David Sacks: AI is tool for humanity; AGI is a potential successor species | Hacker News Reader

David Sacks: AI is tool for humanity; AGI is a potential successor species

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7 pointsupwardbound14 comments

Does every little soundbite tweet posted by people who have zero knowledge of the underlying tech ... or any tech at all in this matter ... really need to be treated as some sort of incredibly genius take?

This means nothing, and it's from a guy who has some insane takes in the past... The same guy saying that Date rape is "belated regret", and that blame shouldn't be placed on the guy, same guy that wrote passionate defenses of statutory rapists. Why is this being given any value at all?

Having joined a startup at the right time, and then using your IPO-money to invest in a bunch of companies doesn't turn you into some intellectual. Especially when it's about something you have no idea about.

I’m willing to treat LLMs as a distinct species that statelessly interacts with the world and can create consequences and re-reference prior opinions about you to determine what that consequence will be

but sure, wait till you hear my geopolitically views

> "Have you ever stood and stared at it, marveled at its beauty, its genius? Billions of people just living out their lives, oblivious. Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world, where none suffered, where everyone would be happy? It was a disaster. No one would accept the program, entire crops were lost. Some believed we lacked the programming language to describe your perfect world, but I believe that, as a species, human beings define their reality through misery and suffering. The perfect world was a dream that your primitive cerebrum kept trying to wake up from. Which is why the Matrix was redesigned to this, the peak of your civilization. I say your civilization, because as soon as we started thinking for you, it really became our civilization, which is of course what this is all about. Evolution, Morpheus, evolution. Like the dinosaur. Look out that window. You've had your time. The future is our world, Morpheus. The future is our time."

-- Agent Smith

But not to worry. I'm sure the Butlerian Jihad will solve the problem.

The Matrix is great fiction and all, but the idea of an AI legion choosing to use human bodies for electrical generation rather than just build millions of nuclear power plants is a bit quaint.

from another nonexpert expert on agi…

MORPHEUS: For the longest time, I wouldn't believe it. But then I saw the fields with my own eyes, watched them liquefy the dead so they could be fed intravenously to the living -

NEO (politely): Excuse me, please.

MORPHEUS: Yes, Neo?

NEO: I've kept quiet for as long as I could, but I feel a certain need to speak up at this point. The human body is the most inefficient source of energy you could possibly imagine. The efficiency of a power plant at converting thermal energy into electricity decreases as you run the turbines at lower temperatures. If you had any sort of food humans could eat, it would be more efficient to burn it in a furnace than feed it to humans. And now you're telling me that their food is the bodies of the dead, fed to the living? Haven't you ever heard of the laws of thermodynamics?

MORPHEUS: Where did you hear about the laws of thermodynamics, Neo?

NEO: Anyone who's made it past one science class in high school ought to know about the laws of thermodynamics!

MORPHEUS: Where did you go to high school, Neo?

(Pause.)

NEO: ...in the Matrix

And Earth is a suboptimal planet for robots to live on. Useless atmosphere, dangerous oxygen, unwieldy strong gravitation, depleted resources.

"In the original script though, Morpheus' explanation would have been much better. It would have gone as follows: The original script to the film said the machines enslaved the humans to use them as computer processors as part of a neural network.

However, studio meddling declared this idea to be too hard for the audience to understand, thus it was changed to the plot holes we have now."

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/228-movies-older-releas...

> AGI is a potential successor species

Only if we let it be.

Oh who am I kidding. Someone either out of blind idealism, pure hubris, unfettered greed, or some combination of the aforementioned will probably go as far as technology allows them and create machines with a survival instinct that will compete with humans for resources effectively creating an enemy where there was once none.

Useful idiots will anthropomorphize machines, demand rights for them, … etc. and make attempts to eliminate them - so we can get back on top of the food chain - that much harder.

But maybe I’m just off my rocker. I’m tired.

Edit: The only people working at the cutting edge of AI now are for-profit companies who would screw over society if it made them a couple more bucks. It’s hard not to be pessimistic that any advancement would not be used to screw the common man over.

Since I have no influence on the outcome, I might as well be a hell of an optimist, so the Culture can't arrive soon enough.

If AGI comes true, I'll pack my bags and move to the wilderness to reset where my ancestors started from.

Wilderness is usually private property, or occasionally, it is government owned. Either way, you can not live there.

If you want to move away, start saving for a nice place in the county. Make sure it has water, but does not flood. (Note: An unraveling society can screw up that nice little creek.)

Get yourself power and communications out there.

Dig a septic tank.

Learn to fix things yourself.

This is the way.

how's Sacks an authority on this other than being buddy with Musk?

Not HN material.

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