For personal interest, neuroscience (and the genie would wave his wand, and I would be V. Ramachandran). For benefit to society, probably genetics (or do colleges offer degrees in AI?)
I’d also like to see if I could use the genie to answer one of the great questions of the ages. I guess it all depends on how the “expert” thing is implemented. For example, if the genie created a great expert in quantum mechanics, would the expert simply know and understand facts about quantum mechanics, or would they also be such an expert as to have the correct opinion on the Copenhagen vs. many worlds question? After all, Tom did say “an expert equivalent to the greatest mind today”, and there are minds that are pretty sure they know the answer to that question, so the mind that has the correct opinion on it must be greater than an equivalent mind that doesn’t. That means if I wake up and find myself believing Many Worlds, I have very strong evidence that Many Worlds is correct.
If I thought that plan would work, I’d probably choose Philosophy. I might get kicked in the ’nads, but for the chance to have genie-approved answers all the great philosophical questions at once, it’d be worth it.
For personal interest, neuroscience (and the genie would wave his wand, and I would be V. Ramachandran). For benefit to society, probably genetics (or do colleges offer degrees in AI?)
I’d also like to see if I could use the genie to answer one of the great questions of the ages. I guess it all depends on how the “expert” thing is implemented. For example, if the genie created a great expert in quantum mechanics, would the expert simply know and understand facts about quantum mechanics, or would they also be such an expert as to have the correct opinion on the Copenhagen vs. many worlds question? After all, Tom did say “an expert equivalent to the greatest mind today”, and there are minds that are pretty sure they know the answer to that question, so the mind that has the correct opinion on it must be greater than an equivalent mind that doesn’t. That means if I wake up and find myself believing Many Worlds, I have very strong evidence that Many Worlds is correct.
If I thought that plan would work, I’d probably choose Philosophy. I might get kicked in the ’nads, but for the chance to have genie-approved answers all the great philosophical questions at once, it’d be worth it.