So, would it be a failing in the education system when people don't understand how things work?
As a Gen-X citizen, I know how food gets to the supermarket. I know how money gets to the bank, how loans are processed, how checkbooks are balanced, and how the medical system works.
I also understand how computer programs work, why Microsoft is fucking things up, and how to fix it.
I know how to do simple repairs to vehicles, and how to change oil, drain gas, and change tires.
I think trying to figure out everything would scramble an AI's circuits.
If flesh and blood minds couldn't figure out how to build infrastructure, then AI might not be any better.
[I think trying to figure out everything would scramble an AI's circuits.]
Given my limited understanding of how artificial neural networks are trained and perform inference, I don’t know what “scramble an AI's circuits” is supposed to mean. My point is not that conceiving of a comprehensive global governance scheme and executing is impossible for human minds but acheivable for AI. It is that such system are accretive and emergent, not designed in advance and executed comprehensively.
[So, would it be a failing in the education system when people don't understand how things work?]
That’s the wrong frame. You understand a lot of concrete subsystems: food distribution, banking, software, vehicle repair, and so on. That kind of knowledge matters.
My point is that no one understands the whole accreted system by which material resources, credit, permissions, infrastructure, supply chains, insurance, regulation, software, and institutional authority interact. The issue is not individual ignorance. It’s system scale.
Trying to improve outcomes by focusing attention and resources on education is a dysfunctional impulse unless your actual goal is to pretend to address a problem that doesn’t bother you all that much but to which you are required to pay lip service. Even the best educated humans do not understand the entire system by which material and energy resources are deployed and opportunities and access are granted and denied. What’s more, the best educated humans do not reliably display the highest levels of agency.
So, would it be a failing in the education system when people don't understand how things work?
As a Gen-X citizen, I know how food gets to the supermarket. I know how money gets to the bank, how loans are processed, how checkbooks are balanced, and how the medical system works.
I also understand how computer programs work, why Microsoft is fucking things up, and how to fix it.
I know how to do simple repairs to vehicles, and how to change oil, drain gas, and change tires.
I think trying to figure out everything would scramble an AI's circuits.
If flesh and blood minds couldn't figure out how to build infrastructure, then AI might not be any better.
[I think trying to figure out everything would scramble an AI's circuits.]
Given my limited understanding of how artificial neural networks are trained and perform inference, I don’t know what “scramble an AI's circuits” is supposed to mean. My point is not that conceiving of a comprehensive global governance scheme and executing is impossible for human minds but acheivable for AI. It is that such system are accretive and emergent, not designed in advance and executed comprehensively.
[So, would it be a failing in the education system when people don't understand how things work?]
That’s the wrong frame. You understand a lot of concrete subsystems: food distribution, banking, software, vehicle repair, and so on. That kind of knowledge matters.
My point is that no one understands the whole accreted system by which material resources, credit, permissions, infrastructure, supply chains, insurance, regulation, software, and institutional authority interact. The issue is not individual ignorance. It’s system scale.
Trying to improve outcomes by focusing attention and resources on education is a dysfunctional impulse unless your actual goal is to pretend to address a problem that doesn’t bother you all that much but to which you are required to pay lip service. Even the best educated humans do not understand the entire system by which material and energy resources are deployed and opportunities and access are granted and denied. What’s more, the best educated humans do not reliably display the highest levels of agency.
Thanks for the interest, KMO. A very insightful post!