’re more intelligent.
Frederick R. Prete
· 10 min read
The Horseless Comanche
The new world of AI promises great peril but also great potential.
Aidan Harte
· 8 min read
What Are Reasonable AI Fears?
Although there are some valid concerns, an AI moratorium would be misguided.
Robin Hanson
· 13 min read
ChatGPT and the Future of the Professions
Professionals must learn to work with the machines or they will be replaced by them.
Sean Welsh
· 12 min read
The Case Against the Case Against AI
AI only knows what is in the data. The unfortunate use of the term “learning” is a simple, but potent, source of confusion and apprehension.
Peter L. Levin
· 9 min read
The Peculiar Economics of 3D Printing
Most new technologies, when they are launched, arrive with a lot of hype. While 3D printing fits the business model for customized products, it is not yet cost effective in a commercial manufacturing sector which requires mass production.
Randall Mayes
· 10 min read