I think Horgan’s questions were good in that they were a straight forward expression of how many sceptics think. My own summary of this thinking goes something like this:
The singularity idea sounds kind of crazy, if not plain out ridiculous. Super intelligent machines and people living forever? I mean… come on! History is full of silly predictions about the future that turned out to be totally wrong. If you want me to take this seriously you’re going to have to present some very strong arguments as to why this is going to happen.
Although I agree with most of what Eli said, rhetorically it sounded like he was avoiding this central question with a series of quibbles and tangents. This is not going to win over many sceptics’ minds.
I think it’s an important question to try to answer as directly and succinctly as possible—a longish “elevator pitch” that forms a good starting point for discussion with a sceptic. I’ll think about this and try to write a blog post.
Did you ever formulate anything good? I’d be interested to read it if so, I’m having trouble keeping the attention of my friends and family for long enough to explain...
I think Horgan’s questions were good in that they were a straight forward expression of how many sceptics think. My own summary of this thinking goes something like this:
The singularity idea sounds kind of crazy, if not plain out ridiculous. Super intelligent machines and people living forever? I mean… come on! History is full of silly predictions about the future that turned out to be totally wrong. If you want me to take this seriously you’re going to have to present some very strong arguments as to why this is going to happen.
Although I agree with most of what Eli said, rhetorically it sounded like he was avoiding this central question with a series of quibbles and tangents. This is not going to win over many sceptics’ minds.
I think it’s an important question to try to answer as directly and succinctly as possible—a longish “elevator pitch” that forms a good starting point for discussion with a sceptic. I’ll think about this and try to write a blog post.
Did you ever formulate anything good? I’d be interested to read it if so, I’m having trouble keeping the attention of my friends and family for long enough to explain...