yes, Robin, a lot of very accurate observations. Unfortunately, it looks like we'll watch our civilization go up in smoke/down the drain like so many throughout history (and probably prehistory) whose leaders made fatal judgments that led to the collapse/implosion. Maybe that's the answer to The Fermi Paradox: too distracted to advance the science necessary, presuming pandemic, climate change, or nuclear war don't end them and us first....
Thank you. Personally, I'm with Lincoln... sort of. If we go down, we'll go down smiling and singing something like "I wish I were and Oscar-Meyer Weiner..."
I worked for a guy for a little while, an engineer, really interesting guy. He told me once, "How does a lemming know it's in free-fall? Not by looking at another lemming." Aside from the fact I guess lemming don't really do that, I thought he had a great point.
Another guy I met in 2019, also really interesting (and not from here) said to me, "We've been trying to govern ourselves for 5,000 years. Why aren't we better at it?" He meant as long as there've been city-states. Yeah, good question...
You could be right about the Fermi Paradox. I always thought the assumptions behind it, like about interstellar travel, are way, way too optimistic. On grumpy days (like this past week), I think intelligence is a self-limiting evolutionary development, which is kind of what I think you're suggesting? Maybe it doesn't last long enough to develop anything like practical interstellar travel? I don't know. I'm going to have more chocolate.
I'm going to start move the grumpy posts over to my alternate Substack this week, starting with this one. I'll post about that soon. Saving this space for fun and important updates.
Dear Robin, that was a real doctoral thesis, not just writing it, but translating, reading, and understanding it section by section. You're absolutely right on all points, and I agree with you. The problem is that our entire society is at a crossroads, and we've chosen the path to the abyss. What Glenn Reynolds describes in his book only shows the tip of the iceberg, but I'll read it anyway. Let's put it simply. When AI is used the way you're using it, there's still some good in it; you're using AI for entertainment and to communicate with people. That's a great use of AI. AI can also be used to help people, for example, in medicine. It could help many people. But it also has a downside, and that's being exploited very extensively and in many different ways. In weapons technology, surveillance, and so on. For example, you have a problem with a product and contact customer service. Instead of speaking to a person who understands your problem, you end up with an AI, and that's where the real problems begin. The customer service representative can understand your problem; the AI can't. Instead of using AI wisely, we're using it for everything. This means that millions of jobs will disappear in the medium term. What are these people supposed to do?
The next problem is what's happening with Substack and Stribe. People who have no idea what they're doing and who have a pretty messed-up relationship with their environment are using AI to filter out and then ban inconvenient people. This is exactly the path that will plunge our society into the abyss. What has kept our society alive so far is its diversity. But Substack and Stribe want to create a society in which puritans are the dominant majority. Again, the path-cliff-abyss-end of society. Without fun and eroticism, healthy eroticism, we perish. Some would consider me a pessimist, but I'm more of a realist.
For example, I also understood your point about the brains: the poetic brain, the literary brain, and the puritan brain—sorry, the distracted brain. I understood the text; you described it excellently, but I also had an IQ of 140. Give that text to someone from Stribe or Substack to read; they'll despair and cry.
An AI that is intelligent and used as an aid is good. But these people are using AI to exclude and destroy; that's the wrong way. But I repeat myself: path-abyss-fall-end of society.
It was clear to me many years ago that AI could probably be the end of our society if it's used incorrectly, but who listens to you anymore?
Thank you so much for you excellent and thoughtful comment!
And yes, there is a huge problem with the people who are now coding and training AI products are some of the most affected by the dysfunctionality that social media and misusing AI creates. They are themselves addicted and that's what governs they're actions.
They also have formed powerful monopolies and that some I didn't talk about it. Google/Alphabet, Facebook/Meta, and Apple are monopolies with TikTok in there too.
But they're aren't monopolies of goods and services like the old ones, but information, and shaping attitudes and how people think or don't think. They're all based on addiction. And they are being run by addicts, who create algorithms that reflect their addictions and dysfunctions.
And those algorithms are calling the shots. "Bad actors" are exploiting all the turmoil.
Stripe and Substack are just a small part (but super-annoying part) of it.
You are always welcome to post comments that are as long as you like!
I completely agree with you, but Substack and Stripe clearly show the direction our society is drifting in – a fatal direction. As so often happens, it's the vulnerable who suffer.
yes, Robin, a lot of very accurate observations. Unfortunately, it looks like we'll watch our civilization go up in smoke/down the drain like so many throughout history (and probably prehistory) whose leaders made fatal judgments that led to the collapse/implosion. Maybe that's the answer to The Fermi Paradox: too distracted to advance the science necessary, presuming pandemic, climate change, or nuclear war don't end them and us first....
Thank you. Personally, I'm with Lincoln... sort of. If we go down, we'll go down smiling and singing something like "I wish I were and Oscar-Meyer Weiner..."
I worked for a guy for a little while, an engineer, really interesting guy. He told me once, "How does a lemming know it's in free-fall? Not by looking at another lemming." Aside from the fact I guess lemming don't really do that, I thought he had a great point.
Another guy I met in 2019, also really interesting (and not from here) said to me, "We've been trying to govern ourselves for 5,000 years. Why aren't we better at it?" He meant as long as there've been city-states. Yeah, good question...
You could be right about the Fermi Paradox. I always thought the assumptions behind it, like about interstellar travel, are way, way too optimistic. On grumpy days (like this past week), I think intelligence is a self-limiting evolutionary development, which is kind of what I think you're suggesting? Maybe it doesn't last long enough to develop anything like practical interstellar travel? I don't know. I'm going to have more chocolate.
I'm going to start move the grumpy posts over to my alternate Substack this week, starting with this one. I'll post about that soon. Saving this space for fun and important updates.
Dear Robin, that was a real doctoral thesis, not just writing it, but translating, reading, and understanding it section by section. You're absolutely right on all points, and I agree with you. The problem is that our entire society is at a crossroads, and we've chosen the path to the abyss. What Glenn Reynolds describes in his book only shows the tip of the iceberg, but I'll read it anyway. Let's put it simply. When AI is used the way you're using it, there's still some good in it; you're using AI for entertainment and to communicate with people. That's a great use of AI. AI can also be used to help people, for example, in medicine. It could help many people. But it also has a downside, and that's being exploited very extensively and in many different ways. In weapons technology, surveillance, and so on. For example, you have a problem with a product and contact customer service. Instead of speaking to a person who understands your problem, you end up with an AI, and that's where the real problems begin. The customer service representative can understand your problem; the AI can't. Instead of using AI wisely, we're using it for everything. This means that millions of jobs will disappear in the medium term. What are these people supposed to do?
The next problem is what's happening with Substack and Stribe. People who have no idea what they're doing and who have a pretty messed-up relationship with their environment are using AI to filter out and then ban inconvenient people. This is exactly the path that will plunge our society into the abyss. What has kept our society alive so far is its diversity. But Substack and Stribe want to create a society in which puritans are the dominant majority. Again, the path-cliff-abyss-end of society. Without fun and eroticism, healthy eroticism, we perish. Some would consider me a pessimist, but I'm more of a realist.
For example, I also understood your point about the brains: the poetic brain, the literary brain, and the puritan brain—sorry, the distracted brain. I understood the text; you described it excellently, but I also had an IQ of 140. Give that text to someone from Stribe or Substack to read; they'll despair and cry.
An AI that is intelligent and used as an aid is good. But these people are using AI to exclude and destroy; that's the wrong way. But I repeat myself: path-abyss-fall-end of society.
It was clear to me many years ago that AI could probably be the end of our society if it's used incorrectly, but who listens to you anymore?
You see, I can also write long dialogues.
Thank you so much for you excellent and thoughtful comment!
And yes, there is a huge problem with the people who are now coding and training AI products are some of the most affected by the dysfunctionality that social media and misusing AI creates. They are themselves addicted and that's what governs they're actions.
They also have formed powerful monopolies and that some I didn't talk about it. Google/Alphabet, Facebook/Meta, and Apple are monopolies with TikTok in there too.
But they're aren't monopolies of goods and services like the old ones, but information, and shaping attitudes and how people think or don't think. They're all based on addiction. And they are being run by addicts, who create algorithms that reflect their addictions and dysfunctions.
And those algorithms are calling the shots. "Bad actors" are exploiting all the turmoil.
Stripe and Substack are just a small part (but super-annoying part) of it.
You are always welcome to post comments that are as long as you like!
I completely agree with you, but Substack and Stripe clearly show the direction our society is drifting in – a fatal direction. As so often happens, it's the vulnerable who suffer.
well written and very true I'm afraid there is no stopping what we know is coming please keep writing
Thank you!
I'm not optimistic, but I'm not entirely hopeless either. Not yet anyway. Time will tell.
I have no intention of stopping writing. I even edited a huge chunk of this. It's long enough as it is!
What more there is to say, you can rely on me to keep saying.