2. You say "climate change" "keeps me up at night". Do you believe that is a rational state of mind to have? Shouldn't you open up a bit and talk to a friend or professional about your feelings?
We might develop a selective corpus with say, the contents of the "Great Books" of western civilization and add the results of scientific history.
But the underlying problem in this is politics: everyone has a different idea of what is appropriate for that corpus (and consequently the resulting AI). Ergo the various brou-ha-ha's about "safety" etc. Indeed one assumption of these discussions may be correct: NN AIS may be as malleable, hard-headed or gullible as any human intelligence [and I don't know whether that is good or bad]. So many questions arise: "Should we let it read Karl Marx?", "What about St. Augustine?", etc.
Presumably we're modeling an intelligence akin to ourselves. We each occupy a single mind but the difference between minds can be great. The most familiar approach is therefore to develop an AI that is as much like us as possible.
We could also model many single minds with different corpuses and let them communicate, discuss et al as humans do. Maybe they would let us interact too.
FWIW I think you should be happy that any "intelligence" shown so far is of "Average Redditor" value. What would you do if you scattered some holy water on a pentagram in your upstairs living room, hurled out a diabolical incantation calling forth spirits and something akin to Satan himself appeared? That's (kind of) where we are with GPT.
Respectfully, no, earplugs do not work when they are jackhammering a mountain outside of your window. I shouldn't have to dull my senses just to live in society because some people have no consideration of making others uncomfortable in their own homes.
Instead buy 120-volt and 240-volt leaf blowers. BTW 2-3 horsepower is plenty (probably too much) for one man.
We use water hoses w/o bitching too much. We could used corded leafblowers tomorrow. Or butch up, get rakes and get in shape: cleaner air, more exercise and longer hours for the lawn laborers.
darkoob12>I have to upgrade my skills and possibly start publishing papers and get a PhD. <
Have you seen this "oldie but goodie" from Philip Greenspun's website (esp. the graph beneath "Not So Very Serious Stuff"):
https://www.philip.greenspun.com/careers/
If there is an "AI Winter" it is unlikely that a Ph.D., new or old, would keep you employable. Look to other more predictable but related fields: math esp. statistics and engineering.
FWIW n the background is looming a great revolution in energy generation: fission is now possible.
It may alleviate some of your worries.
2. You say "climate change" "keeps me up at night". Do you believe that is a rational state of mind to have? Shouldn't you open up a bit and talk to a friend or professional about your feelings?