AI will create new "frictions" and with them the need for the cultivation of new capacities. I agree that if is not about finding new niches in the market economy. It is about preparing to succeed in a radically different world. I am putting all my bets into this new capacity being wisdom, not the classical one, but a modern one that I have called 'material' because it is about finding how to engage the materiality of this new world. And that will bring forth a lot of 'friction'.
When the resurrected forces of AI depleted friction burn through to consciousness then our modus becomingus splutters into forwards gear one more time.
In lifting, you do a few heavy lifts to build strength and more lighter lifts to build muscle size. AI saves writing time and therefore encourages fewer heavy lifts but more reps. The question becomes: Is it possible to mitigate quality loss with volume increases? Depends on the value of the additional output, I suppose.
It's becoming clear that with all the brain and consciousness theories out there, the proof will be in the pudding. By this I mean, can any particular theory be used to create a human adult level conscious machine. My bet is on the late Gerald Edelman's Extended Theory of Neuronal Group Selection. The lead group in robotics based on this theory is the Neurorobotics Lab at UC at Irvine. Dr. Edelman distinguished between primary consciousness, which came first in evolution, and that humans share with other conscious animals, and higher order consciousness, which came to only humans with the acquisition of language. A machine with only primary consciousness will probably have to come first.
What I find special about the TNGS is the Darwin series of automata created at the Neurosciences Institute by Dr. Edelman and his colleagues in the 1990's and 2000's. These machines perform in the real world, not in a restricted simulated world, and display convincing physical behavior indicative of higher psychological functions necessary for consciousness, such as perceptual categorization, memory, and learning. They are based on realistic models of the parts of the biological brain that the theory claims subserve these functions. The extended TNGS allows for the emergence of consciousness based only on further evolutionary development of the brain areas responsible for these functions, in a parsimonious way. No other research I've encountered is anywhere near as convincing.
I post because on almost every video and article about the brain and consciousness that I encounter, the attitude seems to be that we still know next to nothing about how the brain and consciousness work; that there's lots of data but no unifying theory. I believe the extended TNGS is that theory. My motivation is to keep that theory in front of the public. And obviously, I consider it the route to a truly conscious machine, primary and higher-order.
My advice to people who want to create a conscious machine is to seriously ground themselves in the extended TNGS and the Darwin automata first, and proceed from there, by applying to Jeff Krichmar's lab at UC Irvine, possibly. Dr. Edelman's roadmap to a conscious machine is at https://arxiv.org/abs/2105.10461, and here is a video of Jeff Krichmar talking about some of the Darwin automata, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7Uh9phc1Ow
"The deeper question is what happens to us when the struggle becomes optional."
Congratulations. You now realized what Frank Herbert ORIGINALLY wanted to be the reason behind the Butlerian Jihad...not what his son wrote (which is basically to copy-cat Terminator but with drugged psychic witches).
Yes I am still salty about Dune Prequels even after decades later.
AI will create new "frictions" and with them the need for the cultivation of new capacities. I agree that if is not about finding new niches in the market economy. It is about preparing to succeed in a radically different world. I am putting all my bets into this new capacity being wisdom, not the classical one, but a modern one that I have called 'material' because it is about finding how to engage the materiality of this new world. And that will bring forth a lot of 'friction'.
Great piece Carlo. I especially like the angle on insisting on friction in processes, and actively seeking it. Huge personal fan of that!
When the resurrected forces of AI depleted friction burn through to consciousness then our modus becomingus splutters into forwards gear one more time.
In lifting, you do a few heavy lifts to build strength and more lighter lifts to build muscle size. AI saves writing time and therefore encourages fewer heavy lifts but more reps. The question becomes: Is it possible to mitigate quality loss with volume increases? Depends on the value of the additional output, I suppose.
It's becoming clear that with all the brain and consciousness theories out there, the proof will be in the pudding. By this I mean, can any particular theory be used to create a human adult level conscious machine. My bet is on the late Gerald Edelman's Extended Theory of Neuronal Group Selection. The lead group in robotics based on this theory is the Neurorobotics Lab at UC at Irvine. Dr. Edelman distinguished between primary consciousness, which came first in evolution, and that humans share with other conscious animals, and higher order consciousness, which came to only humans with the acquisition of language. A machine with only primary consciousness will probably have to come first.
What I find special about the TNGS is the Darwin series of automata created at the Neurosciences Institute by Dr. Edelman and his colleagues in the 1990's and 2000's. These machines perform in the real world, not in a restricted simulated world, and display convincing physical behavior indicative of higher psychological functions necessary for consciousness, such as perceptual categorization, memory, and learning. They are based on realistic models of the parts of the biological brain that the theory claims subserve these functions. The extended TNGS allows for the emergence of consciousness based only on further evolutionary development of the brain areas responsible for these functions, in a parsimonious way. No other research I've encountered is anywhere near as convincing.
I post because on almost every video and article about the brain and consciousness that I encounter, the attitude seems to be that we still know next to nothing about how the brain and consciousness work; that there's lots of data but no unifying theory. I believe the extended TNGS is that theory. My motivation is to keep that theory in front of the public. And obviously, I consider it the route to a truly conscious machine, primary and higher-order.
My advice to people who want to create a conscious machine is to seriously ground themselves in the extended TNGS and the Darwin automata first, and proceed from there, by applying to Jeff Krichmar's lab at UC Irvine, possibly. Dr. Edelman's roadmap to a conscious machine is at https://arxiv.org/abs/2105.10461, and here is a video of Jeff Krichmar talking about some of the Darwin automata, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7Uh9phc1Ow
"The deeper question is what happens to us when the struggle becomes optional."
Congratulations. You now realized what Frank Herbert ORIGINALLY wanted to be the reason behind the Butlerian Jihad...not what his son wrote (which is basically to copy-cat Terminator but with drugged psychic witches).
Yes I am still salty about Dune Prequels even after decades later.