My friend sent me a transcript of some conference about AI that took place here in Romania recently. The main theme was, would the recent innovations in tech and artificial intelligence bring about a new Dark Ages or a new Enlightenment? It's precisely the same redundant, self-defeating crap that most of the "intellectual strata" of today are on about, naturally likening themselves to the illustrious minds of the Enlightenment, rather than the sad peasants of the Dark Ages.
The professor holding the talk outlined three ways to change our own personal thinking/approach to learning that would help us face the AI takeover with more grace or something.
Take charge of our own curriculum. He said, explaining as if it were some great big revelation that we spend our defining years being led by the nose by self-interested third parties in the form of school/university. Absurdly, he didn't suggest we remove said third-parties, just that we somehow become more self-taught and aware, which to me seemed kinda absurd.
Be more aware that we're ever learning. Put a greater price on introspection, since our brain is a sponge that's ever-moving. And in today's day and age, everything we come across can be a potential teacher.
Finally, the man suggested being more proactive. Taking on new roles so as to learn new behaviors and attitudes.
Privately, I was all for the changes this man suggested, yet I felt a little miffed. These were all conclusions I personally reached ten years ago. They were conclusions that the people I've known all these years, on the fringe of the educational community, who often favor self-led unschooling/homeschooling practices have also known for years.
And I'm sure we're not the only ones. As I pointed out to my friend, it seems to me the real innovators caught onto these sane educational practices ten, twenty, thirty years ago. They're often the ones in charge of the big tech companies. Leading the AI. Now, it's just trickling down to the masses, which takes away from the valiant, hopeful tone of the professor's lecture. Rather, it's a little depressing that we're only catching on now. Seems tardive, lazy, and all in all not very helpful.
Always, it is the early adopters who will reap the real rewards, not the latecomers to the party who are only folded in once everyone else has grown bored with these "innovative ideas". Personally, I'm not overly interested in what any academic has to say about the manner in which I (or anyone else should learn), since academia is a thing of the past. It is, quite clearly, on its way out, despite some interesting efforts to revive it and keep it afloat.
Academia killed itself, both through the bizarre political involvement it has in the West, as well as through the sudden influx of information. In part, I'm sorry to say, since I too once nurtured the romanticized dream of a university of enlightenment, and idea-sharing, and mutual growth, but the moment the Internet first sprouted, academia started a long and difficult illness.
I'm even sorrier to say that many of us missed the starting ramp. Through lazy, complacent thinking, too much of our education (as a society) has relied on old, unreliable systems. There were people who jumped off the ramp early on, but we mislabelled them as fringe, and told them they would amount to nothing. Now, it's decades later, and the stragglers are catching up, but the fringe early adopters have not, in this interim, been idle. They've run far up ahead, further than we could ever dream of catching up.
Another thing that bugged me about the talk (as many other talks in today's space), was the intense, jarring insistence on what I need to change about my life. As ever, the focus seems to be on small, personal changes, which also strikes me as self-defeating.
Always, in this neverending discourse of doom and gloom, we're told how we need to change our small, personal existence on this planet to save Ukraine, fight climate change, combat the AI takeover. All the while, the real players aren't changing jack.
I don't think turning off my lights will much affect Putin's welfare. Certainly not as much as if Biden stopped funnelling weapons into Ukraine would.
Would my turning off the light, or using less plastic have an impact on our ecosystem? I don't know. I mean, I try to do my bit, but then again, it would be a lot more impactful and a lot less jarring if these dictums of how to behave came accompanied by global efforts from big corporate conglomerates.
Finally, all these "helpful" suggestions as to how I can adapt to the changing AI world. Learn more skills. Learn better. Become more aware. Pay attention. Broaden your mind.
Rich coming from a system (and yes, universities and uni professors are very much a part of the toxic system) that's spent so many resources on keeping us down, with our minds closed.
It's always about how I can adapt, but never about how Elon Musk or Bill Gates or the Google guy whose name I never bother Googling could change. How they could maybe stop. How we could actually ensure AI doesn't come back to bite us in the ass, and take over so many people's jobs.
Because (I've grown tired of saying it) while I may be capable of broadening my own mind and learning better, taking on new roles, and directing my own education, not everyone is.
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What about those people? Fuck 'em?
I'd agree, but that's not in keeping with our faux-humanitarian "we're all in it together" approach. We seem to be on this global play-pretend that everything will turn out okay with a smile and a gung-ho attitude. Just like we were in 2020. Alas, things didn't turn out okay then. People died. Freedoms were given away. Children were forever scarred.
If the text seems a little impassioned, it's because it is. That is where a cheer and a gung-ho attitude will get us. With people dead, and kids scarred. So every time, I hear someone getting peppy and talking about how we can "adapt" to the brave new world, as breezy as if we were summer-accessorizing, I get a little sick in the stomach.
You should too.
I have some of the same thoughts when it comes to education. This week the Korean education system has faced a lot of harsh truths. Teachers also need space to think out of the box or they end up in the box.
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/07/113_355377.html
Interesting glimpse into a world I know almost nothing about. Thanks!
It's so bizarre, isn't it, realizing the people you once considered the embodiment of supreme authority are actually among society's most powerless? I didn't know (we so rarely do). Thank you for that :)
Refreshingly unpretentious, as you write. I don't feel any particular sensation. That's good. Goal achieved :)
Academia is a discontinued model, ... it seems. You never know, but some fight back while others let themselves be absorbed.
The degree to which the individual feels called upon to change his lifestyle, yes, it is very high, also according to my perception. The "poor individual", he demands so much of himself and yet it won't save the world if I stop going on holiday. The best way to save the world is not to want to save it.
Greetings.
Maybe. Telling some poor fucker who just wants to lounge on the Spanish coast in the sun for a week to stay home and save the world (a) triggers this insane, unfair guilt response, but also (b) gives him the illusion of being somehow in charge. Imagine that. I, Joe Schmuck, can actually save the entire planet. Well, I must be someone of value then, right?
It's quite clearly manipulative, and I'm not a fan of anything vaguely leaning towards manipulation. Thank you for stopping by! :)
HaHa! World saving fantasies is quite en vogue, it maybe always was. Young people are particularly prone towards saving fantasies, how can they not, as all what they experience until they are ready for the job market is school life. There, you don't learn life but theorize about it. It's no wonder manipulation can take such a high degree and on top to consume media en masse, which functions through sensational "news" big time.
:D HaHa!!
Some great thoughts here!
This new world is going to be extreme and riddled with chaos/inequities until its die has been cast and it's fully formed. Those who don't keep pace will be left behind in a material sense. On one level humanity is quickly outgrowing old/failing, centralized institutions and ideologies and a new, decentralized world is being born. On another level this new generation of tech will make it possible for governments to try to impose totalitarian control on the populace. It's all so fuzzy around the edges at this point.
I'm still of the opinion that human species will split into two branches within the next decade or two. Those who want to merge biologically with tech (cyborgs) and those who don't. Those who choose the latter will simply not be able to compete with the former but, I'd argue, they might have a greater chance of achieving happiness and fulfillment, living and learning at their own pace. This second group would have to live in a separate society. I never considered myself to be a Luddite but from what I've seen of how mobile phones have changed us, it hasn't been for the better. It's fun to have the world's knowledge at our fingertips but not so much fun to think in search terms instead of using our brain to come to its own conclusion. Right now we can do both but once the tech is integrated it won't be so easy.
Fuzzy is what it is. It truly is a shame that the toxic, evil desires of some people in charge are detracting from what is the most exciting moment in our history.
100%. I'm terrified of the moment when people will start implanting tech into themselves, especially since for the most part, we don't seem to be interested in the nobler/cool pursuits. We just don't wanna reach for that piece of plastic when paying for Doritos, you know?
A friend of mine who has a front row seat to the emerging tech recently wrote this…
“If we’re entering into a world where AI and automation make it impossible for most people to competitively participate in the marketplace to create enough value for others to obtain the quality of life they expect, what will that future look like? What do we want that future to look like? The balance between useful jobs available and people wanting to work is becoming more chaotic. Thanks to the fiat manipulation of money which is the measuring stick of financial value itself, this dance is losing its rational behavior characteristics. It’s becoming impossible to navigate. “Work harder” or “get more education” or “skill up” may not make much sense anymore.
If you go a layer deeper, the “haves” and the “have nots” may have less to do with things like work ethic or discipline and more to do with the brain they were born with and the environment which nurtured or neglected it.
And it will only get worse. Those who have access to robotics and AI and life extension technology will be orders of magnitude more productive and live lives with far more self sovereignty and freedom. Is that the world we want to live in?
Can anything even be done about it? Historical examples of trying to “fix” inequalities and create equal economic opportunities for all have generally ended badly. Deliberative democracy, participatory budgeting, and community currencies might help some, but it really does feel like “it’s different this time.” Maybe people felt that way with the introduction of the steam engine or mechanized farming, but when it comes to intelligence, that impacts everything and super intelligence is just around the corner (if not already here, used in secret by governments and multinational corporations).
Should good people suffer primarily because they lost the birth lottery?
Or to get esoteric, if everything is perfect, did those with a tougher time at life sign up for that experience, essentially leading to the concusion that nothing can really be done anyway and all is as it should be? And yet, “trying stuff” to create a world we all want to live in, to increase our capacity for love and unity, might be one of the key characteristics of the life experience we’re having right now. It might be close to “the point” of life, if there is such a thing, teaching the absolute unbounded oneness about itself.
I don’t have answers, but I’m interested in potential solutions and salute all of you who are working to create a world we all want to live in. These thoughts remind me to have compassion and understanding for what others are going through. I remember my parents losing our house while I was in high school and us going through a rough time financially. I know some people are hurting and feeling helpless. My only advice is to go inward and use whatever circumstance you find yourself in to improve yourself and find triggers to work on and patterns of avoidance to engage with.
I do think there is a future where we really can be all in this together like a family. But, like a family, we have to make some important decisions such as how big of a family do we want, what quality of life do we expect, and how are we going to steward the resources available to us?”
There’s definitely lots to think about right now.
Your friend is an excellent writer (but why should that come as a surprise?:) ). It is, indeed, very much a birth lottery, and it seems petty to hold it against someone that either they didn't have access to the same tech/opportunity, or they lack the understanding to use it to their advantage. Yet a lot of that's already present. I've talked to many smart, well-educated people who are somewhat disinterested, since the development of tech is only threatening other social classes/job sectors. Somehow, it's easier not to care, though that doesn't sound like right.
Completely. I suppose every invention can be used toward progress or evil. Maybe fewer people thought along these depressing lines back then because they weren't as aware as we are now of the possibility of evil?
I agree. It's what makes the whole damn situation so baffling. We're supposed to try. We can't sit still. Even if we're hurdling towards our own destruction.
It's main focus right now, on a personal level. Definitely. We need all the tools of unity and connection we can muster.
<3
I've no idea where tech will take us. But I think it's lovely that it allowed us to meet such incredible people, if only for a brief while. ;)
I think so, too. I hope we go towards it without sacrificing any of our children to the fates. :)
He is a great writer and a great person too. I'm so lucky to have met so many kind, intelligent people (present company included). I think for us to save ourselves we need to decouple from the meglomaniacs who wish to Lord over us, that's what decentralization is all about. It's human nature to fear change but if it's embraced we can harness and direct it to help us instead of harm us. Therein will lie the battle.
<3 Likewise.
It really seems unreal, doesn't it? That even under all this duress, there are all these good, valiant efforts (like decentralization). Probably why the only time you ever hear anything about it, it's either downgraded (decentralization seems to equate with crypto in the popular acceptance, and so, with get-rich-quick schemes), or rejected as fringe, dangerous, or tinfoil.
Thank you!
It's a testament to the human spirit. Each and everyone one of the old models are becoming outdated and withering our economy, especially. The pandemic has taught me to look hard at anything labeled as a "conspiracy". This was the establishment's blanket response to anything that didn't fit their narrative and they got away with it for a very long time.
Yeah I'm 100% behind everything you say, but I think you know that already. It's a crazy time to be alive, watching all of this take place. How those with the least amount of influence are being held responsible for the biggest damage, whilst those who monetise off the earth resources get away scot free. Whilse preaching from their blood stained thrones xxxxx
I knew :D But I'm always glad to hear it. Personally, I'm not surprised they're doing it. I'm just surprised not more people are seeing it.
What's important is that the guy who's making the cheering, gung-ho speech makes a good buck off that speaking engagement. The world be damned, who cares about tomorrow?
Oh, completely. It never seems evident to these people agreeing with his "wise words" that this is (probably) a person paid or at least seriously encouraged to spread a particular kind of message. That anyone would even think to manipulate them in such a way is foreign to them.
Seems to me that's our particular kind of hell. 'Cause we do care, most of us, in some way. Be much easier watching it all burn if we didn't care. And right now, seeing how little of a difference many of us are making, it seems preferable not to care...
I do not wish for you to be my Servant! But someone should service me...😎😄
In the world to come, I worry there isn't much room for individual distinction.
that wooden carved creature, is it a mouse? Nicely caught on camera :)
Yes it is, and thank you :)