ONIONS?!?!??!?!?!?! ONIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
O N I O N S ! ! ! ! ! ! [catches breath] Okay, lets' talk about Reality. Reality is that we Don't Have Much Time. While much of what I'm about to say is colored by my own rather dire life circumstances, these are facts and they should not be forgotten as easily as people here seem to prefer. =| Indeed, the fact that I'm having such a difficult time in my life is actually a pretty good proxy measure of the state of western civilization. Lets start with THE MOST IMPORTANT FACT about our world today. http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/total-fertility-rate/ For your convenience, let me pull out the figures for countries that can be said to be in the AI race right now: United States 1.886 children per woman United Kingdom 1.871 children per woman Australia 1.832 children per woman China 1.635 children per woman Iran 1.621 children per woman Japan 1.478 children per woman Germany 1.47 children per woman Hong Kong 1.326 children per woman South Korea 1.323 children per woman Singapore 1.26 children per woman Taiwan 1.218 children per woman Russia 1.751 children per woman France 1.973 children per woman Spain 1.391 children per woman For Good Time(tm) cross correlate this table with a table of average population IQ by country. These numbers cannot be explained as cyclical noise, in that case I'd expect a random distribution within a standard deviation of the Magic Number of 2.3. While listing the causes of these numbers would take many hundreds of killobytes and would make quite fascinating reading, it's a bit off topic. If you want to research this, read up on something called the Club of Rome and then examine how issues of population, have been either focused on or completely ignored over the decades. What's really really important, are the effects. Individually, they might be able to be written off but taken over time, and in sequence there is one that is overwhelming in importance: CIVILIZATIONAL COLLAPSE! The exact mechanics of this is beyond the scope of this post but if you have any doubts, please do some research on how money and finance work, especially pension obligations and how they over-tax the younger generation, preventing them from starting families and thus leading to a cascade.... The Big Weenie keeps talking about how people use a linear model to project change, and proposes that change happens exponentially. There is another phenomenon too, the tipping point. As western societies enter terminal decline, they will succumb to societies that are reproducing. Technology is irrelevant. IQ is irrelevant. Demographics are an overpowering force. In Europe, it is proving extremely difficult to muster the political will to do anything. In America we managed to elect a President. He promised to build a wall. It may not be the right thing, or the best thing, but it recognizes that there is a problem and provides a positive plan to do something about it. Then look at who is opposing him and how desperate they are that he not succeed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2qIXXafxCQ Want to know the tragic truth about Trump? He had to wait for the system to be on the verge of collapse on its own before he could have any chance of success at all. At the same time, it is not at all clear that he still has enough time to turn things around. He wants to. You see, the economy died in 2008. The sham that was erected in its place will collapse over the next few months. People will suffer. There are many things that he simply cannot fix. He has 41,000 sealed indictments and counting, it's not certain that he will be able to serve these. =\ What I am saying is that not even considering or personal mortality, we have a painfully finite amount of time within which it will be possible to pursue advanced research, even if only in the evenings, in our basements and garages. But let's continue with this line of thought. The most difficult thing for any rational person to comprehend is that the most important political force in the world today is communism. Communism has only one possible outcome, but people continue to push it without hesitation. (!!!) If you are against communism then therefore you can do no right, no matter how much of a paragon of virtue you think you are, or how many awards you have to prove it. If you are a good communist then you are a wonderful person, it doesn't matter how many kids you sacrificed in a satanic sex ritual the night before. No scientific question or finding that does not support communism or it's siblings/offspring, such as feminism, Social Justice, etc can be suffered. If you discover something that contradicts any sub-type of communist thought then it is inherently wrong, you are evil, and must be barred from whatever institution you are a member of. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSxN-61Oguk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVDjrPS3_7k << hey look! the Gadfather! =P https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_m8VQbPY_A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i80qaETtw8 aw, heck with cherry picking, here's the entire search, (SJW = a type of communist) https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sjw+anti-science It is becoming increasingly difficult to pursue the basic research that is required to develop AI, or at least one that's healthy, stable, and safe to use. At this point it appears to be impossible to pursue research in a university setting, very difficult in any large company. It may be possible to do research in small to medium size companies but it will be an uphill battle to ward off infiltration from communists. While I am happy that there is now an AI arms race, just as I am frustrated that there seems to be no possibility for me to participate in it myself, we are not just in an arms race, we are in a TIME race. Things will change and it will not be because of a preordained sweep of history, but because of the actual conditions right now. In terms of bobbles and shiny toys things look great, 32 core EPYC! 7nm AMD Vega GPU... Nvidia Titan V, but if you zoom out a bit, you must remember that these things require a reliable and copious supply of electricity, a stockpile of ramen noodles, and a safe and peaceful community. These are things we should not take for granted. There might be other possibilities but we really Need AI and we need it SOON. I want a nice million ton starship with FTL capability and to get the hell out of this terminally stupid quadrant of the galaxy as soon as possible. =| (Kirk's ship is listed at 200,000 tons...) I know, I know, thinking about reality, in its totality and in its practical implications is both hard and scary, so I have an idea! Instead of thinking about reality and how to survive it, lets think about onions. Ps: Philosophy according to The Onion? =P -- Please report bounces from this address to a...@numentics.com Powers are not rights. ------------------------------------------ Artificial General Intelligence List: AGI Permalink: https://agi.topicbox.com/groups/agi/T56889bf27bc7ed87-Mc77b421370aee695b99f218b Delivery options: https://agi.topicbox.com/groups/agi/subscription
