khafra comments on The Curve of Capability - Less Wrong

18 Post author: rwallace 04 November 2010 08:22PM

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Comment author: PeterS 05 November 2010 10:39:43AM *  0 points [-]

Strong recursion: Software designs new software to design newer software; money begets money begets more money. Think of the foom as compound interest on intelligence.

Suppose A designs B, which then designs C. Why does it follow that C is more capable than B (logically, disregarding any hardware advances made between B and C)? Alternatively, why couldn't A have designed C initially?

Comment author: khafra 05 November 2010 01:53:13PM 2 points [-]

It does not necessarily follow; but the FOOM contention is that once A can design a B more capable than itself, B's increased capability will include the capability to design C, which would have been impossible for A. C can then design D, which would have been impossible for B and even more impossible for A.

Currently, each round of technology aids in developing the next, but the feedback isn't quite this strong.