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I wonder if at some stage the fact we have no control over the systems will actually be why we stop investing in them ?

That is to say, at a certain scale, the emergent properties of these systems just get too wild to understand.

Kind of like, a runaway nuclear reaction generates a lot of power but it’s not really useful for anyone or anything.




I don't think so. Surely we will go as far as AI that self directs the 3d printing of tools and the control of drone fleets and insect or rodent size bots. This will be necessary for AI to help with things like construction, farming, and mining. Imagine rodent bots and some drones roofing a house while an operator monitors them in a remote command center. Better yet, if they can do mining in conditions too hazardous for humans. The financial incentive is immense. Nobody is going to stop any time soon.


Maybe you're right, I guess no one really knows but I can completely imagine the future you're describing and I hate it.

On the other hand, I think we're a little stuck in this "robots" and "AI" is the only future idea, because it seems absolutely inevitable today, that should evolve too though.

If technology progresses as fast as proclaimed, and we can actually stay in control of these systems then we might not even think about or need robots in 20 years. Maybe we've essentially solved energy and we can basically just quit mining and produce much of what we need synthetically?


Definitely will evolve, because we don't even know how to do self-driving cars, for example. Maybe we still won't in 20 years. Driving with heavy snow on the ground, in the dark, with pedestrians, is a hard problem




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