{"id":1129,"date":"2018-03-04T21:15:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-04T20:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/silta.es\/juantatay\/2018\/03\/04\/how-to-become-a-centaur-by-ncasenmare\/"},"modified":"2018-03-04T21:15:00","modified_gmt":"2018-03-04T20:15:00","slug":"how-to-become-a-centaur-by-ncasenmare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silta.es\/juantatay\/how-to-become-a-centaur-by-ncasenmare\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Become A Centaur (by @ncasenmare)"},"content":{"rendered":"

 AIs are best at choosing <\/strong>answers<\/strong><\/em>. Humans are best at choosing <\/strong>questions<\/strong><\/em>.<\/strong>
via @mit_jods How To Become A Centaur<\/a> by Nicky Case<\/p>\n

\u2026we\u2019ve told ourselves that our relationship between ourselves and our AI is like a chess game: <\/div>\n
Zero-sum \u2014 one player\u2019s win is another player\u2019s loss.<\/b><\/i><\/div>\n
\u2026
They invited all kinds of contestants \u2014 supercomputers, human grandmasters, mixed teams of humans and AIs \u2014 to compete for a grand prize.2<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Not surprisingly, a Human+AI Centaur beats the solo human. But \u2014 amazingly \u2014 a Human+AI Centaur also beats the solo computer.<\/i><\/span>

<\/strong><\/div>\n
This is because, contrary to unscientific internet IQ tests on clickbait websites, intelligence is not a single dimension. <\/em>(The \u201cg factor\u201d, also known as \u201cgeneral intelligence\u201d, only accounts for 30-50% of an individual\u2019s performance on different cognitive tasks.3<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> So while it is<\/em> an important dimension, it\u2019s not the only <\/em>dimension.) For example, human grandmasters are good at long-term chess strategy, but poor at seeing ahead for millions of possible moves \u2014 while the reverse is true for chess-playing AIs. And because humans & AIs are strong on different<\/em> dimensions, together<\/em>, as a centaur, they can beat out solo humans and computers alike.<\/div>\n
\u2026
Now, not only does pairing humans with AIs solve a technical <\/em>problem \u2014 how to overcome the weaknesses of humans\/AI with the strengths of AI\/humans \u2014 it also solves that moral <\/em>problem: how do we make sure AIs share our human goals and values?<\/div>\n
And it\u2019s simple: if you can\u2019t beat \u2018em, join \u2018em!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The rest of this essay will be about AI\u2019s forgotten cousin, IA: Intelligence Augmentation.<\/i><\/span> The old story of AI is about human brains working against <\/em>silicon brains. The new story of IA will be about human brains working with <\/em>silicon brains. As it turns out, most of the world is the opposite of a chess game:<\/div>\n
Non-zero-sum \u2014 both players can win<\/span>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2026I\u2019ll show how humans are already working with <\/em>AIs in various fields, from art to engineering. And finally, I\u2019ll give some rough ideas on how you can design a good partnership with an AI \u2014 how to become a centaur. <\/div>\n
Together, humans and AI can go from \u201ccheckmate\u201d, to \u201cteammate\u201d.<\/b><\/p>\n
Over the next few decades, the wonders in The Mother of All Demos slowly reached the public. The personal computer gave ordinary people the power of computing, something only governments and big corporations could afford previously. A particle physics lab in Switzerland released a little thing called the \u201cWorld Wide Web\u201d, which let people share knowledge using things called \u201cweb pages\u201d, and people could even create connections between pieces of knowledge using something called a \u201chyperlink\u201d.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Steve Jobs once called the computer a bicycle for the mind.<\/b> Note the metaphor of a bicycle, instead of a something like a car \u2014a bicycle lets you go faster than the human body ever can, and yet, unlike the car, the bicycle is human-powered<\/span>.<\/i> (Also, the bicycle is healthier for you.) The strength of metal, with a human at its heart. A collaboration \u2014 a centaur.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Doug Engelbart envisioned that the computer would be a tool for intellectual and artistic creativity; now, our devices are designed less around creation<\/em>, and more around consumption<\/em>. Forget AI not sharing our values \u2014 even non-AI <\/em>technology stopped supporting our values, and in some cases, actively subverts them.7<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
We hoped for a bicycle for the mind; we got a Lazy Boy recliner for the mind.<\/b><\/div>\n

\u2026<\/p>\n

When you create a Human+AI team, the hard part isn\u2019t the \u201cAI\u201d. It isn\u2019t even the \u201cHuman\u201d. <\/div>\n
It\u2019s the \u201c+\u201d.<\/strong><\/div>\n
\u2026<\/div>\n
Human nature, for better or worse, doesn\u2019t change much from millennia to millennia. If you want to see the strengths that are unique and universal<\/em> to all humans, don\u2019t look at the world-famous award-winners \u2014 look at children. Children, even at a young age, are already proficient at: intuition, analogy, creativity, empathy, social skills. Some may scoff at these for being \u201csoft skills\u201d, but the fact that we can make an AI that plays chess but not hold a normal five-minute conversation, is proof that these skills only seem \u201csoft\u201d to us because<\/em> evolution\u2019s already put in the 3.5 billion years of hard work for<\/em> us.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And if you want to see the weaknesses of humans, go to school. This is the stuff that\u2019s hard for human intelligences, and requires years of training to gain even a basic competency: arithmetic, computation, memory, logic, numeracy. Note that these are all things your phone can do better and faster than the smartest human alive. (And we wonder why kids feel school is meaningless\u2026)<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

AIs choose answers. Humans choose questions.<\/b> And given all the possibilities, the promises and pitfalls of technology in the coming decades, the next question for us humans to choose is:<\/div>\n
What\u2019s next?<\/b><\/em><\/div>\n

<\/b><\/em><\/div>\n
Meanwhile, the story of IA has been one of a tragic fall. Starting out strong with Doug Engelbart\u2019s Mother of All Demos, the idea of IA has slowly been forgotten, as technology shifted from tools for creation <\/em>and more towards tools for consumption<\/em>. Someone stole the wheels off the bicycle for our mind.<\/b><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
But now, these two story threads may be starting to wrap together, forming a new braid in history: AIA \u2014 Artificial Intelligence Augmentation.8<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong> IA can give AI the human partnership it needs in order to remain aligned with our deepest goals and values. And in return, AI can give IA some new replacement wheels for the bicycle of our mind.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I\u2019d like to tell you what the future holds. But if you tell someone something good is inevitable, it can cause self-defeating complacency \u2014 and if you tell someone something bad is inevitable, it can cause self-fulfilling despair.<\/div>\n
Besides, answers are for AIs. As a human, you deserve questions<\/em>.<\/b><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Symbiosis shows us you can have fruitful collaborations even if you have different skills, or different goals, or are even different species.  <\/em>Symbiosis shows us that the world often isn\u2019t zero-sum \u2014 it doesn\u2019t have to be humans versus <\/em>AI, or humans versus <\/em>centaurs, or humans versus <\/em>other humans. Symbiosis is two individuals succeeding together not despite, but because <\/em>of, their differences. Symbiosis is the \u201c+\u201d. <\/div>\n
A new chapter in humanity\u2019s story is beginning, and we \u2014 living together <\/em>\u2014 get to write what happens next.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

 AIs are best at choosing answers. Humans are best at choosing questions.via @mit_jods How To Become A Centaur by Nicky Case \u2026we\u2019ve told ourselves that our relationship between ourselves and our AI is like a chess game:  Zero-sum \u2014 one player\u2019s win is another player\u2019s loss. \u2026They invited all kinds of contestants \u2014 supercomputers, human grandmasters, mixed teams of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,48,49,40,45,44,31,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-el-critico-como-artista","category-filosofia","category-hacktivismo","category-ideas","category-informatica","category-innovacion","category-la-vida-misma","category-sociologia"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/silta.es\/juantatay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/silta.es\/juantatay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/silta.es\/juantatay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silta.es\/juantatay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silta.es\/juantatay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/silta.es\/juantatay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/silta.es\/juantatay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silta.es\/juantatay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silta.es\/juantatay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}