Part Klon, Part Machine

"Where are my killer robots?"

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Klon Kitchen—former Dispatch national security extraordinaire turned private sector sellout—is back on the Remnant to take a deep dive into the exciting (read: terrifying) realm of artificial intelligence. With ChatGPT becoming ubiquitous, debate is raging over whether advancements in AI will bring forth an apocalyptic future or a brave new world. Klon’s prediction is that we’ll end up somewhere in the middle, and he has answers to all of the most intriguing questions of the moment: How exactly does AI work? Should we worry about machines replacing human workers? And will Jonah ever forgive David French for his treachery? 

Show Notes:

-Watch: Jonah Goldberg interviews Klon Kitchen

– Klon’s page at AEI

– Advisory Opinions on an infelicitous use of ChatGPT

– Marc Andreessen: “Why AI Will Save the World”

– Nearly a third of adults under 30 support surveillance in their homes

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Comments (47)
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  1. Aaron H Frank

    Thanks Jonah! Klon is always good. Finally someone talked about AI hallucinations!

    Could you bring Klon on to talk about the consumer side of hacks? For example, Microsoft publishes a list of patches the first Tuesday of every month. But many people and many companies do apply theseimmediately. So could a group of hackers or a foreign government could use an AI engine to consumer the list of vulnerabilities then crawl the Internet looking for online, vulnerable computers.

    You don't really need an AI engine to do this but it would make it easier and faster.

    Planes have been flying by themselves at least since the mid-90s. I sat next to a deadheading pilot who should me the manual for autopilot. Pilots fly passenger planes for takeoff and landing, but the computer does the rest unless there is a need for intervention. My pilot seatmate said cargo planes do the whole process by auto-pilot.

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    Philbnichols

    Jonah Goldberg, has TheD ever investigated the mysterious decisions surrounding Klon Kitchen's first name? That is a mystery worth finding out.

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    Ben Connelly

    This was good. Always good to have Klon back on the show.

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  4. Chipwatkins

    Cars are neither "driverless" nor "autonomous." They are driven by sophisticated computer programs written by 20-30-somethings who cannot possibly anticipate all of the situations in which human driver-riders might find themselves.

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    OK Steele

    The last 7 minutes are the entire conversation about AI for me. A point from Ian Leslie's book Curiosity has stuck with me and really underscored much of my worldview prior but I had never found a way to articulate it as artfully as he did.

    Outsourcing our storage of knowledge has not made humanity more intelligent but less. Without these connections of memorized of factual information, it is harder for us to stimulate creative thoughts about that factual information. Like a child who cannot create words until they have memorized the alphabet, or sentences until they have memorized how to sound out and spell words, our brains are like snowballs rolling down a hill the more information we collect the more we are able to collect.

    That is not to say that people do not memorize and learn information today but we are enabled to avoid doing so more than in the past.

    In some ways, for the less critical thinkers advanced technology functions like a form of wellfare. It creates a level of banal uninspired existence so comfortable that it makes it challenging to escape. It creates a form of technological paternalism that makes learning knowing and doing far less useful.

    I don’t advise to litigate against AI, but I am afraid it will strip us of our creativity and curiosity and it is almost all I think about when these discussions come up.

    Jonah mentioned some masonry skills are very few and far between. That’s true, but mainly because we live in a society where is it far less worthwhile to know them. Very few builders erect structural masonry buildings today. In that same way I wonder, if we end up in a society where critical thinking, knowing, deep contemplations, curiosity etc. become less and less useful, will they become far less prevalent?

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    Steve Gordon

    Great to hear from Klon again! My fellow warrior in the effort to eliminate TikTok from the US! Very interesting discussion on AI. It is an absolute gold rush right now where the only money in venture world is going. It almost reminds me of the .com bubble where EVERYONE was trying to just hang a .com shingle on their offering somehow, even if it wasn't really related to their core biz. Similar shenanigans occurring with AI, even if it's a very real and very promising technology advancement.

    The driverless car/truck discussion was also interesting. The liability question is a BIG one as I can attest to as someone who works on this at a state policy level. And we're a long, long ways (meaning likely never) to having a fully driverless commercial truck. Lots of technology issues, lots of liability issues, and lots of public acceptance issues.

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    Abby

    What’s going on with this podcast? I had to start listening on stitcher because they no longer show up in the apple podcast feed. I also hear the same part of the conversation twice and it just abruptly ends.

    Anyone else having these tech issues?

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      J. Eric

      I also use Apple Podcasts and did not have any issues.

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    Michael Garrett

    Riffing on Jonah's observation that we learn to speak a language by doing so, matching the prevailing conventions and not by memorizing and applying rules of grammar:

    I recommend John McWhorter's Lexicon Valley podcast of March 20, slugged "Age, Color, Origin, Material"

    It makes you realize you are following rules you did not know existed, but you would know if you broke them.

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      Michael Garrett

      One can find many pages on internet discussing these rules and conventions that everyone follows without knowing they are rules and conventions. I will try to post just this one:

      https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20160908-the-language-rules-we-know-but-dont-know-we-know#:~:text=“Adjectives%20in%20English%20absolutely%20have,ll%20sound%20like%20a%20maniac.

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    The Stray Goose

    Will your AI tutor be teaching your children that men can have babies? If so, just kill it now.

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  10. Bigdonmck

    You are right, Jonah. Bring Klon back for a discussion on Ukraine....or any subject for that matter. Great podcast.

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