An issue I think about some is mental health therapy and the job of mental health counsellor. On the one hand it has features that cry out for automation: it is hard to find a counsellor, appointments are often inconvenient -- sometimes highly so -- in time, space, and money. On the other hand the resistance to the idea of a robot therapist by potential patients and clients is extreme. In my experience people regard the idea as about a ridiculous a notion as there is -- maybe on a level with robot Rabbis. But I admit that if I knew enough about the process I might see the logic in this very high degree of skepticism. But I can't quite give up hope. I am surrounded by people who need therapy and can't get/afford it.
I definitely agree that automation is a good thing, and that if we pair it with socialized medicine/healthcare and possibly universal basic income, hopefully it will only mean that humans can engage in more meaningful work. I’m excited to explore this further in future posts!
Is it possible, sometime in the future, we have so much of our lives easily disrupted by an unintentional AI glitch?
Will I slowly blur the line between free will and following the course of AI? I already do this when navigating with Waze, when I mainly rely on its course corrections without much thought. Eventually, will I regret the authority/trust I put into these systems?
Oct 8, 2022·edited Oct 8, 2022Liked by Alberto Romero
If I could afford it I would buy you a Tesla so long as you promised to run it in self-driving beta mode as much as possible. I would be interested in your experiences. I have a friend with a Tesla -- who is a total believer in the technology long-term -- who says he has to take control at least once every mile or so (we live in Boston). (He says the problem is not highway driving exactly but understanding and dealing with what other drivers are expecting from you.) His experience is that Level 5 is at least one and maybe two decades away, and I can't really imagine a world where AGI is real but Level 5 is not.
So here is my prediction: the next fifty years will be like the last fifty. A lot of very interesting work going on in start-ups and laboratories and a small number of commercially important innovations every year. But just a handful. As you say: "As a scientific field, AI entails different paradigms and inventions, none of which has made a deep-enough dent in the fabric of society to stand out by itself. In contrast, it comprises many small but compounding advances that, over time, are changing society at all levels." Exactly right.
An issue I think about some is mental health therapy and the job of mental health counsellor. On the one hand it has features that cry out for automation: it is hard to find a counsellor, appointments are often inconvenient -- sometimes highly so -- in time, space, and money. On the other hand the resistance to the idea of a robot therapist by potential patients and clients is extreme. In my experience people regard the idea as about a ridiculous a notion as there is -- maybe on a level with robot Rabbis. But I admit that if I knew enough about the process I might see the logic in this very high degree of skepticism. But I can't quite give up hope. I am surrounded by people who need therapy and can't get/afford it.
I definitely agree that automation is a good thing, and that if we pair it with socialized medicine/healthcare and possibly universal basic income, hopefully it will only mean that humans can engage in more meaningful work. I’m excited to explore this further in future posts!
Very interesting. Thank you.
Is it possible, sometime in the future, we have so much of our lives easily disrupted by an unintentional AI glitch?
Will I slowly blur the line between free will and following the course of AI? I already do this when navigating with Waze, when I mainly rely on its course corrections without much thought. Eventually, will I regret the authority/trust I put into these systems?
Great article! Absolutely loved it!
Possibly of interest (AI and medicine):
https://bit.ly/3RHsrAB
If I could afford it I would buy you a Tesla so long as you promised to run it in self-driving beta mode as much as possible. I would be interested in your experiences. I have a friend with a Tesla -- who is a total believer in the technology long-term -- who says he has to take control at least once every mile or so (we live in Boston). (He says the problem is not highway driving exactly but understanding and dealing with what other drivers are expecting from you.) His experience is that Level 5 is at least one and maybe two decades away, and I can't really imagine a world where AGI is real but Level 5 is not.
So here is my prediction: the next fifty years will be like the last fifty. A lot of very interesting work going on in start-ups and laboratories and a small number of commercially important innovations every year. But just a handful. As you say: "As a scientific field, AI entails different paradigms and inventions, none of which has made a deep-enough dent in the fabric of society to stand out by itself. In contrast, it comprises many small but compounding advances that, over time, are changing society at all levels." Exactly right.
What a refreshingly sober yet optimistic take! That's the kind of future we could all get behind.