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“Contrary to the more fantastic predictions for AI in the popular press

however. We are already devoting huge scientific and technical

there is no race of superhuman robots on the horizon or probably even possible.”

it might arrive considerably sooner than expected. One variation

if we were to detect a large asteroid predicted to collide with

we’ll run out of gas before we get there!” The claim

appears to concede that if superintelligent AI were possible

we can just switch it off. 2 This is often the first thing that pops into a

connecting data to reality. Data alone are hardly a science

and hemispherical Earth riding on turtleback. It was

the Babylonian astronomers were masters of black-box predictions

“More has been learned about causal inference in the

for which causal models have become a second language. These

especially in such data-intensive sciences as sociology and

but they still can’t tie their own shoes.)

robots with anything approaching human capability in a broad range of

but they’re far short of enabling a computerized robot to tidy a room.

where patterns are processed and recognized. These advances

one of the pioneers of modern neuroscience

increasingly sensitive instrumentation and