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Comment by ethan_smith | Hacker News Reader

It definitely adds value to the conversation - we're all human, we're all unsure about the future and our place in it.

I'm just scared about a future where humans (say the next generation, kids 1-5 years of age right now) lack in-depth knowledge of almost everything and it's mostly AI writing low-level code, so there are no more "human experts."

We've already seen this happening where Gen Z mostly interacts with the world using phones and struggle with older operating systems/desktops, just like older generations. AI is going to make that 10x worse going forward.

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You see this with high level languages now. Memory management much less assembly are things of a bygone era.

“Memory management”, “bygone era.” The problem is you and many others probably think this is actually true.

It is true. Deal with it and get over it.

In 10 years, no trace of our current practices will remain in a recognizable form. It'll take longer than most of us think -- imagine how nonplussed Winograd and the rest of the SHRDLU-era AI gurus would have been to see how long it took to pull off the dice-matching trick in the video -- but when it does happen, it'll happen faster than we think. We're not yet at the tipping point, but it's close.

> I'm just scared about a future where humans (say the next generation, kids 1-5 years of age right now) lack in-depth knowledge of almost everything and it's mostly AI writing low-level code, so there are no more "human experts."

Isn’t that the ultimate goal?

It isn't. I mean, that depends on what "low level code" means. We have compilers so, to an extent, it's something desirable. But if "low level code" means everything we understand as code today, it may not be great. Human languages aren't precise enough for the kind of work that needs to be done.

But let's say it's accomplished. What will end up happening is that AI (should it work to the extent it's been hyper) will replace all the 'fun' jobs and we'll be left with either no jobs (and no income), or the most menial physical labor imaginable.

The physical labor will be for the robots in the video.

We'll probably spend all day consuming media and socializing. Thats the optimistic view of course.

I have a million and one things I want to accomplish but can't due to lack of time and energy as I work full time.

This includes reading, gardening, playing sports, learning to play the piano, etc. Of course some of that is consuming media, but I don't think people will just become couch potatoes.

Think of all the things "high society" accomplished in Victorian england because they had the time, energy and resources.

Why would it be? I can understand wanting us to be free of having to do the work, but having essentially no-one understand the systems they're using is something we haven't encountered once in the modern period. It feels more akin to the post-Roman Britons, who inherited the Empire's hydraulic infrastructure but not the know-how to fix it when things went wrong.

That is only a negative if you believe that net intelligence is going down due to this level of increase of "easy of use" technology. I agree with you that it is bad for the avg person today, but for the smartest person, things are better.

Definitely believe we are reaching some sort of global maxima in terms of intelligence in our current structure of society

Couldn't a similar argument be made about using a calculator? Hopefully, the tools created based on these new technologies will enable future generations to achieve things that perhaps we haven't even considered before.

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