I'm Terrified of AI

[Chris Pomares]

There is just too much financial upside that keeps even people like Musk who worries where this might go to walk away from it. Developing this technology and the power they will have over us is like a drug for these folks. If we thought we had no privacy before, this will be on a whole new level. I’m watching the Country I love going down the drain. To me AI has more potential downside than upside.

[jaudette3]

Learning about the Moloch Syndrome was an epiphany for me, no exaggeration. It's a simple concept that involves mainly greed and pride but explains how mankind so often gets involved in seemingly non-logical loss-loss behavior in a race to the bottom. If you aren't familiar with the concept please consider reading the extraordinary essay "Meditations on Moloch". The person that has been most active in discussing it is Liv Boeree, a very bright English woman who of all things used to be a successful professional poker player and now is becoming a keen social observer. It's really starting to gain traction and I see it discussed more and more as we all seek answers to why mankind so often acts against its own interest, which is seemingly such a contradiction.

I referenced it before but AI development is a perfect example of Moloch. There has never been anything in history that has the potential to concentrate incalculable wealth so tightly in so few hands. After all, owners of the tools of production make the money. And not only does AI severely the number who own the tools of production, in many cases it makes human beings obsolete as tools of production.

And perhaps, more importantly, it also concentrates incalculable power in few hands. There is just no way that man can avoid abusing this technology, on many levels. I spend a lot of time trying to come up with strategies for my grandchildren on how they can deal with. So far, other than maybe living self-sufficiently in some remote place, I'm coming up empty.

The obligatory thing when criticizing AI is to laud it for contributions that it can make to things like health care. Which is true and we can place that on the pro side of the benefits analysis table. But when you actually list pro's and con's it's pretty obvious, except to the most optimistic, that we're screwed.

JA

[RSTarga]

Time to read through my Kurt Vonnegut collection again. Ahead of his time.

Meditations on Moloch is areal rabbit hole!

[jaudette3]

As you have probably noticed by now, I enjoy reading and synthesizing the information by writing about it. I had an idea and I wanted to gauge your interest.

If I were to publish a periodic (newsletter, I guess) containing my ramblings on Artificial Intelligence, might you be interested? I'm not a scientist and I'm using that to my advantage as my point of view will be as an informed layman. It can be tough sledding at some of the more formal AI forums and my goal is to just be informed and, as I think this is a critical development in the history of mankind, share it with others who are interested. The ultimate goal is to increase awareness as I think it's critical to be informed on this topic, especially if you're younger than me or have a family.

If enough are interested I'll go ahead and set up a little website where you can subscribe. There is no intent for this to be used for commercial use at this time and your personal information will *never* be shared with anyone. Just shoot me a PM or email if you're interested.

Cheers,
John

[jaudette3]

The AI Discussion Group has launched and two issues have gone out. You can preview an issue HERE and sign up HERE if you're interested.

Thanks,
John