Preface — my random thoughts on AI
I have long been fascinated by the topic of artificial intelligence. At the present, this topic seems to be moving quickly out of the realm of fantasy, albeit into the realm of the tech hype cycle. (It’s so sad when you have to filter out one of your favorite terms from your news stream. “AI” has gone from legit futurism to bullshit buzzword). But, it is at least motivating me to get off my ass and write out some of my thoughts on the topic, and hopefully get some feedback and generate some new ideas.
I’m going to focus on elements of the discussion that I have not seen get much attention. Because of that, I won’t cover much of the introductory material and arguments. If you feel like you want more background on the future of AI, I suggest looking at good sources such as:
I also have a very particular point of view. This is a very uncertain and complex domain, so I may be be very wrong about everything. But I don’t want to hash out all the arguments underlying my perspective, since that has been done well elsewhere.
To save space: Here are many of the assumptions and opinions I will take as granted in my posts, with a little defense, and also some common objections raised on this topic.
If you disagree with my assumptions, I encourage you to look up other folks’ arguments for my position, or just stick your head back in the sand. None of this will probably hit in your lifetime anyhow.
What I’m trying to say is:
