On 1/6/2023 4:57 AM, John Clark wrote:
On Thu, Jan 5, 2023 at 2:30 PM spudboy100 via Everything List
<everything-list@googlegroups.com> wrote:
https://phys.org/news/2023-01-scientific-breakthroughs.html
<https://phys.org/news/2023-01-scientific-breakthroughs.html>
/> Will AI ever come to the rescue or is there some
unanticipated physical limit on humanity's part?/
Although it's hard define an objective standard for such things I
can't help but feel that society changed more between 1900 and 1950
than between 1950 and 2000, that's because before 1900 we didn't know
a lot about electricity so the common man saw few if any occasions of
it being put into practical use; and before 1900 we didn't have a
technological ability to mass produce light strong parts at an
affordable price that had the precision needed for an internal
combustion engine. History shows that when a breakthrough is made
you'll get a huge change in the way we live with the rate gradually
tapering off until the next breakthrough. Today 2 breakthroughs are
clearly on the horizon, Nanotechnology and AI, and they have huge and
possibly infinite potential because as Richard Feynman said "there's
plenty of room at the bottom", and because there's no obvious limit on
how smart something can be.
I think we're entering a time when more technical advances will be
made but *NOT* by human beings and, depending on your perspective and
that of the machines, AI will either come to our rescue or put
scientists and engineers out of a job. There is a very good talk [the
link is below] clearly making the case that Earth may be the only
place in the observable universe where intelligent creatures evolved
(intelligence being operationally defined as the ability to make a
radio telescope). To some that may seem like a depressing conclusion
but to me it is not because, despite looking for over half a century
with ever larger and more sensitive telescopes, we have never seen
even a hint of ET or his engineering and there are only 2 viable
explanations for that:
*1)* For some unknown reason life is unable to make a significant
impact on the universe.
*2) *The observable universe is finite so somebody has to be the
first, and we are it.
I personally find the second possibility less depressing than the
first, but your mileage may vary and there is no disputing matters of
taste.
Or *3)* No industrialized civilization lasts very long.
Brent
Why we might be alone
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcInt58juL4&list=PLYXp_rV1HrBCeY7PFcEN72oPeEmBHCVJv&index=22>
John K Clark See what's on my new list at Extropolis
<https://groups.google.com/g/extropolis>
84n
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