7 ms·

> honestly though Google would be that - but apparently it's easier to fund R&D on "selling copying machines" than "selling ads". Maybe "selling ads" earn _too

by querez 2y ago

> honestly though Google would be that - but apparently it's easier to fund R&D on "selling copying machines" than "selling ads". Maybe "selling ads" earn _too much_ money ? I don't know. I'm pretty sure Google Brain was exactly what you are looking for: People like to think of DeepMind, but honestly, Brain pretty much had Bell Labs/PARCs strategy: they hired a bunch of brilliant people and told them to just "research whatever is you think is cool". And think all the AI innovations that came out of Brain and were given to the world for free: Transformers, Vision Transformers, Diffusion Models, BERT (I'd consider that the first public LLM), Adam, and a gazillion of other cool stuff I can't think of right now.... Essentially, all of the current AI/LLM craze started at Brain.

phtrivier 2y ago
Right. And I'm sure that if I ever get in a better mood, I'll find that the current AI/LLM craze is good for _something_. Right now the world needs GWh batteries made of salt, cheap fusion from trash, telepathy, a cure for cancer and a vaccine for the common cold - but in the meantime, advertisers can generate photos for their ads, which is, _good_, I guess ?
- dr_dshiv 2y ago
  Once we get superintelligence — some time next year I’d say — then we will have a tool to make all those dreams come true.
  - l33t7332273 2y ago
    What are you basing such a bold prediction on?
    - phtrivier 2y ago
      It's not bold if the comment author lives in a state that switched clocks to EPT (Elon-Prediction-Time) this week-end.
    - dr_dshiv 2y ago
      For instance, ARC prize now at human level… https://x.com/akyurekekin/status/1855680785715478546 https://x.com/akyurekekin/status/1855680785715478546 I dont know why it seems bold. So many signs.
    - dr_dshiv 2y ago
      https://x.com/anthonynaguirre/status/1861893538532991096?s=46&t=dyWMXt-crlU8sqluBD_4oQ https://x.com/anthonynaguirre/status/1861893538532991096?s=4...
- aatd86 2y ago
  Can't you get telepathy from training AI on functional MRI data? And then finding a way to pinpoint and activate brain regions remotely? I mean brain-machine interfaces have been improving for quite a while. Telepathy might even already exist.
  - phtrivier 2y ago
    Indeed. Come to think of it, telepathy would bring chaos to society, ruin everyone's life, and open considerable advertising space - it's way more likely to be invented soon than a vaccine for the common cold.
    - chasd00 2y ago
      “Want to remember a long lost cherished moment with a now deceased loved one? Think about this product for 15 seconds first.” I’m positive it’s being worked on.
- eurikfkdks 2y ago
  Rolling back the 1980s neoliberal cultural ideals of letting markets and profits be the highest arbiter of societal direction is the key. Silicon Valley hippies have been replaced by folks focussed on monetisation and growth. It’s not great for the west, but those problems are being tackled. We just don’t get to read about it because ‘China bad’ and the fear of what capital flight might do to arguably inflated US stock prices https://www.energy-storage.news/byd-launches-sodium-ion-grid-scale-bess-product/ https://www.energy-storage.news/byd-launches-sodium-ion-grid...
- querez 2y ago
  It does sound like you're in a particularly bad mood, so yes, maybe our outlook does change. Maybe it helps to think of a darker timeline where Google would have kept all of these advances to itself and improved its ad revenue. Instead it shared the research freely with the world. And call me naive, but I use LLMs almost daily, so there definitely _is_ something of value that came out of all this progress. But YMMV, of course.
  - phtrivier 2y ago
    I would love to find a way llms could help me right now. "Hey, xchatgclaudma, please conjure up time and energy out of thin air ?"
    - mathgladiator 2y ago
      Current LLMs seem to be OK code generators when constrained well. I'm building a product with my hands tied behind my back when I only use Claude. Its... working.
- jorvi 2y ago
  Your problem stems from assuming our natural state is some Star Trek utopia, and only our distraction by paraphernalia is preventing us from reaching such a place. Like we are temporarily (temporally?) embarrassed ascended beings. Humanity’s natural state is abject poverty and strife. Look at any wealth graph of human history and note how people are destitute right up until the Industrial Revolution, and then the graph explodes upward. In a way we (well, especially the West) are already living in utopia. You’re completely right that we can still vastly improve, but look back at the progress we already made!
petra 2y ago
Yes, it was basic research( guided to the field of machine learning), but between a search monopoly and their autonomous car project, they definitely have a great economic engine to use that basic research and the talent it pulled into Google, even if a lot of it escaped.

by querez 2y ago

phtrivier 2y ago

Right. And I'm sure that if I ever get in a better mood, I'll find that the current AI/LLM craze is good for _something_. Right now the world needs GWh batteries made of salt, cheap fusion from trash, telepathy, a cure for cancer and a vaccine for the common cold - but in the meantime, advertisers can generate photos for their ads, which is, _good_, I guess ?

dr_dshiv 2y ago
Once we get superintelligence — some time next year I’d say — then we will have a tool to make all those dreams come true.
- l33t7332273 2y ago
  What are you basing such a bold prediction on?
  - phtrivier 2y ago
    It's not bold if the comment author lives in a state that switched clocks to EPT (Elon-Prediction-Time) this week-end.
  - dr_dshiv 2y ago
    For instance, ARC prize now at human level… https://x.com/akyurekekin/status/1855680785715478546 https://x.com/akyurekekin/status/1855680785715478546 I dont know why it seems bold. So many signs.
  - dr_dshiv 2y ago
    https://x.com/anthonynaguirre/status/1861893538532991096?s=46&t=dyWMXt-crlU8sqluBD_4oQ https://x.com/anthonynaguirre/status/1861893538532991096?s=4...
aatd86 2y ago
Can't you get telepathy from training AI on functional MRI data? And then finding a way to pinpoint and activate brain regions remotely? I mean brain-machine interfaces have been improving for quite a while. Telepathy might even already exist.
- phtrivier 2y ago
  Indeed. Come to think of it, telepathy would bring chaos to society, ruin everyone's life, and open considerable advertising space - it's way more likely to be invented soon than a vaccine for the common cold.
  - chasd00 2y ago
    “Want to remember a long lost cherished moment with a now deceased loved one? Think about this product for 15 seconds first.” I’m positive it’s being worked on.
eurikfkdks 2y ago
Rolling back the 1980s neoliberal cultural ideals of letting markets and profits be the highest arbiter of societal direction is the key. Silicon Valley hippies have been replaced by folks focussed on monetisation and growth. It’s not great for the west, but those problems are being tackled. We just don’t get to read about it because ‘China bad’ and the fear of what capital flight might do to arguably inflated US stock prices https://www.energy-storage.news/byd-launches-sodium-ion-grid-scale-bess-product/ https://www.energy-storage.news/byd-launches-sodium-ion-grid...
querez 2y ago
It does sound like you're in a particularly bad mood, so yes, maybe our outlook does change. Maybe it helps to think of a darker timeline where Google would have kept all of these advances to itself and improved its ad revenue. Instead it shared the research freely with the world. And call me naive, but I use LLMs almost daily, so there definitely _is_ something of value that came out of all this progress. But YMMV, of course.
- phtrivier 2y ago
  I would love to find a way llms could help me right now. "Hey, xchatgclaudma, please conjure up time and energy out of thin air ?"
  - mathgladiator 2y ago
    Current LLMs seem to be OK code generators when constrained well. I'm building a product with my hands tied behind my back when I only use Claude. Its... working.
jorvi 2y ago
Your problem stems from assuming our natural state is some Star Trek utopia, and only our distraction by paraphernalia is preventing us from reaching such a place. Like we are temporarily (temporally?) embarrassed ascended beings. Humanity’s natural state is abject poverty and strife. Look at any wealth graph of human history and note how people are destitute right up until the Industrial Revolution, and then the graph explodes upward. In a way we (well, especially the West) are already living in utopia. You’re completely right that we can still vastly improve, but look back at the progress we already made!

petra 2y ago

Yes, it was basic research( guided to the field of machine learning), but between a search monopoly and their autonomous car project, they definitely have a great economic engine to use that basic research and the talent it pulled into Google, even if a lot of it escaped.