If you have read much of this series of essays, you know I abhor the downsides of technology. It is anti-human in my humble opinion. It inherently separates us from what is real, insisting that our relationships be held at arm’s length (or more) and be just as plastic and disposable as all our “modern stuff”. I also rarely comment on current trends in media, as I consider those to be fleeting, even if tragic, aspects of the foundational dysfunction(s) of Modern life.
But pieces of the current artificial intelligence narrative are truly frightening. As we have seen with other “progress” in tech development, our capabilities far out-pace any discussion of morality. We don’t ask “should we”, rather we ask “can we”? And we can, we do, because…control and profit. After all, what more is there to modern, if not control and profit?
You may see Snowden as devil or angel, but nothing in the documents he shared with us has been proven to be wrong. My key understanding about his statement here is that AI development has reached the point where it has been “trained” using everything it can find on the Internet; and that includes information that is untrue, as well as techniques to manipulate and misuse the truth.
“AI is rapidly evolving through the use of Multiple-Agent Systems (MAS). The simple explanation for this leap is that MAS are composed of multiple interacting agents, which are entities that can perceive their environment and take actions to achieve specific goals.
“MAS can also compete with one another, which generally prepares them for a higher learning rate in comparison to other AI systems. Single agent systems like a software program, perform tasks independently without interaction with other agents.
In the recent NVIDIA[1] GTC keynote conference, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang proposed a future where socioeconomic outcomes are not driven by humans, but instead are entirely based in advanced, autonomous AI utilizing MAS that can manage a project from start to finish without any human input.
“"How do we build software in the future? It is unlikely that you'll write it from scratch or write a whole bunch of Python code or anything like that...It is very likely that you assemble a team of AIs." Huang suggested.”
This might be news to you, although the proliferation of news about ChatGPT v2 – 4 and “deepfake” capabilities might now make more sense. “How did you go broke”, someone asked Ernest Hemingway. “Slowly, then all at once” was his reply, or so it is told. Similarly we seem to be making advances in AI in similar fashion. This ignores the question: just because we can, should we?
However, in typical Imperial fashion, it might be that the devastation of workforces in developed countries, caused by implementing AI worker-replacement investments, will justify and/or entice those without jobs to sign-up for digital wallets to get their Universal Basic Income (UBI) deposits. Desperate, hungry people do stupid things for a quick hit of sugar. What this will mean for our children and grandchildren doesn’t enter into our decision-making process it seems. So notice the synchronicity, this popped up on a Telegram channel I follow, a few hours ago:
“Artificial intelligence will result in adults earning a basic income, billionaire Elon Musk said.
AI could lead to a world of self-driving vehicles and other computers and machines that replace humans in work settings and perform virtually all physical and mental labor, Business Insider reported.
When that happens, Musk said adults, regardless of their wealth or employment status, will receive a universal basic income.
"I think the most likely outcome is one of abundance, where goods and services are available to anyone; there's no shortage of goods and services for anyone on earth," Musk told WPP CEO Mark Read this week at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. "I think that is the mostly likely outcome.
"It wouldn't be universal basic income; it would be universal high income."
He added that work for humans would be "optional."
And speaking of the future, how will AI manifest dreams? How can I, a ‘mere’ human, know when the silicon is dreaming? For me, dreams are lessons in manifestation, in creating, in expanding my boundaries of possibility. I have written books reflecting my dreams. Songs come alive for the first time; the spiral of DNA was intuited from a dream. Will the voice of the collective, or the voice of God, inspire AI into compassionate action? Is this even possible?
Key to the worry about AI is this: you and I don’t program the tech, and we aren’t even the primary user of it. Our technology, especially our “smart” phones, but also the Internet of Things (IoT) being constructed at the core of every “convenience” and appliance; programs us, uses us. Sold to us as progress, we no longer have to remember a thing. Need to find a store, search the Map. Call a friend by choosing their name, no need to remember the number. Have to change the password on your home surveillance system? There’s a YouTube video that walks you through the steps. Need to write a term paper for your university course? ChatGPT now masks the fact you did no research yourself, an undiscoverable yet immoral plagiarism due to myriad sources and a programming trick of word manipulation. Do you want your new, young doctor using AI to get good grades at medical school? Or to diagnose your “condition”?
Please note: even in 2024, AI we all have access to has been trained, in other words has searched and catalogued, the entire Internet. I as a single mind can’t begin to accomplish such prodigious feat; nor can you. If you disbelieve, then explain how it was that “Chatbots”, loosed on the population, very quickly go rogue and spout profanities as they engage in racist, sexist, and outright insane conversations…because that’s a large amount of the conversation taking place in the silos we have formed on the Web. These silos are one reason we no longer have any ability to engage in difficult conversations or reach agreement and peace among different experiences, emotional needs, beliefs, or dreams. We no longer have to get along; we just rage against the Other, comfortable that others who think like we do will have our back.
All of this manipulation “guides” our behavior. It is now clear as day that your fondle slab listens to everything going on around you. Parsing out your queries and conversation, the media you enjoy, the parts of the podcast you rewind to hear again, the speed you drive, your banking habits and favorite meals; these together give it a predictable model, an avatar if you will, that predicts your next move better than anyone, including yourself. If I can’t walk to the nearest trash can as I know I should, then I am owned by it and am willing to defend my right to be a slave with passion, rather than choose the path to freedom. Slavery is a known quantity, safe and convenient. My servitude and obedience is my ‘gift of service’ to my ‘community’. I embrace my controller, and upgrade as soon and as often as I am told. I keep it close even when I sleep, and many of let it critique the quality of our sleep. For verily, it will not abandon me of its own free will; it is the source of my Truth and (what little) meaning I find in this human life. Your AI knows what it will take to get you paying (or borrowing) for that summer vacation instead of saving for Emily’s college in four years, remembering to take your medicines rather than go for a brisk walk in the park down the street, or if you feel enough guilt about your contribution to “climate change” that you will buy a Tesla death-trap[2] when you finish paying off your current internal combustion engine. Speaking of this kind of tech progress….
We remain years away at the very least from safe autonomous vehicles. We will never, if you do the actual math, have every gas engine in the world converted to electric. We have hit peak zero defects in our manufacturing, with Boeing as the poster child for this fact. We have also gone past USD300 trillion in global debt, which is labor pulled into today and no longer available for use in maintaining the Modern lifestyle by our descendants, as they pay back our borrowing with interest. Our manufacturing “base” in America is laughable when seen from any angle. We proudly buy everything we need from a low-wage nation, despite the impact money printing[3], increasing resource depletion, and rising wages, have on prices and one’s ability to save for the future.
The pain of change must be less than the pain of staying the same, for real change to happen. If AI allows everyone to let the research happen and answers form outside their purview, if a search returns the best we know about a topic or concern, if our lives are guided by these decisions and “knowledge” with little concern for “our” dreams and goals, where does morality enter our lives? The “logic program” might decide that 60 years-young is sufficient, and the saving of resources accomplished by euthanizing the elderly is preferable to losing said resources to “useless eaters”. Who will be strong enough to push back? Who could refuse the final dose of medicine? Who would remain to care? This, my friends, is where Modern is taking us. The bus is gaining speed. Many will feel it’s already going too fast to jump off; but if you are pondering this even a little bit, it only gets faster and more difficult to stop the AI madness with every teraflop of processing time. What to do? Be at home wherever body is. Be at peace in chaos. Accept not knowing the outcome. Go Wild.
[1] This quote was downloaded the same week Nvidia became the most valuable company in the world based on market capitalization, June 2024, topping Microsoft and Apple, the perennial leaders
[2] Literally: there is no manual method to open the door of the car to escape the flames when the 1,000+ pound battery catches fire if the electrical system has also been damaged. WTF?
[3] We are adding USD1 trillion to our national debt, roughly every 100 days in the U.S.