[FRIAM] ML ⇔ understanding (was Epistemic Holography)

[steve smith]

> Cynical aside to Pieter: I think Altman's only vision is a personal net worth greater than his old partner Elon.
> davew

I believe that for both of them, money is merely a means or constraint 
to achieving much more abstract, idiosyncratic, hallucinatory, utopian 
visions.   Musk's is clearly rooted in 
a-good-old-fashioned-sci-fi-future.  Altman's openly expressed vision 
seems to be one of an (overly naive) incremental improvement of the 
"human condition" on an arc qualitatively similar to the one we've been 
on since the ramp-up of industry a century or two ago?  They both seem 
to expect technological phase shifts but don't seem to understand that 
sociological/cultural/spiritual ones would seem to follow inevitably?   
They seem to only see Jetson-like-visions of self-flying cars and 
robots?  I see cyberpunkesque post/transhuman utopian/dystopian jackpots.

I don't trust either of them,  mainly because of the outscale leverage 
they wield. Musk's current $$ wealth is 200x that of Altman and his 
industry-dominance has a much broader base.   If Altman approaches AGI 
(asymptotically?) more quickly, he might catch up in terms of /net 
effect in the world/, but not directly through financial wealth?

I was acutely embarrassed for Musk recently when I watched a clip of him 
talking about his Grok and Colossus, using his usual "schtick" around 
"first principles" and "physics based" and I'd swear he didn't 
understand (or mean) a thing he was saying?   It was very buzzword 
compliant to his stories about Tesla and SpaceX.  It sounded like hollow 
rhetoric aimed at Fox News, Donald Trump (and his allies) and 
high-school techbro wannabes.  Nothing he said sounded the least bit 
grounded in anything truly technical?

The more I listen to Altman, the more *naive* he seems to me... he is 
much smoother than Musk and his narcissism is possibly much less 
significant and much more well disguised.


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