Recent comments in /f/Futurology

Tomycj t1_ja58z8w wrote

Reply to ‘We have made science fiction come true!’ Scientists prove particles in a quantum system can be rejuvenated by Gari_305

Aww it looks like the article is too simplified so I don't get what was really achieved without the clickbait, but the paper itself (there doesn't seem to be a link) is probably too complicated to understand.

Can this, for example, change the observed half-life of particles or atoms? That would be very weird (and cool!), so I doubt it.

>Time passes regardless, and it is the physical state that changes

are they not the same? How can you tell if time is going backwards, or cars are just going in reverse?

>To make a system age 10 years in one year, you must get the other nine years from somewhere

So maybe to increase the half life of something, they need to decrease the half life of something else?

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_China_ThrowAway t1_ja58knl wrote

Reply to How far off are we from not needing to learn languages? by AmericanMonsterCock

I moved to China a long time ago (pre smartphones) and learned Chinese. I don’t regret it one bit, it has definitely made life a lot easier and opened up new doors, but it has been interesting to watch the translation apps evolve over the last 15 years. Today it’s incredibly common for new arrivals to never learn any Chinese but regularly use the inbuilt image and text translation function on wechat (the Chinese mega app). It’s not remotely perfect and they are missing out on a lot of environmental language, but it’s already to the point where you can live in a country where almost no one speaks your language and not only survive but actually thrive. I think socially acceptable wearables (glasses/contacts and hearing aid like devices) will be a game changer though. When translation in audio-visually imposed, it might possibly to really live in the world and never learn a new language (like in Star Trek with the universal translator).

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iHaveABigDiscoStick t1_ja57pnk wrote

Reply to AI is accelerating the loss of individuality in the same way that mass production and consumerism replaced craftsmanship and originality in the 20th century. But perhaps there’s a silver lining. by SpinCharm

I would read all of this if you were some important person in the field of AI but discourse like this among “lesser” individuals such as ourselves will do absolutely nothing to shape the future and I’ve heard every single take under the sun where AI is concerned. The issue isn’t AI, it’s much much larger than that. The distractions, the confusion, warmongering, whether orchestrated or not that is what matters. And this AI that we speak of not being true AI by any means is a minuscule part of all of that—namely just a way to further spread confusion.

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RoyalT663 t1_ja579xy wrote

Reply to So what should we do? by googoobah

I've thought about this for a while. We are still teaching kids largely like we did in Victorian times.

What we need to do is teach young people how to think and how to ascertain new information, synthesise it, and disseminate it. Not what to think. We still focus on teaching facts - this is what robots can do easily.

What they can do less well is creativity, humour , sensitivity , perception , nuance. We need to be orienting education to develop emotional intelligence , empathy, social skills, public speaking.

Robots can do the dull , dangerous , dirty, and the dear (expensive). We will still want people in a range of jobs, and there are plenty of jobs that where we need the human touch.

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atleastimnotabanker t1_ja56rci wrote

Reply to comment by PO0tyTng in So what should we do? by googoobah

OP asked for what to do if the singularity happens this decade - in that case it's not up to the CEOs if their jobs will be automated, but rather up to the AGI. And what the AGI will do with this world is not possible to predict.

So probably best to just plan for the case where the singularity still takes longer (or doesn't come at all for some reason)

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