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Comment by McP82 on Human Biases that Obscure AI Progress · 2020-09-30T20:28:25.495Z · LW · GW

Yes, as said by supposedlyfun, it's really well written and many of us would have struggled to explain it as clearly as you did. I mean, I'm constantly working with AI systems (they're already doing quite a great job to predict tendencies and future evolutions: for example, apart from the COVID crisis, an AI program, given the data for 2000-2010 gave similar results to what happened in real life with the prices of this Budapest real estate https://tranio.com/hungary/budapest/ for the 2010-2020 period) and I'm always impressed at what's being achieved!

Sure, I may be a bit scared of what would happen if such programs were used with malevolent goals in mind, but it's like nuclear energy or the Internet: you can't stop progress, so you'd better make everything you can to ensure it'll make everyone's life better.

Comment by McP82 on What hard science fiction stories also got the social sciences right? · 2020-09-30T20:00:21.120Z · LW · GW

That movie had been recommended to me several times, but I never got around to watch it; I guess if there's a moment to do so, it'd be now.

Comment by McP82 on What hard science fiction stories also got the social sciences right? · 2020-09-30T19:58:33.047Z · LW · GW

That does sound like a fascinating read, I'll see where/if I can have it delivered where I live! I've never gotten used to e-readers, so that isn't an option...

Comment by McP82 on Examples of self-governance to reduce technology risk? · 2020-09-30T19:38:35.576Z · LW · GW

The thing with artificial intelligence is that it could be used for dangerous goals, too, and for this, there's no self-organised group of companies that will do their best to prevent that technology from falling in the wrong hands, unfortunately...

Comment by McP82 on Honoring Petrov Day on LessWrong, in 2020 · 2020-09-30T19:14:29.922Z · LW · GW

In other words, if your defense is "just following orders", you're in the wrong. Petrov, too, was strongly influenced to launch the nukes, and still refused... Like that Soviet submarine commander who, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, thought he was engaged with live depth charges by the US Navy.

Comment by McP82 on Industrial literacy · 2020-09-30T19:01:20.346Z · LW · GW

Unfortunately, that's something our modern day luddites don't really understand... Especially the housework part, as it's often people living in comfortable, furnished housing who think this.

Sure, there IS an issue with plastic pollution and the massive reliance of humanity on cars, but abolishing their use to be "like in the good old days" would be catastrophic; instead, we should focus on finding industrial, modern solutions to these problems, like expanding recycling programs and infrastructure, and developing public transportation networks in cities and between villages and towns in the countryside.

Comment by McP82 on Examples of self-governance to reduce technology risk? · 2020-09-30T13:40:08.256Z · LW · GW

Were the efforts to prevent North Korea from developing its nuclear technology self-imposed, or was it organised by governments?