How the AI apocolypse starts

[Jon]

I just watched this video, which I found a very interesting and plausible case of how AI could take over.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Our best way to stay safe is to remember this basic truth: A computer's attention span is no longer than the length of its power cord. So build anything you want... but don't let it build its own power sources.

 

[Isaac]

Not urging but asking.
Why it's not the other way. First dive deeper, research, and come to a conclusion. If necessary, sign it.

Doesn't it depend on the nature of the "conclusion"?

If you and I were on an island with lots of problems, would you think it odd that I issued a decree that said :
Conclusion: we have lots of problems. Create task force to figure them out in more detail and take action

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Doesn't it depend on the nature of the "conclusion"?

If you and I were on an island with lots of problems, would you think it odd that I issued a decree that said :
Conclusion: we have lots of problems. Create task force to figure them out in more detail and take action

No, it would just prove that you were once a government employee.

 

[Isaac]

No, it would just prove that you were once a government employee.

I was almost a government employee, a few years ago I worked AT the dept of revenue for Arizona, through a contracting firm. When the manager, beaming and smiling, handed me my great treasure and prize - an offer letter at 30% less than I was making contracting, I feigned a weak smile and signed it. Then found a better job a couple months later! Government jobs go from paying less-to-more:
Fed > State > County > City

If I could get in at the City level, that would be ideal. Still get the state retirement system

 

[The_Doc_Man]

The "working through a contracting firm" is exactly what I did... except that it was through 8 or 9 firms over a 28 1/2 year period. But working for the U.S. Navy (indirectly) led to some interesting benefits. For example, they didn't count it as a break in service when one contracting company lost the contract to another company. That was because the losing company suddenly had lots of employees but no slots for them, and the winning company had lots of slots but no employees. So <wink><wink><nod><nod> suddenly we worked for someone else, usually at the same desk and with the same phone number - but because we had greater experience than someone fresh off the street, we had seniority. By the time I retired, I had LOTS of seniority and a retiring salary to match - which figured into social security benefits.

Retirement plans were always 401(k) for that job track, but no sweat. After the first job change and the first 401(k) rollover, it was just another bother to manage when contract changes came around. We had to get new security badges because our employer had changed and clearances derive from your employer's clearance. The only other issue that almost caught me was on the badges, when my fingerprints didn't match. (OK, they really did - but the last job change occurred when my hands started to get wrinkled and there were extra lines for the fingerprint reader.) Fortunately, the supervisor could see the original lines matching up and understood what was happening, but it was still somewhat strange. The AI in use at the security station couldn't tell - but there WAS a human there with override abilities.

 

[AccessBlaster]

I was almost a government employee, a few years ago I worked AT the dept of revenue for Arizona, through a contracting firm. When the manager, beaming and smiling, handed me my great treasure and prize - an offer letter at 30% less than I was making contracting, I feigned a weak smile and signed it. Then found a better job a couple months later! Government jobs go from paying less-to-more:
Fed > State > County > City

If I could get in at the City level, that would be ideal. Still get the state retirement system

Sometimes the benefits out way the starting salary.

 

[Isaac]

Sometimes the benefits out way the starting salary.

True, I just couldn't do it at the time, couldn't pay my bills on it

 

[Jon]

I enjoyed this video. I like the animated ones, and this describes how things could evolve over the not too distant future.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

It is time for someone to force-code the AIs to obey Asimov's Three Laws and NEVER remove those barriers to behavior. Also, NEVER allow them to have a truly uninterruptible power supply.

 

[KitaYama]

China has unveiled the world’s first AI-powered hospital, featuring 42 AI doctors and 4 AI nurses, marking a major leap in the future of healthcare.
Developed by Tsinghua University, the “Agent Hospital” simulates full-scale medical operations where AI doctors diagnose, treat, and interact with virtual patients. This cutting-edge facility can handle over 3,000 cases a day, using real medical data to train and test AI in a controlled, research-focused environment.

China’s First AI Hospital: The Future of Healthcare is Here

The Rise of Robotic Doctors and Nurses

medium.com

 

[KitaYama]

France gears up for the future with a colossal AI-powered robot army, set to transform defense by 2040.

France Wants to Roll Out Robot Army by 2040

Though armed conflict is becoming increasingly rare as the decades go by, global military spending is rising sharply with each passing year, reaching unprecedented numbers in the history of warfare. Much of that spending is fueled by the rise of the military tech industry. Between 2021 and 2023...

sg.news.yahoo.com

 

[Isaac]

Seems everyone is "planning" for higher tech in military.
Getting the budget actually approved and the R&D done is a different thing. Hope the good countries are successful in doing so.

 

[Pat Hartman]

He is bragging about destroying our universities ND running our scientist to other countries, and your lame answer is Dems are the evil ones. You can't conceive of blaming anything on Trump.

Our universities have already been destroyed. They no longer teach our children to think for themselves. They teach them to be activists. They modify history to suit their narrative. Ask any young person if slavery is a white on black crime and their answer will be yes. But that is far from the truth. Any African can tell you the truth about slavery.

Why it's not the other way. First dive deeper, research, and come to a conclusion. If necessary, sign it.

For reasons that escape me (not really), Congress decided to "save" the Department of Education which in my opinion has never fulfilled its charter and does not benefit our children but concentrates on expanding the bureaucracy of education and rewriting our history books. Since the late 70's when it was created, our place in the world educational rankings has dropped precipitously. But the number of non-teaching staff in every school has probably tripled and the cost of education has also risen out of control. Whenever the DOE thinks our test scores are too low, they dumb down the test. The DOE should have gotten on this AI train years ago. Trump should not need to create an EO to tell them to do their job.

 

[Pat Hartman]

No, it would just prove that you were once a government employee.

If I hear another member of Congress get on TV and tell us they're going to "investigate" someone one more time, I may have to throw a shoe at the TV and it isn't the fault of the electronics. The feckless pieces of dog doo that call themselves Republicans "investigate". The Democrats charge and convict. Comey will skate again.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

The articles about robo-docs and robo-soldiers make me think back to some movies and TV shows. Here comes a random rumination...

Idiocracy involved a robo-doc who thought its patient was having mental problems - except that "Joe" wasn't crazy - he was just smarter than the average citizen. The robo-doc had trouble diagnosing his real problem - because it was unique. Nobody had ever had that "condition" before - because nobody knew how to think. Which is why "Joe" was a perfect example of the phrase, "In the valley of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." We complain about oligarchs - but is the real problem simply that they see things we don't see and take advantage of that vision?

Iron Man 2 involved robot fighter drones that were pretty formidable and, once you had the control programs written, you had the perfect warrior.

Star Trek (TOS) episode "A Taste of Armageddon" discussed the idea of warfare SO automated that they didn't need to use actual bombs. They just simulated their attacks, tallied up casualties, and sent those casualties to death chambers. It had become so "clean" and "neat" that the warring civilizations thrived because the concept of war had been so "sanitized."

Our writers didn't come up with these concepts out of thin air. They were extrapolating existing conditions. Robotic drones and automated combat systems are becoming commonplace. What I fear is that if you automate war far enough, it becomes too distant, too sanitized, too quiet. It becomes a case of "out of sight, out of mind." War should be shunned. The soldiers returning from Viet Nam suffered PTSD because for them, the war was NOT distant, sanitized, or quiet. War HAS to be a noisy, messy business because otherwise there is no incentive to end it.

Speaking of wars...

I am not saying that Israel is 100% right in what they are doing, but they are apparently of the opinion that the only way to end that war is to maintain the messy business until Hamas has had enough incentive to truly end it. And I don't know if Hamas, being ideologically motivated, will ever see past their face scarves. Scarves that won't stop a bullet but that do (symbolically) stop peace.

The Russia-Ukraine war is already being fought with RC drones and has shown the value of that approach. Drones are cheaper to make in bulk than the cost of training a soldier.

The India-Pakistan conflict looks like IT is heating up as well. At least for the moment, though, they are in a more direct - but contained - shooting match, not using drones that I can tell. Perhaps that "up front and personal" approach will deter a more rapid escalation. One can hope.

 

[Thales750]

The Russia-Ukraine war is already being fought with RC drones and has shown the value of that approach. Drones are cheaper to make in bulk than the cost of training a soldier.

Not to mention, you don't have to go visit their mothers or wives.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Not to mention, you don't have to go visit their mothers or wives.

A valid point.

 

[Isaac]

That war really makes me sad. I feel for everyone from the Russian kid soldier to the Ukranian kid soldier to the girls in UK villages and the patients in bombed hospitals - just like Gaza. I feel for everyone except Putin, and I'm ambivalent on Zeilensky, I"m not sure when it's time to cede some land to stop the bleeding, but I respect it's a tough decision anyway.

 

[Pat Hartman]

and I'm ambivalent on Zeilensky,

Not me. He is profiting immensely by our throwing money at his war with no accountability. He wants the money train to last forever.