The Efficiency of the Human Brain and AI
Fascinating post quoting Elon Musk on the efficiency of the brain and the potential efficiency of AI:
Well, we have a clear example of efficient power, efficient compute, which is the human brain. Our brains use about 20 watts of power, and only about 10 watts is higher brain function. Half of it is just housekeeping, keeping your heart going and breathing.
So you’ve got maybe 10 watts of higher brain function in a human, and we’ve managed to build civilization with 10 watts of a biological computer. Given that humans are capable of inventing general relativity and quantum mechanics, inventing aircraft, lasers, the internet, and discovering physics with a 10-watt meat computer, there’s clearly a massive opportunity for improving the efficiency of AI compute. Right now, even a hundred-megawatt or gigawatt AI supercomputer can’t do everything a human can do. But we already have the proof that true intelligence can emerge from just 10 watts. That should lead you to one conclusion, AI can get a lot more efficient.
Paean to FSD, Tesla Automatic Driving
I drive a Tesla Model 3 that has "FSD," full self driving. It is a safer driver than me or anyone else I know. I never touch the accelerator or brake pedals, and I never use the steering wheel. It has avoided two accident accidents in the last week. One of those near-misses was dramatic. I had merged onto w/b Clayton Road in Ballwin. I was in the right lane. All of a sudden, my car lurked to the right (toward the shoulder) and I was thinking "what's going on?" The car reacted like a cat before I even knew what was happening. Just then, a car driven by a crazed maniac came within 2 inches of smashing the left side of my car. My car immediately moved 2 to 3 feet to the right upon seeing that car approaching with its left side and rear cameras.
The car's reaction time is instant, whereas human reaction time would be one and a half seconds. It is is able to see things that I cannot see, and this is also often critically important. In this case, I was looking ahead. If you review postings on X you will see dozens of these cases of near accidents that were recorded by the dash cam of the Tesla owner involved. In some of them, lives were saved without doubt. My passenger was amazed when this happened (as was I) and we both concluded that in five years, all new cars will be self driving.
This was two days after the car drove my co-counsel and I all the way to Jefferson City for a court hearing and back (about 250 miles) without any human intervention except where a traffic light was burned out. I nudged it through the intersection although it actually would have eventually figured that out too if I had just given it a chance (based on prior situations). It drives through construction zones without any hesitation, ignoring the road, signs and road markings and, instead, follows the construction zone signs. This technology is truly something to behold and the FSD software is continually being updated, just like with an iPhone.
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