‹ BackHN Continuity

Thread

Promising discoveries about the potential for life on one of Saturn’s icy moons

98 points · 74 comments · geox

  1. limbicsystem · · focus · HN ↗
    Note that in one way finding life on other planets would be a disaster - implying that the 'great filter' is more likely to still be ahead of us...
    1. KellyCriterion · · focus · HN ↗
      After watching this behind-the-scenes video by EngineAI about this one T800 robo video (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=VoytjBgpG28" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=VoytjBgpG28), Im convinced that we will kill ourself &#x2F; go extinct by these robots (if climate change doesnt kill all of us far before)

      This will not be in 10 or 30 years. But in 70-100. Maybe robots are the future life form the universe &quot;sees&quot; here so something finally can reach outer space from here.

      And I think its very likely that other civilizations aslo killed themself by inventing AI some day in their time.

      Though, Claude is the best tool ever for me :)

      1. gaigalas · · focus · HN ↗
        Making predictions that outlast you is easy, you can never be ashamed of being wrong. The most useful predictions can be checked within a lifetime, the others are useless.
        1. KellyCriterion · · focus · HN ↗
          Good one!

          Im in the middle of my 40s, so maybe I will see the first &quot;steps&quot; into that direction. But even if I dont: The idea that robots are taking over, built by us, is just insane: If they reach a level of &quot;self improvement and self repair&#x2F;care&quot;, humans will be just finished - not in a &quot;sense of bad will&quot; like &quot;kill-all-those-dumb-humans&quot;, but in a sense of: Their technosphere will last longer and is very much more likely to survive climate change than the thin &amp; vulnerable bio sphere we humans need?

          Though, maybe there is some type of equilibrium in the future with much less humans at a stable rate, really stable lake just enough kids that mankind doesnt grow,and a large set of robots assisting us. But this is too far &quot;positive sci fi&quot;, Id say?

          1. gaigalas · · focus · HN ↗
            &gt; Their technosphere will last longer

            Life has 4.5B years. Predicting silicon would last more is doubling down on what I said: you went for 100 years to a roughly 5 billion years prediction.

            Let me remind you that a single unlucky CME can fry 80% of comms satellites and electrical grid, effectively crippling the entire technosphere you mention in a matter of hours.

            One small war that disrupts the silicon supply chain can set back the development of AI for a whole decade. One company (ASML) having issues could do that. It is a very fragile system.

            Climate change is a deep concern mostly because it would cause unimaginable suffering and massive loss of population, but it&#x27;s likely humanity would survive it. We survived worse: supervolcanos, ice ages, multi-decade droughts, etc. It would be preferable to avoid it though.

Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.