This is a problem for both those who’d want to critique the concept, and for those who are more open-minded and would want to learn more about it.
Anyone who is sufficiently technically minded undoubtedly finds frustration in reading books which give broad brush stroked counterfactuals to decision making and explanation without delving into the details of their processes. I am thinking of books like Freakonomics, Paradox of Choice, Outliers, Nudge etc..
These books are very accessible but lack the in depth analysis which are expected to be thoroughly critiqued and understood in depth. Writings like Global catastrophic risks and any of the other written deconstructions of the necessary steps of technological singularity lack those spell-it-out-for-us-all sections that Gladwell et al. make their living from. Reasonably so. The issue of singularity is so much more complex and involved that it does not do the field justice to give slogans and banner phrases. Indeed it is arguably detrimental and has the ability to backfire by simplifying too much.
I think however what is needed is a clear, short and easily understood consensus on why this crazy AI thing is the inevitable result of reason, why it is necessary to think about, how it will help humanity, how it could reasonably hurt humanity.
Neither of these is compelling in my view. They both go into some detail and leave the un-knowledgeable reader behind. Most importantly neither has what people want: a clear vision of exactly what we are working for. The problem is there isn’t a clear vision; there is no consensus on how to start. Which is why in my view the SIAI is more focused on “Global risks” rather than just stating “We want to build an AI”; frankly, people get scared by the latter.
So is this paper going to resolve the dichotomy between the simplified and complex approach, or will we simply be replicating what the SIAI has already done?
I found the two SIAI introductory pages very compelling the first time I read them. This was back before I knew what SIAI or the Singularity really was, as soon as I read through those I just had to find out more.
Anyone who is sufficiently technically minded undoubtedly finds frustration in reading books which give broad brush stroked counterfactuals to decision making and explanation without delving into the details of their processes. I am thinking of books like Freakonomics, Paradox of Choice, Outliers, Nudge etc..
These books are very accessible but lack the in depth analysis which are expected to be thoroughly critiqued and understood in depth. Writings like Global catastrophic risks and any of the other written deconstructions of the necessary steps of technological singularity lack those spell-it-out-for-us-all sections that Gladwell et al. make their living from. Reasonably so. The issue of singularity is so much more complex and involved that it does not do the field justice to give slogans and banner phrases. Indeed it is arguably detrimental and has the ability to backfire by simplifying too much.
I think however what is needed is a clear, short and easily understood consensus on why this crazy AI thing is the inevitable result of reason, why it is necessary to think about, how it will help humanity, how it could reasonably hurt humanity.
The SIAI tried to do this:
http://www.singinst.org/overview/whatisthesingularity
http://www.singinst.org/overview/whyworktowardthesingularity
Neither of these is compelling in my view. They both go into some detail and leave the un-knowledgeable reader behind. Most importantly neither has what people want: a clear vision of exactly what we are working for. The problem is there isn’t a clear vision; there is no consensus on how to start. Which is why in my view the SIAI is more focused on “Global risks” rather than just stating “We want to build an AI”; frankly, people get scared by the latter.
So is this paper going to resolve the dichotomy between the simplified and complex approach, or will we simply be replicating what the SIAI has already done?
I found the two SIAI introductory pages very compelling the first time I read them. This was back before I knew what SIAI or the Singularity really was, as soon as I read through those I just had to find out more.