Philosophy: oracles and artificial intelligence

15 мая 2023 г. In this ~35 minute walk I talk about philosophical themes related to artificial intelligence and our attitudes towards it. In outline: * There are similarities between modern attitudes towards AI and how ancient folks would treat oracles as authoritative and infallible. * Story about the Oracle of Apollon in Delphi and how it would provide non-answers to questions that could not be reduced to a “yes or no“. * Explanation of how we must think about complexity and what our attitude should be towards presumed oracular wisdom. * Oracles or AI are neither good nor bad. It depends on how we deal with them. Discussion about being gullible or not. * Story about Prometheus, the know-how of fire, and whether tools are good/bad for us. * Avoiding extremes by trying to be less presumptuous about our capacity for good/evil. * Switching gears to individuals affairs. Talk about feelings of expertise; of setting goals and accomplishing them. * There is value to be had in mastery, in not copy-pasting answers,` but in actually understanding things in-depth. * Talk about how prior notes/work frames and limits our creativity. AI can do the same if we get in the bad habit of not putting in the hard work. * Connection between these insights and what I covered at length in my presentation about “productivity, honesty, and accountability structures“: * Do not underestimate your potential and how you can feel inexorable when you put in the effort. * * * Find all my publications on my website: