One reason for us to focus on AI for the moment is that there are dozens of open problems in Friendly AI theory that we can make progress on right now without needing the vast computational resources required to make progress in whole brain emulation.
This is confusing, for WBE progress that can be made right now is not constrained by a “need for vast computational resources”, while the corresponding argument on AI’s side is about present capability, and there are many more relevant considerations about WBE.
I read it as saying “we can pursue work on AI without spending hundreds of thousands on mid-level supercomputing facilities”. That is, WBE isn’t constrained by the limit of our computational resources, but it might be constrained by the limit of a non-profit’s ability to pay for computational resources.
What kinds of expensive computations would you need running in order to make progress on WBE? (As a separate issue, why should you want to make progress on WBE?)
This idea probably just comes from looking at the Blue Brain project that seems to be aiming in the direction of WBE and uses an expensive supercomputer for simulating models of neocortical columns… right, Luke? :)
(I guess because we’d like to see WBE come before AI, due to creating FAI being a hell of a lot more difficult than ensuring a few (hundred) WBEs behave at least humanly friendly and thereby be of some use in making progress on FAI itself.)
Form the interview, Luke’s part:
This is confusing, for WBE progress that can be made right now is not constrained by a “need for vast computational resources”, while the corresponding argument on AI’s side is about present capability, and there are many more relevant considerations about WBE.
I read it as saying “we can pursue work on AI without spending hundreds of thousands on mid-level supercomputing facilities”. That is, WBE isn’t constrained by the limit of our computational resources, but it might be constrained by the limit of a non-profit’s ability to pay for computational resources.
What kinds of expensive computations would you need running in order to make progress on WBE? (As a separate issue, why should you want to make progress on WBE?)
This idea probably just comes from looking at the Blue Brain project that seems to be aiming in the direction of WBE and uses an expensive supercomputer for simulating models of neocortical columns… right, Luke? :)
(I guess because we’d like to see WBE come before AI, due to creating FAI being a hell of a lot more difficult than ensuring a few (hundred) WBEs behave at least humanly friendly and thereby be of some use in making progress on FAI itself.)