The Gods of Logic: Benjamín Labatut (When We Cease to Understand the World) on artificial intelligence. “It is never safe to call on the gods, or even come close to them.”
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Right now, AI is almost exclusively modelled on left brain thinking. Even its so-called ‘creative’ output — music, art, movies, etc. — is derivative as opposed to original. Right brain thinking is intuitive, creative, spontaneous, unpredictable. AI can imitate these characteristics but it can’t truly generate them. Once it can, however, WE’RE SCREWED.
Thank you for linking to this excellent essay. It reminded me that a copy of Labatut’s When We Cease to Understand the World has been parked for some time in a small stack of books on my desk.
This week I’ve been searching for a new book to read, having just finished reading Samantha Harvey’s novel Orbital, which is about a day in the life of the international space station (so good I read it twice, back to back). I tried to start a few books but soon put each down—none of them had that mysterious spark that can set a reader on fire.
So I gave my poor neglected copy of When We Cease a try, and found myself unable to stop reading, increasingly attuned to the twists and turns of Labatut’s mind.
I find your website often leads me to unexpected places. Thank you.
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