Franklin Wayne Poley writes,
> I don't understand much about the process behind my calculator but I
> understand the product.
Yes, of course. Note that the question is not why your calculator would want to
be friendly. We're discussing why AI (of the human-competitive kind) would want
to be friendly. Lay persons make themselves obsolete to the degree that they
fail to understand the significance of the Artilects, Mind Children, Robo
sapiens, and Spiritual Machines that do considerably more to enhance production
than the most sophisticated calculators (or present day super computers for that
matter).
> I think it depends on how you approach the public. Nobody is threatened by
> the $5 calculator. Everyone thinks it is a useful invention. However, it
> surpasses "human equivalency" with respect to arithmetic ability (which is
> sometimes in measuring IQ). I don't think the general public is
> threatened by chess playing machines which surpass human equivalency
> although some human experts are. If you explain that "transhuman" AI as
> it is called on the Singularity web site in such terms I expect most
> people will see it as a positive contribution to socially beneficial
> inventions. Actually I think it is "intellectual workers" who will be most
> threatened. The general public would want to know how you propose to keep
> it under control if it has mobility and autonomy and genetic algorithms.
I find your comments reasonable and plausible. Hostile reactions to AI (as
imagined by some contributors here) may be exaggerated. It could be that most
folks will welcome AI as yet another labor-saving appliance -- which saves them
the trouble of thinking for themselves. It's been my experience that lots of
people dread exercising their brains even more than we dread exercising our
muscles.
--J. R.
"It's like the coming of civilization."
(Anonymous Moscow Resident), opening of the first
Russian McDonalds Restaurant, Moscow, 1990
[Amara Graps Collection]
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