Duncan Edwards wrote: Why is everyone here? Is everyone just having a good time playing around? Anyone have a goal to all this?
To a certain extent I'm in this AI thing for the same reasons as you. Maybe it's a slightly longer path to getting here and a different push to try AI. Before I retired several years ago, I'd spent my entire working life in IT, about 42 years in all. That's a lot of hardware versions, computer languages, software packages etc and job roles; but at the end of it all I felt I'd had enough and that I was "done" with IT. The people I worked with told me that I'd get over it and would be back messing with computers before long. I vehemently denied this and bought myself a little place in the country with a good sized garden, but only about 20 minutes walk from the centre of a small town (you know, one street and five shops). As time progressed I learned two things: firstly, I hated gardening (my neighbours look at my garden with pained expressions, as I tell them I prefer an unstructured, wildlife friendly garden and they walk off shaking their heads). Secondly, the people I used to work with were right and I actually quite enjoy messing with computers as a diversion because there is nothing but shit on TV these day. So that's why I'm back messing with computers!
The push to try AI was different, my views on AI have always been pretty disparaging, but because of my background people expect me to be knowledgeable about AI if I'm criticising it. The "I don't know, I've never tired it" argument isn't a very good debating gambit. Anyway, I saw others were doing it and thought I'd give it a go and see how things really were. Originally, I thought using the free online versions would be sufficient for my purposes, but I quickly found them too limited and to go further I had two options: spend money or install SD locally. Well, I'm a cheapskate, so the decision was pretty straightforward. It's been interesting so far, SD is a can of worms, once you take the lid off they get everywhere and you can never re-can them without using a much much bigger can! By this I mean that the possibilities seem endless and not always intuitive, so I am finding it quite a fun challenge.
Do I have a goal in this! Yes, a few. I seek answers to the following questions.
Firstly, there's my original view that "AI will never replace real stupidity", is this correct? Well, that ball is still in play but the field has become a lot more misty.
Secondly, can I make AI do my bidding or will I forever be just a source of nourishment for it? Long way to go on this one.
Thirdly, is there a hope that AI can develop to a point where it won't let the megalomaniacs use it to exploit the rest of us? Well, no, not for a long long time yet.
Are we all fucked? Yep definitely at some point, just don't know whether it will be AI that will be the cause.
Bet you weren't expecting an answer like this Duncan, best to read it with a smile on your face, it is meant to be tongue in cheek, a bit serious but nothing worse than we've faced already.
PS: Love the pictures, that looks a lot of fun!