upvote
Yes, exploration is exactly why I enjoy research. Knowledge is, after all, the final frontier.

(Space is NOT the final frontier; sorry Trekkies. The real barrier to space is the ability to traverse non-trivial expanses of space in human time, and that will only be solved by Science.)

And when it comes to AI in research, we have just been handed a relativistic starship to explore the boundaries of our knowledge, instead of the paddle boats we've been using all this time. I would choose to adapt and try to harness this new power rather than mourn the loss of paddling.

reply
It doesn’t misunderstand, it just treats that as irrelevant, which it is.
reply
If you could press a button and obliterate the joy experienced by every professional at their work, in exchange for a 1% boost in marginal productivity for the next 2 quarters, would you do it?
reply
I'm afraid this only serves to more vividly depict scientists as rent-seeking
reply
I'd do it in exchange for nothing, the sooner human labor is rendered obsolete the better.
reply
More to the point, what if the button gives a 10% quarterly boost in productivity for the next 100 quarters. But 80% of the professionals get fired and the other 20% have harder jobs that feel more managerial. Then, yeah I would press it.
reply
Do you think all those professionals are going to be grateful to finally know the secrets of the universe despite being jobless?
reply
By the time we know the secrets of the universe, the concept of "jobs" would be an ancient, vestigial footnote in our evolutionary history. I mean, if I knew the secret to faster-than-light travel I'd not be hunched over here pecking away at computers! ;-)

In fact, I suspect most of the "jobs" left eventually would be around extracting those secrets out of the universe and making them work for humanity. Which is probably a much better use of human intellect than pretty much anything we do today.

That may be the future we want to end up in, but we'll only get there eventually. Unfortunately, in today's world we neither know the secrets of the universe nor can we survive without jobs. So until society reorients itself towards that future, we are going to have a lot of upheaval.

reply
You already know about DNA, black holes, and the precise age of the universe, yet you still have a job. Do you think that would change if we knew more?
reply
I think more than you imagine while understanding that it’ll be detrimental to their living.
reply