I don't think on your level about objectivism, but I have engaged in philosophy conversations with AI. It can be remarkably "rational". But often if I ask it to argue the opposite opinion it'll do that with facility as well. Then I get the pleasure of studying the "bad" argument and trying to untangle it.
Amazing! Apparently Harry, you have taught Claude to act beyond your own expectations--is that a fair assessment? Anyway, you certainly seem to be getting your money's worth.
I thoroughly enjoyed your exchange with Claude about AI and data centers. The conceptual integrations were remarkable.
Given your expertise in epistemology, I’d love to see you undertake a similar exchange with Claude in that field—but with an interesting twist: Rather than asking Claude to explain Objectivist epistemology, ask it to identify a genuinely unresolved epistemological problem and then work through it with you.
That would be a fascinating test of AI as an original intellectual collaborator rather than simply an exceptionally knowledgeable student.
Isn’t there a similarity here between those who protested (alas successfully) against nuclear power back in the 1970’s and today’s anti-AI protesters?
In both cases it was fear and ignorance that underpinned their rejection of technology. AI is particularly vulnerable to ignorant claims. With nuclear power the scientific information existed but was ignored or denied, while even some of AI’s inventors claim to be mystified by it.
Some fear that AI will develop agency, and being super intelligent it will of course do something terrible to us. (a revealing fantasy.) If this is too “sci fi,” then it will surely make most of the population destitute while somehow also enriching its corporate owners.
This isn’t much different from the worries that nuclear power plants will become nuclear bombs or melt through the Earth to China, or slowly destroy all DNA with invisible radiation.
Perhaps those protesting data centers are not the same people who are so vocally and adamantly against AI as such, but I doubt it. I think data centers just represent AI’s most tangible NIMBY-driven vulnerability.
Yes and no. The anti-nukes were/are Leftist luddites. The anti-AI people aren't necessarily. They are worried about something that does have the potential for destruction--in the hands of a person, group, or nation that wants destruction. And there are plenty of those!
The economic fears are based on not understanding that production (not "employment" or "wages"). But most economists today do not realize that, so the public's worry about AI causing unemployment is understandable.
Still, you're right that a big source of anti-AI sentiment is fear of the unknown. That amplifies the innocent worries.
"Some fear that AI will develop agency, and being super intelligent it will of course do something terrible to us. (a revealing fantasy.)"
Yes, it is revealing! A point I've been coming to is that the coming of AI is like the coming of contact with an advanced civilization from another planet: we learn how to leapfrog into the future.
I believe the people protesting against new data centers are the same people who protested against fracking. The problem for the protestors in both cases is the lack of victims.
I don't think on your level about objectivism, but I have engaged in philosophy conversations with AI. It can be remarkably "rational". But often if I ask it to argue the opposite opinion it'll do that with facility as well. Then I get the pleasure of studying the "bad" argument and trying to untangle it.
Amazing! Apparently Harry, you have taught Claude to act beyond your own expectations--is that a fair assessment? Anyway, you certainly seem to be getting your money's worth.
I thoroughly enjoyed your exchange with Claude about AI and data centers. The conceptual integrations were remarkable.
Given your expertise in epistemology, I’d love to see you undertake a similar exchange with Claude in that field—but with an interesting twist: Rather than asking Claude to explain Objectivist epistemology, ask it to identify a genuinely unresolved epistemological problem and then work through it with you.
That would be a fascinating test of AI as an original intellectual collaborator rather than simply an exceptionally knowledgeable student.
I suspect the results could be extraordinary.
Isn’t there a similarity here between those who protested (alas successfully) against nuclear power back in the 1970’s and today’s anti-AI protesters?
In both cases it was fear and ignorance that underpinned their rejection of technology. AI is particularly vulnerable to ignorant claims. With nuclear power the scientific information existed but was ignored or denied, while even some of AI’s inventors claim to be mystified by it.
Some fear that AI will develop agency, and being super intelligent it will of course do something terrible to us. (a revealing fantasy.) If this is too “sci fi,” then it will surely make most of the population destitute while somehow also enriching its corporate owners.
This isn’t much different from the worries that nuclear power plants will become nuclear bombs or melt through the Earth to China, or slowly destroy all DNA with invisible radiation.
Perhaps those protesting data centers are not the same people who are so vocally and adamantly against AI as such, but I doubt it. I think data centers just represent AI’s most tangible NIMBY-driven vulnerability.
Yes and no. The anti-nukes were/are Leftist luddites. The anti-AI people aren't necessarily. They are worried about something that does have the potential for destruction--in the hands of a person, group, or nation that wants destruction. And there are plenty of those!
The economic fears are based on not understanding that production (not "employment" or "wages"). But most economists today do not realize that, so the public's worry about AI causing unemployment is understandable.
Still, you're right that a big source of anti-AI sentiment is fear of the unknown. That amplifies the innocent worries.
"Some fear that AI will develop agency, and being super intelligent it will of course do something terrible to us. (a revealing fantasy.)"
Yes, it is revealing! A point I've been coming to is that the coming of AI is like the coming of contact with an advanced civilization from another planet: we learn how to leapfrog into the future.
I'll post on this today.
I believe the people protesting against new data centers are the same people who protested against fracking. The problem for the protestors in both cases is the lack of victims.