Re:Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter
by popol12 on Wednesday March 29, 2023 @06:22PM
(#35364685)
It’s not just about sea level or temperature increase, it’s about humanity screwing all other life forms
For instance we’ve lost about 50% of insects since 1970, how is this « fear mongering » ? It’s the nº1 tragedy, by far, and it’s currently happening, unlike hypothetical AI threats
https://www.businessinsider.com/insect-apocalypse-ecosystem-...
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter
by revelio on Thursday March 30, 2023 @03:30AM
(#35369306)
The sorts of studies that proclaim loss of 50% of insects don't check out when looked at closely. As you might guess, counting insects is quite hard, doing so reliably over time is much harder still and then assigning causality harder yet again.
Re:Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter
by popol12 on Thursday March 30, 2023 @10:59AM
(#35373650)
Could you please provide details/source ?
I'd be very happy to learn that this 50% figure is wrong :)
Re:Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter
by revelio on Friday March 31, 2023 @08:43AM
(#35386242)
It's not about insects specifically but this paper points out statistical problems in a very similar claims about vertebrates:
https://www.sfu.ca/biology2/rEEding/pdfs/Leung_et_al_Cluster...
But it's a common theme. These claims get attention and journalists don't check, so they proliferate. Dig in to any given claim and you'll find they're all built on statistical quicksand.