Fascinating interview. I sat up when Demetri said this (around time-mark 51:50): "Maybe there's something more important, and something that's more elemental to who we are, that makes life worth living in a more sort of natural state than the world we're going into. And maybe what we're doing is we're -- whether human beings survive, or whatever we're gonna become -- whether we survive or not, maybe that's really irrelevant. **And maybe what we're doing is we're moving away from something profoundly mysterious and real, and toward something that our more pious ancestors would intuitively identify or call out as... demonic. And that what's really at stake here are our souls. And that creating super-intelligence and trying to merge with it is a cascade into hell.**" This is deeply relevant for many AI skeptics. I waited for Nick's response. He refused to go anywhere near it. And I think I know why. Any admission of a spiritual dimension to the universe is like Kryptonite to his worldview. 1- Transhumanism is built on evolutionary materialism - a very recent philosophy in human history, some 100 years old at the most. 2- It is embraced by only a small segment of Western thinkers who are triggered by the rest of mankind being hard-wired to recognize a Divine Creator (doubly triggered by the Judeo-Christian version). 3- It is even now losing adherents because it fails to explain a whole lot of things, from human souls to the origin of life. Promoting the hope of man creating an AI "super-intelligence" that will solve all our problems is a desperate attempt to offer a replacement for God. But history is full of manmade gods, and none of them solved problems or relieved human suffering. They were only empty shells that echoed back the agendas and biases of their human creators... often creating suffering for others. AI are also just echoes of human biases and agendas. The upcoming agenda is global compliance, so AI will be used to manipulate mankind into that cage. Yes, cage! Does anyone really agree with Nick that to experience physical pleasures and get the benefits of exercise by swallowing pills would be a GOOD life?? (I mean, anyone besides Big Pharma)
Fantasy land, but i did like his book Superintelligence. We are heading for Mad Max but there will be islands of the super-rich who have managed to accumulate wealth by destroying value from every other useful endeavor of human existence that is not "AI buzzword".
Individual realities sound like a nightmare. I strongly suspect that despite generational differences there will continue to be extroverts and introverts. Most AI-related thinkers like Nick come across as the type of people who don't like dealing with other people, so the meme of the individual reality is appealing to them. The mistake they make is thinking that if you make a virtual reality that "satisfied" all of a person's optimal expectations they will by definition like it no matter whether they are an introvert or extrovert. As an extrovert I talk to other people at a bar or a party because sometimes it's weird and uncomfortable, because other people ask me questions I don't expect, and because I don't know what my optimal expectations are - a customized virtual reality is by definition something I would loathe.
Fascinating interview. I sat up when Demetri said this (around time-mark 51:50):
"Maybe there's something more important, and something that's more elemental to who we are, that makes life worth living in a more sort of natural state than the world we're going into. And maybe what we're doing is we're -- whether human beings survive, or whatever we're gonna become -- whether we survive or not, maybe that's really irrelevant.
**And maybe what we're doing is we're moving away from something profoundly mysterious and real, and toward something that our more pious ancestors would intuitively identify or call out as... demonic. And that what's really at stake here are our souls. And that creating super-intelligence and trying to merge with it is a cascade into hell.**"
This is deeply relevant for many AI skeptics. I waited for Nick's response.
He refused to go anywhere near it. And I think I know why.
Any admission of a spiritual dimension to the universe is like Kryptonite to his worldview.
1- Transhumanism is built on evolutionary materialism - a very recent philosophy in human history, some 100 years old at the most.
2- It is embraced by only a small segment of Western thinkers who are triggered by the rest of mankind being hard-wired to recognize a Divine Creator (doubly triggered by the Judeo-Christian version).
3- It is even now losing adherents because it fails to explain a whole lot of things, from human souls to the origin of life.
Promoting the hope of man creating an AI "super-intelligence" that will solve all our problems is a desperate attempt to offer a replacement for God.
But history is full of manmade gods, and none of them solved problems or relieved human suffering.
They were only empty shells that echoed back the agendas and biases of their human creators... often creating suffering for others.
AI are also just echoes of human biases and agendas.
The upcoming agenda is global compliance, so AI will be used to manipulate mankind into that cage.
Yes, cage! Does anyone really agree with Nick that to experience physical pleasures and get the benefits of exercise by swallowing pills would be a GOOD life?? (I mean, anyone besides Big Pharma)
It’s coming at us fast. Excellent interview thanks.
Fantasy land, but i did like his book Superintelligence.
We are heading for Mad Max but there will be islands of the super-rich who have managed to accumulate wealth by destroying value from every other useful endeavor of human existence that is not "AI buzzword".
I always wondered how Shodan would come into existence.
It’s about overcoming our own Ego.
Individual realities sound like a nightmare. I strongly suspect that despite generational differences there will continue to be extroverts and introverts.
Most AI-related thinkers like Nick come across as the type of people who don't like dealing with other people, so the meme of the individual reality is appealing to them. The mistake they make is thinking that if you make a virtual reality that "satisfied" all of a person's optimal expectations they will by definition like it no matter whether they are an introvert or extrovert.
As an extrovert I talk to other people at a bar or a party because sometimes it's weird and uncomfortable, because other people ask me questions I don't expect, and because I don't know what my optimal expectations are - a customized virtual reality is by definition something I would loathe.
Elon Musk was forced to admit it was a lie we have Narrative AI not true AI
Yap, AI will be used for only good 🤣🤣🤪🤡
Define good.
"Solved World" nonsense