I’ve been following this thread, and it naturally raises the question of narrow AI versus general AI—AI vs. AGI.
I see today’s AI as fantastic and highly valuable, but I don’t expect true AGI anytime soon. In certain narrow applications, AI can already generate new scientific insights—AlphaFold is a good example. But even AlphaFold didn’t invent the underlying approach itself; humans designed that. For me, AI won’t replace creative human thinking. The person in charge still needs to grasp the big picture and the core concepts, even if not every detail. That leads to two scenarios: A human who knows what they want, understands the big picture and the fundamentals, and simply needs a diligent assistant to carry out instructions. A human with a grand vision but little grasp of the core concepts, who expects the system to figure it all out. With today’s AI, the first scenario works brilliantly—it’s useful and productive. The second scenario, however, will likely lead to disappointment, since current AI doesn’t truly understand fundamentals; it mostly imitates. I believe achieving AGI will require a fundamentally new approach. But as things stand, if you pair a human who knows what they want with today’s narrow AI, the result is incredibly powerful. In the hands of creative humans, it’s an amazing tool. On Thu, 4 Sept 2025 at 20:24, Marcus Daniels <[email protected]> wrote: > Glen writes: > > "And even if we don't, we can just puncture your skin a little bit and > move > on. There are plenty more where you came from." > > Perhaps it is good if Big AI is too big to fail? Malfunctioning people > end > up on welfare, in prison, or are on fentanyl. Some die, and teeny tiny > fraction of them are put to death. This isn't an example of good problem > solving by our society. If everyone comes to depend on AI to be relevant > employees, or if AIs regulate and operate critical machinery, then AI > better > work. This artifact of humanity needs to get debugged, not merely left > to > use the sidewalk as a bathroom. > > Marcus > .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. / > ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom > https://bit.ly/virtualfriam > to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > archives: 5/2017 thru present > https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ >
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