Gale, the major argument against a falling population, one that I have made myself: ( https://www.lianeon.org/p/we-dont-have-enough-people ) is that more people means greater overall “computational power” to solve problems.
But fertility rates began falling just as we invented the microprocessor and they continue to fall as our machines get smarter. This makes me wonder if this fear could be unfounded, especially with AI able to do much of the thinking for us. The human population could fall while total “compute" keeps on rising. I don't know, just food for thought.
I would say there is a categorical difference between computational power and creative power. While chips are getting faster at flipping bits, human beings are the source of the content of those bits. We can manufacture a billion more pianos, but music requires human creativity. The other major issue is the demographic characteristic of a population. As you reduce birth rates, you can end up flipping the population pyramid, like Japan, with more people over 65 than under 15. It is generally young people that create and innovate, not retirees. Thanks again for reading and commenting.
Pianos have no value without musicians. Chips have no power without creative human beings. Chips flip bits, they don’t really think. That said, AI and Nvidia chips offer tremendous potential as leverage tools for faster knowledge discovery and creation. We really need more human beings to activate all of our newly discovered computational power.
Gale, the major argument against a falling population, one that I have made myself: ( https://www.lianeon.org/p/we-dont-have-enough-people ) is that more people means greater overall “computational power” to solve problems.
But fertility rates began falling just as we invented the microprocessor and they continue to fall as our machines get smarter. This makes me wonder if this fear could be unfounded, especially with AI able to do much of the thinking for us. The human population could fall while total “compute" keeps on rising. I don't know, just food for thought.
I would say there is a categorical difference between computational power and creative power. While chips are getting faster at flipping bits, human beings are the source of the content of those bits. We can manufacture a billion more pianos, but music requires human creativity. The other major issue is the demographic characteristic of a population. As you reduce birth rates, you can end up flipping the population pyramid, like Japan, with more people over 65 than under 15. It is generally young people that create and innovate, not retirees. Thanks again for reading and commenting.
Yep, just playing devils advocate. I wonder how AI may change the calculation? I suppose it depends if AI is truly creative or not?
Pianos have no value without musicians. Chips have no power without creative human beings. Chips flip bits, they don’t really think. That said, AI and Nvidia chips offer tremendous potential as leverage tools for faster knowledge discovery and creation. We really need more human beings to activate all of our newly discovered computational power.
Typo in second sentence. Should be: ... is that if there are [no] humans, there's no humanity.
Thanks Benjamin! You should be my proofreader.