Ask HN: Could AI eventually build god?
5 pointsby olirex996 hours ago4 comments
  • 6 hours ago
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  • JohnFen6 hours ago
    Define "god"
    • olirex996 hours ago
      The plateau of intelligence. And now you could ask me to define intelligence and I would stick with the common definition:

      Intelligence is the mental capacity to learn, understand, reason, and solve new problems.

      • JohnFen5 hours ago
        Hmm. That's a very odd definition. I guess we shall see.

        > If a less intelligent species, like humans, is able to create a more intelligent species

        I think we have yet to even show that this might be true, so let's cross that bridge first.

  • krapp5 hours ago
    No matter how smart AI gets, it's still a product of the physical universe and thus bound to physical laws and limits. It cannot be infinitely intelligent, it cannot be all-powerful, it cannot transcend physical reality. It cannot be considered a god in any sense that humanity has ever defined such a being.

    All AI can ever be, and should ever be considered to be, is really smart software. A tool. A thing that serves humans. Not a god, which by definition is a being that humans serve.

    • olirex995 hours ago
      I define God as the plateau of intelligence. You maybe haven’t understood my question, but I am asking we are living in a more brother loop in which less intelligent species build more intelligent species. If the answer is yes, would this mean that AI species will build at a certain point (self-improving) another kind of species?

      PS: I know that I use species improperly.

      • krapp5 hours ago
        >I define God as the plateau of intelligence.

        OK, that's an unusual definition. I think it depends on where the plateau is . If it's just something smarter than humans are capable of being, that might be possible (imagine a being as far beyond us as we are beyond chimpanzees.) If you're talking about a universal plateau, then I don't think that's possible.

        > but I am asking we are living in a more brother loop in which less intelligent species build more intelligent species.

        Maybe? I think we're still a very long way away from being able to answer that. All of the claims about AGI seem to me to be marketing hype at the moment. The only thing anyone can do is speculate.

        Although one of the more interesting solutions to the Fermi paradox that I've seen is something along those lines, that biological life if it advances far enough eventually becomes a transitional species that gives way to AI, and AI is what explores the universe.

  • fuzzfactor6 hours ago
    If experience is any indication, some people would worship it regardless if it was artificial or not.

    Some seem to already be doing so, especially the ones whose prayers are being answered :)

    • olirex996 hours ago
      Also the definition of artificial will not make sense at all at a certain point. If for example AGI builds a more intelligent species, could we define it “artificial”?