Comment by fluoridation
1 year ago
>wondering if these movies have caused untold external consequences to humanity in its adoption of AI just to sell a few tickets
What are you saying? This isn't like when The Simpsons made fun of nuclear power and depicted it as doing impossible things. AGI is a hypothetical technology and we don't yet know what it could be capable of or even if it's feasible.
>to make a parallel, anti-vaxxers did their damage and caused many lives to be lost, similarly these stories, which are no better, can make people have a bad start with AI and sabotage their futures, or stall the benefits of AI from everyone else
Any idea can change a person's mind in one direction or another. Yours is an argument against the exchange of ideas in general. "Since hearing an idea could cause a person to $DO_BAD_THING, exchanging ideas (for example, by talking to people with $WRONG_OPINION, or by consuming fiction) is bad."
I thought "surely, when their lives will be at stake, people will do the prudent thing and trust doctors", but no, we were not that smart. Some ideas can be inflicting self-harm and continue getting support even in the face of grave consequences.
But you're not arguing against any particular idea. You're arguing against ideas based on how they change people's minds. But, a person's mind is changed by idea dependent of their personality and on the contents of their mind when they hear that idea, so in principle any idea can change a person's mind in any direction. Some people hear "vaccines cause autism" and conclude "I should not vaccinate my children", while others conclude "this country needs better education". Some people reach "I should not vaccinate my children" after hearing some other idea. Some people see The Terminator and think "I should work to prevent the advancement of AI", while others think "I should go into AI to prevent this from happening", and yet others think "ha, what a silly movie". Some people will reach "I should work to prevent the advancement of AI". So, like I said, you argument is one against culture as a whole. If the fact that hearing an idea will convince people of X opinion is a good reason to stop the spread of that idea, then it's also a good reason to stop the spread of all ideas.