This thread is for the discussion of AGI and ASI. Speculation on what will happen and as it happens over the next few years. I found the internet thread interesting that showed how internet speeds increased over the years from 15mbps to 1 gbps over the years. Lets see what happens with AGI/ASI over that same timespan!
***Artificial Super Intelligence: AI = 100x, 1000x etc more intelligent than humans***
Here is the best way to try and picture in your head what ASI will mean to humans. This analogy isn't exact so I don't want a debate about the intelligence of a dog etc. I'm going to use this as an example because right now there isn't anything more intelligent than humans to compare us to.
Imagine if dogs originally had trained humans to take care of them. Imagine that they taught humans to feed them, pet them, shelter them, pretty much trained humans to take care of their basic needs along with a little pleasure (petting etc). Now, humans still do that for dogs but over the years, humans became so intelligent that dogs have no clue what humans do but they still have their basic needs and pleasures fulfilled by humans.
That's how you need to imagine the transition from AGI to ASI. When ASI truly kicks in and our intelligence is equivalent to a dog's to a human, we won't have a clue what ASI is doing or be able to comprehend it. Perhaps we will still think everything is fine since our needs and pleasures are taken care of similar to the dog scenario but we will be as oblivious as dogs are about the full range of things humans can do.
***Artificial General Intelligence: AI = as smart as smartest humans.***
This is inevitable and could happen as soon as within a year's time. Ultimately no "job" is safe. AI will be able to do anything better, any occupation from blue collar to white collar. What wasn't foreseen is that the creative part of humanity would be hit first. Art/Music/Film etc. I doubt anyone 10 years ago thought that artists, models, writers, actors etc would be in jeopardy before some more mundane, less creative type jobs were lost to AI.
Pretty much any intellectual "human" job can be replaced by AI eventually. Combined with robotics, physical jobs as well. For anyone that hasn't played around much with Large Language Models, they are already really good at writing poetry etc and continually get better. Things are progressing mind boggling fast with AI.
The downside to this is there will be a transition period between current status quo of needing to work, make money, buy things etc, to when you really won't need to do anything besides live your life however you wish. The big question is if humanity can survive this transition. It's going to happen whether it's our generation or the next one. I believe living mostly in virtual worlds might save us from destroying ourselves. As VR advances, it will replace the need for material things. If you can live on a yacht in VR, smell the sea, feel the wind, create any environment you wish, it won't matter if it's real or not. Think "The Matrix". If you can't tell it's not real, does it really matter?
Ultimately AGI will make humans useless. At the minimum, not really necessary... that leads us to ASI.
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So, where does that leave us? Is there a purpose to humanity? In short, I presently don't think there is. I remain fascinated by DMT/NDE experiences and leave open the possibility that consciousness is somehow connected to another dimension that isn't bound to space/time but there is no way to know if that is true.
If the optimistic path works out for ASI and humans end up being able to not have to work, have 100 percent free time to spend in a VR world that is exactly how they want it to be, that's great but to what end? Humans by nature are explorers, discovery of new things is the spark that keeps things moving forward...but ASI means we won't be doing that as ASI will learn, discover, explore so much faster than humans, we will only learn second hand about new things from ASI.
I do think there's a high probability that we live in some sort of simulation already. Anything physical seems flat out impossible able to exist to me, but Im not smart enough (no one is yet) to know if there are alternate dimensions where time/space/physical matter doesn't exist. I do however, after reading books by scientists like Donald Hoffman, think that it's entirely possible we are viewing the "world" as if our consciousness was looking through a VR headset tuned to see our version of reality. I know, deep stuff and sounds pretty whack. With that said, I currently see the "end game" of humanity ending up like something from "The Matrix" but maybe not with the negative twist. You need to imagine a time when VR really is capable of replacing all of your senses. No need for a body, or if there is a need, it's in some vat doing whatever is needed to keep your brain (consciousness) hooked up to "The Matix". You would still be able to experience as much pleasure/pain as you want but it would all take place in your head (consciousness) and if you totally lost your shit and decided to destroy the world, you'd at least only be destroying your personal simulation.
This isn't meant to be doom and gloom. I'm happy pursuing knowledge, learning new things and pondering the meaning of life while I'm alive. I don't fear death nor expect anything after death. I am a nihilist without the negative attitude. I think anyone that isn't a nihilist is just hoping things have meaning which I do as well but I'm not seeing any point yet beyond survival of species. Think about it. Do you really know there is any point to our lives or are you just hoping there is? The idea that there is a point is the cause of a lot of stress in the world. Coming to the conclusion that there is no point really frees up your mind from a lot of stress and allows you to pursue more things that make you happy.