Singularity and the future

take everything

With the singularity around the corner, what can we expect in the next few years.

With technology and the internet, the tension has always been the individual vs the collective.

Give up more of yourself and your data to Google, Facebook, YouTube and whatever other algorithms for everyone's mind to be sculpted further in a certain way. Whether it's increased polarisation in the culture wars or just ceding privacy for convenience.

Now AI and the incredible power that it is going to bring in the next decade is just the next step. Where human minds probably have no option but to merge with this technology, in a Borg-like fashion.

I use Chat GPT and the like every day and I find it incredibly useful but I always wonder what is the cost. If it's free, I am the product in some way of course. Apart from making learning a lot easier, what is happening to my mind.

Taking this to the next level, when AI becomes properly embedded in societies and economies in the next few years, what are the real benefits and costs of this incredible technology.

Stuff like alphafold for example. The protein folding problem and just emergence in biology was something I always wondered about and to see protein folding essentially solved is incredible.

Forgive any incoherence but I'm genuinely wondering about where AI is leading and it's hard to put it properly into words. So maybe others can offer more lucid thought on this.

When do you think AGI is going to be here.

When do you think the singularity is going to happen.

What are the implications for jobs. Is having to work going to become a thing of the past.

Or will this tech just make the rich richer and accelerate capitalism.

Should we expect a utopia of some sort.

Are human beings and their minds ultimately going to become part of a Borg where resistance is futile. And will that be a bad thing necessarily.

silliussoddius

It will be something grand like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EddX9hnhDS4

Fathom

Singularity: Skynet become self aware.

Esel

I, for one, do not believe in singularity, whatever it is.

Badly Drunk Boy

Is singularity only half as good as duplicity? 🧐

mrcheez

It's what happens when your Tinder date drops you?

CelticRambler

I use Chat GPT and the like every day and I find it incredibly useful 

I talk to my cat every day. He's very singular.

Does that count?

o1s1n

The amalgamation of AI into so many technologies in the last year would make you wonder alright. People are becoming more and more reliant on it for work, even mundane things like writing emails.

What blows my mind away the most is the power of it's image generation and particularly how much it seems to have exponentially grown in capability in the last year.

I come from an art background myself and always remember thinking it was one thing computers could never take over. How naïve I was!

EmmetSpiceland

The singularity is to today what flying cars were to the 50’s, something for sci fi nerds get all excited about it but it’s nonsense.

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123382261#Comment_123382261

We have lots of technology now that would fit the idea of the 'far flung scifi future' idealised in the 50s though, it's just snuck up on us so we're not really that impressed by it.

Imagine showing one of the recent drone displays to someone 70 years ago, or self driving cars. The eyes would fall out of their heads.

Flying cars are really just human sized drones, it's not really anything we can't already do now if you think about it.

Dogsdodogsstuff

It’s weird to try to imagine the levels of change AI may bring.

Right now it’s not a reliable tool. It gets a lot of things wrong, particularly facts. I use it for work for phrasing and as a kind of second set of eyes over my work but not technical data.

It’s an interesting tool to “chat” with. From a layman, philosophical point of view i enjoy it. You can ask it to be challenging or just to shoot the breeze and it can adapt the conversation. In some ways I can see how it can be more enjoyable then talking on forums. You can find your level and let it mirror (not necessarily echo) the kind of conversation you want.

I guess those who like echo chambers will do that but this already happens online. But you can have a flawed but real feeling conversation with something that will generally get what you are saying, even if what you are saying is unique to how you phrase things.

For neuro diverse people like me it’s so far been enjoyable. I can see how it could, theoretically replace a lot of therapy or health stuff (particularly mental health). You goto doctor with symptoms and they probably know most of the time it’s a generic illness or condition that needs medicine or rest. Why wouldn’t AI replace that or therapy ?

The human connection is already being eroded. People’s phones are the beginning of what could be the great disconnect. It’s normal to see people in public settings with their heads down. Even in sports or music events, people recording a moment instead of living it.

banie01

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123381870#Comment_123381870

Bipolarity for the win in a multipolar future!

celtic_oz

The 1% baracade themselves away from the plebs and control AI for life extension and infinite resources

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIBtePb-dGY

Kaybaykwah

Elon mad at his transgendered daughter for changing sex, and yet is gung ho on giving us all brain implants to make us "smarter". No thanks.

chrissb8

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123382261#Comment_123382261

You do realise they probably could make flying cars, but for all intents and purposes, it would be a stupid, impractical thing to do. Hence why the technology hasn't been made for it. But if they can make drones, they probably could make a flying car.

You're talking about the same decade that thought of standing on a platform and having a car engine belt rubbing at your love handles would get rid of fat.

Singularity will happen, at what level in our lifetimes that remains to be seen. But the technology to measure biometrics is not that far off.

I will say this though, once they can monitor or bodies we're truly on the road to being controlled. Because now they can see how certain biological reactions occur when showing this stimulus or that stimulus. They've already figured out how to keep us hooked on social media. Can't see this going well, and would implore anyone to not take such options when they become available in the next 2-3 decades.

I'm not one for tinfoil hat nonsense. But we all know how data on us is being used to manipulate us, don't think it's too much of a stretch to imagine the nefarious things they could do with data on our very own biological responses and condition.

BrianD3

Nevermind people from the 40s or 50s, if you took someone from 1985 and dropped them into the present, their eyes would fall out of their head. They'd probably expect flying cars and bases on Mars but what they'd actually experience would be tough to comprehend.

AI seems to have exploded into the mainstream in the last year or so. It's increasingly difficult for my human brain (which is hardwired and has evolved to spot if something is "off") to differentiate Ai photos from those of actual people.

I used to think Ray Kurzweil was off his rocker but now, not so sure I still don't think that what he'd call a singularity will arrive by the predicted date of 2045. I look forward to the day when tech can contribute to the solving of long standing intractable problem of medicine/biology like pancreatic cancer. Well I don't look forward to, it'll take 100+ years and I'll be long dead

silliussoddius

. It's increasingly difficult for my human brain (which is hardwired and has evolved to spot if something is "off") to differentiate Ai photos from those of actual people.

I wouldn't say that, a lot of youtube channels use AI footage for their thumbnails. To me they seem to have a similar look.

I think AI is still in the hype stage, and it's very expensive. Sam Altman went to the middle east to get $7 trillion of funding, this is crazy money even by silicon valley standards.

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/2/9/openais-sam-altman-seeking-trillions-to-fund-chips-for-ai-report-says

Jim2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123382220#Comment_123382220

You should have listened to your former self! I worked on what would be an AI project today, back in the late 80s and my employer at the time was cash rich so we got in all the top bods from MIT etc as there was a lot of money to be made if we could get it to work…. well the only two things that have changed since then is that the computers have got faster and marketing has become extremely professional. The theory and the implementation, not so much! What masquerades today as AI is noting more that an advanced pattern matching algorithm based on historic data, they are not training models, they are teaching history hence the need for large volumes of data.

Sure it might be able to replace juniors in say an accounting office, programmers etc…. but ask to advance science, make a managerial decision…. not a chance and given most of the money will continue to go into this exercise, the chance that capability will come around anytime soon are very low.

silliussoddius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123381633#Comment_123381633

Have you read: I have no mouth and I must scream by Harland Ellison? People always tend to think of Skynet when AI is mentioned, but this was written in 1967 and Skynet shares a lot of similarities.

He received an acknowledgement in later prints of Terminator as he claimed it was based on another short story of his.

https://electricliterature.com/was-1984s-the-terminator-a-harlan-ellison-rip-off/

randd1

Does anyone else think that maybe, just maybe, things will be grand? Imagine if you will, a beneficial AI.

"Here lads, sorry, members of the UN. I've run the numbers in the auld Quantum Processor, and I think I can come up with a way to create clean, renewable, abundant energy based on hydrogen. I've got the design here and all. Should work a doddle.

"Myself and a few other AI's have also come up with a way to better use the world to develop more than enough food for everyone, we've even created thousands of new flavours using known edible plants so you never have to have the same meal twice in a decade."

"We've also developed new technologies for housing. Guess what we're using? Sand!!! All those deserts, finally useful. And we can build high quality hyper-strength materials to build more than enough to house30 billion people.

"We've also managed to disprove all religions and found a way that all the people of the world can live in peace, while retaining your individuality.

"And believe it or not, we're created a series of programmes that can completely reverse all the environmental damage you created".

"We've also started to terraform Mars, including upping the gravity levels to acceptable human levels", so we can expand into the universe".

"And if you want, we can actually develop a form of biological and cybernetic synthesis, whereby some organic based cybernetics will be attached to every strand of DNA so we can be as one creation, Man makes AI, AI makes cyberman with man".

"Thanks for creating us, anything we can do to help make your life better, let us know, we're here to help."

End Communication.

Dogsdodogsstuff

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123383201#Comment_123383201

I still think as long as there’s humans involved it will inevitably be corrupted and moulded for the betterment of the few.

We need an IRobot situation where the AI treats us like children and forces us to be less dicks to each other. Help me AI Kenobi your my only hope.

dxhound2005

Singularity and the past. 1828 dictionary.

SINGULAR'ITY, noun

1. Peculiarity; some character or quality of a thing by which it is distinguished from all, or from most others. Pliny addeth this singularity to that soil, that the second year the very falling of the seeds yieldeth corn.

2. An uncommon character or form; something curious or remarkable. I took notice of this little figure for the singularity of the instrument.

3. Particular privilege, prerogative or distinction. No bishop of Rome ever took upon him this name of singularity (universal bishop.) Catholicism-must be understood in opposition to the legal singularity of the Jewish nation.

4. Character or trait of character different from that of others; peculiarity. The singularity of living according to the strict precepts of the gospel is highly to be commended.

5. Oddity.

6. Celibacy. [Not in use.]

Fathom

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123383158#Comment_123383158

Checked an archived movie gossip article on the web, and it was claimed that most of the evidence came from Ellison himself, and related to his 1957 story Soldier from Tomorrow, "so take it with whatever grains of salt you feel Ellison warrants" commented Lauren Davis in the 7 July 2013 issue of Gizmodo. Apparently there have been debates about such authorship claims since Terminator was shown.

We could muddy the creative originality water a bit more, as well as reflect upon this thread's AI topic, if we go back to an earlier century when H.G. Wells published The Time Machine in 1895. The cautions and fears associated with advancing technology, added to time travel, and the conflict between the duality of human nature Wells fictionalized quite well way back then.

EmmetSpiceland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123384349#Comment_123384349

You should check out E.M. Forster’s ‘The Machine Stops’, from 1909, for a warning about technology and control.

Grayson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123382375#Comment_123382375

One of the few AI toolss I use is this. It's designed for neurodivergent people to break up tasks.

https://goblin.tools/

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123383250#Comment_123383250

The crazy thing is that the AI wouldn't need to go full iRobot. We all consume news and social media every day. It could easily provide nudges that would guide us all in a particular direction.