"To leave our solar system, a spacecraft must endure the termination shock, a region of space where the fiery solar winds of our Sun clash against the glacial currents of deep outer space. The termination shock can tear apart the most sophisticated and well-crafted probes and vessels, but overcoming it is the only way to explore the universe beyond our planets and Sun."
"In October, I found myself at the second annual Progress Conference in Berkeley, California. Based on what I learned through its high-profile artificial intelligence (AI) track, AI progress, too, could be headed for a termination shock as it leaves the fast-paced environment of San Francisco and its tech industry and crosses the boundary into the real world of slow and thorny institutions."
"The conference was organized into tracks, each designed to go deep on a specific topic within the progress movement. The "AI Protopia" track exposed attendees to insights from leading AI researchers and development executives, as well as the United States' top government official on AI - all of whom seemed united in their staunch belief in the prospect of progress through advanced, perhaps transformative, AI."
A spacecraft must survive the termination shock to exit the solar system. AI development may encounter an analogous termination shock when moving from fast-paced tech hubs into slow, complex institutions. Optimism about transformative AI coexists with attention to peripheral systems: the economy, physical limits, political institutions, laws, regulations, and bureaucracy. Those peripheral systems adapt far more slowly than AI technology, producing friction and potential constraints on deployment. AI discussions often emphasize technological vanguards, while real-world implementation must confront slower-moving social, legal, and material realities that shape ultimate impact.
Read at Big Think
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