The answer to Asimov’s last question
[ad_1]
Since for days the world of technology has been talking only about the wonders and risks of the new artificial intelligence model Chat-GPT, a friend sent me a prophetic story by the greatest science fiction writer, Isaac Asimov. Is called “The Last Question” and came out in 1956 in the magazine Science Fiction Quarterly, a few months after the first historic Dartmouth conference in which for the first time a group of scientists used the term artificial intelligence referring to computers.
The story – which Asimov considered the best he had ever written – does not speak of artificial intelligence but the meaning is precisely that: it narrates the evolution of a super computer, Multivac, through seven eras starting from 2061. Multivac, like Chat-GPT , had been trained to answer all questions and does indeed but always stops at what Asimov calls “the last question”.
When the supercomputer answered: “Does God exist? He does now”
by Riccardo Luna
This: how will it be possible to save humanity when the Sun goes out with all the other stars? The story is basically a way of asking, “Can the second law of thermodynamics be reversed?” And that’s why he became famous. But it struck me for another reason.
In fact, the computer responds the same thing every time: “I don’t have enough data to give a meaningful answer.” Sounds like a great answer to me. In an era dominated by Google, which has accustomed us to having all the answers just a click away, and by politicians and influencers, who seem to know everything about everything, admitting that you don’t know enough to be able to have your say is likely to be a gesture revolutionary. I’ve noticed the effect it has on my children when they ask me a problem and I say, “Sorry, I don’t have an opinion, I have to study first.”
Abel, ChatGPT and the risk of bad artificial intelligence
by Riccardo Luna
[ad_2]
Source link
