P-zombies are one of those inactionable inconsequential things people like lesswrong enjoy, because you can talk about it at great length (indefinitely, even) while sounding smart and not necessarily saying anything useful to the rest of us.
The problem with AI is not that it "steals our souls" or whatever you're trying to say (though I must say I do enjoy a bit of spooky sentiment near Halloween!) - it's that it kills mental model diversity. If everyone solved problems the practical and socially accepted way, the Earth would still be flat and hygiene would still primarily consist of covering up bad smells.
The hard problems we face are hard because our model is wrong about them.
marapuru•3mo ago
> it's that it kills mental model diversity
Thanks for this. I’ve been struggling for some time for a proper argument to tell others how I feel about AI. And this is pretty spot on for me (and my mental model)
malux85•3mo ago
AI is probably the worst offender at this (killing mental model diversity) but there’s lots of other things that do it too, the internet enabled rapid sharing of ideas, but it did homogenise human mental models a lot more.
Of course the benefits of the internet far outweigh the negatives but it’s still worth being aware of the negatives so we might mitigate them.
I’m in favour of radical ideas at the edge, I love conspiracy theories, I love fringe scientists, I love the crazy ones, because we need them.
All ideals should be surrounded by a moat of tolerance, that way, the crazy ones can exist in the moats
antonvs•3mo ago
The author is really just talking about something more like a puppet. As you say "p-zombie" sounds smart, but this really has little to do with that.
The p-zombie concept arises in the philosophy of consciousness to explore what difference, if any, consciousness makes in beings that behave like humans. That's not the issue in the OP. The OP is talking about something more like people's volition, rather than their consciousness.
mouse_•3mo ago
The problem with AI is not that it "steals our souls" or whatever you're trying to say (though I must say I do enjoy a bit of spooky sentiment near Halloween!) - it's that it kills mental model diversity. If everyone solved problems the practical and socially accepted way, the Earth would still be flat and hygiene would still primarily consist of covering up bad smells.
The hard problems we face are hard because our model is wrong about them.
marapuru•3mo ago
Thanks for this. I’ve been struggling for some time for a proper argument to tell others how I feel about AI. And this is pretty spot on for me (and my mental model)
malux85•3mo ago
Of course the benefits of the internet far outweigh the negatives but it’s still worth being aware of the negatives so we might mitigate them.
I’m in favour of radical ideas at the edge, I love conspiracy theories, I love fringe scientists, I love the crazy ones, because we need them.
All ideals should be surrounded by a moat of tolerance, that way, the crazy ones can exist in the moats
antonvs•3mo ago
The p-zombie concept arises in the philosophy of consciousness to explore what difference, if any, consciousness makes in beings that behave like humans. That's not the issue in the OP. The OP is talking about something more like people's volition, rather than their consciousness.