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posted by Fnord666 on Saturday February 03 2018, @09:48AM   Printer-friendly
from the modern-day-punishment dept.

Fire good. AI better:

Google CEO Sundar Pichai says artificial intelligence is going to have a bigger impact on the world than some of the most ubiquitous innovations in history. "AI is one of the most important things humanity is working on. It is more profound than, I dunno, electricity or fire," says Pichai, speaking at a town hall event in San Francisco in January.

A number of very notable tech leaders have made bold statements about the potential of artificial intelligence. Tesla boss Elon Musks says AI is more dangerous than North Korea. Famous physicist Stephen Hawking says AI could be the "worst event in the history of our civilization." And Y Combinator President Sam Altman likens AI to nuclear fission.

Even in such company, Pichai's comment seems remarkable. Interviewer and Recode executive editor Kara Swisher stopped Pichai when he made the comment. "Fire? Fire is pretty good," she retorts. Pichai sticks by his assertion. "Well, it kills people, too," Pichai says of fire. "We have learned to harness fire for the benefits of humanity but we had to overcome its downsides too. So my point is, AI is really important, but we have to be concerned about it."

Also at CNN and Gizmodo.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Saturday February 03 2018, @03:08PM (7 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Saturday February 03 2018, @03:08PM (#632543)

    What scares me is that the prime mover of AI is GREED, a little mixing is healthy, when 99+% of all AI applications (by investment dollar) are driven by GREED, we're going to have a GREED driven outcome that serves the largest investors disproportionately.

    Starting in the 1980s, the photolithography (microchips) put the power of computers in the hands of common people.

    Starting in the late 1990s, the internet put the power of communications networks in the hands of common people.

    I'm not seeing the opening of strong AI development to common people, yet.

    --
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  • (Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday February 03 2018, @10:20PM (5 children)

    by frojack (1554) on Saturday February 03 2018, @10:20PM (#632697) Journal

    prime mover of AI is GREED

    Yeah, that word probably doesn't mean what you think it means.

    You work, or collect some sort of support from others, and your prime motivation for doing so is GREED. Until every human has the exact same daily rations, clothing, housing, beautiful partners, there is GREED. Take one more grain of rice than someone in East Helonearth and you are GREEDY.

    Any dollar tossed your way for whatever reason rather than to the slightly less well off person (for what ever reason) is pocketed by you because: GREED. Work hard to justify a raise, because: GREED.

    Its a word everyone likes to toss around, but nobody understands.
    Easy to toss out. You get to feel oh so superior.

    Harder to find a solution for. Harder still to justify any other universal allocation method.

    --
    No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Saturday February 03 2018, @10:48PM (3 children)

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Saturday February 03 2018, @10:48PM (#632701)

      I'll bite:

      GREED: we have more than we need, so we're going to invest our surplus to get more, and we're going to direct that investment with the primary (usually sole) aim of maximizing ROI.

      Not GREED: we're doing this to improve some situation, resolve some problem, help people. We're going to seek an adequate ROI to ensure our ability to continue to operate and grow while still focusing on the primary goals that involve helping people.

      The two can be hard to tell apart, especially in a society that doesn't promote true transparency in business dealings.

      --
      🌻🌻 [google.com]
      • (Score: 2) by Justin Case on Sunday February 04 2018, @07:41PM (2 children)

        by Justin Case (4239) on Sunday February 04 2018, @07:41PM (#633003) Journal

        Nobody has more than they need. Bill Gates was once the world's richest man, but he still couldn't afford to save his beloved mom from cancer.

        There was once a philosopher who thought resources should be allocated by need, rather than being owned by those who produced them. Whenever Marxism is tried however, it doesn't end well. Millions of deaths are the more likely result.

        Greed is what keeps everybody alive. Including animals. They desire food, they go get it... or they don't eat.

        • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday February 04 2018, @08:55PM (1 child)

          by JoeMerchant (3937) on Sunday February 04 2018, @08:55PM (#633020)

          Bill and Melinda Gates did decide they have more than they need, thus the charitable foundation.

          If you "need" to stop your mother from dying, prevent the sun from rising in the east, or freeze the Amazon river solid for a year - you're gonna have a bad time.

          --
          🌻🌻 [google.com]
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @10:24PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 04 2018, @10:24PM (#633043)

            That's fraudulently named.
            It seeks to make a profit via spreading "intellectual property" paradigms.
            ...and by attempting to privatize public institutions.

            The year that BillG doesn't net billions and billions more than he did the year before, we'll have a starting point for a discussion about "charity".

            In the meantime, he's about Neoliberalism and profit, not charity.
            His "charitable foundation" is a tax dodge and a Capitalist scam.

            -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 03 2018, @10:58PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 03 2018, @10:58PM (#632705)

      Until every human has the exact same daily rations, clothing, housing, beautiful partners, there is GREED.

      You couldn't possibly be more wrong.

      a word everyone likes to toss around, but nobody understands

      Well, you certainly don't.

      First, greed is a character defect.
      It is one of The Seven Deadly Sins.

      What greed is is wanting more than you need for a reasonably comfortable existence.
      (Wanting more money than you can possibly spend is an extreme case.)
      ...and there are a great many people on the planet who are quite satisfied with their lot in life.
      (In years past, that was called "The Middle Class" and that bunch was quite large--before The 1 Percent demonstrated once again what greed actually looks like.)

      The reason that you think greed is normal is that you are abnormal.
      {Picture of Marty Feldman stealing the wrong brain goes here}
      Allowing oneself to be easily manipulated by TeeVee|Madison Avenue will twist a person into the peculiar shape in which you find yourself.

      ...and what you think is "greed" is actually "sustenance".
      Gawd, the schools where you grew up were clearly lousy.

      -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 03 2018, @11:04PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 03 2018, @11:04PM (#632708)

    Starting in the 1980s, the photolithography (microchips) put the power of computers in the hands of common people

    Interesting date to choose.
    The 8080 came out in 1974 and the kit microcomputer was on the cover of Radio-Electronics for January 1975.
    So, for nerds it was earlier.

    For Joe Average, I'd put the date in the 21st Century when the sub-$1000 computer became a thing.

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]