Could AI rediscover physics breakthroughs that governments have kept classified?

[u/DankestMage99]

/r/singularity/comments/1e5enn2/marc_andreessen_and_ben_horowitz_say_that_when/?share_id=dYGdfUKzVCj52d2oaHyJm&utm_content=1&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1

There are lots of wild rumors about discoveries governments may be keeping under wraps: antigravity, zero-point energy, UFO recovery and reverse engineering, and major advances in math and physics. There are even claims that “dead end” research like string theory was intentionally encouraged to distract from other discoveries.

People like Marc Andreessen have talked about hearing interesting things from government officials, and Eric Weinstein has raised related questions (whatever you think of him, these are just a couple of the more recognizable names who have made claims along these lines). I don’t know how much of it I believe, but it’s interesting to consider.

With the progress happening in mathematics at AI labs, and potentially physics soon as well, I wonder whether some of these supposed secrets could come out through independent discovery. If another lab reaches the same conclusions, keeping the original work classified might no longer accomplish much.

Do you think significant breakthroughs have already been discovered and withheld for military or economic reasons? And could AI make it harder to keep those discoveries hidden, especially as more people gain access to increasingly capable models?

Edit: I know people are dunking on the UFO stuff in the comments, but there has been a lot of whistleblower testimony for decades, and most recently in 2017 to now. People have even testified to congress about it. There is documentation that the govt participated and pushed a discrediting campaign about UFOs to make anyone who engaged in the topic to seem crazy. And with the way the comments are going, kinda reinforces that…

[u/OwlMassive625]

Yes, and that's why they are going to release it soon. It's going to be released by AI anyway. They can't stop it. They will say AI did it.

[u/DankestMage99 → u/OwlMassive625]

I’ve heard theories that it could be a clever way to release UAP derived technology and pawn it off as AI discoveries. Would be pretty wild!

[u/VohaulsWetDream]

why didn't the government classify the technology that can reinvent all these classified technologies?

[u/chlebseby]

I thought it will be about nuclear bombs equations, then i saw the description...

[u/Senc-baner → u/chlebseby]

There is nothing secret about the physics of nuclear bombs. Every undergraduate knows how they work.

[u/unReasonable_Waiter]

No, because governments dont have control over physics knowledge.

[u/flat5]

No, because that's not something that has ever happened.

[u/CabinetFun7381 → u/flat5]

Let's assume there's a shadowy government organization that keeps certain inventions under wraps. They want to keep the technological pace at a certain level so society has the chance to adapt.

Why would they allow these models out of the lab? We know the government is getting a first look at frontier models before the public does. If such a shadowy organization that wants to stifle technological progress exists, why wouldn't it stop the models before they discovered forbidden research?

The only explanation I can think of is that no such organization exists. 

[u/q1qdev]

What if it discovered time travel and then went back to seed conspiracy theories because it found them amusing?

[u/Roc1817 → u/q1qdev]

or it goes back in time and ensures our exact timeline happens so it can ensure its creation, so it can go back in time

[u/Astropin]

lol

Three people can keep a secret... If two of them are dead.

And you think entire governments are keeping secrets like that?

[u/thehodlingcompany]

Since we're talking wacky stuff, I've wondered whether a sufficiently large model trained on historical events could attain a capability that appears like the power of "prophecy". I've read about image models that can outperform traditional weather forecasting models just using a predict-the-next-frame approach to satellite images, and it's hard to deny that predict-the-next-token has produced results wildly better than anyone predicted. The ability of neural networks to predict the future might be so good it seems magical.

[u/LangyMD]

Considering those conspiracy theories are wrong, probably not. The US government doesn't really classify basic research - and I think it's clear the US government does not have a hyper advantage in technology compared to competitors, and there is no advantage to the competitor nations keeping those basic research areas secret if they both know about them.

[u/TemetN]

I was going to say yes then I read your post. To be clear that's a bunch of conspiracy theories. Yes there is absolutely private government research, and yes AI could absolutely (and should) replicate it.

That said it's vanishingly unlikely those things are what the conspiracy theories claim they are.

[u/SillyBiped]

In 2023-24, a bunch of Silicon Valley execs were called into the White House regarding AI. DC politicians were floating the idea of classifying AI research. Silicon Valley said that wasn't possible, but the DC pols said "we did it with nuclear research."

So it may not be classifying discoveries, but rather using DC funding as a carrot/stick to discourage certain research being done publicly. So I guess it's possible?

[u/willif86]

How exactly would you be able to tell?

[u/ADunningKrugerEffect]

“There is documentation that the govt participated and pushed a discrediting campaign about UFOs to make anyone who engaged in the topic to seem crazy.”

You’re misrepresenting the documents. The 1953 Robertson Panel recommended debunking UFO reports over Cold War national security concerns, not declaring everyone interested in UFOs insane.

The CIA later admitted classified U-2 and OXCART aircraft accounted for over half of reported UFO sightings during the late 1950s and much of the 1960s. (CIAs Role in the Study ofUFOs, 1947-90). They engaged in military secrecy and public perception management.

There’s no evidence governments are hiding extraterrestrial technology. Real technological advances are routinely protected through patents. The Wright brothers’ 1906 aviation patent (US 821,393), for example, allowed them to legally restrict competitors using their aircraft-control technology. The government can put in place secrecy orders on patents for national security or defence technology development. This is to prevent adversaries from acquiring the technology before it is ready.

If the technology you are hypothesising exists it would have been disclosed and utilised as a deterrent against foreign adversaries long ago. It hasn’t, because it doesn’t exist.

[u/MrSnarf26]

Oh, this is what this sub has become? The upvotes say a lot.

[u/DankestMage99 → u/MrSnarf26]

What’s your issue with my post?

[u/Yweain]

Absolutely. It will also find aliens that government is hiding in area 51, will prove that 9/11 was an inside job and invent perpetual motion machine.

[u/Zardhas → u/Yweain]

It will also find aliens that government is hiding in area 51, will prove that 9/11 was an inside job

Plot twist : actually aliens were an inside job and area 51 did 9/11

[u/CSMasterClass]

There is no reason to limit the range to discoveries that the US Government may have kept under wraps.

AI has a decent chance of recovering anything ANY government has discovered in the domain of science and engineering.

The reason is simple: These government probably are just covering the "last 10 yards" of a 100 yard field with the first 90 yards are well documented in the scientific literature.

[u/Rodeo7171]

Now Claude just trolling us

[u/wanderingmanimal]

Not on the $20/mo plan nope

[u/Wood_Rogue]

I am certain you can find a chatbot that will agree with as many conspiracy theories as you want. Wouldn't make them less wrong though.