Conversation

Notices

1. Embed this notice
   Annalee Newitz 🍜 (annaleen@wandering.shop)'s status on Monday, 13-Mar-2023 23:02:39 JST Annalee Newitz 🍜

   • The Trandalorian 🏳️‍⚧️
   • Our Opinions Are Correct

   This is a chart from Nick Bostrom's book Superintelligence, which @charliejane and I will be discussing tomorrow on @ouropinions. In it, he casually suggests that a rigorous eugenics program will result in an "intellectual renaissance." This fits nicely with a later passage in the book (which we also discuss on the pod), where he suggests that AI developers create "voluntary slaves," based on human slaves in history. #OurOpinionsAreCorrect #podcasts #superintelligence #eugenics

   • clacke repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Scott, Drowning in Information (vortex_egg@ioc.exchange)'s status on Monday, 13-Mar-2023 23:06:13 JST Scott, Drowning in Information

     in reply to

     • The Trandalorian 🏳️‍⚧️
     • Our Opinions Are Correct

     @annaleen @charliejane @ouropinions I have a copy of Superintelligence that a former(?) friend gifted to me when he was tumbling down the EA/LW/rationalist/longtermist rabbit hole and trying to get me to come along for the ride. I never read it because I flipped through the book, saw this table and noped the f out.

     clacke likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Kate Starbird (katestarbird@mstdn.social)'s status on Monday, 13-Mar-2023 23:06:15 JST Kate Starbird

     in reply to

     • Scott, Drowning in Information

     @vortex_egg I had an aquantaince for a brief period of time who claimed to have an extremely high IQ. He explained his IQ situation to me over lunch one day -- which I found extremely awkward, but apparently or perhaps not surprisingly he didn't pick up on my discomfort. During the entire story, he had a large amount of mustard on his face, that he either didn't notice (unlikely) or didn't bother to remove. For some reason, this lunch came back to me while looking at this table.

     clacke likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Michael Helm (mwhelm@sfba.social)'s status on Monday, 13-Mar-2023 23:06:17 JST Michael Helm

     in reply to

     • The Trandalorian 🏳️‍⚧️
     • Our Opinions Are Correct

     @annaleen @charliejane @ouropinions I don't know about Bostrom but I am delighted to discover the existence of this podcast!

     clacke likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Annalee Newitz 🍜 (annaleen@wandering.shop)'s status on Monday, 13-Mar-2023 23:06:19 JST Annalee Newitz 🍜

     in reply to

     The podcast is now live! https://ouropinionsarecorrect.libsyn.com/ouropinionsarecorrect/sf-v-sv-the-culture-vs-chatgpt

     clacke likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     clacke (clacke@libranet.de)'s status on Tuesday, 14-Mar-2023 18:50:07 JST clacke

     in reply to

     • The Trandalorian 🏳️‍⚧️
     • Our Opinions Are Correct
     Apparently Bostrom spoke out recently. You already know from that sentence know that can't be good.
     
     farside.link/teddit/r/Effectiv…
     
     > [ . . . ] recently released a preemptive apology for remarks he made in the 90s saying black people were less intelligent than white people. His apology doesn’t actually condemn that view though, saying he’ll leave it for others to decide.
     
     @annaleen @charliejane @ouropinions
   • Embed this notice
     Annalee Newitz 🍜 (annaleen@wandering.shop)'s status on Friday, 17-Mar-2023 17:43:22 JST Annalee Newitz 🍜

     in reply to

     • Nelson

     @skyfaller maybe the best thing to do is figure out what you mean by "smarter"? Better at math? Great composers of music? Able to calculate the best way to make a flaky pie crust, in any weather conditions?

   • Embed this notice
     Nelson (skyfaller@jawns.club)'s status on Friday, 17-Mar-2023 17:43:22 JST Nelson

     in reply to

     @annaleen Yes, thank you, you're right. The eugenics project, and "superintelligence", is all about producing beings who are "generally" "better" in every way. Acknowledging the impossibility of this and celebrating specific strengths instead of total "superiority" seems like a good approach for avoiding ending up like Bostrom.

     Now that I think about it, many plot-relevant traits I gave my AIs, like immortality or having a distributed brain, don't even require sentience.

     clacke likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Nelson (skyfaller@jawns.club)'s status on Friday, 17-Mar-2023 17:43:24 JST Nelson

     in reply to

     @annaleen I'm really sad to see this, as I had this book on my list to read, and I had been world building to write a space opera with lots of "superintelligent" AIs, based partly on articles I read about Bostrom's ideas. May have to throw that whole universe in the trash and start over.

     Oh well, at least I didn't buy the book before finding out he was a eugenics proponent.

     Is it possible to write characters who are smarter than you without somehow promoting eugenics?