Like Ant Cant Perceive Human, Are Human Incapable of Perceiving Superior Beings?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15534733

by user-on1 • 9 years ago

5 11 9 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

m1try• 9 years ago

With AI in development, humans are capable of creating superior beings

user-on12• 9 years ago

AI is never a being.

It is just a more sophisticated machine or s/w.

If we think in that angle even a telescope is a superior eye as it can see longer than a human. We never consider it as a superior eye which some use at times.

A nature created being which exists would be more relevant to this question than a man made stuff.

LeoSolaris2• 9 years ago

All naturally evolved species, including humans, are extremely complex machines. There isn't anything supernatural involved. That means that a general AI, with the capacity to learn and interact with the world, would easily be a thinking being. It might not be smarter than a border collie, but it is still a thinking being.

The difference between a simple machine, even a computer controlled one working off of a program, and one driven by a general AI is that a human did not have to be involved in the task at all. General AI, like the current purpose built AI, will be able to learn from first principals. That means they will be able to select and perform their own tasks once they are mature enough, just like us.

It is important to note that a real general AI has not yet been created. The technology is getting ever closer, though. It is only a matter of time before there is a break-through moment.

crypticlizard• 9 years ago

Indeed, humans may just be the bootloader.

davelnewton• 9 years ago

Depends. It turns out we have more cognitive power than an ant, e.g., if ants were smarter, they could perceive us, but they have no mechanism to do so. (Here by "perception" I'm talking about ants recognizing us as a living creature, not just a collection of pheromones.)

It would depend entirely on the nature of the "superior" being (ignoring the judgement issue regarding the nature of the word "superior").

LeoSolaris2• 9 years ago

What makes you think that ants cannot perceive humans?

We show up just fine to their senses, as evidenced by their consumption of our flesh when given a chance. Leave a body close to the right ant mound, and you will have a skeleton in fairly short order.

user-on12• 9 years ago

we are just a material to them.

they don't know we are humans and what we are capable of?

they don't know what we are.

asnyc• 9 years ago

They absolutely do - take an ant and put it in your palm, it will frantically run around trying to get off you.

Similarly, if an intergalactic monster comes to Earth, I am sure we will be fully perceptive of them :)

brudgers• 9 years ago

Reminds me of What is it like to be a Bat?

https://organizations.utep.edu/Portals/1475/nagel_bat.pdf

j_s• 9 years ago

If you have not seen this from last week, others may be willing to continue a vaguely parallel discussion there:

Ask HN: Why do you believe that your religion/faith/worldview is correct? | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15505294 (Oct 2017, 29 comments)

jjoe• 9 years ago

We have such a hard time understanding and sensing our fellow human beings. So much that, and as a result, we start disputes and wage wars. Considering our intelligence spread is negligible, what makes one think we could perceive and much less communicate with a superbeing whose intelligence is magnitudes superior to ours?

Are we able to perceive whomever created the universe, life, and the likeliness of them upkeeping it?

Like Ant Cant Perceive Human, Are Human Incapable of Perceiving Superior Beings?

Related Stories