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[ArKFallen]

Bringing this back to more worldly, personal problems...

Argh, my headphones broke.
They've lasted me a surprisingly long time, especially given that they were like $10, but... why do they have to give up on me now? I've got no money to buy new ones at the moment and I have a flight today. There's bound to be a bunch of screaming children in the cabin with me having no way of blocking out their racket, I just know it.

If they're cheapos you might be able to take them apart and push the magnet back into place.

[Spehss _]

Not a decent comparison. The AI prediction, for most scientists and experts, isn't a matter of if, but of when, while the mayan calendar thing was mostly a combination of seasonal fearmongering + excessive dan brownism.

I'll admit that was a shoddy comparison, but when is rather far away. Technology, as quickly as it advances now, is still maturing into robotics. Maybe in a while we'll have that lovely apocalypse all those edgy 14-year-old Youtube commenters have been dreaming about, but speculation at this early point doesn't lead to much other than fear.

Coincidentally, one of the singularity arguments advocating the imminence of the singularity is that because technology advances exponentially on itself, eventually humanity will achieve the technology capable for a human level general intelligence earlier than most people would predict, and as that first human level general AI learns more and more it will itself increase exponentially until boom, singularity. Coincidentally this singularity is always predicted to occur within the singularity proponent's lifetime.

I'm all for cool science fiction future happening now, but I'm not saying this is a concrete argument for or against how far in the future a human-level ai will be created. More of a theory based on observed trends evident in human civilization's history. Lots of futurist predictions don't work out.


Also, youtube comments are brain-bendingly stupid. I was watching a bunch of cool videos from Boston Dynamics earlier and on every video there were people complaining about how the robots will obviously be used as killer robots for big bad mister government. Jesus Christo it's just science calm your caveman tits, people. Stop freaking out about the unavoidable horrors of future warfare and think of how cool this shit is. 

[Arcvasti]

Also, youtube comments are brain-bendingly stupid. I was watching a bunch of cool videos from Boston Dynamics earlier and on every video there were people complaining about how the robots will obviously be used as killer robots for big bad mister government. Jesus Christo it's just science calm your caveman tits, people. Stop freaking out about the unavoidable horrors of future warfare and think of how cool this shit is. 

That's not THAT stupid. The U.S. already uses teleoperated mechanical assassins in the Middle East. Fully automating them is the logical next step, especially since drone pilots are, IIRC, quitting in large numbers from PTSD and other psychological trauma. Killer robots being used by governments is totally a problem. Although complaining about it on Youtube is much less effective then actually lobbying/campagining against it.

[Spehss _]

Although complaining about it on Youtube is much less effective then actually lobbying/campagining against it.

Exactly.

[Calidovi]

Also, youtube comments are brain-bendingly stupid. I was watching a bunch of cool videos from Boston Dynamics earlier and on every video there were people complaining about how the robots will obviously be used as killer robots for big bad mister government. Jesus Christo it's just science calm your caveman tits, people. Stop freaking out about the unavoidable horrors of future warfare and think of how cool this shit is. 

That's not THAT stupid. The U.S. already uses teleoperated mechanical assassins in the Middle East.

How long until "Cool Robot Killer Assassin Guy Hunting Terrorists" becomes a military term.

[Spehss _]

Thinking some more on why the youtube comments bugged me. Yes, those are legitimate things to worry about. But most people probably are in no way able to stop the use of robots and other technology in warfare. You can't halt scientific progress. If they were really worried about it they could join groups or rallies or something rather than repeat the same youtube comment denouncing the people at Boston Dynamics for helping make killer future robots.

Especially considering they aren't even doing that. Take BigDog, made for military use as a mechanical pack mule. It's cool. Look at the way the thing walks in all terrain. It corrects itself to avoid falling. The models keep getting slimmer and more agile. This is shit that sci-fi from the 80s didn't predict, and it's being done now. The AT-ATs in Star Wars couldn't do this shit. It's cool technological progress.

Now imagine being one of the dudes who works at Boston Dynamics, you worked real hard learning everything to get where you are now, and upon checking out what the public thinks of your cool stuff, you instead find youtube comments of people who don't know much shit on robots who are accusing you of making weaponry for killing innocents and completely disregarding your intentions.

It's a bummer.

[Calidovi]

Thinking some more on why the youtube comments bugged me. Yes, those are legitimate things to worry about. But most people probably are in no way able to stop the use of robots and other technology in warfare. You can't halt scientific progress. If they were really worried about it they could join groups or rallies or something rather than repeat the same youtube comment denouncing the people at Boston Dynamics for helping make killer future robots.

Especially considering they aren't even doing that. Take BigDog, made for military use as a mechanical pack mule. It's cool. Look at the way the thing walks in all terrain. It corrects itself to avoid falling. The models keep getting slimmer and more agile. This is shit that sci-fi from the 80s didn't predict, and it's being done now. The AT-ATs in Star Wars couldn't do this shit. It's cool technological progress.

Now imagine being one of the dudes who works at Boston Dynamics, you worked real hard learning everything to get where you are now, and upon checking out what the public thinks of your cool stuff, you instead find youtube comments of people who don't know much shit on robots who are accusing you of making weaponry for killing innocents and completely disregarding your intentions.

It's a bummer.

And then you remember that the public is a bunch of cavemen scared of fire.

And then you're alright again.

[hops]

Internet discussion is making me seriously consider suicide.

What the hell, brain?

[Yoink]

I don't see how the guy's fears are invalid. Complaining is kind of pointless, though- any new technology is going to be used either for war or cooking.
One of the two. Sometimes both. Always.

We already have death robots, they've been killing people in wartime for years.    

[Rolan7]

The AT-ATs in Star Wars couldn't do this shit. It's cool technological progress.

Well of course not, that was a long time ago.  Our technology is far and away superior now.

[Spehss _]

Internet discussion is making me seriously consider suicide.

What the hell, brain?

D:

Is it the thing in the wtf thread with gender or whatever the hell everyone is talking about? I haven't kept track of it 'cuz the discussion just keeps getting dragged up.

The AT-ATs in Star Wars couldn't do this shit. It's cool technological progress.

Well of course not, that was a long time ago.  Our technology is far and away superior now.

You missed the part where Star Wars was supposed to present this distant future sci-fi setting where technology is far and away superior to our current(in the 80s) technology. And even they didn't think of advanced tech like this. That's what I was trying to say. Basically saying that reality is making cooler stuff than what fantasy could predict.

[i2amroy]

by about 2060 we will have created a cybernetic capital-G God

You know how many people used that word to describe the world ending in 2012?

Mayan calendar's out, what's the next apocalypse trend?

Important note, but the Mayans and Aztecs actually didn't think that the world was ending in 2012, because they actually understood that their calendar is cyclical. To them, the year 2012 wouldn't have been the end of the world, but would rather be much more like the year 2000 was for us; the day when we throw a huge party, roll over the big number at the front, and then start all over again (and for them it would also involve building all of their pyramids one level higher).

As for the singularity thing, funnily enough for the first time we're reaching the point where past trends show that it actually will happen in the current lifetime of the younger people who are alive today (as opposed to people just predicting it in their lifetime because they want it to happen then). Of course there's no guarantee that Moore's law will actually hold that long without running into problems, but it's something to keep in mind.

[hops]

@Cinder I'm a sick person, I can't get enough.  I have to hold back for decency sake

What?

[Orange Wizard]

He just loves dem internet arguments.

[Rolan7]

What?

I enjoy inane internet debates, particularly when they spiral out of control.
But that's *awful* so I do my best not to incite them.  Here, anyway.

I actually join arguments on youtube sometimes.  It's great.  I am a troll

He just loves dem internet arguments.

u wot m8, u wanna go?

You missed the part where Star Wars was supposed to present this distant future sci-fi setting where technology is far and away superior to our current(in the 80s) technology. And even they didn't think of advanced tech like this. That's what I was trying to say. Basically saying that reality is making cooler stuff than what fantasy could predict.

I was being "clever".  Star Wars takes place a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away.