alt Hacker NewsThe problem here is that AI isn't just a problem, it also revealed a problem: too much emphasis on publishing papers and churning out new results. The name of the game right now is just that: make something new and significant. AI itelf is a problem around the world right now because we've set up some seriously bad incentives. Same with art - it devolved into content creation for money, so AI snaps that up.
What we need to do is make mathematics about understanding, rather than churning out results. People should be rewarded for reaching an ability to explain mathematics without the aid of computers, to teach people for the sake of their learning.
I do think AI also needs to be eradicated because of its destructive properties, but I think that at the same time it also is a manifestation of the sickness in our society to go after the wrong incentives that are detrimental in the long run.
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I respect your opinion, and I was with you all the way until your last sentence.
"Eradicated" is a pretty strong word. It's also completely unfeasible.
Wrong incentives can maybe be adjusted for. Shutting down the pursuit of one of the most astonishing things we've ever created is simply not going to happen short of a cataclysm, and I'm not a big fan of those.
> The problem here is that AI isn't just a problem, it also revealed a problem: too much emphasis on publishing papers and churning out new results.
I wonder how it revealed it... oh, right, because AI labs rushed to churn out new results for marketing purposes. Mathematicians didn't make them do it. So I'm not sure it's really an indictment of the field.
In fact, how often does mathematics feature in university press releases, how often do mathematicians compete for multi-million grants, how many of them are interviewed on TV?... This discipline is less afflicted by weird incentives than most other fields. It's mostly just a small clique of nerds publishing abstract "open source" work.
> I do think AI also needs to be eradicated
I wonder how life was while the Butlerian Jihad was raging through the universe.
Jihadis were fighting opponents with thinking machines. Did they win because the machines were not capable enough?
The idea that this genie is going back in the bottle is, imo, very wishful thinking. The thinking machines can rip off your software ideas completely, in days.