Indeed. I think what 'amuses' me most is that "they" don't expect any kind of backlash.... Apparently when unemployment reached around 20% you got both the French & Russian revolutions... which generally didn't go well for the rich & powerful.
Why not both? There's a lot of talk in conservative and even libertarian circles about AI -- arguments even between subsets, as some libertarians think AI is a government-subsidized monster and some think it's an inevitable think we need to learn to work with -- but it's not going to make the MSNBC/BBC circuits. Those circuits are, to be blunt, are completely irrelevant - they're just showing a pantomime enemy to their audience -- and it's going to be more and more obvious in the coming days. There is a REASON they were blown away by both Trump victories, and it's because they're paying too much attention to their emotion-cozy narratives and not to the reality. The problem is, the outsider reader won't know that until they search out actual "diversity". When I was still a progressive back in 2010/2011, I was astonished to read American Conservative and Front Porch republic and realize there were conservatives who thought along the same lines I did -- who were anti-war, anti-globalist, anti-corpo-- but came from different angles. The average reader is simply not going to find those ranging perspectives on accident. I found TAC because they had a section on New Urbanism; I found Front Porch Republic because their work was compatible with another author I was reading at the time, Jim Kunstler, who then was a 'blue dog democrat'. These days I don't think he'd find the democratic party worth anything. He's not a fan of the GOP, though he has a kind of schadenfreud in re: Trump attacking his ex-wife, the Dems. .
We have this tendency to think anyone who opposes us on one issue is an absolute idiot on everything. That's not the case. I admired Tulsi Gabbard when she was a Democrat because she was anti-war, anti-intervention. A lot of libertarians were the same way. I think AOC and Bernie's economic attitudes are rotting garbage in a lot of respects, but if they're saying something that's intelligently presented, I'll pay attention to it even if I look down on Bernie fo living off the dole longer than I've been alive. Same way I'm watching Mamdani: he's a socialist, I'm a libertarian, so I'd like him to be fired pronto. However -- he is, or at least appears to be, changing policies in NYC to be more responsive to needs. He's DOING stuff -- paving potholes, fixing bike ramps, funding libraries, etc. So, I am happy to watch him as he works, to see what works, and to call out when he doesn't. Not because I hate him, but because I want politics to work for people, period -- and not the lobbyists, and not the defense manufacturers, but for ordinary people. That's what Trump promised, that's what attracted people to him in 2024 , and that's why the republicans are going to get their asses kicked in the fall. They're. Not. Paying. Attention. There are some people who hate Massie simply because he "voted with democrats" -- okay, what they voting on? Oh, the release of Epstein paperwork. Restrictions on war. Like I told someone on facebook, if Massie is a RINO then being a Republican is nothing to be proud of.
I am so very tired of how partisanship skews our approach to reckoning with the truth. There are intelligent people across the board, but we allow ourselves to fixate on bullet points and miss the substance. Sorry if this is too sprawling, but I'm just....frustrated by laziness and of interest in people of understanding why people can believe such "crazy" things. The other day someone posted a "Why do people like Ayn Rand" on a librarian page, and before I could post an essay (XD) trying to explain some of the attractive bits, the post had been locked for editing and then deleted. Why? because liberrians believe in freedom of speech...so long as you talk inside an itty bitty window.
@ Sarah: I think that AI is going to make a few people a LOT of money. I also think that AI will probably lead to some amazing breakthroughs in several areas which will feel like magic. But...
AI will also be used to increase profits at the expense of average people and a LOT of people are going to become unemployed and maybe even unemployable. AI won't just take jobs, it'll take jobs permanently. Whole areas of employment simply won't exist any more. If governments don't intervene and soften the blow there's going to be unrest and probably a lot of it. The transition from a pre to a post AI civilisation *could* be brutal but it doesn't have to be.
I think we're definitely entering what Amos in 'The Expanse' called "The Churn" where everything changes in a quite radical manner over a short period. It certainly has the potential to be both chaotic and dangerous. It might even be our 'Great Filter' event. We'll only know that once we pass through it - if we make it out the other side.
Proper AI is coming whether we like it or not because too many people are racing towards it driven by the fear that someone else (China!!!!) might get there first and stop them being bazillionaires. Of course this means that any fears or real concerns are put aside to 'deal with later' until its too late.
Is AI a 'good' thing? Quite possibly is used properly - which means (naturally) that it won't be a good thing because it'll be used to make obscene amounts of money as well as to kill people more efficiently. I think the risk of an actual Skynet future is pretty low (20%?) but its entirely possible that AI systems can make themselves - knowingly - so indispensable that it would be impossible to live without them or pull their plugs. I have zero doubt that AI's will kill people if they're threatened. Although I'm still optimistic enough to think that full blown AI won't be the end of us - probably - I do think that the future will probably be darker because of it/them.
Oh, and agreed that good ideas can come from both 'sides' politically. Personally I think that most of the good ones are from the Left but I won't *automatically* dismiss an idea from the Right because of the person bringing it up. Its still likely I'll dismiss it once I think about/understand it though....
9 comments:
Make it make sense.
Indeed. I think what 'amuses' me most is that "they" don't expect any kind of backlash.... Apparently when unemployment reached around 20% you got both the French & Russian revolutions... which generally didn't go well for the rich & powerful.
Why not both? There's a lot of talk in conservative and even libertarian circles about AI -- arguments even between subsets, as some libertarians think AI is a government-subsidized monster and some think it's an inevitable think we need to learn to work with -- but it's not going to make the MSNBC/BBC circuits. Those circuits are, to be blunt, are completely irrelevant - they're just showing a pantomime enemy to their audience -- and it's going to be more and more obvious in the coming days. There is a REASON they were blown away by both Trump victories, and it's because they're paying too much attention to their emotion-cozy narratives and not to the reality. The problem is, the outsider reader won't know that until they search out actual "diversity". When I was still a progressive back in 2010/2011, I was astonished to read American Conservative and Front Porch republic and realize there were conservatives who thought along the same lines I did -- who were anti-war, anti-globalist, anti-corpo-- but came from different angles. The average reader is simply not going to find those ranging perspectives on accident. I found TAC because they had a section on New Urbanism; I found Front Porch Republic because their work was compatible with another author I was reading at the time, Jim Kunstler, who then was a 'blue dog democrat'. These days I don't think he'd find the democratic party worth anything. He's not a fan of the GOP, though he has a kind of schadenfreud in re: Trump attacking his ex-wife, the Dems. .
We have this tendency to think anyone who opposes us on one issue is an absolute idiot on everything. That's not the case. I admired Tulsi Gabbard when she was a Democrat because she was anti-war, anti-intervention. A lot of libertarians were the same way. I think AOC and Bernie's economic attitudes are rotting garbage in a lot of respects, but if they're saying something that's intelligently presented, I'll pay attention to it even if I look down on Bernie fo living off the dole longer than I've been alive. Same way I'm watching Mamdani: he's a socialist, I'm a libertarian, so I'd like him to be fired pronto. However -- he is, or at least appears to be, changing policies in NYC to be more responsive to needs. He's DOING stuff -- paving potholes, fixing bike ramps, funding libraries, etc. So, I am happy to watch him as he works, to see what works, and to call out when he doesn't. Not because I hate him, but because I want politics to work for people, period -- and not the lobbyists, and not the defense manufacturers, but for ordinary people. That's what Trump promised, that's what attracted people to him in 2024 , and that's why the republicans are going to get their asses kicked in the fall. They're. Not. Paying. Attention. There are some people who hate Massie simply because he "voted with democrats" -- okay, what they voting on? Oh, the release of Epstein paperwork. Restrictions on war. Like I told someone on facebook, if Massie is a RINO then being a Republican is nothing to be proud of.
I am so very tired of how partisanship skews our approach to reckoning with the truth. There are intelligent people across the board, but we allow ourselves to fixate on bullet points and miss the substance. Sorry if this is too sprawling, but I'm just....frustrated by laziness and of interest in people of understanding why people can believe such "crazy" things. The other day someone posted a "Why do people like Ayn Rand" on a librarian page, and before I could post an essay (XD) trying to explain some of the attractive bits, the post had been locked for editing and then deleted. Why? because liberrians believe in freedom of speech...so long as you talk inside an itty bitty window.
Peace...
It's insane. AI is not a good thing and people need to stop pretending it is. They won't, of course, and we'll all be worse off for it.
@ Sarah: I think that AI is going to make a few people a LOT of money. I also think that AI will probably lead to some amazing breakthroughs in several areas which will feel like magic. But...
AI will also be used to increase profits at the expense of average people and a LOT of people are going to become unemployed and maybe even unemployable. AI won't just take jobs, it'll take jobs permanently. Whole areas of employment simply won't exist any more. If governments don't intervene and soften the blow there's going to be unrest and probably a lot of it. The transition from a pre to a post AI civilisation *could* be brutal but it doesn't have to be.
I think we're definitely entering what Amos in 'The Expanse' called "The Churn" where everything changes in a quite radical manner over a short period. It certainly has the potential to be both chaotic and dangerous. It might even be our 'Great Filter' event. We'll only know that once we pass through it - if we make it out the other side.
Proper AI is coming whether we like it or not because too many people are racing towards it driven by the fear that someone else (China!!!!) might get there first and stop them being bazillionaires. Of course this means that any fears or real concerns are put aside to 'deal with later' until its too late.
Is AI a 'good' thing? Quite possibly is used properly - which means (naturally) that it won't be a good thing because it'll be used to make obscene amounts of money as well as to kill people more efficiently. I think the risk of an actual Skynet future is pretty low (20%?) but its entirely possible that AI systems can make themselves - knowingly - so indispensable that it would be impossible to live without them or pull their plugs. I have zero doubt that AI's will kill people if they're threatened. Although I'm still optimistic enough to think that full blown AI won't be the end of us - probably - I do think that the future will probably be darker because of it/them.
Oh, and agreed that good ideas can come from both 'sides' politically. Personally I think that most of the good ones are from the Left but I won't *automatically* dismiss an idea from the Right because of the person bringing it up. Its still likely I'll dismiss it once I think about/understand it though....
AI cannot work in health care.
Its very good at spotting things like tumors... but apparently pigeons are pretty good at that too!
Maybe they can spot it but can they look after a sick person?
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