Since the ancestors of homo sapiens first made tools out of rocks and sticks and grass, society has been transformed by the development of ever more powerful technologies, from stone axes to the steam engine to the GPS satellite. Computers and the internet, the most important technologies of recent decades, are the latest step in this long, long process.
I really like your categorization scheme, but I think we are judging way too early. Fire and writing made little difference for the first few centuries either.
I think of AI’s programming and building AI’s in a feedback loop and artificial bots mimicking and effectively replacing and amplifying experts into personalized teachers and coaches (every kid gets the Einstein bot, the Darwin bot, the Hayek bot and so on as personal assistants). This to me is going to quickly grow into something at a level 2 or even 1.
That's a good analysis. I'd put computers up there with aviation. They are driving a lot of change, but they're part of the control continuum that started in the 17th century with the first thermometers.
The magic AI people simply don't understand AI. We aren't going to magically create superbrains that will figure everything out for us. 42. There, I've said it. We'd be better informed listening to stories of the djinn and cursed monkey paws.
I think you've got a point, but there are reasons to believe that the impact of computers is just beginning. I would agree with a version of the thesis from "The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind" that there have been moments in human history where the nature of our interactions has changed sufficiently to completely transform what it means to be human. I think these changes are driven by technology, and the sheer bandwidth of feedback we get from other humans has recently undergone a huge increase. We are starting to see some effects of this, but it is far from over.
I really like your categorization scheme, but I think we are judging way too early. Fire and writing made little difference for the first few centuries either.
I think of AI’s programming and building AI’s in a feedback loop and artificial bots mimicking and effectively replacing and amplifying experts into personalized teachers and coaches (every kid gets the Einstein bot, the Darwin bot, the Hayek bot and so on as personal assistants). This to me is going to quickly grow into something at a level 2 or even 1.
That's a good analysis. I'd put computers up there with aviation. They are driving a lot of change, but they're part of the control continuum that started in the 17th century with the first thermometers.
The magic AI people simply don't understand AI. We aren't going to magically create superbrains that will figure everything out for us. 42. There, I've said it. We'd be better informed listening to stories of the djinn and cursed monkey paws.
I think you've got a point, but there are reasons to believe that the impact of computers is just beginning. I would agree with a version of the thesis from "The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind" that there have been moments in human history where the nature of our interactions has changed sufficiently to completely transform what it means to be human. I think these changes are driven by technology, and the sheer bandwidth of feedback we get from other humans has recently undergone a huge increase. We are starting to see some effects of this, but it is far from over.