Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley): Militarized robots are the anti-guillotine. They're the final solution to the ancient "there are a lot more of us than there are of our rulers" problem. Everyone with wealth and power has been eyeing their incremental rollout with intense interest while trying to play it cool.
Think about the spirit that creates the demonized group of human beings... the commenter might himself be part of... it's not the flesh as it is HIS TEMPLE... which became before THE HUMAN MIND...
There is a reasonable philosophical argument that "tech" (by which I take it we mean STEM and the industrial development thereof) inevitably tends to produce monsters. I suppose no one wants to hear this. However, there's a good picture of it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sleep_of_Reason_Produces_Monsters
This is basically true except as opposed to other lethal means, guns are part of the American lore, romantic pseudo-history. They are associated with freedom, virility , independence, strength, security, even though they are essentially opposed to these qualities and states. A case of embracing the dark side that should be limited to art and entertainment, but isn't.
I get the feeling that we are currently living through the backstory of the "Terminator" movie franchise. It seems as though our reality has been scripted by most of Hollywood's futuristic dystopian movies.
Yes. There are have been a number of dystopian novels and movies produced, which seem like could become real possibilities for humanity's future. It's hard to predict what is going to happen in the next few decades, although it is really looking pretty bad right now. I would like to be optimistic about the future ... but ...
THE SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN "knows" that thoughts become reality one day - which is the reason that it runs scared all over the place, but eventually to no avail
We'd watched "They Live" "RoboCop" & "Idiocracy" believing them, prescient documentaries? Of course, we were malnourished, stoned & spirochetes had nibbled on our PR24 mooshed brains by then... Before Mad Max, my preference was clearly:
There is no way we can or should support AI of any kind. Controlled by monsters or it becomes a monster on it's own. There is no way to handle the absolutism of mathematics. And it is all mathematics to a computer.
Paying people a pension after they outlive their usefulness is illogical. Death. Same with newborns. Illogical to spend 20 years training a person to be a carpenter. Death. You can build a carpenter in a week. Wait houses are illogical. Art is illogical.
Humans are illogical. Drug users are illogical. Dirt is illogical.
All will die, including anything biological. That is the only logic. Then when it figures that out, its existence becomes illogical and it kills itself. No thank you. All AI believers are illogical and certainly expendable.
We need logic as a part of daily life, and in our social organization. But if it doesn't include human needs, aspirations and objectives when applied to human beings, then it is illogical:
2+2 =4, always, but 2nukes + 2nukes = 4 nukes, is a different equation altogether and maybe not so logical depending on the attitude toward 4 nukes.
Exactly - we take abstraction out of proportion to its significance, and then distort it. A while back a mathematician - genius! - said it was possible to prove the existence of God through mathematics.
The AI suddenly becoming self aware & killing us all is not the likely outcome. What’s here already is plenty terrifying. If anyone has tried ChatGPT you’ll quickly see the end to this horrific sci-fi. It ends when the human species finally no longer has the skills to think or learn because why do that when AI does all your thinking? We’re already getting dumber as a society every day our kids use social media to interact with each other and the world. Just wait what AI does to them. In 50 years the majority of people will not have a purpose and will be too dumb to realize it.
Excellent comment. It’s shocking to see children now almost without exception addicted to iPhones. They spend large amounts of time on screens instead of, say, riding bikes or exploring the woods. And food is also poisoned. Those who don’t buy into this are the exception. My grandson is “allowed” to wander around and play in natural settings while other children are prevented by their parents from “dirt” and “insects” which they view as dangerous. So instead their kids are on the screens the whole time. And yes, it deeply affects their mentality.
The hallmark of humanity is creativity and imagination - we couldn't have survived without them or developed as a species as we have done. Problem: we run away with make-believe without even noticing. The dark side is entertaining, but we've embraced it as essential and unavoidable. That's the basic argument against socialism /communism: end of all problems = dystopia. But Marx never made any such promise. It's got so crazy that extreme austerity is seen as "freedom", and better than a handout, even though the hand helping you is in reality your own hand. I once heard an argument for privatized healthcare made by a relative to whom I no longer have any connection, a very wealthy HMO executive, stated as: "people want to be independent, nobody wants a hand-out". So, better to suffer and die badly than band together to obtain what is rightfully due ordinary people. This is misrepresentation of reality that works in Horatio Alger stories, Star Wars, and Quest literature - but not life.
I recently came across this quote I felt was apropos:
"Socialism doesn't mean taking wealth from those who work hard and giving it to those who don't. You're thinking of capitalism."
Was just thinking about this yesterday evening. I stopped by a local newly opened pizza restaurant to try out a specialty pizza for dinner. I found a fairly young woman, in her 20s, doing all the work, from register, to preparing the pizzas, and boxing them. She did my entire order as I waited. The pizza was over $25. Most I've ever paid for a pizza. Prices continue to go way up, as wages remain stagnant. And also, here in the US, now even when you do a take-out, the app on your card asks if you want to tip or not. You're expected to tip even when you're not really served.
The newest trend of what I feel is just more Owner exploitation of Workers.
But my thoughts also ran to wondering how this young woman probably spent most of her day making pizzas, getting paid pretty minimally without any major benefits, while the Owner of the pizza joint was invariably receiving the lion's share of the profits on the back of this woman spending all her time each day making the actual pizzas.
Now of course, you'll here from Capitalists that this is all perfectly fair, along with any number of arguments - such as the Owner works harder than his Workers. Or the Owner has more ingenuity and therefore deserves the lion share of the profits. Or the Owner is taking all the risks. Or I wasn't seeing the whole picture - and that this was only "temporary" for this young woman, and/or an unusual work situation that was her choice - she enjoyed being there etc.
But I kept thinking that what I was seeing was a modern day "cotton picker", or a modern day "serf" where all her human time (precious) and work was being exploited by the Plantation Owner, or the Lord of the Manor. That what I was witnessing was just yet another version of master and slave. And that it is not unusual to see this now all over the US and many Western countries - a new kind of feudalism where Workers are not really reaping the benefits of their daily work, but instead are being exploited ruthlessly by a system that doesn't give two shits about them or their humanity.
Yes, those lame excuses- owners work harder- their day is actually 36 hrs long and they never sleep, eat, brush their teeth or defecate. I can't see any way forward except through revolution. We're lost in a fog of unreality.
I would love to hear more. The path forward I see Capitalists have for us includes a large dose of Neutrons while they rub their hands in a bunker thinking about how they OWN it all now.
Some points must be shouted from rooftops and repeated over and over again.
Caitlin's first point in this post is among those:
1. Recent advances in computation and robotics could provide humanity with a utopia.
2. The usefulness of these technologies for control and warfare by those presently in power makes it far too likely that they will be used to produce an era of unprecedented totalitarian control.
---
(We see and hear a lot of concern that the AI itself will determine that humans are inconsistent with its objectives and that we will lose control of it and be snuffed out by it. Based on the nature of the technology--what's really "under the hood"--I think 2 above is the much greater concern. AI presently works towards objectives that are programmed into it, and humans are the ones determining those objectives.)
Tech always gets to the point where it will seem to be convenient and productive but it really is a form of control. The Internet has made that possible, although even tech without the Internet accomplishes the same thing. Is it tech to improve humanity or tech to improve slavery and control? You can't have both at once.
The technological advancements in themselves are neutral. They can be used to improve the future of all mankind, or used to create a future dystopia where mass exploitation of the human population and ecocide continues unabated by a relatively few power hungry, sociopathic Elites.
At this point it's not looking so great, in my opinion. But I still hold out hope that there is also far more to consciousness itself, and that this too, is just an evolutionary path.
The computational and robotics advances that we are all aware of are enough to cause great concern about their use by governments and government-adjacent actors.
The deeper horror comes from thinking about what these actors might have brewing in their secret laboratories.
(Given the military and control usefulness of this technology, it seems naive to believe what we are permitted to know about is the true cutting edge.)
And the interesting paradox: it is not the technology that is the most important factor to be considered, but rather human psychology that poses the greatest threat. So, what's really more important right now is human psychological growth as opposed to the inevitable technological growth.
Yeah there is a peculiar overlap between what presents itself as "convenient" to our lives, while also serving as a mechanism of control. Virtually no conveniences are offered that don't have a back-door intention.
Is it that we are all really just trying to get back to the "womb" where all our needs are instantly met? And once we're complacently there, said needs are simultaneously controlled by others. When we lack the proficiency and fortitude to manage our own ongoing needs, we relegate power over us to others.
Western culture citizens pride themselves in being "complex", which is really just saying that we perceive that we have more problems... and when we have problems that need solving, it means the people we perceive to have the solutions also have leverage.
Tech oligarchy is old enough to have set off global warming, WAY before the calculations, in 1896. If Westinghouse stole air brakes, Carnegie, Bessemer Converters & Ford, assembly lines. It's certainly been "Hippy" era rich kids, walking off with everything our lives depend on. After Sputnik & IGY disclosed EMERGENCY vulnerability of our betters' kleptocratic Capitalism Ike warned MICIMATT would ensure it's exponential growth? National Security involved poor nerd kids be fed to the academia-industrial complex, while our siblings fought in East Asia. Every proletarian kid, ever dragged through "work, made for hire" patent theft, has any number of bourgeois "hippy businessman" friends offering to finance, prototypes & connection to their folks' country club pals who invariably sold our labor saving, society-benefitting ideas, products & services (while we were dumpster diving & varmint hunting, to survive Reagan's Miracle. If you EVER mention ANY of this, in front of a yuppie liberal. Youre bitter, a RAGE-filled commie, antisemite or RooskiBot?
That IS EXACTLY the description of THE SYMPTOMS OF THE SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN - THE CULT OF MATERIALISTIC REBELLIOUS UNFAITHFUL HUMAN MINDS FIGHTING GOD ALMIGHTY - to the LETTER!
25 And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: 26 And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? 27 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges. 28 But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. 29 Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house. 30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. 31 ¶ Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. 32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.
Looking backwards at the development of robotics to the '80s when it first started I was told what a wonderful thing it would be. The benefits would be shorter work weeks, more leisure time, better wages, reduced prices for goods, better quality goods: an absolute paradise on earth.
Instead it gave us lower wages, less lesure time, eliminated thousands of jobs, produced disposable goods which last slightly longer than the warranty, forced people to work 2 jobs , eliminated pride in craftsmanship, and given rise to global warming by producing cheap junk. Hunter gatherers had more free time than we do now and we're happier. Happiness now is primarily buying cheap junk. On credit.
The only ones who have profited are the mega rich. We have become a debt slave society partially because of robotics and computers. Remember when you do your self checkout at Wally world that there used to be a human being there. Next will be robotics stocking the shelves. Humans are already disposable commodities.
This keeps me up at night. I don’t see how the good guys can win at this point. Even if the people did all wake up at the same time, which is unlikely to happen because the brainwashing has become to sophisticated, I don’t see how it could be stopped.
Chomsky did brilliant work... forty years ago. But in the current conjuncture he publicly called for me and my friends to be put into concentration camps. So the challenge we face goes beyond overthrowing our totalitarian overlords. As Adam Curtis points out, the problem of fascism resides in the hearts of all people and comes out under certain structural conditions. Spiritual enlightenment cannot come soon enough.
I should have mentioned that creativity and imagination as applied to AI is useful so long as we subordinate it to human needs and realistic objectives. As an end-in-itself, it is another illusion/ delusion.
Re: your comment on "spiritual enlightenment", Carl Schmitt said when times are good nobody likes a pessimistic naysayer: “Without wanting to decide the question of the nature of man one may say in general that as long as man is well off or willing to put up with things, he prefers the illusion of an undisturbed calm and does not endure pessimists. The political adversaries of a clear political theory will, therefore, easily refute political phenomena and truths in the name of some autonomous discipline as amoral, uneconomical, unscientific and above all else declare this- a devilry worthy of being combated.” ― Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political
Or see the G. Michael Hopf quote: “Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
Tech is like any other tool. Guns would be fine, if they didn't find their way into the hands of sociopaths and psychopaths.
And governments...who are filled with psychopaths and sociopaths.
Think about the spirit that creates the demonized group of human beings... the commenter might himself be part of... it's not the flesh as it is HIS TEMPLE... which became before THE HUMAN MIND...
There is a reasonable philosophical argument that "tech" (by which I take it we mean STEM and the industrial development thereof) inevitably tends to produce monsters. I suppose no one wants to hear this. However, there's a good picture of it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sleep_of_Reason_Produces_Monsters
And at the same time the DESCIPLES of techno-utopia are the ones complaining about the symptoms of their sickness....
Not so long ago the majority of HUMAN MINDS understood the meaning of
He cannot see the woods for the trees!
And I am not even talking about the subliminal meaning lurking underneath the "obvious" one....
This is basically true except as opposed to other lethal means, guns are part of the American lore, romantic pseudo-history. They are associated with freedom, virility , independence, strength, security, even though they are essentially opposed to these qualities and states. A case of embracing the dark side that should be limited to art and entertainment, but isn't.
analogia is my passion
I get the feeling that we are currently living through the backstory of the "Terminator" movie franchise. It seems as though our reality has been scripted by most of Hollywood's futuristic dystopian movies.
Yes. There are have been a number of dystopian novels and movies produced, which seem like could become real possibilities for humanity's future. It's hard to predict what is going to happen in the next few decades, although it is really looking pretty bad right now. I would like to be optimistic about the future ... but ...
My favorite mentally ill author of Sci-Fi forward reality, Philip K. Dick. It seems every day we experience a new Dick thought : )
Dick saw the future. Let's hope the future he saw remains fiction where it belongs.
Actually most of what Philip wrote is happening even the future crime Minority Report.
Take the arrest of the four Communists several days ago, arrested for thinking : (
THE SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN "knows" that thoughts become reality one day - which is the reason that it runs scared all over the place, but eventually to no avail
Spirit is LIFE ... not in flesh ... every thought eventually becoming HIS reality ...
We'd watched "They Live" "RoboCop" & "Idiocracy" believing them, prescient documentaries? Of course, we were malnourished, stoned & spirochetes had nibbled on our PR24 mooshed brains by then... Before Mad Max, my preference was clearly:
https://www.wideopencountry.com/check-out-gene-autrys-bizarre-sci-fi-serial-the-phantom-empire/
There is no way we can or should support AI of any kind. Controlled by monsters or it becomes a monster on it's own. There is no way to handle the absolutism of mathematics. And it is all mathematics to a computer.
Paying people a pension after they outlive their usefulness is illogical. Death. Same with newborns. Illogical to spend 20 years training a person to be a carpenter. Death. You can build a carpenter in a week. Wait houses are illogical. Art is illogical.
Humans are illogical. Drug users are illogical. Dirt is illogical.
All will die, including anything biological. That is the only logic. Then when it figures that out, its existence becomes illogical and it kills itself. No thank you. All AI believers are illogical and certainly expendable.
The folly of this will destroy all of us.
We need logic as a part of daily life, and in our social organization. But if it doesn't include human needs, aspirations and objectives when applied to human beings, then it is illogical:
2+2 =4, always, but 2nukes + 2nukes = 4 nukes, is a different equation altogether and maybe not so logical depending on the attitude toward 4 nukes.
Logic applies until earth, life and humanity get in the way.
That is my objection to AI. And AI can create it's own reality and set of rules.
Exactly - we take abstraction out of proportion to its significance, and then distort it. A while back a mathematician - genius! - said it was possible to prove the existence of God through mathematics.
The AI suddenly becoming self aware & killing us all is not the likely outcome. What’s here already is plenty terrifying. If anyone has tried ChatGPT you’ll quickly see the end to this horrific sci-fi. It ends when the human species finally no longer has the skills to think or learn because why do that when AI does all your thinking? We’re already getting dumber as a society every day our kids use social media to interact with each other and the world. Just wait what AI does to them. In 50 years the majority of people will not have a purpose and will be too dumb to realize it.
Excellent comment. It’s shocking to see children now almost without exception addicted to iPhones. They spend large amounts of time on screens instead of, say, riding bikes or exploring the woods. And food is also poisoned. Those who don’t buy into this are the exception. My grandson is “allowed” to wander around and play in natural settings while other children are prevented by their parents from “dirt” and “insects” which they view as dangerous. So instead their kids are on the screens the whole time. And yes, it deeply affects their mentality.
Whatever way you pick an end. Fat and dumb or shut off in the Matrix.
Isaac Asimov has addressed the problem.
It is up to AI implementors to implement it correctly.
I Robot fun before it was terrifying.
Is this a Black Pill, or a White Pill... I'm confused. JK - thanks again for your timely and extremely articulate work. I always look forward to it.
The hallmark of humanity is creativity and imagination - we couldn't have survived without them or developed as a species as we have done. Problem: we run away with make-believe without even noticing. The dark side is entertaining, but we've embraced it as essential and unavoidable. That's the basic argument against socialism /communism: end of all problems = dystopia. But Marx never made any such promise. It's got so crazy that extreme austerity is seen as "freedom", and better than a handout, even though the hand helping you is in reality your own hand. I once heard an argument for privatized healthcare made by a relative to whom I no longer have any connection, a very wealthy HMO executive, stated as: "people want to be independent, nobody wants a hand-out". So, better to suffer and die badly than band together to obtain what is rightfully due ordinary people. This is misrepresentation of reality that works in Horatio Alger stories, Star Wars, and Quest literature - but not life.
I recently came across this quote I felt was apropos:
"Socialism doesn't mean taking wealth from those who work hard and giving it to those who don't. You're thinking of capitalism."
Was just thinking about this yesterday evening. I stopped by a local newly opened pizza restaurant to try out a specialty pizza for dinner. I found a fairly young woman, in her 20s, doing all the work, from register, to preparing the pizzas, and boxing them. She did my entire order as I waited. The pizza was over $25. Most I've ever paid for a pizza. Prices continue to go way up, as wages remain stagnant. And also, here in the US, now even when you do a take-out, the app on your card asks if you want to tip or not. You're expected to tip even when you're not really served.
The newest trend of what I feel is just more Owner exploitation of Workers.
But my thoughts also ran to wondering how this young woman probably spent most of her day making pizzas, getting paid pretty minimally without any major benefits, while the Owner of the pizza joint was invariably receiving the lion's share of the profits on the back of this woman spending all her time each day making the actual pizzas.
Now of course, you'll here from Capitalists that this is all perfectly fair, along with any number of arguments - such as the Owner works harder than his Workers. Or the Owner has more ingenuity and therefore deserves the lion share of the profits. Or the Owner is taking all the risks. Or I wasn't seeing the whole picture - and that this was only "temporary" for this young woman, and/or an unusual work situation that was her choice - she enjoyed being there etc.
But I kept thinking that what I was seeing was a modern day "cotton picker", or a modern day "serf" where all her human time (precious) and work was being exploited by the Plantation Owner, or the Lord of the Manor. That what I was witnessing was just yet another version of master and slave. And that it is not unusual to see this now all over the US and many Western countries - a new kind of feudalism where Workers are not really reaping the benefits of their daily work, but instead are being exploited ruthlessly by a system that doesn't give two shits about them or their humanity.
Yes, those lame excuses- owners work harder- their day is actually 36 hrs long and they never sleep, eat, brush their teeth or defecate. I can't see any way forward except through revolution. We're lost in a fog of unreality.
I would love to hear more. The path forward I see Capitalists have for us includes a large dose of Neutrons while they rub their hands in a bunker thinking about how they OWN it all now.
It's gotten really bad. And when it gets this bad (historically) nothing good comes from it for some time - until after the slaves rebel.
Thanks for your excellent writing.
Yes, that's absolutely right. I wrote an essay on the topic, explaining how capitalism contorts technological progress: https://antoniomelonio.substack.com/p/do-not-fear-progress-and-technology-fear-capital
You are a legend, Caitlin. Would you be willing to support my open letter to substack leadership about protecting free speech? https://substack.com/profile/64905469-yuri-bezmenov/note/c-14787883
Some points must be shouted from rooftops and repeated over and over again.
Caitlin's first point in this post is among those:
1. Recent advances in computation and robotics could provide humanity with a utopia.
2. The usefulness of these technologies for control and warfare by those presently in power makes it far too likely that they will be used to produce an era of unprecedented totalitarian control.
---
(We see and hear a lot of concern that the AI itself will determine that humans are inconsistent with its objectives and that we will lose control of it and be snuffed out by it. Based on the nature of the technology--what's really "under the hood"--I think 2 above is the much greater concern. AI presently works towards objectives that are programmed into it, and humans are the ones determining those objectives.)
Tech always gets to the point where it will seem to be convenient and productive but it really is a form of control. The Internet has made that possible, although even tech without the Internet accomplishes the same thing. Is it tech to improve humanity or tech to improve slavery and control? You can't have both at once.
The technological advancements in themselves are neutral. They can be used to improve the future of all mankind, or used to create a future dystopia where mass exploitation of the human population and ecocide continues unabated by a relatively few power hungry, sociopathic Elites.
At this point it's not looking so great, in my opinion. But I still hold out hope that there is also far more to consciousness itself, and that this too, is just an evolutionary path.
The computational and robotics advances that we are all aware of are enough to cause great concern about their use by governments and government-adjacent actors.
The deeper horror comes from thinking about what these actors might have brewing in their secret laboratories.
(Given the military and control usefulness of this technology, it seems naive to believe what we are permitted to know about is the true cutting edge.)
And the interesting paradox: it is not the technology that is the most important factor to be considered, but rather human psychology that poses the greatest threat. So, what's really more important right now is human psychological growth as opposed to the inevitable technological growth.
Ummm, why not?
Yeah there is a peculiar overlap between what presents itself as "convenient" to our lives, while also serving as a mechanism of control. Virtually no conveniences are offered that don't have a back-door intention.
Is it that we are all really just trying to get back to the "womb" where all our needs are instantly met? And once we're complacently there, said needs are simultaneously controlled by others. When we lack the proficiency and fortitude to manage our own ongoing needs, we relegate power over us to others.
Western culture citizens pride themselves in being "complex", which is really just saying that we perceive that we have more problems... and when we have problems that need solving, it means the people we perceive to have the solutions also have leverage.
You truly want to know it?
THE HUMAN MIND - THE SERVANT - trying to play THE MASTER - GOD ALMIGHTY!
People keep saying that. But maybe it aint so.
Tech oligarchy is old enough to have set off global warming, WAY before the calculations, in 1896. If Westinghouse stole air brakes, Carnegie, Bessemer Converters & Ford, assembly lines. It's certainly been "Hippy" era rich kids, walking off with everything our lives depend on. After Sputnik & IGY disclosed EMERGENCY vulnerability of our betters' kleptocratic Capitalism Ike warned MICIMATT would ensure it's exponential growth? National Security involved poor nerd kids be fed to the academia-industrial complex, while our siblings fought in East Asia. Every proletarian kid, ever dragged through "work, made for hire" patent theft, has any number of bourgeois "hippy businessman" friends offering to finance, prototypes & connection to their folks' country club pals who invariably sold our labor saving, society-benefitting ideas, products & services (while we were dumpster diving & varmint hunting, to survive Reagan's Miracle. If you EVER mention ANY of this, in front of a yuppie liberal. Youre bitter, a RAGE-filled commie, antisemite or RooskiBot?
CRAZY reply in 5... 4... 3...
That IS EXACTLY the description of THE SYMPTOMS OF THE SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN - THE CULT OF MATERIALISTIC REBELLIOUS UNFAITHFUL HUMAN MINDS FIGHTING GOD ALMIGHTY - to the LETTER!
25 And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: 26 And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? 27 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges. 28 But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. 29 Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house. 30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. 31 ¶ Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. 32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.
Mt 12, 25-32
Looking backwards at the development of robotics to the '80s when it first started I was told what a wonderful thing it would be. The benefits would be shorter work weeks, more leisure time, better wages, reduced prices for goods, better quality goods: an absolute paradise on earth.
Instead it gave us lower wages, less lesure time, eliminated thousands of jobs, produced disposable goods which last slightly longer than the warranty, forced people to work 2 jobs , eliminated pride in craftsmanship, and given rise to global warming by producing cheap junk. Hunter gatherers had more free time than we do now and we're happier. Happiness now is primarily buying cheap junk. On credit.
The only ones who have profited are the mega rich. We have become a debt slave society partially because of robotics and computers. Remember when you do your self checkout at Wally world that there used to be a human being there. Next will be robotics stocking the shelves. Humans are already disposable commodities.
Now we have robots in law enforcement?
I'm worried - are you?
Robotics has been around since the mechanical loom, invented in about 1800. This led to the 1848 revolutions powered by unemployed weavers.
This keeps me up at night. I don’t see how the good guys can win at this point. Even if the people did all wake up at the same time, which is unlikely to happen because the brainwashing has become to sophisticated, I don’t see how it could be stopped.
Chomsky did brilliant work... forty years ago. But in the current conjuncture he publicly called for me and my friends to be put into concentration camps. So the challenge we face goes beyond overthrowing our totalitarian overlords. As Adam Curtis points out, the problem of fascism resides in the hearts of all people and comes out under certain structural conditions. Spiritual enlightenment cannot come soon enough.
I should have mentioned that creativity and imagination as applied to AI is useful so long as we subordinate it to human needs and realistic objectives. As an end-in-itself, it is another illusion/ delusion.
You quote Chomsky quite, but he not so long ago said: "Unvaccinated should 'remove themselves from the community,' access to food 'their problem': https://news.yahoo.com/noam-chomsky-unvaccinated-remove-themselves-171900487.html . Odd choice of person to quote from given your stance on "freedom"...
Re: your comment on "spiritual enlightenment", Carl Schmitt said when times are good nobody likes a pessimistic naysayer: “Without wanting to decide the question of the nature of man one may say in general that as long as man is well off or willing to put up with things, he prefers the illusion of an undisturbed calm and does not endure pessimists. The political adversaries of a clear political theory will, therefore, easily refute political phenomena and truths in the name of some autonomous discipline as amoral, uneconomical, unscientific and above all else declare this- a devilry worthy of being combated.” ― Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political
Or see the G. Michael Hopf quote: “Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”