Good writing! I agree that it is a political problem, and hopefully the policymakers and the people will be sufficiently informed to make the right judgement when it comes to it…
I applaud the courage and eloquence of this post. In truth, I have half your cognitive function when I am drunk (or sober), and so this reply that was meant to be my 2 cents has come off as a jumble of loose change.
There was a time where I thought, to quote Anthony Bourdian, human kind was "venal, petty, cruel, arbitrary". In some ways my passivity within my sheltered life is an example of this. The dichotomy of my security compared to the majority of the worlds suffering is jarring, and I feel guilty knowing that my comfort has been built off of a structure that (unjustifiably?) has placed me here. Where would I be without my privilege of higher education, my parents higher education, and their security? Is the only way to stay afloat in this increasingly stratified society to submit myself to the next arms race, and in turn, contribute to these societal constructs I abhor? Life is not a zero sum game, but it feels to eat I must cannibalize others. It makes me a hypocrite, and I don't know how to come to terms with that.
But I've begun to realize that my rumination arises from deriving my micro-level life from the macro-level world I live in. I must accept that I exist in a Universe that is indifferent to human suffering and proposes no objective truths onto its constituents. The way I choose to live my "moral" life is based on the human experience of receiving goodness from others. To live my life in the political, technological, and societal Machine that prevails over me is a direct act of rebellion. To quote Camus, "What can a meaning outside my condition mean to me? I can understand only in human terms".
I have no idea where I'm going with this. I guess what I'm trying to say is that in the face of the absurd (a better way to word this is 'incomprehensible'), you must continue to live for your values, even if the Universe or Machine is indifferent. Choosing kindness, empathy, and community in a meaningless world is the most absurd thing one can do.
To alleviate my impending new grad crisis and graduation doom I have to remind myself that, even if I'm tired of the fight, I am grateful for the experience. I cannot confirm nor deny the depravity of my existence. The world is more vast than my perception of it.
Three generations ago during the cultural revolution my great grandpa survived by eating tree bark. I suspect your bloodline has a similar backstory. You are in nowhere as dire of a world today. It’s fine to find faults with society but don’t aggrandize your situation. If you want things to change then make them charge.
Yeah I agree with this. Side note: a lot of people use the "AI (particularly LLM's) will never truly be sentient!" thing as cope. From a philosphical perspective, it may be interesting to debate the difference between emulating and being, but from a practical perspective, it doesn't matter if the LLM that is ordering the salvo is conscious or not! (At least we may die thinking, "I still got one up on those clankers! at least i'm ACTUALLY conscious)
Ted Chiang has some writings on this. haven't read much of him but I think this is actually something he talks about a lot. Yes I agree w this too. Not only is AI probably going to supercharge the accumulation of capital in the hands of the wealthy few, it also presents itself as unique tools for mass surveillance and control.
Regarding the warfare thing, drones probably won't revolutionize warfare on the same scale that guns and bows and arrows (and, to be fair, it was really the rifle that revolutionized warfare. Napoleonic era warfare has the same concepts as roman era warfare does too). It's probably about as revolutionary as the invention of the tank. But, 100% agree on the Taiwan thing. The current admin is essentially trying to purge their opponents and practice Soviet style "political correctness." On top of that, the US has blown a huge portion of its missiles and interceptors on Iran. Stockpiles that took decades to build up (which is either a comment on the scale of the attack on Iran or how slow the US MIC is at producing equipment, probably both).
As for democratic backsliding, I think it's actually getting better.[citation needed] However, back to the point about how LLM's are unique in their ability to be used to oppress, Russia and China have bot-farms to subvert democracies across the world. In fact, Dugin (the guy who basically shaped Putin's foreign policy), even explicitly wrote that Russia should amplify anti-black (really any minority) racism in the USA. There's very little doubt in my mind that Russia is pushing this same exact stuff now, but with greater efficiency.
As for men and women fighting, people all around the world still are. The nepalese government was essentially overthrown by young students who desired to improve their nation. In Bangladesh, students led massive protests for reform and overthrew their autocratic government as well. In both of these cases, the aftermath was messy and bloody, and both still have many obstacles to overcome before they can say that they've truly come out on the other side. But there's no lack of brave people with good intentions (which, of course, isn't to say that it's all good to just chill and let those hypothetical people take the reins).
As for the great thinkers, I think this one probably has an objective answer with how ideas/thought disseminate nowadays vs back then.
Anyway none of this is fact checked or researched. Mostly stream of consciousness. A lot of what I've said could be factually untrue. looking forward to more of your posts
Good writing! I agree that it is a political problem, and hopefully the policymakers and the people will be sufficiently informed to make the right judgement when it comes to it…
I applaud the courage and eloquence of this post. In truth, I have half your cognitive function when I am drunk (or sober), and so this reply that was meant to be my 2 cents has come off as a jumble of loose change.
There was a time where I thought, to quote Anthony Bourdian, human kind was "venal, petty, cruel, arbitrary". In some ways my passivity within my sheltered life is an example of this. The dichotomy of my security compared to the majority of the worlds suffering is jarring, and I feel guilty knowing that my comfort has been built off of a structure that (unjustifiably?) has placed me here. Where would I be without my privilege of higher education, my parents higher education, and their security? Is the only way to stay afloat in this increasingly stratified society to submit myself to the next arms race, and in turn, contribute to these societal constructs I abhor? Life is not a zero sum game, but it feels to eat I must cannibalize others. It makes me a hypocrite, and I don't know how to come to terms with that.
But I've begun to realize that my rumination arises from deriving my micro-level life from the macro-level world I live in. I must accept that I exist in a Universe that is indifferent to human suffering and proposes no objective truths onto its constituents. The way I choose to live my "moral" life is based on the human experience of receiving goodness from others. To live my life in the political, technological, and societal Machine that prevails over me is a direct act of rebellion. To quote Camus, "What can a meaning outside my condition mean to me? I can understand only in human terms".
I have no idea where I'm going with this. I guess what I'm trying to say is that in the face of the absurd (a better way to word this is 'incomprehensible'), you must continue to live for your values, even if the Universe or Machine is indifferent. Choosing kindness, empathy, and community in a meaningless world is the most absurd thing one can do.
To alleviate my impending new grad crisis and graduation doom I have to remind myself that, even if I'm tired of the fight, I am grateful for the experience. I cannot confirm nor deny the depravity of my existence. The world is more vast than my perception of it.
leon! lovely writing; welcome to substack
You need to stop being a pussy.
Three generations ago during the cultural revolution my great grandpa survived by eating tree bark. I suspect your bloodline has a similar backstory. You are in nowhere as dire of a world today. It’s fine to find faults with society but don’t aggrandize your situation. If you want things to change then make them charge.
Didn’t like
Yeah I agree with this. Side note: a lot of people use the "AI (particularly LLM's) will never truly be sentient!" thing as cope. From a philosphical perspective, it may be interesting to debate the difference between emulating and being, but from a practical perspective, it doesn't matter if the LLM that is ordering the salvo is conscious or not! (At least we may die thinking, "I still got one up on those clankers! at least i'm ACTUALLY conscious)
Ted Chiang has some writings on this. haven't read much of him but I think this is actually something he talks about a lot. Yes I agree w this too. Not only is AI probably going to supercharge the accumulation of capital in the hands of the wealthy few, it also presents itself as unique tools for mass surveillance and control.
Regarding the warfare thing, drones probably won't revolutionize warfare on the same scale that guns and bows and arrows (and, to be fair, it was really the rifle that revolutionized warfare. Napoleonic era warfare has the same concepts as roman era warfare does too). It's probably about as revolutionary as the invention of the tank. But, 100% agree on the Taiwan thing. The current admin is essentially trying to purge their opponents and practice Soviet style "political correctness." On top of that, the US has blown a huge portion of its missiles and interceptors on Iran. Stockpiles that took decades to build up (which is either a comment on the scale of the attack on Iran or how slow the US MIC is at producing equipment, probably both).
As for democratic backsliding, I think it's actually getting better.[citation needed] However, back to the point about how LLM's are unique in their ability to be used to oppress, Russia and China have bot-farms to subvert democracies across the world. In fact, Dugin (the guy who basically shaped Putin's foreign policy), even explicitly wrote that Russia should amplify anti-black (really any minority) racism in the USA. There's very little doubt in my mind that Russia is pushing this same exact stuff now, but with greater efficiency.
As for men and women fighting, people all around the world still are. The nepalese government was essentially overthrown by young students who desired to improve their nation. In Bangladesh, students led massive protests for reform and overthrew their autocratic government as well. In both of these cases, the aftermath was messy and bloody, and both still have many obstacles to overcome before they can say that they've truly come out on the other side. But there's no lack of brave people with good intentions (which, of course, isn't to say that it's all good to just chill and let those hypothetical people take the reins).
As for the great thinkers, I think this one probably has an objective answer with how ideas/thought disseminate nowadays vs back then.
Anyway none of this is fact checked or researched. Mostly stream of consciousness. A lot of what I've said could be factually untrue. looking forward to more of your posts