Also, I think robotic surgery that’s better than human surgery might be close to as hard as just building a general AI, so probably better to focus on that.
I think one kind of better is relatively easy and the other is close to GAI.
Robot surgeons which avoid the human mistakes which occur due to tiredness and distraction would be relatively straightforward.
Robot surgeons which are better than human surgeons at handling unusual problems—especially if you want them to be better than the best human surgeons—strike me as GAI territory.
I’m concerned that robot surgeons could mean that less knowledge would be accumulated because they’d be less likely to notice anomalies and possible improvements to existing procedures.
I’m concerned that robot surgeons could mean that less knowledge would be accumulated because they’d be less likely to notice anomalies and possible improvements to existing procedures.
Moderately high IQ humans are a valuable resources, there are plenty of things that simply aren’t being done because humans prefer the high status profession of “surgeon” or “doctor”. Reducing their numbers while maintaining the same quality of service would be a great boon.
I think one kind of better is relatively easy and the other is close to GAI.
Robot surgeons which avoid the human mistakes which occur due to tiredness and distraction would be relatively straightforward.
Robot surgeons which are better than human surgeons at handling unusual problems—especially if you want them to be better than the best human surgeons—strike me as GAI territory.
I’m concerned that robot surgeons could mean that less knowledge would be accumulated because they’d be less likely to notice anomalies and possible improvements to existing procedures.
Moderately high IQ humans are a valuable resources, there are plenty of things that simply aren’t being done because humans prefer the high status profession of “surgeon” or “doctor”. Reducing their numbers while maintaining the same quality of service would be a great boon.