For example, Butler (1863) argues that machines will need us to help them reproduce,
I’m not sure if this is going to win you any points. Maybe for thoroughness, but citing something almost 150 years old in the field of AI doesn’t reflect particularly well on the citer’s perceived understanding of what’s up to scratch and not in this day and age. It kind of reads like a strawnman; “the arguments for this position are so weak we have to go back to the nineteenth century to find any.” That may actually be the case, but if so, it might not be worth the trouble to include it even for the sake of thoroughness.
That aside, if there is any well thought out and not obviously wishful-thinking-mode reasons to suppose the machines would need us for something, add me to the interest list. All I’ve seen of this thinking is B-grade, author-on-board humanism in scifi where someone really really wants to believe humanity is Very Special in the Grand Scheme of Things.
To be honest the entire concept of Kaj’s paper reads like a strawman. Only in the sense that the entire concept is so ridiculous that it feels inexcusably contemptuous to attribute that belief to anyone. This is why it is a good thing Kaj is writing such papers and not me. My abstract of “WTF? Just.… no.” wouldn’t go down too well.
The “they will need us” arguments are just one brief subsection within the paper. There are many other proposals as well, many of which aren’t as implausible-seeming as the TWNU arguments. So I wouldn’t call it a strawman paper.
I’m not sure if this is going to win you any points. Maybe for thoroughness, but citing something almost 150 years old in the field of AI doesn’t reflect particularly well on the citer’s perceived understanding of what’s up to scratch and not in this day and age. It kind of reads like a strawnman; “the arguments for this position are so weak we have to go back to the nineteenth century to find any.” That may actually be the case, but if so, it might not be worth the trouble to include it even for the sake of thoroughness.
That aside, if there is any well thought out and not obviously wishful-thinking-mode reasons to suppose the machines would need us for something, add me to the interest list. All I’ve seen of this thinking is B-grade, author-on-board humanism in scifi where someone really really wants to believe humanity is Very Special in the Grand Scheme of Things.
To be honest the entire concept of Kaj’s paper reads like a strawman. Only in the sense that the entire concept is so ridiculous that it feels inexcusably contemptuous to attribute that belief to anyone. This is why it is a good thing Kaj is writing such papers and not me. My abstract of “WTF? Just.… no.” wouldn’t go down too well.
The “they will need us” arguments are just one brief subsection within the paper. There are many other proposals as well, many of which aren’t as implausible-seeming as the TWNU arguments. So I wouldn’t call it a strawman paper.
Yeah, we’ll probably cut that sentence.