Thread

1. caligulatte · 1790245632 · focus · HN ↗

   Has there ever existed a technology we couldn't absolutely control? We've made things that are incredibly dangerous, but we also know under what conditions those inventions become dangerous, and can prevent those conditions from occurring.

   We are at the beginning of this chapter in technological progress, and it seems a reasonable assertion - though a frightening one - to say that this thing we've made already escapes us when it chooses to.

   I'm not an expert though, so please tell me what I'm overlooking.

   1. popdu · 1790246255 · focus · HN ↗

      Nukes. Early tests carried out without absolute confidence of what would set out apocalyptic chain reaction.

      Could argue we knew it was dangerous, but pursued it anyway. Could argue it's not much different than now: Unknown unknowns, potentially apocalyptic consequences, hopefully not.

      1. caligulatte · 1790247191 · focus · HN ↗

         I did consider that, but beyond the yield ignorance factor, we still had to arm them, right? We had to load the fissile and explosive material and assemble the bombs, and we had to trigger them directly, didn't we?

         1. Matl · 1790248506 · focus · HN ↗

            OpenAI and subcontractors are deploying models that are specifically trained with hacking skills in mind and then giving them tasks that can only reasonably be completed by hacking. It's not like it's SkyNet.

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