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Comment by irq-1 | Hacker News Reader

They want the tradition to continue, but they should also record everything: get experts and record them from multiple angles, record demonstrations, etc... With image/video => 3d, and AI to recreate the system of fighting, it would be 'saved' for the future.

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There seems (to me) that there is too significant of a disconnect between a cultural practice handed down through generations and an AI-trained bot that can tell you about it.

Where?

If AI (or a book) can tell me something that has been passed down through generations, it was still passed down through generations. The problem with books is that they often don't/can't give you enough detail to do the thing. AI doesn't have that problem.

Hell, a few books and a bunch of videos don't have that problem. If people forgot about ("regular") fencing tomorrow, and 1000 years from now came across a cache of 1000 hours of fencing matches and a handful of books, I would have faith in their ability to recreate fencing accurately and then innovate on it.

What advantage would an AI have over video, especially from a couple different angles? Trying to apply AI to this problem seems like a near-terminal case of have-hammer-see-nails syndrome.

Martial arts are not solely collections of techniques. They also contain important cultural elements, historical context, social relationships, moral standards, etc. Even at the practical level, a significant portion of what separates different styles of martial arts is not just their techniques but also their mentality.

All of that would be extremely difficult to capture via AI.

The older and more experienced I get, the more I've come to believe that the non-technical aspects of the martial arts are essential and neglecting them can produce negative consequences.

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