AI is the Bomb

People often liken the effort to develop (strong) artificial intelligence to the effort to develop artificial flight.

I think the effort to develop the nuclear bomb might be more close, because


- It needs a huge effort to develop AI, something like the Manhattan project, whereas artificial flight was done by a couple of guys from a bike shop.


- AI will have a more profound effect on the world than flight.


- it feels like a creation of something, playing god. Nuclear: humans create a mini-star on earth, like humans creating/controlling fire. AI: humans create something alive.


- AI/nuclear have more of a dangerous/dark/scary side than flight.


- Because of fears, with nuclear energy there's a choice to use it or not use it. Strong AI might be like that. For flight there is not much reason not to use it.


- Nuclear energy is the fundamental energy source in the non-living universe, the ultimate energy. Intelligence is the ultimate product of the living universe.


- The nuclear bomb development has a critical barrier to overcome, and then you get a huge chain reaction effect. There's a feeling that AI might be similar, once some critical problems are solved we get a runaway development and the effect is huge. Flight seems more limited.

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