Sebastian Thrun sounds downright triumphalist in his Pacific Standard post about artificial intelligence:
We need to prepare for a world in which fewer and fewer people can make meaningful contributions. Only a small group will command technology and command AI.
Not so fast, says Alan Jacobs, who sees Thrun’s paean to “unprecedented times” as little more than “incoherent vapidity”:
I’m not asking for a detailed roadmap of the future, but just sketch out a path, dude. Otherwise I might think you’re just talking through your artificially intelligent hat.
All things being equal, I think Jacobs wins this round.