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arXiv:1703.10987cs.CY

On the Impossibility of Supersized Machines

Ben Garfinkel, Miles Brundage, Daniel Filan, Carrick Flynn, Jelena Luketina, Michael Page, Anders Sandberg, Andrew Snyder-Beattie, Max Tegmark

Abstract

In recent years, a number of prominent computer scientists, along with academics in fields such as philosophy and physics, have lent credence to the notion that machines may one day become as large as humans. Many have further argued that machines could even come to exceed human size by a significant margin. However, there are at least seven distinct arguments that preclude this outcome. We show that it is not only implausible that machines will ever exceed human size, but in fact impossible.

arXiv comments
9 pages, 2 figures
Journal reference
DOI
Subjects
cs.CYComputers and Society physics.pop-phPopular Physics

On Hacker News

Linked by 13 identifiable commenters in 13 comments across 12 threads, from Apr 2017 to Jul 2025. Found in 8 HN submissions from Apr 2017 to May 2026. Open submission discussions.

Comments linking this paper, per year.

Discussed in comments12 threads

  1. A non-anthropomorphized view of LLMs 1 comment
  2. Why LLMs Within Software Development May Be a Dead End 1 comment

    • Every time I come across a skeptic article like this, I just remind myself of the sarcastic paper "On the Impossibility of Supersized Machines" and can’t help but laugh. https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.10987

      patrickhogan1View on HNParent context

  3. How Organisms Come to Know the World: Fundamental Limits on AGI 1 comment
  4. Planes are still decades away from displacing most bird jobs 1 comment
  5. Why general artificial intelligence will not be realized (2020) 1 comment

    • One of my favourite contributions to this debate: https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.10987 "On the Impossibility of Supersized Machines In recent years, a number of prominent computer scientists, along with academics in fields such as philosophy and physics, have lent credence to the…

      JonyEpsilonView on HNParent context

  6. An argument for the impossibility of machine intelligence [pdf] 1 comment
  7. The Myth of a Superhuman AI 1 comment

    • Reminds me of the brilliant "On the Impossibility of Supersized Machines" [1]. We show that it is not only implausible that machines will ever exceed human size, but in fact impossible. [...] The term “supersized machine” implies a machine that has crossed some threshold, which…

      jbay808View on HNParent context

  8. Superintelligence cannot be contained: Lessons from Computability Theory 1 comment
  9. Can we rule out near-term AGI? [video] 1 comment

    • Why do people keep reposting that first article? I encourage you to reread it with a critical eye. A choice quote: In contradistinction to this orthodoxy, I find the following five heresies to have more evidence to support them. Intelligence is not a single dimension, so…

      seagreenView on HNParent context

  10. The impossibility of intelligence explosion 1 comment

    • I'm suddenly having flashbacks to reading On the Impossibility of Supersized Machines [1] [1] https://arxiv.org/pdf/1703.10987.pdf

      mrecView on HNParent context

  11. Quirks of the arXiv 1 comment
  12. The Myth of a Superhuman AI 2 comments

    • The author should read this: https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.10987

      ookuView on HNParent context

    • > I'm reminded of the joke paper claiming machines can never surpass human largeness, because what does largeness even mean? Link: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1703.10987.pdf

      VeedracView on HNParent context

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