Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by aeonik 941 days ago
Nuclear codes, assuming they are using modern cryptography would not be spat out by any AI, unless they were leaked publicly.

Bigger concern would be the construction of a bomb, which, still, takes a lot of hard to hide resources.

I'm more worried about other kinds of weapons, but at the same time I really don't like the idea of censoring the science of nature from people.

I think the only long term option is to beef up defenses.
2 comments
aitrw 941 days ago
>Bigger concern would be the construction of a bomb, which, still, takes a lot of hard to hide resources.

The average postgraduate in physics can design a nuclear bomb. That ship sailed in the 1960s. Anyone who uses that as an argument wants a censorship regime that the medieval catholic church would find excessive.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jun/24/usa.science

link
cthalupa 941 days ago
Significantly more info out and available now than when they worked on that project, too. It's only gotten easier.
link
yeck 941 days ago
I feel that people have a right to life and liberty, but liberty does not mean access to god-like powers.

There are many people that would do great things with god-like powers, but more than enough that would be terrible.

link
aeonik 941 days ago
I don't think history, looking back at this moment, is going to characterize this as god-like powers.

Monumental, like the invention of language or math, but not like a god.

link
yeck 941 days ago
To be fair it is a very subjective term, god-like. You could make a claim for many different technical advancements to represent god-like capabilities. I'd claim that many examples exist to day, but many of them are not readily available to most people for inherent or regulatory reasons.

Now, I feel even just "OK" agential AI would represent god-like abilities. Being able to spawn digital homunculi that do your bidding for relatively cheap and with limited knowledge and skill required on the part of the conjuror.

Again, this is very subjective. You might feel that god-like means an entity that can build Dyson Spheres and bend reality to it's will. That is certainly god-like, but just a much higher threshold than what I'd use.

link