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0 pointstivert2y ago0 comments

> ...but I can't understand why there's so much focus on AGI.

Lots of software engineers have spent their lives reading sci-fi that features AGI, and they're excited by/lost in that fantasy.

It's interesting to see that in people who often view themselves as hyper-rational.

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tim3332y ago

AGI as in computer intelligence that out does humans would be a huge deal in practical terms. Chat GPT and similar are kind of like handy toys. With proper AGI you could link it to a robot body and tell it to go off, design a better version of itself, make a billion more robots and take over the world. It's a different category of thing. And if you think that's just sci-fi I think you'll get a surprise at some point during your life.

tivertOP2y ago

> With proper AGI you could link it to a robot body and tell it to go off, design a better version of itself, make a billion more robots and take over the world.

^^^^^ literally a plot ripped from the pages of science fiction used to reason about the real world.

> And if you think that's just sci-fi I think you'll get a surprise at some point during your life.

Such faith that fantasy can be made real. Wake me up when you have my hyperdrive ready.

tim3332y ago

I've never actually read that in fiction. It's just logical really. I mean I'm sure it is in fiction somewhere because the idea is obvious.

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8note2y ago

So I link this to my Roomba, and in a few days time it'll design and build a much better Roomba, while confined to my apartment with only wheels and a vacuum to actuate?

I think a much more realistic outcome is that you put it into a fancier robot body that can go outside, and by the end of the week it's scrap in a homeless camp chop shop

TeMPOraL2y ago

> It's interesting to see that in people who often view themselves as hyper-rational.

It's perhaps because they are rational enough to realize, thanks to the same knowledge/skill that put them on the software engineer careers, that AGI isn't a fantasy but a possibility and a potentially very big deal.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

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tim3332y ago

tivertOP2y ago

> With proper AGI you could link it to a robot body and tell it to go off, design a better version of itself, make a billion more robots and take over the world.

^^^^^ literally a plot ripped from the pages of science fiction used to reason about the real world.

> And if you think that's just sci-fi I think you'll get a surprise at some point during your life.

Such faith that fantasy can be made real. Wake me up when you have my hyperdrive ready.

tim3332y ago

I've never actually read that in fiction. It's just logical really. I mean I'm sure it is in fiction somewhere because the idea is obvious.

1 more reply

8note2y ago

So I link this to my Roomba, and in a few days time it'll design and build a much better Roomba, while confined to my apartment with only wheels and a vacuum to actuate?

I think a much more realistic outcome is that you put it into a fancier robot body that can go outside, and by the end of the week it's scrap in a homeless camp chop shop

TeMPOraL2y ago

> It's interesting to see that in people who often view themselves as hyper-rational.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse