I started reading Eliezer Yudkowsky’s “Martial Art of Rationality” and have a few thoughts. Let me start out by saying I trained in Martial Arts for over 20 years off and on, and so I come at this topic from that bias. Given the treatment of the term in the essay, it seems natural that AI, and robotics in general, are having such a hard time, and will continue to do so in the search for Sentience. As for humans, my personal belief is that not everyone should learn a martial art. Here’s my best summation of why:
I remember posting on Martial Arts forums 10-15 year ago, the types of discussions that went on. This was around the time when Mixed Martial Arts were really at their peak, and the topic of which martial art was the best continued to be hotly debated. This debate still rages today for various reasons, but a prime reason is because of disagreement about what constitutes a Martial Art.
Literally speaking, the term Martial Art means an ‘Art of War’, and depending on what discipline you train in, you may practice more or less arts than someone else. The list of ‘Martial Arts’ is a long one, and encompasses everything from punching and kicking, to throws and grappling, to all different types of edged and blunt weapons, to guns, bombs, being a fighter pilot, stationed on a Sub, to weather forecasting, intelligence gathering and analysis, cryptography, medicine, psychological warfare, wilderness survival, scuba diving, sky diving, navigating by map, by satellite, flying a drone, rolling, falling, breathing, etiquette, horseback riding, and the list goes on and on. In reality, the military is one big martial arts training organization.
A derogatory term for an Art that really only deals with punching and kicking, is Partial Art, as they are very small splinters of the domain called Martial Arts. Without going into the hotly debated history of the arts of war, the major schism in the Martial Arts community is between so-called Battlefield Arts and Sports Arts. It is difficult for both types of arts to compete with each other. Sports use very strict rule sets to keep competitors from being injured, and the rules of war are set in place so that the least amount of life is lost in the least gruesome and painful way. There is really no comparison when it comes to which domain is more complicated and dangerous. The major goal of a Battlefield Art is to make it home alive, whereas in a Sport Art, the major goal is to win a competition. The goals are very different, so is the training, and so are the experiences of life of the practitioners.
A Martial Art of Rationality therefore, would likely follow a similar organizational structure, and contain the same schism—namely the completeness of the domain of consideration of the practitioner. In relation to AI, the more complete the hardware and software setup and integration is, and the better more complete it’s programming to accomplish it’s goals most efficiently, the more tasks it can accomplish. But for what purpose? Without the human limitations of needing emotional and community support, food, and shelter, there is no ‘Home’ to make it back to alive and in one piece. There is only an endless competition of points to win, calculations to perform, packages to deliver, or whatever other competitive purpose the AI or robot was created to perform. There is no life, only purpose.
It is our limitations that make us human, that motivate us to move, think, and act. Maybe that is what Sentience is, the motivation to stay alive, and without that to drive our thoughts and actions, we would just be mindless robots. While it’s true that war is a type of competition, in a war lives are lost. So in relation to human rationality, and a Martial Art of Rationality, I think one should be aware of the true purpose of a Martial Art. It’s not to better oneself as so many would have you believe, through competition and training; that is sport. To make it home alive and in one piece after risking your life and going to war, that is the goal of a Martial Art.
I’m all for helping people think better, clearer and more rationally, and it certainly seems as though there is no shortage of culture wars still, despite the reach of the Internet. One would have thought Internet Culture would be more rational, but alas that doesn’t seem to be the case. So in a Marital Art of the Mind, as it should be in a Martial Art, you need to be careful who you train. If you give the wrong person the tools to wage war against everything you stand for, they do so and you lose, in hindsight, that’s not very rational or productive for your own purposes.
Rational thinking paired with technology can be a good thing, but using rational thinking to create technology that irrational people can use irrationally isn’t. I understand the difficulty in changing the minds of irrational people, and despite our best efforts, there are more of them than there are of truly rational people. Hopefully I get to be one of those rational people who can be paired with technology to produce a good thing. As for the term ‘Martial Art of Rationality’ I think it has always existed, it’s just not being practiced by very many people around the world. They much prefer sport.
I started reading Eliezer Yudkowsky’s “Martial Art of Rationality” and have a few thoughts. Let me start out by saying I trained in Martial Arts for over 20 years off and on, and so I come at this topic from that bias. Given the treatment of the term in the essay, it seems natural that AI, and robotics in general, are having such a hard time, and will continue to do so in the search for Sentience. As for humans, my personal belief is that not everyone should learn a martial art. Here’s my best summation of why:
I remember posting on Martial Arts forums 10-15 year ago, the types of discussions that went on. This was around the time when Mixed Martial Arts were really at their peak, and the topic of which martial art was the best continued to be hotly debated. This debate still rages today for various reasons, but a prime reason is because of disagreement about what constitutes a Martial Art.
Literally speaking, the term Martial Art means an ‘Art of War’, and depending on what discipline you train in, you may practice more or less arts than someone else. The list of ‘Martial Arts’ is a long one, and encompasses everything from punching and kicking, to throws and grappling, to all different types of edged and blunt weapons, to guns, bombs, being a fighter pilot, stationed on a Sub, to weather forecasting, intelligence gathering and analysis, cryptography, medicine, psychological warfare, wilderness survival, scuba diving, sky diving, navigating by map, by satellite, flying a drone, rolling, falling, breathing, etiquette, horseback riding, and the list goes on and on. In reality, the military is one big martial arts training organization.
A derogatory term for an Art that really only deals with punching and kicking, is Partial Art, as they are very small splinters of the domain called Martial Arts. Without going into the hotly debated history of the arts of war, the major schism in the Martial Arts community is between so-called Battlefield Arts and Sports Arts. It is difficult for both types of arts to compete with each other. Sports use very strict rule sets to keep competitors from being injured, and the rules of war are set in place so that the least amount of life is lost in the least gruesome and painful way. There is really no comparison when it comes to which domain is more complicated and dangerous. The major goal of a Battlefield Art is to make it home alive, whereas in a Sport Art, the major goal is to win a competition. The goals are very different, so is the training, and so are the experiences of life of the practitioners.
A Martial Art of Rationality therefore, would likely follow a similar organizational structure, and contain the same schism—namely the completeness of the domain of consideration of the practitioner. In relation to AI, the more complete the hardware and software setup and integration is, and the better more complete it’s programming to accomplish it’s goals most efficiently, the more tasks it can accomplish. But for what purpose? Without the human limitations of needing emotional and community support, food, and shelter, there is no ‘Home’ to make it back to alive and in one piece. There is only an endless competition of points to win, calculations to perform, packages to deliver, or whatever other competitive purpose the AI or robot was created to perform. There is no life, only purpose.
It is our limitations that make us human, that motivate us to move, think, and act. Maybe that is what Sentience is, the motivation to stay alive, and without that to drive our thoughts and actions, we would just be mindless robots. While it’s true that war is a type of competition, in a war lives are lost. So in relation to human rationality, and a Martial Art of Rationality, I think one should be aware of the true purpose of a Martial Art. It’s not to better oneself as so many would have you believe, through competition and training; that is sport. To make it home alive and in one piece after risking your life and going to war, that is the goal of a Martial Art.
I’m all for helping people think better, clearer and more rationally, and it certainly seems as though there is no shortage of culture wars still, despite the reach of the Internet. One would have thought Internet Culture would be more rational, but alas that doesn’t seem to be the case. So in a Marital Art of the Mind, as it should be in a Martial Art, you need to be careful who you train. If you give the wrong person the tools to wage war against everything you stand for, they do so and you lose, in hindsight, that’s not very rational or productive for your own purposes.
Rational thinking paired with technology can be a good thing, but using rational thinking to create technology that irrational people can use irrationally isn’t. I understand the difficulty in changing the minds of irrational people, and despite our best efforts, there are more of them than there are of truly rational people. Hopefully I get to be one of those rational people who can be paired with technology to produce a good thing. As for the term ‘Martial Art of Rationality’ I think it has always existed, it’s just not being practiced by very many people around the world. They much prefer sport.