Thoughts on AI 2

Human cognitive levels accompany the stages of economic development. A developing country requires one kind of cognitive process; a developed country another to grow.

The main effect of AI would be to reshape the landscape of the kind of cognitive processes required for growth into new forms, both from the supply and on the demand side, and engender new dynamics of evolution; in ways that may evolve quickly and with uncertainty. Permutations, already increased by the proliferation of interfaces, increase through the proliferation of cognitive process only bounded by testing for use. The key question is whether human nature will change. This will depend on the extent of augmentation and augmented interfaces.

Thoughts on AI 1

The real bottlenecks in economic growth are demand side, not supply side. By this, I mean not just meat-stick interface for processes, but meat-based consumption. Economic growth would be much higher if AI consumed what AI produced. It is precisely this paradox: that human consumption is the ultimate good at the macro level, yet counts for so little at the micro one in a Veblen society. This paradox is as necessary as it is inane, and just reminds you that values at the emergent level almost always contradict those that produce them, a weird construction of the world.

Tractatus Notes 1

Initial notes:

Representation is the characterizing of something in relation to its general form. What is the more general form of logic? Knowing this would allow us to represent logical propositions. But there is no "more general form of logic". Logic just are the relations represented by logical axioms.

As for rule following in elucidations of sense, it is more properly termed an identification of the terms by which one structure fits isomorphically with another. This identification is the act of fitting a specific framework of patterns within a more general and fine-grained fabric, and of identifying the patterns within both that represent the other.

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Russell's paradox is a contradiction between two predicates, one an explicit one, and the other a predicate which defines a subject. It is not a general problem, and has received more attention than it deserves.

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"As logic defines the limit of what can be thought, and as forms cannot represent themselves, one can only show, not speak logic."

Wittgenstein confuses sense and reference in defining the meaning of propositions. The picture theory of meaning allows him to claim that the limits of logic, which define the limits of reference, define the limits of what can be said. However, propositions point to sense also. Hence we can grasp the sense of "it is raining and not raining" or "purple is three years old" in order to point to its absence of reference.

At the level of sense, logic just is a set of rules for relationships between concepts, and is not a transcendental limit.

Note 110

Relative wages measure the relative marginal social benefit of effort. Inefficient labour markets abound, because wealth distorts the price of utility, because of imperfect information, and because of organisational complexity. Where this happens, economic inequalities worsen and social problems arise, creating adjustments in politics, aimed at correcting this imbalance.

Note 109

The thing about applied social subjects is that context is at least as, if not more important than broad principles per se. Statements are generalisable to a much lesser degree than often assumed. This is because theory is much more accessible than live information required for contextualised understanding.

For instance, our understanding of economics is incomplete because of a lack of understanding of the cultural and historically contingent factors that determine expectations of consumers and producers, the conditions and motivations of innovators and market adopters, and forms of economic organisation. This may not be easily generalised or mathematically tractable.

International relations often operates on an ideological-descriptive plane of broad generalizations, which often confuses debate when it is used to assess practice, and operates on the wrong level.

Note 108

At the meta level, principles and pragmatism become mutually reinforcing. One is principled because one is pragmatic (rule utilitarianism), and one cannot be effectively pragmatic unless one is principled (idealism).

This is a familiar contrast between an external necessity and internal necessity, and paradoxically, both are necessary for effective action. Contrasting the two is a pointless exercise in poor judgement.