AI Safety Meme of the Week
How Much of your Personal Agency Will You Permanently Surrender?
Courtesy of
There is a popular argument in the AI world that you have to use AI because all your competitors will. Oddly enough, the same group of people says AI WON’T cause a catastrophic collapse of the economy despite it destroying jobs that will not be replaced (how we’ll manage that trick is never explained).
Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that the medium-term economic benefits of AI ARE broadly spread throughout society and not totally hoovered up by the AI companies and their early-adopter clients.
You are now at the mercy of silicon entities that know at least 1000X more than you and also think, conservatively estimating, 1,000X faster. These AIs are going to have very definite opinions of how you live your life, run your business, or run your country. You won’t be in any position to resist those “helpful” suggestions.
Is that the glorious future the techno-utopians are leading us towards?
Sound like a fulfilling life?
Where do human agency and free will fit into that picture?
Appreciate that. A lot of people think this kind of philosophical discussion is about a reality that won't exist, or is very far off. If you look at recent surveys like this, a lot of senior business leaders think even they should be be replaced by AI in the not too distant future. https://press.edx.org/edx-survey-finds-nearly-half-49-of-ceos-believe-most-or-all-of-their-role-should-be-automated-or-replaced-by-ai
If their predictions are even close to accurate (or even off by 5 years), what chance do the workers of 2030 have to stay ahead of the curve? Or people at any level to retain autonomy? These are the discussions we need to have now, not before the tech is already embedded everywhere.
I like that you mention the importance of personal agency and free will. If you listen to Dawkins, Hawking, Harris and others, free will is only an illusion. They already claim, based on a materialistic only world view, that we are complex, but don't actually have free will. It is a logical conclusion. The laws of physics dictate everything, how could it be otherwise? Their conclusion is that you are a biological robot, complex, but not free.