Really excellent piece! I think the path that we are on has been going on for far more than 30 years; its been progressing like a silent disease before announcing itself, with the irreversibility of entropy. I'm not sure how we can reverse the course we are headed on. Technology is a continuum that started thousands of years ago, and as …
Really excellent piece! I think the path that we are on has been going on for far more than 30 years; its been progressing like a silent disease before announcing itself, with the irreversibility of entropy. I'm not sure how we can reverse the course we are headed on. Technology is a continuum that started thousands of years ago, and as far as I know, we've never voluntarily reversed course. The reason may be that technology and economics have been intimately connected for a very long time. As this connection became stronger, the momentum of technological progress increased until the altruistic voice of technology began to be drowned out by the roar of capitalism.
Don't get me wrong, I do not deny the good that new technologies like AI are capable of delivering. I've learned a lot from my interactions with AI models like Claude. And I don't take the existential threat of AI too seriously; it will sicken us, but not destroy us.
What sickens you will eventually kill you, though. Think of it like sugar or obesity; it won't kill you directly but give it time and heart disease, diabetes and tooth rot will.
Really excellent piece! I think the path that we are on has been going on for far more than 30 years; its been progressing like a silent disease before announcing itself, with the irreversibility of entropy. I'm not sure how we can reverse the course we are headed on. Technology is a continuum that started thousands of years ago, and as far as I know, we've never voluntarily reversed course. The reason may be that technology and economics have been intimately connected for a very long time. As this connection became stronger, the momentum of technological progress increased until the altruistic voice of technology began to be drowned out by the roar of capitalism.
Don't get me wrong, I do not deny the good that new technologies like AI are capable of delivering. I've learned a lot from my interactions with AI models like Claude. And I don't take the existential threat of AI too seriously; it will sicken us, but not destroy us.
What sickens you will eventually kill you, though. Think of it like sugar or obesity; it won't kill you directly but give it time and heart disease, diabetes and tooth rot will.
And sugar and fat was what we wanted, right?