Science Corner: You've Got Questions. We've Got Brackets. - Emerging Scholars

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How will you vote?

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I don’t think we’ve seen @AndyWalsh here for a while? :slight_smile:

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And why can’t he write for us every now and then? :slight_smile:

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Oops! Glass houses!! :laughing:

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Because coming up with 1 post a week is usually challenging enough?

Because I’m not really sure what anyone wants me to write about?

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True, but apparently I can be summoned. And you didn’t even have to say my name three times.

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Well, that can be fixed. Let’s talk soon :slight_smile:

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We tried that too. The result was not pretty …
Andy_Walshejuice-e

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Could an AI ever be saved?

Well there’s a question I didn’t know I wanted answered.

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Sure it can be saved - there can even be multiple backups! :slight_smile:

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You’re welcome!

Here’s one angle: actual salvation theology aside, if you can’t lead an AI to have some kind of conversion experience, then you really haven’t solved the problem of replicating human intelligence.

Now, that’s not to say religious belief is evidence of higher intelligence than skepticism or nonbelief. Merely that being able to engage with the topic in sufficient depth to have a believable religious testimony is an indicator of the kind of abstract thought being sought. Or at least that the absence of that capacity suggests a significant delta from human capabilities.

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Well, thanks for that nightmare fuel. :expressionless:

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Thanks to everyone who voted! Round 1 has concluded and voting for round 2 has opened.

You can see the results, vote, and read some quick takes on the eliminated questions here:

Good news, @CrisprCAS9 - your favorite question advanced.

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Thanks for posting @AndyWalsh :slight_smile: .

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We’ve hit the halfway point, which means I’ve sketched out brief takes on 24 of the 32 questions. Which ones will get to the final four and earn input from someone other than me? You can decide.

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The ones that are winning seem to have very obvious answers. Is that really what people care about?

See here for example to my answer on one of the questions:

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Well, the truth beyond science question lost 8-7. That’s a small margin and sample size, so I’m not sure much can be inferred.

I actually thought a lot of the more straightforward questions were eliminated early. But then again, the nature of the bracket is that half the field gets eliminated straight away, so a lot of everything got eliminated early.

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This topic was automatically closed 7 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.

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Well, we’re down to our final quartet of questions:

  • What is the difference between consensus and consilience?
  • How much should science inform religious practice?
  • What makes humans human, and when did they start being human?
  • Could an artificial intelligence ever be saved? (the only unanimous winner so far)

Be sure to vote for your favorites to advance to the final round by midnight EDT on Sunday. And all four of the above questions will be getting expanded responses. If any of you would like to contribute a response, send me a PM. All perspectives are welcome (i.e. you don’t have to be a scientist and/or a Christian). Responses can be as brief or detailed as you’d like, and dialogues with me or each other are welcome along with monologues.

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