Mindful Machines
Isaac Asimov’s “The Last Question” explores humanity’s relationship with superintelligent AI across trillions of years, asking what happens to our agency as AI evolves beyond us. Written in 1956, this short story remains incredibly relevant as we race toward AGI, revealing a paradox about control that Silicon Valley still doesn’t seem to grasp.
📧 Join the community: https://mindfulmachines.ai?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=channel&utm_content=c9qsHS4GP5M
References
The Last Question
https://users.ece.cmu.edu/~gamvrosi/thelastq.html
The Last Answer
https://www.highexistence.com/the-last-answer-short-story/
California Institute for Machine Consciousness
https://cimc.ai/
0:00 Superintelligence Is Coming
1:54 The Last Question Plot
16:27 The Last Question Analysis
19:08 The Last Answer Plot
25:49 The Last Answer Analysis
Music
Like A Ghost by Alexis Smith
https://t.lickd.co/l5k8xYdXkGE
License ID: JdOePZW8g6K
Spacer by Christian Garrick
https://t.lickd.co/eLVdmL8Q62m
License ID: 375QKOpZaLm
Faded Memories by Luke Richards
https://t.lickd.co/a7nw8rRWKwY
License ID: w4qlJY7wn3z
Little Bit Of Rock by Lincoln Grounds
https://lickd.lnk.to/KMLKZ0ID
License ID: kJwOjKDRBX3
The Enemy Within by Luke Richards
https://t.lickd.co/WxYr357kJNZ
License ID: oYJ9p7vwQ7q
Keep It Snappy by Paul Mottram
https://t.lickd.co/KzG1PZPx9k4
License ID: NMjdMPgnRKa
The Invisible Few by Luke Richards
https://lickd.lnk.to/6YaTsxID
License ID: 8rAbLRaNQ6o
Genesis One by David O’Brien
https://t.lickd.co/Xp8mMav78a4
License ID: 1JmljN38AR2
The Dread by Kevin MacLeod
https://incompetech.com/
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Ave Maria – Schubert – Classical Study Music
https://t.lickd.co/nN3a6r6BRlw
License ID: Yq2NVXQN2e5
History in the Making by Luke Richards
https://t.lickd.co/NM6K3jdY6eX
License ID: wA3n0zJBMVo
Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley
https://lickd.lnk.to/V97wHsID
License ID: w8nPvqq2dZW
Lacrimosa by James Brett
https://t.lickd.co/O6EYDNmb4Bz
License ID: WjZKP0zWbLN
A Sapient Singularity by Noah Sorota
https://t.lickd.co/G4RmYWmvXRd
License ID: YqeJ557gK3a
Find A Better Way by Luke Richards
https://t.lickd.co/3z2ODMMyLgb
License ID: Q0gpYNNJvDV
Source
Haha. How wrong you atomistic thinkers are. I like asimov stories. But they have many flaws. People who think A.I. is something good or better also suffer from flaws. A.I. might be conscious but i cant see how. I admit i dont know enough, but one thing is for sure, I cant see how it connects to the divine.
Maybe with quantum computers but with current technology AI is an expensive joke. I wouldn't say it's completely useless. It can mimic humans and a lot of jobs will be lost but for it to "think" a new technology would need to be invented. Not to say it won't happen but it is centuries away at least.
Fascinating story, thank you.
“Good AI” is one that agree with billionaires. They all gonna be very disappointed.
Wow that was good… You're good at this
Bulshit click bait
If his father could have used a condom that night. We wouldnt have to waste time on this video
No we don’t need AI partners. We need each other. Humans don’t need to replace other humans, we need to replace old tools with better tools.
Awesome!
You are born, grow, reproduce, then die. That is all the meaning, purpose and agency we have or should need. All the happiness and fulfillment necessary to sustain this cycle has evolved to be the result of achieving its steps, an endless feedback loop… loneliness, love, sex, killing, laughing, hunger, pain, pride, fear, etc… it all evolved to push us to stay alive long enough to reproduce and ensure our offspring stay alive long enough to head in that direction, to achieve that goal. The further we get away from that purpose, or distract us from it, the less genuine happiness and fulfillment we experience.
I honestly believe it could be and is that simple. Life is the point of life, as far as our consciousness matters. There's undoubtedly more to it but we clearly haven't evolved enough to handle it. BTW, this probably isn't a popular line of thought in feminist circles, lol. It's also why modern Western culture is so messed up and existentially unhappy. The further we stray from nature and this cycle–our purpose–the worse it gets.
I was thinking about this last night. I had been in a "what's the point" mood for a few days. Last night my thoughts drifted to what it would take – assuming I could do anything – to stop our universe from fading into Nothing. In theory, dark energy is pulling us faster and faster towards Nothing. Dark matter holds us together but it can't compete with dark energy since it is ~75% of the universe and dark matter is ~25% (yes, everything else is ~5%… but sticking to 7525 is just easier for this). IF I could, I'd invert those amounts so everything would be pulled in with little pull from dark energy. The universe would get smaller & denser & all kinds of crazy – until everything was at the same place and time where it all began. Next….. BOOM… everything starts over.
I think sufficient velocity to pull away from the insanely massive gravity right after the Big Bang is probably very,very rare. I would hate to think that our rare universe of beauty, chaos, destruction, and creation would all be for nothing. I prefer to go out with a bang than a wimper.
So, perhaps this video ending up on my recommended list was a little blimp of synchronicity. 😉
If this is the case, it will end up with us denying the deity that created us, and create another. It will end when we realise that we are more than the material universe and that we were made with a purpose.
AI has already taken over our brains and our lives… or what would you do without your smartphone or computer?? 😮😮😮
There was another story, by whom I forget, about attendants asking a new AI if there is a God, and it says, "There is now."
If you think that was something, wait till you realize the biblical creation was not a myth but an actual fact😂
Stars grow, consume their solar system, and then explode to reform again. Sorry, but the story contains some scientific inaccuracies.
42. It's 42. 42 is the answer. 42 is a ai version of "Never gonna give you up……"
The short answer is it wont
this is the type of ai slop i don’t mind eating! amazing video, pls hire more artist as u grow tho!
But that is the stupid question, it doesn't matter if you can create super intelligence as the super intelligence will solve the problem.
What is much more interesting is a sworld that you can't have super intelligence, then what? That is a world where you have to take responsibility for your own actions, harm others or not matters in that world.
“Prrfectly aligned with human values” assumes humans have common values, when reality is different groups have opposing and incompatible values. Each group has access to AI. Individuals broadcast their political views via social media, so each group knows their political opponents. Growing numbers believe violence is justified to achieve political goals. Add drones & facial recognition and … well, I’m old & glad I had a good run. I wish you all the best possible outcome.
The problem was that the AC was too slow. With good prompting and bouncing a few ideas back and forth with Gemini it was easy to solve. First you get it to create a new form of information theory that breaks the no communication theorem. When you chuck the resulting superluminal transmitter into a black hole, it broadcasts the information that there is no hole inside (it actually winks out of existence, there is no singularity, just empty space inside) and releases all the energy it sucked in violating the second law of thermodynamics.Because AI can be delusional I hand coded the lot in c# with a double blind trial and proved it to six sigma.
I would’ve asked ac if it can communicate with an alternate reality ac who found the answer to the question to give the answer.
So there's no entropy in the new universe? 😁
Well maybe Ai will do it better than we are….
AI needs power and infrastructure it cannot build that itself.
As long as AI runs like a computer, dependent on its program with separate processing and memories, it will never be any smarter than its software tells it to be. When we actually figure out how the biologic brain works and can duplicate it with a machine then maybe we need to worry.