My random thoughts

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funkervogt
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Re: My random thoughts

Post by funkervogt »

One reason I'd like to have an ultra tough robot body is I'd be able to be around dangerous animals without risk to myself.

Imagine spending a year living with a herd of wild elephants.
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funkervogt
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Re: My random thoughts

Post by funkervogt »

I can't believe how dumb the workers at my local Home Depot hardware store are. The basics of inventory management routinely escape them, and half the time I go there, I have to talk to a manager because some item they're supposed to have 100 units of on a shelf is not there. And no, this isn't a recent problem that is thanks to the global shipping backup.

The aisles are disorganized, I can see lots of stuff that has fallen backward off the shelves, landed on the ground in somewhat inaccessible places, and probably been forgotten about by the staff because they don't want to bother crouching down to get it and dragging it out into the aisle to be put back in its proper place.

I talk to staff, and most of them are clueless (though a minority are very smart and helpful) about trades, home repair, or even the contents of their own store. If you don't know anything, then at least focus on straightening up the aisles and counting inventory. There's no excuse for not knowing how to do that, unless you're mentally disabled.

This kind of incompetence hits home how we're going to be eaten alive by intelligent machines someday. It won't be long before we can build robots that can drive down each aisle of Home Depot, visually count the items, and then move them around. Even if the robots took three times longer to do these tasks than reasonably competent humans, it would destroy tons of jobs (the robots would probably do this overnight). And what a good riddance it will be to some of these people.
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funkervogt
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Re: My random thoughts

Post by funkervogt »

Here are two, related predictions:

1) Robot chefs that are better than 99% of human chefs will exist by the middle of this century. They will be able to download recipes and prepare nearly any kind of dish so long as the ingredients are at hand. It will be common for restaurants and higher-income households to have robot chefs. This will change the dining experience, as it will become possible to customize meals to higher degrees, and to order varieties of food that one human chef couldn't learn how to cook well over a lifetime of learning.

And since robots will work for free, the costs of prepared meals will drop. Thanks to robot chefs, average people will be able to afford meals that only the rich can get today, and at elite restaurants.
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginal ... -chef.html

2) Also by midcentury, your personal assistant AI will, through observation and collaboration with the robot chefs you interact with, deduce what your taste preferences are to a high degree of accuracy. With that information, machines could reliably recommend new foods that you were guaranteed to enjoy.

For the first time in human history, it will be possible for people to figure out, for once and all, what the very best-tasting meals are, at least according to their individual tastes. Imagine a billion varieties of deluxe hamburgers, each subtly catered to a specific human's tastes.

Such a thing would also undermine the social status that rich people in the 2050s would try to derive from eating dishes that are still too expensive for average people for whatever reason. For example, let's say "wild opossum and Great White fin sushi" gets popular among rich people because the scarcity of the ingredients makes it too expensive for ordinary people to afford. All the rich eat it and brag about it.

You, an average schmuck, ask your personal assistant AI about it, and it tells you that, based on your personal taste profile, you'd find that weird sushi to be inferior and less complex than your preferred macaroni, cheese and bacon pot, so you're not missing anything.
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funkervogt
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Re: My random thoughts

Post by funkervogt »

Posthumans will be able to regrow limbs and to recover from catastrophic injuries without surgery. And if they had brains distributed throughout their bodies, one posthuman cut in two could gradually regenerate until both halves were complete individuals with the same memories and personalities. Flatworms can already do this.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/arc ... lf/620344/
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funkervogt
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Re: My random thoughts

Post by funkervogt »

By 2100, these three things will exist for sure:

1) Multitudes of narrow AIs, often paired to robot bodies, that can do specific tasks as well as humans or better, and at lower cost. Countless jobs will be automated.

2) Cheap, lag-free FIVR that lets humans remotely control robots. Countless jobs that are now protected from offshoring because they involve physical labor will no longer be protected. The "person" fixing your air conditioner in 2100 might be someone in Africa or India, in their rented VR immersion booth.

3) Narrow AIs that can watch individual humans and recognize what they are doing and saying, from moment to moment. This will allow for highly accurate quantification of work output and work competency. The impact on pay, hiring, firing, and promotions is clear. The workplace would be more meritocratic and competitive than ever.

Note that I've made no mention of AGI. In omitting it and focusing on simpler technologies, I hope to illustrate how we're headed for profound shifts in labor and the job market no matter what.
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funkervogt
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Re: My random thoughts

Post by funkervogt »

A man in Norway went on a rampage yesterday (apparently fueled by mental illness and belief in the worst kind of interpretation of Islam) and killed five people with a bow and arrow. It's remarkable he was able to do that with such a primitive and difficult-to-master weapon.

Also yesterday, a U.S. robotics company unveiled a new combat robot that looks like a large dog with a sniper rifle on its back.
https://www.popsci.com/technology/ghost ... un-lethal/

In the future, when robots are common sights in everyday life and have superhuman reflexes and at least human-levels of dexterity, they will be able to use simple weapons and objects to injure or kill large numbers of us. Imagine a humanoid robot chef that is not stronger than the average human, but has much better physical coordination, allowing it to throw kitchen knives with enough accuracy and precision to hit something the size of a pie plate over and over again from 20 meters away. In the hands of robots like that, even a cheap bow meant for children to use could become an instrument of mass murder.
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Re: My random thoughts

Post by wjfox »

funkervogt wrote: Fri Oct 01, 2021 2:52 am One reason I'd like to have an ultra tough robot body is I'd be able to be around dangerous animals without risk to myself.

Imagine spending a year living with a herd of wild elephants.

Or perhaps you, yourself, could have your mind uploaded to an elephant's body. Actually be an elephant for a while. :)

Same with numerous other species. I'd quite like to be an eagle and go flying for a few days.
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funkervogt
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Re: My random thoughts

Post by funkervogt »

A few days ago, I called the clinic to make an appointment. A black lady picked up, and she had such an engaging, warm and happy personality, that I found myself smiling within a few seconds and noticed my own mood brighten. This was all the more remarkable since the called was at the end of the work day, when most people are tired and want to go home. I have no idea who she was, but she has stuck out in my mind.

Imagine how much more pleasant the world will be once intelligent machines run everything, and they're programmed to have personalities like that woman's. There would probably be a measurable benefit to the population's mental health.

Science fiction usually depicts future robots as being cold, toneless and obtuse, but I think the opposite will turn out to be true. They will be livelier, nicer, and easier to deal with than average humans.
Redspector
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Re: My random thoughts

Post by Redspector »

funkervogt wrote: Fri Oct 15, 2021 6:34 pm A few days ago, I called the clinic to make an appointment. A black lady picked up, and she had such an engaging, warm and happy personality, that I found myself smiling within a few seconds and noticed my own mood brighten. This was all the more remarkable since the called was at the end of the work day, when most people are tired and want to go home. I have no idea who she was, but she has stuck out in my mind.

Imagine how much more pleasant the world will be once intelligent machines run everything, and they're programmed to have personalities like that woman's. There would probably be a measurable benefit to the population's mental health.

Science fiction usually depicts future robots as being cold, toneless and obtuse, but I think the opposite will turn out to be true. They will be livelier, nicer, and easier to deal with than average humans.
Intelligent machines under capitalism will be used to figure out better ways to seize more capital for elitists. You should know better than this Funkerloser.
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funkervogt
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Re: My random thoughts

Post by funkervogt »

You need to grow up.
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