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Blaise Agüera y Arcas

Published podcast speaker

Claims
27
Episodes
2
Shows
1
Named items
0

Claim ledger

What Blaise said.

27 transcript-backed records

01 / evaluation

You have to build higher order models of them because that becomes an essential part of your umwelt, and you have to simplify or coarse grain the world in order to build a model that is that is ecologically relevant to you.

“You have to build higher order models of them because that becomes an essential part of your umwelt, and you have to simplify or coarse grain the world in order to build a model that is that is ecologically relevant to you.”
Publisher
Machine Learning Street Talk

03 / prediction

Things like intelligence explosions in our lineage in the hominins and in cetaceans, and in bats and in a variety of other species are exactly this kind of runaway modeling of others resulting in, growth of brains and growth of of groups and and therefore that, you know, when we think about the growth of advanced intelligence, you know, in in in, you know, human societies or human brains, it's it's really that same sort of of symbiotic process happening at a much at a much higher level.

“Things like intelligence explosions in our lineage in the hominins and in cetaceans, and in bats and in a variety of other species are exactly this kind of runaway modeling of others resulting in, growth of brains and growth of of groups and and therefore that, you know, when we think about the growth of advanced intelligence, you know, in in in, you know, human societies or human brains, it's it's really that same sort of of symbiotic process happening at a much at a much higher level.”
Publisher
Machine Learning Street Talk

04 / evaluation

I didn't mention, but, you know, in the original version of BFF, I added some random mutation because, you know, we're all taught in school that the way the way evolution works is chance and necessity.

“I didn't mention, but, you know, in the original version of BFF, I added some random mutation because, you know, we're all taught in school that the way the way evolution works is chance and necessity.”
Publisher
Machine Learning Street Talk

05 / evaluation

So, you know, on top you have logical gates, on the bottom you have, you know, transistors in your computer. This is important because, you know, there's there are no bits in a computer, there are just voltages that go up and down.

“So, you know, on top you have logical gates, on the bottom you have, you know, transistors in your computer. This is important because, you know, there's there are no bits in a computer, there are just voltages that go up and down.”
Publisher
Machine Learning Street Talk

06 / evaluation

When that happens, then they'll start to copy as a group and that is a symbiogenetic event. So basically, the reason that even without mutation you get these complex programs arising is because of these fusion events between smaller replicators.

“When that happens, then they'll start to copy as a group and that is a symbiogenetic event. So basically, the reason that even without mutation you get these complex programs arising is because of these fusion events between smaller replicators.”
Publisher
Machine Learning Street Talk

07 / evaluation

In the nineteenth century, when we began to figure out organic chemistry and be able to synthesize urea and so on, the the idea that that no, we should really adopt a strictly materialist perspective because there's nothing special or different about the matter in us versus the matter anywhere else in the universe, took hold.

“In the nineteenth century, when we began to figure out organic chemistry and be able to synthesize urea and so on, the the idea that that no, we should really adopt a strictly materialist perspective because there's nothing special or different about the matter in us versus the matter anywhere else in the universe, took hold.”
Publisher
Machine Learning Street Talk

08 / prediction

I think that the origin of matter and the origin of life might actually be 1 and the same thing and evolution might actually be the answer to that question but it's an evolution that includes a term that Darwin did not account for in his original formulation.

“I think that the origin of matter and the origin of life might actually be 1 and the same thing and evolution might actually be the answer to that question but it's an evolution that includes a term that Darwin did not account for in his original formulation.”
Publisher
Machine Learning Street Talk

09 / evaluation

Sometimes you can see the 2 of those populations go up and down together, that so means that they they may be collaborating with each other, and sometimes they go in opposite directions, they're anti correlated, and that means that they're competing with each other because they're, you know, 1 is overwriting the other for instance.

“Sometimes you can see the 2 of those populations go up and down together, that so means that they they may be collaborating with each other, and sometimes they go in opposite directions, they're anti correlated, and that means that they're competing with each other because they're, you know, 1 is overwriting the other for instance.”
Publisher
Machine Learning Street Talk

10 / commitment

I agree. So I made claims that maybe sound contradictory, you know, 1 of which was that Von Neumann is embodied computation and different from Turing in that sense, but on the other hand that BFF looks like, you know, very much like a Turing machine, and yet I also said it was embodied because I made 1 tape.

“I agree. So I made claims that maybe sound contradictory, you know, 1 of which was that Von Neumann is embodied computation and different from Turing in that sense, but on the other hand that BFF looks like, you know, very much like a Turing machine, and yet I also said it was embodied because I made 1 tape.”
Publisher
Machine Learning Street Talk

11 / prediction

You know, they might simplify, they might get more complex, it doesn't matter. But with symbiogenesis, we know that things get more complex because if a can replicate itself and and survive into the future and b can replicate itself and survive into the future, when they come together, you suddenly need a to replicate itself and b to replicate itself and there's some additional information that has been added, which is how the 2 fit together.

“You know, they might simplify, they might get more complex, it doesn't matter. But with symbiogenesis, we know that things get more complex because if a can replicate itself and and survive into the future and b can replicate itself and survive into the future, when they come together, you suddenly need a to replicate itself and b to replicate itself and there's some additional information that has been added, which is how the 2 fit together.”
Publisher
Machine Learning Street Talk

12 / evaluation

Right? So if you have a purely physical system, then, you know, to say that a causes b is equivalent to saying that b causes because everything is kind of a block universe, you like, in that kind of setup.

“Right? So if you have a purely physical system, then, you know, to say that a causes b is equivalent to saying that b causes because everything is kind of a block universe, you like, in that kind of setup.”
Publisher
Machine Learning Street Talk

13 / belief

The the that that RSV example that I gave, you know, the the ability to fuse cell membranes together came from a, you know, a virus whose original purpose had nothing to do with building placentas, but, you know, it gets incorporated and repurposed, you know, and this is the kind of bricolage that that life is made out of. So so yeah, I think I think that that kind of, you know, not only replacement, but, you know, parallel pathing, etcetera, you know, it it it doesn't just happen when we make artificial kidneys, it's you know, all the time in nature and is the very hallmark of life.

“The the that that RSV example that I gave, you know, the the ability to fuse cell membranes together came from a, you know, a virus whose original purpose had nothing to do with building placentas, but, you know, it gets incorporated and repurposed, you know, and this is the kind of bricolage that that life is made out of. So so yeah, I think I think that that kind of, you know, not only replacement, but, you know, parallel pathing, etcetera, you know, it it it doesn't just happen when we make artificial kidneys, it's you know, all the time in nature and is the very hallmark of life.”
Publisher
Machine Learning Street Talk

14 / disagreement

We we disagree on a lot of things AI related, but I I think he would acknowledge that this is a phase change and that it is an example of emergence.

“We we disagree on a lot of things AI related, but I I think he would acknowledge that this is a phase change and that it is an example of emergence.”
Publisher
Machine Learning Street Talk

15 / belief

There's there's this term that I learned from Dan Brown's book, The Boys in the Boat, swing, which is when when the the 6 horsemen, or 8 horsemen, sorry, you know, all achieve this kind of state where they're in perfect sync with each other and and, you know, you know it when you when you when you experience it, the the boat acquires a soul as it were, you know, you all feel like you're like you're you're pulling as 1 and boats with that property go a lot faster than than boats where people haven't quite achieved that sync.

“There's there's this term that I learned from Dan Brown's book, The Boys in the Boat, swing, which is when when the the 6 horsemen, or 8 horsemen, sorry, you know, all achieve this kind of state where they're in perfect sync with each other and and, you know, you know it when you when you when you experience it, the the boat acquires a soul as it were, you know, you all feel like you're like you're you're pulling as 1 and boats with that property go a lot faster than than boats where people haven't quite achieved that sync.”
Publisher
Machine Learning Street Talk

16 / belief

We already have swing in the sense that we are I we identify what we think of as our intelligence with something that is actually in a bunch of other people and a bunch of other stuff around us, you know, and and and we do that kind of unconsciously.

“We already have swing in the sense that we are I we identify what we think of as our intelligence with something that is actually in a bunch of other people and a bunch of other stuff around us, you know, and and and we do that kind of unconsciously.”
Publisher
Machine Learning Street Talk

18 / belief

I think if if anything, the biggest gap between transformer based models and what we do is actually narrative memory, right, or being able to form long term memories and and and that way have a kind of persistence of a self over over long periods of time.

“I think if if anything, the biggest gap between transformer based models and what we do is actually narrative memory, right, or being able to form long term memories and and and that way have a kind of persistence of a self over over long periods of time.”
Publisher
Machine Learning Street Talk

19 / evaluation

In other words, you have to have a computer inside yourself as a cell in order to make another cell, and DNA is in this very literal sense a Turing tape. So, you know, it's it's a very profound insight because, you know, basically he's saying, you cannot be a living organism without literally being a computer, a universal computer.

“In other words, you have to have a computer inside yourself as a cell in order to make another cell, and DNA is in this very literal sense a Turing tape. So, you know, it's it's a very profound insight because, you know, basically he's saying, you cannot be a living organism without literally being a computer, a universal computer.”
Publisher
Machine Learning Street Talk

20 / evaluation

Great question. So I think that the idea of philosophical zombies, you know, David Chalmers has talked about, right, that maybe something could behave just like you or me, but be dead on the inside, you know, not not not have any experiences, not feel anything, is is actually a lot less coherent than it sounds.

“Great question. So I think that the idea of philosophical zombies, you know, David Chalmers has talked about, right, that maybe something could behave just like you or me, but be dead on the inside, you know, not not not have any experiences, not feel anything, is is actually a lot less coherent than it sounds.”
Publisher
Machine Learning Street Talk

21 / evaluation

The the point is that the moment you have life, meaning that you have something that can build a copy of itself, you have a general computer, which allows you to do anything.

“The the point is that the moment you have life, meaning that you have something that can build a copy of itself, you have a general computer, which allows you to do anything.”
Publisher
Machine Learning Street Talk

22 / prediction

You know, you you put 2 things together, you now have a you have something more complex than the parts. And and if if this if this idea that symbiosis or symbiogenesis is is an essential part of evolution is correct, then you absolutely get more sophisticated things coming about later in evolution because they're being put together from pre existing parts.

“You know, you you put 2 things together, you now have a you have something more complex than the parts. And and if if this if this idea that symbiosis or symbiogenesis is is an essential part of evolution is correct, then you absolutely get more sophisticated things coming about later in evolution because they're being put together from pre existing parts.”
Publisher
Machine Learning Street Talk

23 / evaluation

We went into a very strict materialist kind of perspective, where everything is just physics. And, you know, I I mean, I was trained as a physicist, you know, I think I I believe in physics fully, but I also think that there is more to life in the sense that, you know, if everything is just physics, then you have no way of saying what it means for you or me to be alive.

“We went into a very strict materialist kind of perspective, where everything is just physics. And, you know, I I mean, I was trained as a physicist, you know, I think I I believe in physics fully, but I also think that there is more to life in the sense that, you know, if everything is just physics, then you have no way of saying what it means for you or me to be alive.”
Publisher
Machine Learning Street Talk

24 / evaluation

Those are very clearly steps upward in complexity and and the reason that that it's trivial to prove that there are steps upward is because if you have a which is reproducing and can make more of itself, and you have b, which is reproducing and can make more of itself, think of them each as having a tape, right, that says how to make a me, then when they come together, the result has to both know how to make a and how to make b and how to put them together.

“Those are very clearly steps upward in complexity and and the reason that that it's trivial to prove that there are steps upward is because if you have a which is reproducing and can make more of itself, and you have b, which is reproducing and can make more of itself, think of them each as having a tape, right, that says how to make a me, then when they come together, the result has to both know how to make a and how to make b and how to put them together.”
Publisher
Machine Learning Street Talk

25 / evaluation

You know, putting Chomsky aside though, what what you're saying about merge or as I would see it composition, functional composition, I think is absolutely fundamental.

“You know, putting Chomsky aside though, what what you're saying about merge or as I would see it composition, functional composition, I think is absolutely fundamental.”
Publisher
Machine Learning Street Talk

26 / prediction

You know, you might once in a while see 1 bite somewhere change. But, after a few million interactions, something apparently magical happens, which is that, suddenly the entropy of the soup drops dramatically, so it goes from being incompressible because it's all random bytes to being very highly compressible and programs emerge on those tapes.

“You know, you might once in a while see 1 bite somewhere change. But, after a few million interactions, something apparently magical happens, which is that, suddenly the entropy of the soup drops dramatically, so it goes from being incompressible because it's all random bytes to being very highly compressible and programs emerge on those tapes.”
Publisher
Machine Learning Street Talk

27 / evaluation

You know, in the good old fashioned AI world, you would say, you've got a circle detector, you know, and and a, you know, and a line detector that will detect, you know, the the lines that make up the frame of the bike and and so on, and you'll write you'll handwrite code for all of those things. And and of course, the problem is that, you know, there are many ways of looking at a bike where you're not you're not gonna see the the wheels at once or maybe the bike is of a weird design, you know, there are those funny bikes that have shoes instead of wheels, you know.

“You know, in the good old fashioned AI world, you would say, you've got a circle detector, you know, and and a, you know, and a line detector that will detect, you know, the the lines that make up the frame of the bike and and so on, and you'll write you'll handwrite code for all of those things. And and of course, the problem is that, you know, there are many ways of looking at a bike where you're not you're not gonna see the the wheels at once or maybe the bike is of a weird design, you know, there are those funny bikes that have shoes instead of wheels, you know.”
Publisher
Machine Learning Street Talk
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