Early on with AI and new technologies, my understanding was their pitch was convenience. But now it’s evolved into an invasive worm rotting our brains. I put off getting an iPhone because I could see how distracting and invasive it was in a social setting amongst my friends. Hey, I’m over here, what’s so important on that thing? Instant disconnect. My flip phone was fine, it was handy as an emergency while on the road, and that’s all I needed. So eventually I relented and entered the 21st century. Now I have a my umbilicus that requires constant feeding and attention. How convenient! Now I can be tracked, bombarded with spam or have my identity or bank account hacked by one wrong punch of an icon or button. That’s scary shit and an unwanted burden. Perhaps the old saying, “Keeping It Real” is in the dust bins of history. So is the output worth the input? 🧐
Crypto was real in one sense. It was a great way to launder drug money. The drug lords are not happy. I would not bet on survival over a year in prison for any of the crypto kings.
"The problem with the Kaczynskis/Zuckerbergs/Musks/Bankman-Frieds/Thiels of this world is that" no matter what social/technological system we exist in, someone would find a way to exploit/commercialize/monetize it to their advantage.
I don't disagree with your assessment, but I do believe that for every negative impact there's also a positive one. So how do we minimize the negative and accentuate the positive? Or is that even possible? I'm not smart enough to know if that can even be done, but I'm a big believer in not throwing out the baby with the bath water. If we can sift river water for gold nuggets, we should be able to find a way to take advantage of the positive effects of technology.
The biggest problem, at least in my mind, is human nature. How do we convince our compatriots to suppress their baser instincts for the common good? Can humanity be conditioned to understand that we're all in this together and that what we take for ourselves we, in fact, steal from another?
I try hard not to be a pessimist, but I AM a realist, and I know that human nature is not easily overcome. Brilliance and amorality are often two sides of the same coin. The ends justifies the means far too often. "If it can be done, it should be done" can do far more harm than good. And yet "progress" leaves far too many behind.
Capitalism is at one end of the spectrum, compassion at the other.
I'm not willing to go back to a "Waterworld"-type existence where I'm reduced to drinking my own purified urine because there's no fresh water to be found. I think technology still has much to offer- just look at what it's done for medicine, f'rinstance.
The worst part of this dilemma is that the bad is far too often inextricably interwoven with the good, and it can be impossible to separate the two. Like a bad marriage, I suppose.
We are our own worst enemies. The center cannot hold. What that means going forward is impossible to know, but if you go by the present, the news ain't good, knowhutimean??
Hey Cassandra. How's it goin'? You have covered a lot of stuff, and done it well, as you always do. My brain is spiking in the manner of solar flare, all over the damn place.
So, a couple of thoughts following on, first, from the ultimate impact of computer technologies (including AI).
There will have to be some kind of economic/social shift to accompany the loss of human employment. We've got to fill our time and we've got to eat, be housed, clothed etc. Bill Gates says we have to tax "robots" on productivity just as we tax humans, so maybe if that happens, "money" will go back into the hands of people to exchange for goods and services. Saying that almost makes that concept sound quaint. But, OK, let's say that happens. How do humans employ their time?
Second, at a species level, we've overrun the planet and populated "everywhere". To feed, house, clothe, medically treat and entertain the billions, humanity has to be super-organized. Computer tech is the only way: it's always on, it's precise, it's fast. But, it can also be used - and is being used - to foster a necessary docility in the population. Like THAT was a manifestation of our species will to survive. We are truly caught in the Matrix now.
Third, you're making me think that the Italian valley I live in, or the one you live in, or wherever, might find a future in becoming an enclave where things can be done to effect a mighty reversal. I won't be surprised if, like the hippy comunes that were part and parcel of the 60s found a new incarnation in these times, but with the power of computers behind them. Computers have this wonderful, paradoxical nature: they enable centralization and decentralization at one and the same time. Properly harnessed, that paradox can be put to good use.
You can be a Cassandra, but maybe it's time to be a Pied Piper.
ChatGPT has been tested and shown to produce marvelous essays, well above your typical undergrad, on any topic you choose. Requires (evidently) a bit of interaction to get there. But get there it does. As someone who used to teach at the college level, the best solution I can come up with right now is (1) turn in the essay, and then (2) sit down with me in the office to discuss the essay and respond to questions. If you can pass #2, then regardless of where #1 came from, you've proven you've mastered the materials. The drawback is that the people who are still in the profession already devote such an enormous amount of time and effort to doing things the old way that this would impose an impossible degree of additional work. Part of me is glad that I'm living on social security and only worrying about becoming homeless in the next few months.
I don't have a smart phone, because all I want from my phone is a phone. I grew up using an actual rotary dial, FFS.
I have a Kindle with a larger library stored on it than I have stuffed away in the 50+ boxes stored in the pole barn. If/when I do become homeless, I'll just be abandoning those boxes.
Dating, meeting people -- gawd, what a nightmare. I think I've mentioned before that the overwhelming number of people where I live -- especially those in my general age bracket -- are all neo-Fascist Christian Dominionists who think God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are Trump, Don Jr., and Ivanka. Even if I had a decent income, I would not get out much. I suppose I could say, "at least I know how to talk to people. (I just don't because they're fucking assholes.)" I do, however, miss genuine human interaction. My retreat into crazy cat person is less a choice than a defense mechanism.
No small part of the tech problem today is that the results the tech "predicts" are nothing more than the results the tech manufactures. Another "no small part" is that phrases like "the tech" delude us into believing that me are making a meaningful reference with out language. But there are so many layers of processes at work that it is delusional to imagine that "it" can be referred to with a definite article. We scarcely know how to think about leopards and mastodons. We are ill equipped to grasp the world we have stumbled into creating.
Early on with AI and new technologies, my understanding was their pitch was convenience. But now it’s evolved into an invasive worm rotting our brains. I put off getting an iPhone because I could see how distracting and invasive it was in a social setting amongst my friends. Hey, I’m over here, what’s so important on that thing? Instant disconnect. My flip phone was fine, it was handy as an emergency while on the road, and that’s all I needed. So eventually I relented and entered the 21st century. Now I have a my umbilicus that requires constant feeding and attention. How convenient! Now I can be tracked, bombarded with spam or have my identity or bank account hacked by one wrong punch of an icon or button. That’s scary shit and an unwanted burden. Perhaps the old saying, “Keeping It Real” is in the dust bins of history. So is the output worth the input? 🧐
Crypto was real in one sense. It was a great way to launder drug money. The drug lords are not happy. I would not bet on survival over a year in prison for any of the crypto kings.
"The problem with the Kaczynskis/Zuckerbergs/Musks/Bankman-Frieds/Thiels of this world is that" no matter what social/technological system we exist in, someone would find a way to exploit/commercialize/monetize it to their advantage.
I don't disagree with your assessment, but I do believe that for every negative impact there's also a positive one. So how do we minimize the negative and accentuate the positive? Or is that even possible? I'm not smart enough to know if that can even be done, but I'm a big believer in not throwing out the baby with the bath water. If we can sift river water for gold nuggets, we should be able to find a way to take advantage of the positive effects of technology.
The biggest problem, at least in my mind, is human nature. How do we convince our compatriots to suppress their baser instincts for the common good? Can humanity be conditioned to understand that we're all in this together and that what we take for ourselves we, in fact, steal from another?
I try hard not to be a pessimist, but I AM a realist, and I know that human nature is not easily overcome. Brilliance and amorality are often two sides of the same coin. The ends justifies the means far too often. "If it can be done, it should be done" can do far more harm than good. And yet "progress" leaves far too many behind.
Capitalism is at one end of the spectrum, compassion at the other.
I'm not willing to go back to a "Waterworld"-type existence where I'm reduced to drinking my own purified urine because there's no fresh water to be found. I think technology still has much to offer- just look at what it's done for medicine, f'rinstance.
The worst part of this dilemma is that the bad is far too often inextricably interwoven with the good, and it can be impossible to separate the two. Like a bad marriage, I suppose.
We are our own worst enemies. The center cannot hold. What that means going forward is impossible to know, but if you go by the present, the news ain't good, knowhutimean??
Hey Cassandra. How's it goin'? You have covered a lot of stuff, and done it well, as you always do. My brain is spiking in the manner of solar flare, all over the damn place.
So, a couple of thoughts following on, first, from the ultimate impact of computer technologies (including AI).
There will have to be some kind of economic/social shift to accompany the loss of human employment. We've got to fill our time and we've got to eat, be housed, clothed etc. Bill Gates says we have to tax "robots" on productivity just as we tax humans, so maybe if that happens, "money" will go back into the hands of people to exchange for goods and services. Saying that almost makes that concept sound quaint. But, OK, let's say that happens. How do humans employ their time?
Second, at a species level, we've overrun the planet and populated "everywhere". To feed, house, clothe, medically treat and entertain the billions, humanity has to be super-organized. Computer tech is the only way: it's always on, it's precise, it's fast. But, it can also be used - and is being used - to foster a necessary docility in the population. Like THAT was a manifestation of our species will to survive. We are truly caught in the Matrix now.
Third, you're making me think that the Italian valley I live in, or the one you live in, or wherever, might find a future in becoming an enclave where things can be done to effect a mighty reversal. I won't be surprised if, like the hippy comunes that were part and parcel of the 60s found a new incarnation in these times, but with the power of computers behind them. Computers have this wonderful, paradoxical nature: they enable centralization and decentralization at one and the same time. Properly harnessed, that paradox can be put to good use.
You can be a Cassandra, but maybe it's time to be a Pied Piper.
The fault, dear Brutus ...
ChatGPT has been tested and shown to produce marvelous essays, well above your typical undergrad, on any topic you choose. Requires (evidently) a bit of interaction to get there. But get there it does. As someone who used to teach at the college level, the best solution I can come up with right now is (1) turn in the essay, and then (2) sit down with me in the office to discuss the essay and respond to questions. If you can pass #2, then regardless of where #1 came from, you've proven you've mastered the materials. The drawback is that the people who are still in the profession already devote such an enormous amount of time and effort to doing things the old way that this would impose an impossible degree of additional work. Part of me is glad that I'm living on social security and only worrying about becoming homeless in the next few months.
I don't have a smart phone, because all I want from my phone is a phone. I grew up using an actual rotary dial, FFS.
I have a Kindle with a larger library stored on it than I have stuffed away in the 50+ boxes stored in the pole barn. If/when I do become homeless, I'll just be abandoning those boxes.
Dating, meeting people -- gawd, what a nightmare. I think I've mentioned before that the overwhelming number of people where I live -- especially those in my general age bracket -- are all neo-Fascist Christian Dominionists who think God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are Trump, Don Jr., and Ivanka. Even if I had a decent income, I would not get out much. I suppose I could say, "at least I know how to talk to people. (I just don't because they're fucking assholes.)" I do, however, miss genuine human interaction. My retreat into crazy cat person is less a choice than a defense mechanism.
No small part of the tech problem today is that the results the tech "predicts" are nothing more than the results the tech manufactures. Another "no small part" is that phrases like "the tech" delude us into believing that me are making a meaningful reference with out language. But there are so many layers of processes at work that it is delusional to imagine that "it" can be referred to with a definite article. We scarcely know how to think about leopards and mastodons. We are ill equipped to grasp the world we have stumbled into creating.