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Why we should remember that ‘inevitable’ never is
2024 has get , and with it , a renewed interest in hokey intelligence , which seems like it ’ll plausibly bear on to enjoy at least middling hype throughout the class . Of of course , it ’s being cheerled by techno - zealot billionaire and the flunky bunked within their cozy island of influence , in the main in Silicon Valley — and derided by fabulist who support to derive from painting the still - fictional artificial world-wide intelligence ( AGI ) as manhood ’s ur - bogeyman for the ages .
Both of these place are exaggerated and untenable , e / acc versus decel argument be damned . Speed without caveat only ever results in compounding problems that proponents often suggest are well - solved by pouring onmorespeed , maybe in a different direction , to go far at some idealized future state where the problem of the yesteryear are obviated by the first-rate brawny Next Big Thing of the future ; foretell to abandon or regress full arena of innovation meanwhile disregard the complexness of a globalized human beings where cats in general can not be put back into boxful universally , among many , many other take with that kind of coming .
The long , thrilling and tumultuous chronicle of applied science exploitation , particularly in the eld of the personal electronic computer and the internet , has shown us that in our fervor for something young , we often neglect to discontinue and ask “ but is the new thing also something we want or necessitate . ” We never turn back to ask that question with things like Facebook , and they end up becoming an inextricable part of the framework of social club , an eminently manipulable but alike essential part of craft and sharing in community dialog .
Here ’s the principal takeaway from the rise of social medium that we should carry with us into the advent of the age of AI : Just because something is gentle or more convenient does n’t make it preferred — or even worthy .
LLM - based so - promise “ AI ” has already infiltrated our lives in ways that will likely prove impossible to hoist back , even if we want to do such a thing , but that does n’t mean we have to indulge in the escalation some see as inevitable , wherein we relentlessly rend out human equivalent of some of the gig that AI is already effective at , or establish promise in , to make means for the necessary “ forward march of progress . ”
The oftentimes - repeat counter to fear that increase automation or reach lowly work over to AI agents is that it ’ll always leave people more time to focalise on “ quality ” work , as if dropping a distich of hr per day spent on fill up in Excel spreadsheets will leave the post admin who was doing that oeuvre finally gratuitous to compose the peachy symphony they ’ve had locked away within them , or to provide the entry - level graphic intriguer who had been people of colour - chasten picture the liberty to create a lasting cure for COVID .
In the end , automatise menial oeuvre might count good on composition , and it might also function the top administrator and deep - pocketed equity - holder behind an organization through better efficiency and diminish costs , but it does n’t serve the people who might actually enjoy doing that oeuvre , or who at least do n’t mind it as part of the overall intermixture that make up a work life equilibrise between more mentally tax and rewarding originative / strategic exercise and day - to - day low - intensity tasks . And the long - term upshot of having fewer the great unwashed doing this form of workplace is that you ’ll have fewer overall who are able-bodied to participate meaningfully in the saving — which is ultimately forged even for those rarified few sitting at the top of the Great Pyramid who reap the immediate rewards of AI ’s efficiency gains .
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Utopian technologist zeal always run out to recognize that the bulk of humanity ( techno - Zealot included ) are sometimes faineant , messy , disorganised , ineffective , error - prone and mostly satisfied with the accomplishment of ease and the shunning of ennui or harm . That might not vocalise all that aspirational to some , but I say it with a celebratory inflammation , since for me all those human qualities are just as commendable as less attainable ace like drive , ambition , wealth and winner .
I ’m not arguing against halting or even slowing the growth of promising novel technology , including LLM - base procreative AI . And to be percipient , where the consequences are clearly good — for example developing medical image diagnosing tech that far exceeds the accuracy of trained human reviewers , or develop self - driving motorcar technology that can actually drastically tighten the incidence of elevator car accidents and loss of human animation — there is no cogent argument to be made for plow away from use of said tech .
But in almost all event where the benefits are painted as efficiency gains for chore that are far from life or death , I ’d argue it ’s deserving a farseeing , difficult look at whether we need to bother in the first place ; yes , human time is valuable and gain ground some of that back is great , but take that ’s always a net electropositive ignores the complicated nature of being a human being , and how we measure and feel our worth . Saving someone so much time they no longer feel like they ’re contributing meaningfully to social club is n’t a boon , no matter how eloquently you think you’re able to argue they should then use that fourth dimension to become a violin virtuoso or learn Japanese .
