NC - I'm having such fun with GPT3 stuff at the moment. It's fascinating and surprisingly creative in its way.

Huge waffles for its exploitation and eventual destruction of us all....

BIG C

Human supremacist here.

Jacques Ellul’s 76 Reasonable Questions to Ask About Any Technology

I. SOCIAL
Does it serve community?
Does it empower community members?
How does it affect our perception of our needs?
Is it consistent with the creation of a communal, human economy?
What are its effects on relationships?
Does it undermine conviviality?
Does it undermine traditional forms of community?
How does it affect our way of seeing and experiencing the world?
Does it foster a diversity of forms of knowledge?
Does it build on, or contribute to, the renewal of traditional forms of knowledge?
Does it serve to commodify knowledge or relationships?
To what extent does it redefine reality?
Does it erase a sense of time and history?
What is its potential to become addictive?

II. MORAL
What values does its use foster?
What is gained by its use?
What are its effects beyond its utility to the individual?
What is lost in using it?
What are its effects on the least advantaged in society?

III. ETHICAL
How complicated is it?
What does it allow us to ignore?
To what extent does it distance agent from effect?
Can we assume personal, or communal responsibility for its effects?
Can its effects be directly apprehended?
What ancillary technologies does it require?
What behavior might it make possible in the future?
What other technologies might it make possible?
Does it alter our sense of time and relationships in ways conducive to nihilism?

IV. PRACTICAL
What does it make?
Who does it benefit?
What is its purpose?
Where was it produced?
Where is it used?
Where must it go when it’s broken or obsolete?
How expensive is it?
Can it be repaired?
By an ordinary person?

V. VOCATIONAL
What is its impact on craft?
Does it reduce, deaden, or enhance human creativity?
Is it the least imposing technology available for the task?
Does it replace, or does it aid human hands and human beings?
Can it be responsive to organic circumstance?
Does it depress or enhance the quality of goods?
Does it depress or enhance the meaning of work?

VI. METAPHYSICAL
What aspect of the inner self does it reflect?
Does it express love?
Does it express rage?
What aspect of our past does it reflect?
Does it reflect cyclical or linear thinking?

VII. POLITICAL
Does it concentrate or equalize power?
Does it require, or institute a knowledge elite?
Is it totalitarian?
Does it require a bureaucracy for its perpetuation?
What legal empowerments does it require?
Does it undermine traditional moral authority?
Does it require military defense?
Does it enhance, or serve military purposes?
How does it affect warfare?
Is it massifying?
Is it consistent with the creation of a global economy?
Does it empower transnational corporations?
What kind of capital does it require?

VIII. AESTHETIC
Is it ugly?
Does it cause ugliness?
What noise does it make?
What pace does it set?
How does it affect the quality of life (as distinct from the standard of living)?

IX. ECOLOGICAL
What are its effects on the health of the planet and of the person?
Does it preserve or destroy biodiversity?
Does it preserve or reduce ecosystem integrity?
What are its effects on the land?
What are its effects on wildlife?
How much, and what kind of waste does it generate?
Does it incorporate the principles of ecological design?
Does it break the bond of renewal between humans and nature?
Does it preserve or reduce cultural diversity?
What is the totality of its effects, its “ecology”?

My long-favored pet theory is that human civilization will be ended by nanobots when that technology becomes accessible at street level, but I am lately finding it difficult to accept that AI isn't going to become an existential problem for we creatures of flesh at some point, particularly in the hands of the lords of capitalism.

iembalm wrote: Fri May 21, 2021 12:11 pm My long-favored pet theory is that human civilization will be ended by nanobots when that technology becomes accessible at street level, but I am lately finding it difficult to accept that AI isn't going to become an existential problem for we creatures of flesh at some point, particularly in the hands of the lords of capitalism.

That's key for me. AI in and of itself I can only view as NC, but yes it will probably end us all as a function of the existing system.

Capitalism - C.

Quite enjoyed this.

Copying this from the future of music thread, because I enjoyed the books.

A_Man_Who_Tries wrote: Fri May 21, 2021 4:48 pm

brownreasontolive wrote: Fri May 21, 2021 4:25 pm I find all of this very upsetting.

So would I, if it was an either/or. I was much the same until I read Pharmako-AI a few months back. Fair enough it's a different medium, but there are parts of that book that do some mindbending things, and the process fascinates.

Related: I'd also recommend Atlas of Anomolous AI as a piece that points to more hopeful uses of the technology.

The cruise control in my car allows me to set my maximum speed and maintain a specified distance behind the car in front of me. I have driven hundreds of miles only using my pedals to exit and enter the highway.

This is most definitely not crap. The technology is not crap.

Plenty of Belgian size waffles, waffle-cones, waffle bun hamburgers, even pancakes to go with this technology though.

When AI takes on taxes.

I really like the way LeBlanc explained the threat in NeXt. Specifically about how it learns to revise itself better, and thus gets better at revising itself, which leads to an exponential progression we can’t even really imagine.

I think there is very near zero chance that AI doesn’t dethrone humans as the top of the food chain.