This reminds me of a Yuval Noah Harari quote from Part 2 of “Anatomy of a Philanthropath: Dreams of Democide & Dictatorship” (https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/anatomy-of-a-philanthropath-dreams-947 — will be unlocked later today):
“You could have an entire economy flourishing without humans in the loop. You can have one corporatio…
“You could have an entire economy flourishing without humans in the loop. You can have one corporation that mines ore and produces steel and sells it to a second corporation that produces robots, and they are sold back to the mining corporation … and these two corporations can form an entire economic ecosystem, which can spread from Planet Earth to other planets and throughout the galaxy just colonizing new planets and asteroids to mine things, and you just don’t need humans in the loop.”
How long till “Computer says ‘No’” to humans altogether?
Similarly what popped into my head in reading this piece was how, in this light, AI sounds quite like an immune system - a not yet functioning immune system in a live system, but one in a pre-launch design stage. And perhaps since the AI immune system is now being trained to recognize 'self' with artificial data, when it does go live it might see 'reality' as foreign and attack...(un)ironically in an AI = artificial intelligence = auto-immunity sort of way!
I have a more nuanced take on Harari after having suffered through hours’ worth of footage from which his more notorious quotes have been extracted. As I say in that piece:
“I’m not saying Harari is a good guy. I’m saying he *thinks* he is a good guy. And that makes him even more dangerous, especially when he is influencing genuine villains like Doctor Doom-meets-Lex Luthor Klaus Schwab, who takes his admonitions as a how-to book on achieving global technocratic tyranny.”
No one ever thinks they are a bad guy, whether it is drug dealer or mob boss or dictator or even Bill Gates. They all will lie to themselves and rationalize their evil away.
This reminds me of a Yuval Noah Harari quote from Part 2 of “Anatomy of a Philanthropath: Dreams of Democide & Dictatorship” (https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/anatomy-of-a-philanthropath-dreams-947 — will be unlocked later today):
“You could have an entire economy flourishing without humans in the loop. You can have one corporation that mines ore and produces steel and sells it to a second corporation that produces robots, and they are sold back to the mining corporation … and these two corporations can form an entire economic ecosystem, which can spread from Planet Earth to other planets and throughout the galaxy just colonizing new planets and asteroids to mine things, and you just don’t need humans in the loop.”
How long till “Computer says ‘No’” to humans altogether?
Similarly what popped into my head in reading this piece was how, in this light, AI sounds quite like an immune system - a not yet functioning immune system in a live system, but one in a pre-launch design stage. And perhaps since the AI immune system is now being trained to recognize 'self' with artificial data, when it does go live it might see 'reality' as foreign and attack...(un)ironically in an AI = artificial intelligence = auto-immunity sort of way!
🤯😬
Philip K Dick was there almost 70 years ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autofac
Life could not have been too easy for Philip with that last name. Especially since a "K" is so easily rearranged to an "A". Pity.
this man is the antithesis of grounded in reality.
Agreed. You and I, being travelers in Wonderland, have a far firmer grasp on reality than he does!
indeed, we do; must acknowledge, however, that it is a human impossibility to have *less* connection with reality than this fellow has.
😆
He's creepy, he really seems to hate humanity IMO.
Wait till you read the third part of this series (unlocks on Wednesday):
“Part 3: Yuval Noah Harari: Not the Man We Think He Is?” (https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/anatomy-of-a-philanthropath-dreams-3fd)
I have a more nuanced take on Harari after having suffered through hours’ worth of footage from which his more notorious quotes have been extracted. As I say in that piece:
“I’m not saying Harari is a good guy. I’m saying he *thinks* he is a good guy. And that makes him even more dangerous, especially when he is influencing genuine villains like Doctor Doom-meets-Lex Luthor Klaus Schwab, who takes his admonitions as a how-to book on achieving global technocratic tyranny.”
Never trust a historian who thinks he’s a biologist.
😆 You would know, being a biologist!
No one ever thinks they are a bad guy, whether it is drug dealer or mob boss or dictator or even Bill Gates. They all will lie to themselves and rationalize their evil away.
Of course not. They think they are saving humanity. unfortunately, that’s the first baseline requirement to being a genocidal lunatic. 
Very nicely put, love your Substack BTW!
Aww, thank you, Becka!
You're welcome!