Quote Originally Posted by Niya View Post
I see what you're trying to say but there is something you didn't consider: we have no non-theoretical models for advanced space travel. We don't know of anything that could surpass the cosmic speed limit. All we have are theories, most of which tell us that there is a ceiling. However, we do have numerous examples of what neural networks are capable of all around us. The ants in your backyard are constantly solving problems of ventilation, defense, construction, acquiring energy, and reproduction, all of which are powered by neural networks that could fit in the palm of your hand. The neural network in a dragonfly’s head controls an exceptionally advanced flight system, coordinating four independently moving wings while simultaneously processing complex data on air pressure, currents, angles of attack, speed, distance, and timing. The end result is a hunting success rate of 90%, the highest in the animal kingdom. We haven't even mentioned humans yet.

My point is, nature has already given us countless examples, not even counting humans, of what neural nets are capable of. We haven't tapped into that yet, but we know it is possible. We also have 2 major advantages over nature: energy and storage capacity. The human brain can only hold so many neurons, and the body can only provide so much energy. Our artificial neural nets have no such constraints. Imagine how potent AI will become when we do unlock the remaining secrets of neural networks.
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LLMs are not an accurate representation of how our brains work and the fundamental problem is we have no idea how they do. That's what I'm trying to say. Just because we've made one discovery that gets us a little way of the way there, doesn't mean that exact technology can take us to the next level, and we frankly have absolutely no idea how to do it. You're right that it's different in that we know intelligence is possible because we can observe the human brain, but that doesn't mean we can get there just by throwing more conventional processing power and memory at LLMs. Because the technology has a ceiling we're nearly at. Going much further would require a revolutionary new approach that we're as far if not further from understanding than propulsion methods that would get us to other planets (which isn't ruled out; a relativistic ship accelerating at a constant 1g would get us to a whole other galaxy in under 30y... for the occupants).