Greed, then power. Maybe reversed is the same outcome. Embracing either is an Inferno descent.
Three related occurrences of note for me this week.
A sixth grade student was preparing for a Middle School Spelling Bee in a local 1000 student K-12 Private School. Being a language aficionado, I began asking questions. Apparently, not every student participates in the assessment to determine which students are ‘above average’ enough to participate in an onstage Bee: up to the student. So few were motivated to take the assessment, that the teacher went below the cutoff score to gather the minimum number of students needed to hold the Bee. Total participants: 11.
From a middle school population of 250 students in an above average private school, eleven students were interested, and only six scored high enough to meet the standard participant score. Not the Scripps standards I remember.
Winning word after 25 rounds: liar.
US Reading Scores reportedly dropped even more alarmingly than usual. Only 30% of eighth graders scored at NCES minimum proficiency level. Covid is blamed.
Journalist Derek Thompson spoke on NPR about how our human ‘live conversation’ interactions are dramatically reduced by our addiction to Social Media.
He posits that we are, in effect, “donating the dopamine" generated by
‘social media interpersonal relationships’ to our phones.
Our ‘more crowded alone time’
(picking up our phones!) leaves us drained and disinclined to seek physical human company.
“We put our phone away and our dopamine levels fall and we feel kind of exhausted by that, which was supposed to be our leisure time….
We find ourselves in this uncanny space where we simultaneously have more time to ourselves but are made so exhausted by that alone leisure time that we're pulling back from opportunities to be truly social.”
Why do these three thoughts/concepts/occurrences connect with Anand’s long-simmered piece on AI impact?
It seems we are not only being set up for receiving more bland (read algorithmized) news and information, but for intentionally generating less originality of thought.
The framers of the US Constitution debated the role of citizens and citizenship, wondering if uneducated people could make the necessary decisions to maintain a Republic. Who anticipated an Orwellian vision of reversing course, from cultivating the benefits of an informed citizenry to a less intelligent, programmed one?
Your writing about all of this is wonderfully stated, as is Anand's, and leaves me feeling terror and despair as I have already been feeling since the demolition of our present government. My head is spinning and my heart is breaking. I feel almost speechless, but must express my gratitude to you and Anand for your excellent description of what I must understand and reflect upon in my state of horror.
I'm sorry for confusion, but I was replying to stephanieb's and Anand's writings. I appreciate what you have written, but wish my comments could be moved to reply to them.
First they came for the journalists. But I didn't say anything because I'm not a journalist. Next they came for the artists. But I didn't say anything because....
Recently announced, the latest cohort of the Y Combinator has projects that are going to be replacing $100k a year jobs. Abu Dhabi has plans to launch the first fully powered AI government by 2027.
Never before in the history of mankind has there been a need to somehow come together and have rational and sane voices discuss the future and direction of humanity. Having watched American politics over the last decade I am of course very skeptical that we will be able to pull this off. However, I was at a AI event in SF last night and the rooms were filled with a number of people who really believe that this technology will take us to a golden era which will allow the experience of being a human to become something that has been dreamed about but never before been realized. I work in the AI industry and am currently working with a team that is launching an "AI For Good" themed incubator. The technology is inevitable, but doomerism and the extinction of humanity does not have to be.
As for me, this calls back to a great line from the Grateful Dead, that were coincidentally also formed in Palo Alto- "I may be going to hell in a bucket babe, but at least I'm enjoying the ride."
As always, thanks for your learned perspective. For some time I’ve been inclined to believe AI is a greed and power machine with no concern for humanity. It seems DeepSeek just blew a hole in the divine right to blow through trillions of dollars and terawatts of electricity to keep the dream alive.
On The Media podcast with Ed Zitron on Silicon Valley's bit of kayfabe
...all that glitters is not..smart?
DeepSeek showed the emperor had no clothes. Zitron warning that the AI bubble has been primed to burst for some time now.
China published their AI source code, the research behind everything, much cheaper AI to make and accessible to all.
AI - probabilistic. -there's only so much you can do with a probabilistic model. They don't have thoughts. They guess the next thing coming, and they're pretty good at it, but pretty good is actually nowhere near enough.. they make mistakes because they don't know anything. They do not have knowledge....financial services, healthcare, all of these industries, they have very low tolerance for mistakes.
Brooke Gladstone: "What if this entire hype cycle has been built, goosed by a compliant media to take these people at their word?" You said you believe that a large part of the AI boom is just hot air pumped through a combination of executive BSing and the media gladly imagining what AI could do rather than focus on what it's actually doing."
If people would understand the power and liberation of fiat currency we could eliminate the need for VCs, reform capitalism and heal as a nation. Greed leads all of us to fear and hate. Your insightful commentary instills my hatred for financial actors. Sorry…
Absolutely LOVE this piece, Anand! As chilling and unsettling as it is about techies reflecting on how AI could ride and enhance "the Curve" to fulfill THEIR dream of shaping the future while simultaneously denying their role because of the 'inevitability" of this trajectory , I still found lots of humor in it, even if it was dark. The sentences which captured my attention were: "Some gatherings begin with problems in need of solution. Others begin with solutions seeking a problem. This was a meeting of the latter type." It evokes the classic quote: "If your favorite tool is a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail." Because tech is their hammer, they have to find "a problem" to use it on. At the same time, they choose to remain ignorant of what other genuine needs it could be used for. The essay captures the myopic and self-serving agenda of the Silicon Valley tech bros whose lack of self-awareness and limited human empathy are matched only by the greed of venture capitalists angling to make money on The Next Big Thing. (The only exception were the Europeans who, as you pointed out, perhaps because of their history, took a more humanist and nuanced stance in the discussion.) The dominant mindset of the people you described and quoted represent to me the most egregious example of what I refer to as "left-brain capture". It is their one-dimensional, single-minded determination to decide for the rest of us where to focus their technical expertise that speaks volumes about their hubris and arrogance. In his ground-breaking work "The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World" British psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist details in depth the different types of attention inherent to the two hemispheres of the brain. (The book documents in detail the extensive research done on brain physiology in the last 30 years and debunks the simplistic theories following the studies of "split-brain" patients in the 60's and 70's.) McGilchrist discusses how the differing world views of the right and left brain have shaped Western culture from Plato on. Since Descartes' famous (or perhaps infamous) quip: "I think therefore I am", the left brain world view gradually rose to ascendency in the modern era, and has dominated it for at least the last hundred years. The left brain is incapable of perceiving "the whole" or appreciating the larger context. It is adept at "things", in measuring, in categorizing, in forming generalities and abstractions, and in dealing with aggregate data. This type of attention is useful in enhancing efficiencies and 'scaling', strategies employed by corporations to increase profits. But it lacks the capacity to understand these processes or their effects on "the whole". The book is 500+ pages long. If that feels daunting to read, I've included a link to a brilliant 12 minute animated film which succinctly and humorously summarizes the main theses.
Greed, then power. Maybe reversed is the same outcome. Embracing either is an Inferno descent.
Three related occurrences of note for me this week.
A sixth grade student was preparing for a Middle School Spelling Bee in a local 1000 student K-12 Private School. Being a language aficionado, I began asking questions. Apparently, not every student participates in the assessment to determine which students are ‘above average’ enough to participate in an onstage Bee: up to the student. So few were motivated to take the assessment, that the teacher went below the cutoff score to gather the minimum number of students needed to hold the Bee. Total participants: 11.
From a middle school population of 250 students in an above average private school, eleven students were interested, and only six scored high enough to meet the standard participant score. Not the Scripps standards I remember.
Winning word after 25 rounds: liar.
US Reading Scores reportedly dropped even more alarmingly than usual. Only 30% of eighth graders scored at NCES minimum proficiency level. Covid is blamed.
Journalist Derek Thompson spoke on NPR about how our human ‘live conversation’ interactions are dramatically reduced by our addiction to Social Media.
He posits that we are, in effect, “donating the dopamine" generated by
‘social media interpersonal relationships’ to our phones.
Our ‘more crowded alone time’
(picking up our phones!) leaves us drained and disinclined to seek physical human company.
“We put our phone away and our dopamine levels fall and we feel kind of exhausted by that, which was supposed to be our leisure time….
We find ourselves in this uncanny space where we simultaneously have more time to ourselves but are made so exhausted by that alone leisure time that we're pulling back from opportunities to be truly social.”
Why do these three thoughts/concepts/occurrences connect with Anand’s long-simmered piece on AI impact?
It seems we are not only being set up for receiving more bland (read algorithmized) news and information, but for intentionally generating less originality of thought.
The framers of the US Constitution debated the role of citizens and citizenship, wondering if uneducated people could make the necessary decisions to maintain a Republic. Who anticipated an Orwellian vision of reversing course, from cultivating the benefits of an informed citizenry to a less intelligent, programmed one?
Please read my reply meant for you, but somehow mistakenly posted as reply to K Webster's piece. I apologize for the confusion!
Your writing about all of this is wonderfully stated, as is Anand's, and leaves me feeling terror and despair as I have already been feeling since the demolition of our present government. My head is spinning and my heart is breaking. I feel almost speechless, but must express my gratitude to you and Anand for your excellent description of what I must understand and reflect upon in my state of horror.
I'm sorry for confusion, but I was replying to stephanieb's and Anand's writings. I appreciate what you have written, but wish my comments could be moved to reply to them.
First they came for the journalists. But I didn't say anything because I'm not a journalist. Next they came for the artists. But I didn't say anything because....
Recently announced, the latest cohort of the Y Combinator has projects that are going to be replacing $100k a year jobs. Abu Dhabi has plans to launch the first fully powered AI government by 2027.
Never before in the history of mankind has there been a need to somehow come together and have rational and sane voices discuss the future and direction of humanity. Having watched American politics over the last decade I am of course very skeptical that we will be able to pull this off. However, I was at a AI event in SF last night and the rooms were filled with a number of people who really believe that this technology will take us to a golden era which will allow the experience of being a human to become something that has been dreamed about but never before been realized. I work in the AI industry and am currently working with a team that is launching an "AI For Good" themed incubator. The technology is inevitable, but doomerism and the extinction of humanity does not have to be.
As for me, this calls back to a great line from the Grateful Dead, that were coincidentally also formed in Palo Alto- "I may be going to hell in a bucket babe, but at least I'm enjoying the ride."
Great stuff Anand.
As always, thanks for your learned perspective. For some time I’ve been inclined to believe AI is a greed and power machine with no concern for humanity. It seems DeepSeek just blew a hole in the divine right to blow through trillions of dollars and terawatts of electricity to keep the dream alive.
On The Media podcast with Ed Zitron on Silicon Valley's bit of kayfabe
...all that glitters is not..smart?
DeepSeek showed the emperor had no clothes. Zitron warning that the AI bubble has been primed to burst for some time now.
China published their AI source code, the research behind everything, much cheaper AI to make and accessible to all.
AI - probabilistic. -there's only so much you can do with a probabilistic model. They don't have thoughts. They guess the next thing coming, and they're pretty good at it, but pretty good is actually nowhere near enough.. they make mistakes because they don't know anything. They do not have knowledge....financial services, healthcare, all of these industries, they have very low tolerance for mistakes.
Brooke Gladstone: "What if this entire hype cycle has been built, goosed by a compliant media to take these people at their word?" You said you believe that a large part of the AI boom is just hot air pumped through a combination of executive BSing and the media gladly imagining what AI could do rather than focus on what it's actually doing."
Hallucinations.
The Billionaire techies will be okay however.
https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/articles/brooke-talks-ai-with-ed-zitron?tab=transcript
If people would understand the power and liberation of fiat currency we could eliminate the need for VCs, reform capitalism and heal as a nation. Greed leads all of us to fear and hate. Your insightful commentary instills my hatred for financial actors. Sorry…
Absolutely LOVE this piece, Anand! As chilling and unsettling as it is about techies reflecting on how AI could ride and enhance "the Curve" to fulfill THEIR dream of shaping the future while simultaneously denying their role because of the 'inevitability" of this trajectory , I still found lots of humor in it, even if it was dark. The sentences which captured my attention were: "Some gatherings begin with problems in need of solution. Others begin with solutions seeking a problem. This was a meeting of the latter type." It evokes the classic quote: "If your favorite tool is a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail." Because tech is their hammer, they have to find "a problem" to use it on. At the same time, they choose to remain ignorant of what other genuine needs it could be used for. The essay captures the myopic and self-serving agenda of the Silicon Valley tech bros whose lack of self-awareness and limited human empathy are matched only by the greed of venture capitalists angling to make money on The Next Big Thing. (The only exception were the Europeans who, as you pointed out, perhaps because of their history, took a more humanist and nuanced stance in the discussion.) The dominant mindset of the people you described and quoted represent to me the most egregious example of what I refer to as "left-brain capture". It is their one-dimensional, single-minded determination to decide for the rest of us where to focus their technical expertise that speaks volumes about their hubris and arrogance. In his ground-breaking work "The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World" British psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist details in depth the different types of attention inherent to the two hemispheres of the brain. (The book documents in detail the extensive research done on brain physiology in the last 30 years and debunks the simplistic theories following the studies of "split-brain" patients in the 60's and 70's.) McGilchrist discusses how the differing world views of the right and left brain have shaped Western culture from Plato on. Since Descartes' famous (or perhaps infamous) quip: "I think therefore I am", the left brain world view gradually rose to ascendency in the modern era, and has dominated it for at least the last hundred years. The left brain is incapable of perceiving "the whole" or appreciating the larger context. It is adept at "things", in measuring, in categorizing, in forming generalities and abstractions, and in dealing with aggregate data. This type of attention is useful in enhancing efficiencies and 'scaling', strategies employed by corporations to increase profits. But it lacks the capacity to understand these processes or their effects on "the whole". The book is 500+ pages long. If that feels daunting to read, I've included a link to a brilliant 12 minute animated film which succinctly and humorously summarizes the main theses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFs9WO2B8uI&t=156s&ab_channel=RSA ENJOY!
Brilliant writing and analysis. Thank you!
"small-dollar Medicis" is iconic.