You say “raw processing power isn’t the crucial element.” I said that speed “is irrelevant to displaying intelligent thought.” We’re actually saying pretty much the same thing! All I was really trying to argue was that phrases like “the speed of transistors” need to be replaced with phrases like “the accuracy, retention, and flexibility of transistors.” I was -not- trying to argue against the principle that being able to turn the product of a process back on improving that process will result in an exponential growth curve of both intelligence and productivity.
We get plenty of calculation power out of the meat in our brains, but it is unfocused, inaccurate, biased, and forgetful. Performing lots of “flops” is not our weakness. The reason that recursive self-improvement is possible in transistor-based entities has nothing to do with speed—that’s the only point that I’m trying to make.
We should be wary not because the machine can think thoughts faster than we can, but because it can think thoughts -better- than we can.
Ben,
You say “raw processing power isn’t the crucial element.” I said that speed “is irrelevant to displaying intelligent thought.” We’re actually saying pretty much the same thing! All I was really trying to argue was that phrases like “the speed of transistors” need to be replaced with phrases like “the accuracy, retention, and flexibility of transistors.” I was -not- trying to argue against the principle that being able to turn the product of a process back on improving that process will result in an exponential growth curve of both intelligence and productivity.
We get plenty of calculation power out of the meat in our brains, but it is unfocused, inaccurate, biased, and forgetful. Performing lots of “flops” is not our weakness. The reason that recursive self-improvement is possible in transistor-based entities has nothing to do with speed—that’s the only point that I’m trying to make.
We should be wary not because the machine can think thoughts faster than we can, but because it can think thoughts -better- than we can.