Elon Musk and Jack Ma of Alibaba Debate Artificial Intelligence and Talk Technology

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Alibaba co-founder and executive chairman Jack Ma and Tesla CEO Elon Musk hold a debate in Shanghai over artificial intelligence.

They both agree that world population will decrease rapidly over the next few decades.

Elon Musk statements :
Elon thinks China is the Future.
We [Humans] will be far, far surpassed in every single way [By Artificial Intelligence]. I [Elon Musk] guarantee it.
Humans are a boot loader for super AI.
Elon Musk believes we can solve biological aging. Elon is not sure we should. It would involve a lot of genetic changes.
Elon Musk believes that we can solve the environmental problems of the world. However, very aggressive action is needed.

Jack Ma –
Believes AI will enable a vastly shorter workweek. Electricity increased human productivity and reduced the workweek.

SOURCES- Twitter, Youtube
Written By Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com

38 thoughts on “Elon Musk and Jack Ma of Alibaba Debate Artificial Intelligence and Talk Technology”

  1. If that were possible, you would think it might have occurred by now.

    Median Wealth
    US Census(cb14-156_net_worth_graphic)

    Bottom(20%) Next(20%)
    2011 -6,029 7,263
    2005 -915 16,645
    2000 -905 14,319

  2. There is a chance China could adopt a strong anti-empiricism anti-intellectualism stance a few years down the road.

  3. Indeed, short of killing a lot of people early, there’s no way to get a large population drop in “a few decades”; A few decades from now, most of the people who are alive today should still be alive.

  4. You fail to take into account that different strata of the population have different projections. For example, the Amish in the USA have a total fertility rate of about 6 children per woman. So, wait long enough and the amish curve will make the whole US curve increase once more.

    Given that the amish are only a few hundred thousands, this may take a very long time. But there are other groups that are far more numerous. 15% of families in the US have 4 or more children, and another 25% have at least 3 children [1]. So eventually, this groups will come to dominate the total population.

    https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/09/middle-children-have-become-rarer-but-a-growing-share-of-americans-now-say-three-or-more-kids-are-ideal/

  5. You are correct, of course. I’ve had a look at the projections of the chinese population for the year 2050 and there was no disaster. Total fertility rate is 1.6, which is kind of surprising given that 1 child policy that was implemented until recently. It must have been on account of people bribing themselves around the regulations.

    Also, people forget that the slump in birth rates in the west is only temporary. Once selection kicks in, only kid-crazy people will populate the earth and then we will have to face overpopulation once more. How long for this to happen? My guess, one, two generatons, i.e. about 60-70 years. We just have to weather this slump and then we are back to business….

  6. Come on D Drake… There is no way that huge swaths of people will starve in the modern western world. If push comes to shove, the masses can always vote themselves to other peoples money, right?

  7. Technological unemployment will not mean “I have running water poor”, it will mean “I’m homeless and source my meals from the dumpster behind The Penthouse at Mastro’s poor”

    Most ppl get the very broad strokes sort of on target, but off target with the detail drivers.

    Fertility rates tend to be higher in poorly resourced countries but due to high maternal and perinatal mortality, there is a reduction in birth rates. In developing countries children are needed as a labour force and to provide care for their parents in old age. In these countries, fertility rates are higher due to the lack of access to contraceptives and generally lower levels of female education. The social structure, religious beliefs, economic prosperity and urbanisation within each country are likely to affect birth rates as well as abortion rates, Developed countries tend to have a lower fertility rate due to lifestyle choices associated with economic affluence where mortality rates are low, birth control is easily accessible and children often can become an economic drain caused by housing, education cost and other cost involved in bringing up children. Higher education and professional careers often mean that women have children late in life. This can result in a demographic economic paradox.

    Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

  8. The birth rate is falling rapidly throughout the world if it continues to trend in a downward direction then in a few decades it will fall below the death rate and there will be a population collapse. There are variables that may change that however, such as advances in anti-aging, but the societal factors that are pushing people to have fewer children are substantial.

  9. I know a lot of you guys are complaining about Jack Ma’s performance, but hearing Elon Musk in not much better. If he had not started Tesla and SpaceX, nobody would ask him to speak publicly since he is neither a great speaker nor a great thinker.

    For starters, how about his assessment that the purpose of education is to make predictions of the future less wrong. Really? That is the purpose of higher education? And what about his claim that the biggest mistake clever people do is thinking they are clever. Again, really?

    Everything Musk says is half baked and said to elicit the most shock effect. He could, for instance, have said that the biggest mistake clever people make is to believe that their level of intelligence will not be replaced by AI, but that would be measured and accurate. No, instead he went for the “shocker” that clever people are still “stupid” on a cosmic scale. Ghasp!

    Another priceless gem. People are already cyborgs but they just don’t realize it, since they are near addicted to their smart phones. Please! Could you get more cheesy? And don’t let me get started on his style of speaking…

  11. Exactly. The smaller the face, the younger the appearance. The treatment consists of very advanced in situ genetic modifications that simultanously shrink all features and gradually move them towards the center of his face.

  12. Speaking of logic. We know that the low income people have more children than high income people. Nature now also selects for lower IQ with every generation. In historical times, rich people had more children and as for IQ.. well, it was selected for being average. But you think that the more generations of death and birth we have, the better the humanity? I would advice you to see the movie “idiocracy”…

  13. Yup. In wealthier counties the biggest cost of children is your time. time=money If your time isn’t worth much…then having more kids is cheap.

  15. But isn’t it that poor people have MORE children? It’s people on high pressure career paths that don’t reproduce.

  17. Given the average life expectancy, you’re not going to see a rapid decrease in population over the next few decades without a LOT of people dying prematurely.

  18. Technological unemployment.

    Destitute, hopeless and starving people with no futures tend not to have large families.

    The UBI was put forward as a mitigation to starvation for the poorly educated masses, so they’re free to go away & self medicate and not make too much of a nuisance of themselves(think Niven-esk wireheads). But, that isn’t going to happen, that would be socialism, no free riders etc etc. Oh well, they all made their choices.

  19. This discussion thread is bordering dangerously on a conversation about the distribution of power in society and the socio-psychological dynamics behind that.

  22. “They both agree that world population will decrease rapidly over the next few decades.”

    How exactly is that supposed to happen? War? Plague? Genocide?

  23. You have to eat through a straw, too. If Jack Ma’s face is the future of anti-ageing, I’ll die with grace thanks.

  24. So do you really think the irrational, inept, wicked and vile are unique to the current older generations, and will go away in a few decades when those people die off?

    From what I’ve seen, aging often seems to ease those symptoms. Counter to the cliche of old people getting set in their ways, I see some older people becoming more thoughtful and accepting. Some people STAY set in their ways when they get old, but it isn’t getting old that made them that way.

    Most often it is the young who do horrific/abusive things on the basis of narrow-minded beliefs they are convinced justify such actions.

    But for what it’s worth, you’ll likely get your wish – broadly affordable life extension to an ‘escape velocity’ level probably is decades away.

  25. No. The waste of human capitol right now is so so awful, how about a scientist who can spend hundreds of years on their work. Retrain and be a colonist on another planet. Learn to play 50 instruments, plant a billion trees. Yes some people will be irrational and inept but you have to think that the positives would outweigh the negatives.

  30. you know, I was ready to dismiss all the criticisms of jack ma and his reasoning skills – until I actually listened to the video. wow. how the hell did he ever co-found a lemonade stand, let alone a multinational conglomerate?

  31. I admire Elon Musk but detest his comment about China being the “Future”. The world certainly do not want an autocratic and oppressive government with poor human rights record to be this planet’s “Future”.

  33. Without the churn societal attrition provides, the irrational, the inept, the wicked and the vile will accumulate and the forward progress of society will seize up. It would be more beneficial for all life on this planet in the long run if all this longevity business is put on the back burner for a few more decades. The sooner and larger the turnover of the current population the sooner pressing can be resolved.

  34. …copying others’ business models…

    Only the irrational and the inept would think such concepts could belong to “special people”. “Sell shiny baubles online to the great unwashed masses”-only special people should be allowed to do that.

  36. Musk says humans are “a bootloader for super-AI” and that humans are expected to be “surpassed by AI in every way”. These statements imply that he thinks AI will be smarter than he is. That suggests this relationship: “Future AI is to Elon as Elon is to normal people”.

  37. It’s painful to listen to Jack Mas line of reasoning. Who invited him to this conference? He knows nothing about AI.

  38. Jack Ma has such a small face. Like, really small for the size of his head. Also, what an absolute clown. Does he know nothing? It wouldn’t surprise me, since his business is only successful because of espionage, copying others’ business models and interference by the government.

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