Comment by istypwbasofotso
7 hours ago
The fascinating thing about the AI boom is that every suggested outcome just seems worse than if it were never invented. Even the "good" future is one where human effort has no value and no reward. What good is curing every disease and solving every math problem if it just leads to longer emptier lives?
> just leads to longer emptier lives
This is the argument made by the Unabomber manifesto [1]. Maybe we should have listened to him?
[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/unab...
There are lots of anti-technology philosophers that expressed these ideas a lot better than Ted did. I know it's fun and edgy to go all "the unabomber was right", but if you actually read his writings he's also a weird racist/anti-"woke" whack-job. Read Ellul (ted's main influence) instead. I guess he is the reason I even know who that is though.
<< What good is curing every disease and solving every math problem if it just leads to longer emptier lives?
Yes, my cancer is cured, but I feel empty inside. I will take my chances with emptiness, thank you. At least with it have a chance it will get better on its own.
It Will be like that movie zardos where everyone just keep looking at the sky
What? I see your "good" future as one where every apartment buikding has a basketball team and you compete against the others in your neighborhood for fun. For example. Do you seriously imagine a world like that would be empty and lacking meaning. In such a scenario AI takes away a lot, sure, but it also gives a a fair bit, most importantly time.
> Do you seriously imagine a world like that would be empty and lacking meaning
Yes. I think that being useful is a fundamental (and often understated) requirement of a happy fulfilling life.
I have been wondering if this just isn't a problem for most people, because for me it feels like a major problem. We sometimes find our reliance on other humans to be a burden, so we are optimizing towards a future where each human can do all their tasks without involving other humans. But this reliance was the whole basis of our success up until now.
When AI solves 100 frontier math problems, in some sense that's 100 lost opportunities for a human to feel proud and useful, having done something they can remember and talk about for the rest of their lives. I don't see where that loss gets made up.
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This is an unbelievably nihilistic take.
I can tell you don't have anyone in your life suffering from debilitating disease, so I'll assume flippancy rather than malice here.
Alright, we can let the AI cure the diseases and we won't use it for anything else. Deal?