Comment by jychang
5 days ago
Well, duh. Same thing applies for "Technology X can be used for war". But anyone with a brain can see nukes are on a different level than bayonets.
Claiming AI isn't unique in being a tool for evil isn't interesting, the point is that it's a force multiplier as such.
Every new technology is a greater force multiplier, with potential to be used for good or evil. That’s literally the point of technological advancement. Even nuclear bomb technology has a more positive side in nuclear reactors, radiotherapy, etc.
Yeah, that's exactly completely missing the point. A bayonet multiplies a person's power by 1.1x, a nuke multiplies it by more than 1,000,000x. Trying to be cute and lumping them together as "every technology is a force multiplier" is peak autistic literalism of 1.1x and 1,000,000x both technically being a multiplier even if they're clearly different.
You are using the nuke example as a straw man since the negative impact is clear, but most technology is not so clear cut. We have machines that can do the work of 1,000,000 men, for example. The magnitude of technological advance alone doesn’t inherently mean something is good or bad.
AI is a large leap forward in capability and will likely have significant impacts on society. But it’s far from clear that it will have disproportionate negative impacts like a nuke. More likely it will have benefits and downsides similar to numerous other modern technologies.
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