Russell:The mistake of trying to reach truth by pure armchair thought was
understandable in ancient Greece. We now know better.So attractive as the
image of a Transcendent Power popping out of a basement may be to us geeks,
it doesn't have anything to do with
reality. Making smarter machines in the real world is, like every
other engineering activity, a process that has to take place _in_ the
real world
Just so. I called it the Bookroom Fantasy, (you're almost calling it the
Armchair Fallacy), and it does go back philosophically to the Greeks. It
all depends on what the Greeks started - the era of rationality, (in the
technical sense of the rational sign systems of logic, maths, and, to an
extent, language). In rational systems it IS possible to reach truth to a
great extent by pure armchair thought - but only truths about rational
systems themselves. And you "geeks" (your word) don't seem to have noticed
that these systems, while extremely valuable, are only used in strictly
limited ways in the real world, & real-world problem solving - and actually
pride themselves on being somewhat divorced from reality.
"I like mathematics because it is not human and has nothing particular to do
with this planet or with the whole accidental universe .
Bertrand Russell
Mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what we are
talking about, nor whether what we are saying is true.
Bertrand Russell
As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain;
and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.
Einstein"
The fantasy of super-accelerating intelligence is based on such a simplistic
armchair fallacy. And it's ironic because it's cropping up just as the era
of rationality is ending. I haven't seen its equivalent, though, in any
other area of our culture besides AGI. Roboticists don't seem to have it.
What's replacing rationality? I'm still thinking about the best term. I
think it's probably *creativity*.
The rational era believed in humans as rational animals using pure reason -
and especially rational systems - to think about the world.
The new creative era is recognizing that thinking about the world, or indeed
anything, involves
Reason + Emotion + Imagination [Reflective] + Enactment/Embodied Thought +
Imagination[Direct Sensory]
Reason + Generativity + Research + Investigation.
Science + Technology + Arts + History. (the last two are totally ignored by
rationalists although they are of equal weight in the real world
intellectual economy).
Rationality is fragmented, specialised (incl. narrow AI) thinking.
Creativity is unified, general thinking.
-------------------------------------------
agi
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