I think it's better to think much longer term. Language is pretty the first technology invented by humans, characteristically defining much of the way our species has progressed ever since, and is now making a return home as a tool we can in our hands with our opposable thumbs.
Embedded within that tool is the 10s of thousands of years of accumulation of knowledge and ability to communicate with each other in nuanced ways in precise ways in specialised ways... But we finally have something that doesn't just keep records of our language or reply it for us at will or turn it into digital formats.
By creating it in the format of a tool we can use it by shaping words into instructions that will act, and act in ways that are very close sometimes even better than what we would do ourselves. If you imagine what a throwing spear did for the ability to hunt food for humanity, now we are watching the first spears made of human language that act on our behalf.
Our words have become active verbs, extending our capability to use language in any way we normally use it by creating self-propelled active bundles of words. Given the track record of language being useful to humans in history it seems very likely that this invention kind of makes everything else on the technology tree look like a stepping stone towards getting to a tool that could talk back to us.
Lots of good stuff to think about. One point, that might or might not mean anything... Not sure. But from the history I've read, it wasn't steam per se that made the industrial revolution, but coal. Plenty of the machinery was already in place, including steam engines, but the energy source was finite and specifically located (along waterways). It was coal that opened things up.
An interesting point is in the term "finite". Water was a limited source because it was clearly finite. Coal seemed to have an endless supply. Today we know that's not true. I wonder if we'll be able to anticipate the equivalent situation with automated "thought"?
Love your “scale down” insight and how it relates to a human’s minimum capacity. The concept of a unit of scale is everywhere in cloud and arguably one of the most important concepts. Incredibly thought provoking article!
I think it's better to think much longer term. Language is pretty the first technology invented by humans, characteristically defining much of the way our species has progressed ever since, and is now making a return home as a tool we can in our hands with our opposable thumbs.
Embedded within that tool is the 10s of thousands of years of accumulation of knowledge and ability to communicate with each other in nuanced ways in precise ways in specialised ways... But we finally have something that doesn't just keep records of our language or reply it for us at will or turn it into digital formats.
By creating it in the format of a tool we can use it by shaping words into instructions that will act, and act in ways that are very close sometimes even better than what we would do ourselves. If you imagine what a throwing spear did for the ability to hunt food for humanity, now we are watching the first spears made of human language that act on our behalf.
Our words have become active verbs, extending our capability to use language in any way we normally use it by creating self-propelled active bundles of words. Given the track record of language being useful to humans in history it seems very likely that this invention kind of makes everything else on the technology tree look like a stepping stone towards getting to a tool that could talk back to us.
Lots of good stuff to think about. One point, that might or might not mean anything... Not sure. But from the history I've read, it wasn't steam per se that made the industrial revolution, but coal. Plenty of the machinery was already in place, including steam engines, but the energy source was finite and specifically located (along waterways). It was coal that opened things up.
An interesting point is in the term "finite". Water was a limited source because it was clearly finite. Coal seemed to have an endless supply. Today we know that's not true. I wonder if we'll be able to anticipate the equivalent situation with automated "thought"?
Love your “scale down” insight and how it relates to a human’s minimum capacity. The concept of a unit of scale is everywhere in cloud and arguably one of the most important concepts. Incredibly thought provoking article!