26 Comments

The late Steven Hawking warned about this years ago. Even Elon Musk did at one point as well. Uncontrolled AI has the potential to be an existential threat to humanity. So why are we ignoring the precautionary principle in this case, even as we overuse / abuse that same principle about virtually everything else?

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Yes, that's the question, isn't it.

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Since these machines require far more foundational resources than humans, should this trend play out the earth will be dismantled at a quicker rate.

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Exponential rates are often used to stoke fear. We had exponentially more infectious COVID variants and exponentially accelerating climate change. Russia will gobble up all of Europe if we don't stop them in Ukraine. Now this AI-development, based on rather thin evidence. Stay frosty.

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If you read the previous two essays you will see that the three things I talk about are actually happening. The last thing I want to do is to stoke fear. Rather, I want to inform people and hopefully encourage them to ask some deeper questions about why humans are pursuing self-destructive goals.

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More on the ELIZA program from 1966:

"While ELIZA was capable of engaging in discourse, ELIZA could not converse with true understanding. However, many early users were convinced of ELIZA's intelligence and understanding, despite Weizenbaum's insistence to the contrary."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA

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I have been reading your articles and always appreciate the perspective.

Still, we need to be careful with fear, which can be more dangerous than its cause. I remember 10 years ago people were talking about how Google could solve SAT questions that are typically asked of 17 year-olds. A program called Mathematica has for over a decade been able solve calculus problems better than most graduate students. Compared to that, "Theory of Mind" equivalent to a 9 year-old has unclear significance.

To be honest, I don't know what to make of the latest AI. It seems groundbreaking but also strikes me as an ELIZA-type parlor trick. There are lots of incentives towards hyperbole. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA

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This scares the hell out of me

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I find when I research these topics my fear lessens and my fighting instinct kicks in ☺️

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This is one battlefield I wish we weren’t in. My boys have a better chance beating robots and their creators then me. Cutting the power supply is the best idea an old man like myself has.

What I have noticed is that AI art though it might look original does not exibit the inner depth of the artist. Being human is not only intelligence of the brain but emotions of the heart and soul.

Thanks Karen for investigating these subjects Thad effect our society

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Thanks Karen for your insightful writing it always brings me back to the blessing of coming to know the Creator of all things (back in August 1991) and thanks to His book I know how it all ends.....read John chapter 3.

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From reading the comments I read fear. It is the most dangerous feeling to have right now. There is nothing to be have fear about. We need to take control of our lives instead of allowing the gods as you call them to control us. We all have the power in us to take control. Do not allow anyone to have control.

HAVE NO FEAR & BELIEVE IN YOURSELF

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Fear is always the enemy but presently the fearful appear to be winning. Taking back control is as simple as billions of human beings standing strong. But these billions have had at least three years to see all this - or not. They are being sold a utopia in 15 minute cities. Apparently unable to see the real purpose in being herded deeper into the panopticon.

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"At what point will we stop telling the algorithms what we think, and the algorithms will start telling us what we think? And how will we even know the difference?"

Probably because they'll start speaking all 'misinformation'. But I don't believe it will ever happen.

What exactly is the difference between what they call AI and the idiots who parrot mainstream everything?

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I've been on vacation from email for awhile so ended up reading all three articles at once. Mind boggling to say the least. Perhaps I'm naive, but this doesn't scare me very much. All this AI relies on human interaction and I'm not too impressed by the technological world or the humans in charge. It seems technology fails on a daily basis; my cell phone screws up every other day.

What I find more frightening is the number of clueless that believe nothing but the propaganda they consume daily. I fear generations that feel, but are incapable of thinking. I fear governments who lie about everything. I fear an education system that is one big joke. I fear our move away from the natural world to the point that most people never notice the weird things in the sky. I fear a medical system that puts profit before people.

But none of my concerns have paralyzed me. I change what I can - me. Even at 75 I can still make a difference if I live my life without the constraints of worry. And I stop caring what others think of me.

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"Maybe their AI Super Computer God will turn out to be nothing more than a pocket calculator with an attitude."

This is from a great essay I recently read by Joe Allen: https://joebot.substack.com/p/zoltan-istvan-foresees-the-ultimate

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If you want to know what will happen; you simple watch the “year million” series.

The end of the human world.

So what can we do now?

Deep inside we know we can create.

So vision yourself in a world that you really would like to live in. When you are 65, like me, it’s easy, i just think about my youth.

And then i imagine a more beautiful world.

Without all the things that i know are not good. And every food is organic, every water is energetic. No planes, so no spraying of chemicals. And we live in that vision. It becomes real, and we create it all together.

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HendRIK

Are you married?

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no, i am not, i live on my own

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Chilling. Technology without ethics. How many sci-fi books, movies, etc. have envisioned this kind of future and shown us that IT DOESN'T END WELL? What more is it going to take? Like you, I can't fathom the blithe excitement at each new advancement of this seemingly inexorable AI and robotic takeover. Did any of these developers read Huxley??

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BREAKING NEWS (9 min.) : USA, Canada & Switzerland - 3 US Law Enforcement Agencies Activated

Vander Steel and Pascal Najadi - https://rumble.com/v29up58-breaking-news-usa-canada-and-switzerland-3-us-law-enforcement-agencies-acti.html

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how do I unsubscribe from you mailing list?

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It’s good to keep talking about this but fear is not going to help anything. Progress is inevitable.

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And the current trend is progress? To what?

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Well we get to choose don’t we! Can’t choose if we don’t talk about it and understand our choices.

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We are talking about it HERE. Unfortunately, mainstream doesn't want to talk about it and they don't want us to have choices either. It seems too many people don't even think about progress, or whether it's what they personally want. They don't want to be excluded from group think. We haven't reached this point in progress because people actually thought about it; they just went along for the ride.

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