The saddest part of all is that it looks like they really are wishing for real life to imitate a futuristic sci-fi movie. They might not come out and say, “I really hope AI in the real world turns out to be just like in a sci-fi/horror movie” but that’s what it seems like they’re unconsciously wishing for. It’s just like a lot of other media phenomena, such as real news reporting on zombie apocalypse preparedness or UFOs. They may phrase it as “expectation” but that’s very adjacent to “hopeful.”
Judging by how many techbros, from computer touching employees to cult leaders to billionaires, wail about how AI is going to destroy us all and want to build that destructive AI as quickly as possible, they are more absurd than the “Please Don’t Build The Torment Nexus” meme.
Yeah I think it was Kim Stanley Robinson who said that sci-fi is taken as religious mythology often, like the prophecy of superluminal space travel or machine superintelligence, very much like prophecies of heaven and a savior god.
Also the point that if you point this out as a myth, whatever your credentials as a sci-fi writer or even a physicist, the faithful will launch a crusade against you
You’re right on, in my opinion. It’s a gnarly distraction from the Marxist way of analyzing this: further alienation from the means of production. I really like how you frame it as a religious thing. It pairs nicely with literal interpretations of the Bible, really. Gotta wonder how many of these folks come from strict Baptist murkan families.
Yeah. I’ve written game AI, I’ve worked in AI research, I’ve looked under the hood and examined how LLMs work, but people with little or no experience still tell me I’m wrong and that they know better.
I think there’s an important difference with the two examples, where one contracts everything we understand about the way the universe works, and the other does not.
Is it really sad to wish for that? There are plenty of more positive representations of such things that are seen in the sci-fi/horror genre.
Sci-Fi is ultimately speculative fiction, an idea of how the world might be, and while it might be a bit silly to act like whatever speculative fiction you have in mind is an accurate representation of the future without very strong evidence, I’m not sure I would describe it as sad.
It’s optimistic of them to think that the thing they have built is capable of becoming seriously dangerous to the entire species in the way that they seem to be suggesting, and it’s optimistic to think it’s that easy to create a superintelligence.
It’s not rationally grounded because they don’t seem to have any supporting evidence.
The saddest part of all is that it looks like they really are wishing for real life to imitate a futuristic sci-fi movie. They might not come out and say, “I really hope AI in the real world turns out to be just like in a sci-fi/horror movie” but that’s what it seems like they’re unconsciously wishing for. It’s just like a lot of other media phenomena, such as real news reporting on zombie apocalypse preparedness or UFOs. They may phrase it as “expectation” but that’s very adjacent to “hopeful.”
Judging by how many techbros, from computer touching employees to cult leaders to billionaires, wail about how AI is going to destroy us all and want to build that destructive AI as quickly as possible, they are more absurd than the “Please Don’t Build The Torment Nexus” meme.
I’m really appreciative of this meme. I endorse it and wish it could enter the minds of everyone alive right now.
Yeah I think it was Kim Stanley Robinson who said that sci-fi is taken as religious mythology often, like the prophecy of superluminal space travel or machine superintelligence, very much like prophecies of heaven and a savior god.
Also the point that if you point this out as a myth, whatever your credentials as a sci-fi writer or even a physicist, the faithful will launch a crusade against you
You’re right on, in my opinion. It’s a gnarly distraction from the Marxist way of analyzing this: further alienation from the means of production. I really like how you frame it as a religious thing. It pairs nicely with literal interpretations of the Bible, really. Gotta wonder how many of these folks come from strict Baptist murkan families.
Yeah. I’ve written game AI, I’ve worked in AI research, I’ve looked under the hood and examined how LLMs work, but people with little or no experience still tell me I’m wrong and that they know better.
I think there’s an important difference with the two examples, where one contracts everything we understand about the way the universe works, and the other does not.
Is it really sad to wish for that? There are plenty of more positive representations of such things that are seen in the sci-fi/horror genre.
Sci-Fi is ultimately speculative fiction, an idea of how the world might be, and while it might be a bit silly to act like whatever speculative fiction you have in mind is an accurate representation of the future without very strong evidence, I’m not sure I would describe it as sad.
How would you describe it?
Optimistic, if not rationally grounded.
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It’s optimistic of them to think that the thing they have built is capable of becoming seriously dangerous to the entire species in the way that they seem to be suggesting, and it’s optimistic to think it’s that easy to create a superintelligence.
It’s not rationally grounded because they don’t seem to have any supporting evidence.
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