Post AU6yy0IZ2MIGHhXiFc by mittensmcsmithers@mastodon.world
 (DIR) More posts by mittensmcsmithers@mastodon.world
 (DIR) Post #AU6yxzX3syIPuNJmD2 by stationkeeper@masto.ai
       2023-03-29T14:19:51Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       To be clear, AI does not in fact think or reason.  All it's able to do is deconstruct your input and give you the content that is statistically most likely to satisfy your request, just like Eliza did in the  80s.  It responds with a massive number of possible canned answers with the new trick of mashing a bunch of them up so it looks like thought, but it gives you the words without knowing what the words mean. #ChatGPT #AI
       
 (DIR) Post #AU6yy0IZ2MIGHhXiFc by mittensmcsmithers@mastodon.world
       2023-03-29T14:27:03Z
       
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       @stationkeeper Yep.  I keep trying to explain to the "freaker-outers" that the term, artificial intelligence" is a misnomer at best, pure marketing horseshit at worst.There IS NO SUCH THING as "artificial intelligence", and it is unlikely to be a thing for several decades--if ever.  Machines don't think or reason; they calculate algorithms based on data provided by people.
       
 (DIR) Post #AU6yy14QAQZgg7vvqS by BarrenPlanet@c.im
       2023-03-29T15:17:11Z
       
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       @mittensmcsmithers @stationkeeper It's a foundational assumption of modern cognitive science that even human brains are 'merely' information-processors, too.We're *all* machines, every single entity in the biosphere. The reason there's no such thing as AI isn't because machines can't think or reason, but because it's impossible to define 'artificial' without resorting to old-fashioned dualism.
       
 (DIR) Post #AU6zjGnNWFtf3kUh4C by stationkeeper@masto.ai
       2023-03-29T15:25:44Z
       
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       @BarrenPlanet That's a really good point.  I think the main difference is that an AI can tell you some words but can't (yet) understand what they mean or what impact they have and why.I ran into a fascinating article yesterday and am still in the process of trying to understand it fully, but highly recommend it:https://stratechery.com/2023/chatgpt-learns-computing/
       
 (DIR) Post #AU70epkGFX2ZxbU6D2 by BarrenPlanet@c.im
       2023-03-29T15:36:09Z
       
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       @stationkeeper I see your Stratechery article (which I will digest shortly!), and raise you one wonderfully insightful transcript of a 1999 speech by Daniel C. Dennett, in which AI is mentioned.It's a defense of functionalism in brain research. I wish all those who are insufficiently wary and dismissive of the amazingly rapid - and continuing - progress in machine learning would read it, before cranking out their tired and long-discredited "computers can't think" arguments.They themselves are walking proof that computers can, indeed, think.https://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/dennett/papers/zombic.htm
       
 (DIR) Post #AU73FrM1QhyBZcviYS by mittensmcsmithers@mastodon.world
       2023-03-29T16:05:13Z
       
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       @BarrenPlanet Excellent point