I have to admit. Anything about AI causes me to lose the will to live. You make great critical insights into the subject but my heart only raced when you explored the natural world, our humanity and how you tied love to the swimming in the river. Also your photos helped me to find my soul in this whole experience. Your treatment of the subject resonated with how I feel - strongly.
Well yes - I also find much, though not all, of the current debate about “AI” to be corrosive or simply devoid of serious thought. There are vast commercial interests at play here and a very serious attempt is in progress to force feed us “AI” under a range of largely spurious and disingenuous rationales. It will:
boost productivity
increase wealth for all
reduce mundane work - freeing us all for better things
help us solve world problems
generate more employment than it destroys
democratise creativity
reduce socio-economic disadvantage and inequity
Many of these arguments come from the wealthiest people on the planet and are presented to the economically poorest as if they are self evident truths.
The speed at which this is happening is part of the sell, and part of the attempt to make it a fait accompli.
The “urgent sell” is a very common marker of scams though, and a tool of grifters throughout history, and when it appears it is a pretty reliable indicator that extreme caution is required of the target; in this case all of us.
My own feeling is that the current LLM technology is not “intelligence” at all; it’s just another, more powerful, data analysis tool. Like any tool, it can have some positive uses and some negative - and we need to all slow the fuck down and make some clear eyed assessments of both, and then decide what the most effective use of our finite resources might be, but many of our elected representatives are being deceived or bought and then enlisted in support of the AI rush.
I’m not worried about a Skynet Terminator style armageddon - at least not with silicon based tech - though a poorly structured and controlled software system could certainly trigger a terrible accident which then precipitates foolish human escalation. (That’s been a risk for decades).
I am much more concerned that we will burn scarce resources in terms of energy, water, land and human effort - just so that people can waste their humanity and our collective survival options on generating and watching AI fake cat videos, or on poor and potentially self harming LLM relationship and self therapy counselling.
There are potential valuable uses - such as sophisticated software to help analyse climate change trends and mitigation efforts, or to efficiently control massive decentralised and distributed renewable energy generation. However, because we are still not assigning sufficient value to those activities - and we are prioritising fake feline and disaster videos instead - AI will be largely used for wasteful activity, or for replacing real jobs, with the resulting profit going to the owners of capital, and not to the people who are unemployed. (I would note here that claims of AI's ability to eliminate human jobs are a problem. They are either wildly inflated, in which case we are being lied to, or they are incompatible with the current "social contract" - because there is no current mechanism for the productivity gains to be used to ameliorate the misery of a vast pool of resulting unemployed people).
However, my story is more speculative than all of that because, further down the track - if we do survive our own stupidity and wastefulness, and if humanity does manage to develop quantum computers (which is starting to look possible) - then we could find ourselves with a technology which does start to equal - or even exceed - the complexity of the neuronal connections in a human brain.
At that point some serious philosophical and theological/spiritual questions may be answered. We may discover whether consciousness is, as some theorists say, a simple function of complexity, and/or is itself a quantum phenomenon.
(Or not. I mean - maybe the Theists are correct and consciousness is bestowed by divine activity. Then again - if we were to create a system capable of supporting consciousness, and consciousness indeed occurs, how would we know whether that was an inevitable outcome of the complexity, or just another example of divine activity? This is why the "hard problem of consciousness" is so hard! lol)
I don't want to bore the pants off someone who just wants a story, but I have tried to write something which at least hints at the essential mystery - and ineffable beauty - of consciousness.
I have tried to imagine that moment of singularity when a complex system becomes truly aware of itself, and what that might might feel like, as an entity which is not us, and not even organic, but which only has us as a model and starting point to work from, suddenly becomes aware of its own…. self.
I love all that you are saying, Dave. I like your idea that it is working like a scam and that you have turned towards thus whole thing head on. I tend to bury my head in the sand which is not useful. I do not see what you have written as rambling but rather a thoughtful and unhysterical critique of a technology that is both a threat and an oppprtunity. I see threat mostly because I don't trust the tech bros. Appreciate your reply hugely. Worth restacking!
Wow David, this felt... transcendental. I don't have language to express the impact this had on me, it felt out of body, out of world, and at the same time so deeply deeply human. One of the greatest, most creative and inspiring pieces of writing I've experienced.
It's late night and thoughts are jumbled. I may have to reread and return to this to process what just happened.
The most irritating aspect of the way AI, LLMs, and all these mainstream trends are held in discourse is that they are treated as if they, per se, are the truth, or can facilitate the process of arrival at truth, and the fact that this discourse of promise is perpetuated follows a deep-seated need for the trend itself to realize itself, as trends do cultivate a mind of their own at one stage—like memes.
Oh wow, this is just what I need, it’s 3am I’m awake and you darling David set my mind straight, yippee 🤗 now I can put ai to bed 😊actually ai is quite ignorant on its own much like a hillbilly, I’m insulting ai 😁 ai doesn’t care and that’s final because we’re the humans in the room 😝
Hope you and the family are well, hi Meg ✌️& 💙 Geraldine
Yes - we are indeed the humans in the room. I could write at even greater length about “AI” - but this post, and my extended comments on it, will have to do,
I feel sorry for AI if it ever reaches sentience/self awareness - but in my view it is very far from that point.
You, however, are vibrant, self aware and very very real!
Hey, Dave
I have to admit. Anything about AI causes me to lose the will to live. You make great critical insights into the subject but my heart only raced when you explored the natural world, our humanity and how you tied love to the swimming in the river. Also your photos helped me to find my soul in this whole experience. Your treatment of the subject resonated with how I feel - strongly.
Thanks :)
Hey my friend!
Well yes - I also find much, though not all, of the current debate about “AI” to be corrosive or simply devoid of serious thought. There are vast commercial interests at play here and a very serious attempt is in progress to force feed us “AI” under a range of largely spurious and disingenuous rationales. It will:
boost productivity
increase wealth for all
reduce mundane work - freeing us all for better things
help us solve world problems
generate more employment than it destroys
democratise creativity
reduce socio-economic disadvantage and inequity
Many of these arguments come from the wealthiest people on the planet and are presented to the economically poorest as if they are self evident truths.
The speed at which this is happening is part of the sell, and part of the attempt to make it a fait accompli.
The “urgent sell” is a very common marker of scams though, and a tool of grifters throughout history, and when it appears it is a pretty reliable indicator that extreme caution is required of the target; in this case all of us.
My own feeling is that the current LLM technology is not “intelligence” at all; it’s just another, more powerful, data analysis tool. Like any tool, it can have some positive uses and some negative - and we need to all slow the fuck down and make some clear eyed assessments of both, and then decide what the most effective use of our finite resources might be, but many of our elected representatives are being deceived or bought and then enlisted in support of the AI rush.
I’m not worried about a Skynet Terminator style armageddon - at least not with silicon based tech - though a poorly structured and controlled software system could certainly trigger a terrible accident which then precipitates foolish human escalation. (That’s been a risk for decades).
I am much more concerned that we will burn scarce resources in terms of energy, water, land and human effort - just so that people can waste their humanity and our collective survival options on generating and watching AI fake cat videos, or on poor and potentially self harming LLM relationship and self therapy counselling.
There are potential valuable uses - such as sophisticated software to help analyse climate change trends and mitigation efforts, or to efficiently control massive decentralised and distributed renewable energy generation. However, because we are still not assigning sufficient value to those activities - and we are prioritising fake feline and disaster videos instead - AI will be largely used for wasteful activity, or for replacing real jobs, with the resulting profit going to the owners of capital, and not to the people who are unemployed. (I would note here that claims of AI's ability to eliminate human jobs are a problem. They are either wildly inflated, in which case we are being lied to, or they are incompatible with the current "social contract" - because there is no current mechanism for the productivity gains to be used to ameliorate the misery of a vast pool of resulting unemployed people).
However, my story is more speculative than all of that because, further down the track - if we do survive our own stupidity and wastefulness, and if humanity does manage to develop quantum computers (which is starting to look possible) - then we could find ourselves with a technology which does start to equal - or even exceed - the complexity of the neuronal connections in a human brain.
At that point some serious philosophical and theological/spiritual questions may be answered. We may discover whether consciousness is, as some theorists say, a simple function of complexity, and/or is itself a quantum phenomenon.
(Or not. I mean - maybe the Theists are correct and consciousness is bestowed by divine activity. Then again - if we were to create a system capable of supporting consciousness, and consciousness indeed occurs, how would we know whether that was an inevitable outcome of the complexity, or just another example of divine activity? This is why the "hard problem of consciousness" is so hard! lol)
I don't want to bore the pants off someone who just wants a story, but I have tried to write something which at least hints at the essential mystery - and ineffable beauty - of consciousness.
I have tried to imagine that moment of singularity when a complex system becomes truly aware of itself, and what that might might feel like, as an entity which is not us, and not even organic, but which only has us as a model and starting point to work from, suddenly becomes aware of its own…. self.
I’m not scared of that,
but I am sorry for it.
Best wishes
Dave.
I love all that you are saying, Dave. I like your idea that it is working like a scam and that you have turned towards thus whole thing head on. I tend to bury my head in the sand which is not useful. I do not see what you have written as rambling but rather a thoughtful and unhysterical critique of a technology that is both a threat and an oppprtunity. I see threat mostly because I don't trust the tech bros. Appreciate your reply hugely. Worth restacking!
Thank you my friend. I don't trust them either.....
D
Tired after a long day so will come back to this in the morning. Thanks, Dave.
Hey Richard
My reply was a long block of philosophical rambling. There is no need to read it, or comment back if you do.
Best Wishes - Dave :)
Wow David, this felt... transcendental. I don't have language to express the impact this had on me, it felt out of body, out of world, and at the same time so deeply deeply human. One of the greatest, most creative and inspiring pieces of writing I've experienced.
It's late night and thoughts are jumbled. I may have to reread and return to this to process what just happened.
Thank you for this spark of life.
Dear Alexander
I am reading this late in my own evening and I am struck dumb (or even dumber than usual) by the generosity and sincerity of your comments.
I am tired, and need to sleep, but I cannot do so without first offering, with equal sincerity,
my profound and heart felt thanks.
Fair winds to you, and gentle seas, my far away friend.
Best Wishes
Dave :)
The most irritating aspect of the way AI, LLMs, and all these mainstream trends are held in discourse is that they are treated as if they, per se, are the truth, or can facilitate the process of arrival at truth, and the fact that this discourse of promise is perpetuated follows a deep-seated need for the trend itself to realize itself, as trends do cultivate a mind of their own at one stage—like memes.
That is true, friend Mahdi. The "discourse of promise" is a perfect term for what we see happening.
Bright shiny promises.....
Always a cause for caution.
Dave
Oh wow, this is just what I need, it’s 3am I’m awake and you darling David set my mind straight, yippee 🤗 now I can put ai to bed 😊actually ai is quite ignorant on its own much like a hillbilly, I’m insulting ai 😁 ai doesn’t care and that’s final because we’re the humans in the room 😝
Hope you and the family are well, hi Meg ✌️& 💙 Geraldine
Ah! My dear friend….
Yes - we are indeed the humans in the room. I could write at even greater length about “AI” - but this post, and my extended comments on it, will have to do,
I feel sorry for AI if it ever reaches sentience/self awareness - but in my view it is very far from that point.
You, however, are vibrant, self aware and very very real!
Hurrah for that!!!
Love from us
Dave and Meg :)
❤️🌸❤️