Thursday, January 30, 2020

Morality, Complex Systems and AI!

Bruce Stering says it brilliantly what I wanted to say for the past few years!

These are the people who think philosophy is some abstract paragraphs in old books and never understood that this whole enterprise was designed as a simple guide to help people to live a good life (beyond themselves). We are living in a classic halo effect - designing a deep reinforcement algorithm (which they never do) doesn't make one capable of being entrepreneurs for morality.

So I don’t mind the moralizing about AI. I even enjoy it as metaphysical game, but I do have one caveat about this activity, something that genuinely bothers me. The practitioners of AI are not up-front about the genuine allure of their enterprise, which is all about the old-school Steve-Jobsian charisma of denting the universe while becoming insanely great. Nobody does AI for our moral betterment; everybody does it to feel transcendent.

AI activists are not everyday brogrammers churning out grocery-code. These are visionary zealots driven by powerful urges they seem unwilling to confront. If you want to impress me with your moral authority, gaze first within your own soul.

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