Artificial Intelligence: What's your level of concern?

[Contributor]

Now that this thread has turned to engineers, I'll comment. When I graduated with my BSEE, I was already working for Hughes Aircraft Co. Although fresh out of school, I felt very competent but very green. All new engineers were paired up with a senior engineer for training. It took a couple of years and we were ready to take over. I will say that the education I got, was invaluable in becoming a competent engineer. In this world, there are many who call themselves "engineers" without actually putting in the rigorous hours to earn it. I've seen many techs, many my assistants, claim to be engineers, but given the toughest assignments fail. Without the education they lack the math and engineering skills to succeed as engineers.

 

[Onyrlef]

I worked alongside engineers when I was in the military. Mechanical and civil engineers were okay and even the architects were fine but electrical engineers were a bit wacky. There was a young Lt, electrical engineer, that hung out with our family in our off duty time. We lived on base and he would come over and have dinner and mountain bike with us. This guy looked younger than our teen son. Someone came to the door one day and the Lt went see who it was. I heard someone at the door say “Hey, is your mom or dad home?”.

Engineer is often thrown around the same way Dr. is. A chiropractor is a Dr. the same as a neurosurgeon, only not the same. The chiropractor likely went to school in a strip mall and their alternative career choices were TV preacher, politics or used car sales.

 

[TheBar]

Exactly, school provides the basics as well as the discipline to stay the course, the rest you pick up as you go along.

Schools are different. I started my computer science degree at a state university where the post graduate employment rate was 10%. They taught more theory than skill. I switched to a city college where the post graduate employment rate was 90%. The curriculum was dictated by local real world programming managers with real world class assignments. Graduates had experience not just education.

 

[Skookum]

Maybe AI could help tutor kids who are behind in school.

I've met very few GREAT mentors who I cherish in my career(s) and who were immensely helpful and helped me really grow and succeed. But I've met more than plenty "senior staff" and people who think they are mentors who are just jerks and who think you need to experience things tough and unfair for no reason in order to be good one day. It's just not really true.

 

[Contributor]

Back to the original question, I am not concerned about AI. I think the potential for good is greater than the risks. We can't stop the future, we must manage and embrace it. I'm more concerned about the potential abuse in the hands of humans to gain power and enrich themselves.

 

[Onyrlef]

Back to the original question, I am not concerned about AI. I think the potential for good is greater than the risks. We can't stop the future, we must manage and embrace it. I'm more concerned about the potential abuse in the hands of humans to gain power and enrich themselves.

That applies to most anything. There couldn't be ransomware without an internet. There couldn't be medicare fraud without medicare.

 

[Tulecreeper]

That applies to most anything. There couldn't be ransomware without an internet. There couldn't be medicare fraud without medicare.

There wouldn't be a swamp without politicians...on both sides.

 

[Olyteddy]

𝕄𝕪 𝕓𝕚𝕘𝕘𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕗𝕖𝕒𝕣 𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕤𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕨𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖'𝕤 𝕒 𝔹𝕠𝕥 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕 & 𝕚𝕥'𝕤 𝕘𝕠𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕠 𝕣𝕖𝕥𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕒𝕥𝕖. (𝕋𝕪𝕡𝕖𝕕 𝕚𝕟 𝕌𝕟𝕚𝕔𝕠𝕕𝕖 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕤𝕒𝕗𝕖𝕥𝕪 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕤)

 

[Ray-IN]

I agree 100% but someone needs to tell that to the grads - they almost unanimously thought they were fully formed engineers - LOL...

In fact as a supervisory engineer part of my job was to chair design reviews. We would put newly minted and overconfident engineers on sub designs (supervised of course) but give them enough rope to be "dangerous" - then at the design reviews the senior engineers would point out the problems.

Engineers, not having the best overall interpersonal skills would often be blunt and a bit arrogant.

We (senior guys) had a general impression that the younger generation having never failed at anything, needed to be able to fail at engineering so they could learn a little humility.

There was also a balance in that our review job wasn't to give them solutions but to tell them why their solutions were wrong and let them go away and figure out the solutions. Our biggest tip was always, "Go network with some more experienced guys, set up a team and work it with group reviews.

I've seen that. I was a tool N die maker and one day this energetic young engineer came in the tool room and spoke with the boss, who assigned me to work with him.

The guy had pages of drawings for an electrical test machine he designed. I looked over the pages then asked the engineer what the machine was supposed to do and how quickly.
He asked why. I told him to give me permission to build it my way instead of to his drawings. He looked at me with amazement and said, "they told us in school we had to design everything", but he consented.
Two days later he returned and I explained my design changes. He looked embarrassed and said go ahead. Three weeks later I called and told him it was done, but if anyone asked about the design to take the credit..
From then on every time he needed something he came to me first. He turned out to be a great guy.

 

[Oldgator73]

We were having a new HVAC system installed for a big hangar and the guys designing the system asked our shop foreman to meet them at the building. A couple of us went and they wanted us to tell them the best way to configure the equipment room to make it easier to work on the system. Never had that before or after that job. But it was easy to perform maintenance on it after it was installed .

 

[Tulecreeper]

We were having a new HVAC system installed for a big hangar and the guys designing the system asked our shop foreman to meet them at the building. A couple of us went and they wanted us to tell them the best way to configure the equipment room to make it easier to work on the system. Never had that before or after that job. But it was easy to perform maintenance on it after it was installed .

You don't see that too often. It's usually designed to be installed easily, but after that the techs are on their own for maintenance. I wasn't an engineer in the Navy, but a guy told be about an evap unit that had been installed on the weather deck (main deck, outside) and he needed to work on it. The unit weighed a couple tons and was bolted in a hundred places to the deck, plus it has scores of pipes running in and out of it. The access door was on the back side 8 inches from a bulkhead (wall). There was no physical way to get to the door so they had to have a crane moved onto the pier, unbolt and disconnect every pipe, and lift it enough to move it a couple feet from the wall. Once he had access to the back it took him 30 minutes to fix the problem. Then they had to put it all back together again. A 30-minute job turned into a 2-day fiasco, and the ship had to pay Public Works thousands of dollars for the use of the crane and the operator.

 

[jymbee]

Lots of interesting stores about old-times teaching the newbie techs a thing or two. Any tales about the other way around? New guy showing a better or alternate way of performing a task?

 

[Oldgator73]

Lots of interesting stores about old-times teaching the newbie techs a thing or two. Any tales about the other way around? New guy showing a better or alternate way of performing a task?

Maybe not the same thing but we were trying to bring a big fridge in our house in Texas. I had some guys over to help and it just wasn’t going in. Our son who was about 15 at the time kept suggesting a way to get the thing in the house. Nobody was paying attention to him because he was only a kid. After a while I finally asked Drew, our son, what he was talking about. He said just turn it this way and tilt that way and it will slide right in. It did.

 

[Reinigm]

Just my opinion, but when it all comes down to it, the ability to clean an animal for food will be the highest priority there is. And I know people will tell me that you can find videos on Youtube that show you how, but when it comes down to it, Youtube won't exist anymore. Also, in this string I noticed someone mentioned only paying in cash when you go off grid. When the digital currency takes affect (maybe next year), there won't be any more cash. You can disagree with me on that last point, but that idea is floating around out there as we speak.

 

[Tulecreeper]

Just my opinion, but when it all comes down to it, the ability to clean an animal for food will be the highest priority there is. And I know people will tell me that you can find videos on Youtube that show you how, but when it comes down to it, Youtube won't exist anymore. Also, in this string I noticed someone mentioned only paying in cash when you go off grid. When the digital currency takes affect (maybe next year), there won't be any more cash. You can disagree with me on that last point, but that idea is floating around out there as we speak.

"Save your Confederate money boys, the South shall rise again!"

Or something like that. It's from a song from the 1940's.

 

[Skookum]

People have been saying society will collapse and only those who have primitive life skills will survive since before I was born.

Digital currency? Well, the USD hasn't been entirely backed by gold for a long time, and most transactions are now digital, so...

Alexa: Bring me some more money!

 

[DeckArtist]

I never worry about things we cannot change. knowing what is coming and knowing only God himself can clean things up, I have no fear of what is on the horizon. I do know at some point being off the internet and having no smart devices in your life will become somewhat of an advantage, but in the end nothing will alter the agenda and the one who brings this in is going to stun most political junkies.

FYI...no such thing as a stolen election, they are ALL SELECTED and they are all working towards the same goal. You only have to watch one State of the Union to see that they are all in the same club [The one we're not in].

 

[garyb1st]

I never worry about things we cannot change. knowing what is coming and knowing only God himself can clean things up, I have no fear of what is on the horizon.

If God can clean things up, why did he allow them to get so bad?

I do know at some point being off the internet and having no smart devices in your life will become somewhat of an advantage,

RVers who boon-dock have already experience this on a regular basis. Based on the number who are looking to improve their connectivity I'd say, being off line is not considered the be all end all.

 

[Onyrlef]

People have been saying society will collapse and only those who have primitive life skills will survive since before I was born.

Digital currency? Well, the USD hasn't been entirely backed by gold for a long time, and most transactions are now digital, so...

Alexa: Bring me some more money!

The USD is backed by the good faith in the US economy. US Treasury Bills are the most sought after sovereign wealth fund investment instruments on the planet, thus the interest paid on them is extremely low. Continue the Kabuki Theater with the debt limit and that won't continue.

 

[Onyrlef]

Just my opinion, but when it all comes down to it, the ability to clean an animal for food will be the highest priority there is. And I know people will tell me that you can find videos on Youtube that show you how, but when it comes down to it, Youtube won't exist anymore. Also, in this string I noticed someone mentioned only paying in cash when you go off grid. When the digital currency takes affect (maybe next year), there won't be any more cash. You can disagree with me on that last point, but that idea is floating around out there as we speak.

I guarantee if you get hungry enough you'll figure it out.