I read a lot of stuff written by people working in AI, and it's giving me cognitive dissonance to go from seeing their vision of the future to reading about the ambitions of the UK government.
For example, in Sam Altman's latest blog he suggests we could have humanoid robots by 2027 and space colonisation by 2035.
This is a big part of what drives my frustration. Every few weeks there's a new mind-blowing AI development, which feels like magic. And yet (while recognising the challenge is very different), the British government struggles to move from a 30 year old database to a modern one over the course of five years.
I'd take Altman's opinion with a large pinch of salt, mind.
I'm skeptical about space colonisation happening by 2035 when we're yet to get boots on the ground on the Moon. Permanent or even semi-permanent colonisation is a lot harder than just getting there.
That said, we already have humanoid robots, just not in mass production. Which is probably for the best as humanoid robots are more novelty than useful. Unless he means fully autonomous humanoid robots in the wild, in which case 2027 still feels way too optimistic
I hate to do this to you but you are approaching your *fifth* decade, not your fourth. Count ‘em. And sadly I am approaching my eighth decade and will see far fewer of the improvements you mention.
My 38th is rapidly approaching so this really hit home. Big infrastructure is just the tip of the iceberg, how many people will have fewer years with their children because they delayed having them waiting to afford a home. How many fewer quality years of life will we all enjoy because medical research is being slowed by a lack of lab space, the list goes on and on...
It's not just the UK. I've lived in Prague since 1996 and we're still waiting for a rail link to the airport and the completion of the orbital road around the city.
I read a lot of stuff written by people working in AI, and it's giving me cognitive dissonance to go from seeing their vision of the future to reading about the ambitions of the UK government.
For example, in Sam Altman's latest blog he suggests we could have humanoid robots by 2027 and space colonisation by 2035.
https://blog.samaltman.com/the-gentle-singularity
This is a big part of what drives my frustration. Every few weeks there's a new mind-blowing AI development, which feels like magic. And yet (while recognising the challenge is very different), the British government struggles to move from a 30 year old database to a modern one over the course of five years.
I'd take Altman's opinion with a large pinch of salt, mind.
I'm skeptical about space colonisation happening by 2035 when we're yet to get boots on the ground on the Moon. Permanent or even semi-permanent colonisation is a lot harder than just getting there.
That said, we already have humanoid robots, just not in mass production. Which is probably for the best as humanoid robots are more novelty than useful. Unless he means fully autonomous humanoid robots in the wild, in which case 2027 still feels way too optimistic
I hate to do this to you but you are approaching your *fifth* decade, not your fourth. Count ‘em. And sadly I am approaching my eighth decade and will see far fewer of the improvements you mention.
I was much happier not knowing this!
My 38th is rapidly approaching so this really hit home. Big infrastructure is just the tip of the iceberg, how many people will have fewer years with their children because they delayed having them waiting to afford a home. How many fewer quality years of life will we all enjoy because medical research is being slowed by a lack of lab space, the list goes on and on...
Depressingly, we don't need to compare uk with a non-democracy like China. Sam Dumitru compared uk with france: https://www.samdumitriu.com/p/britains-infrastructure-is-too-expensive
It's not just the UK. I've lived in Prague since 1996 and we're still waiting for a rail link to the airport and the completion of the orbital road around the city.
Really excellent trams though!
Hehe, true 🙂