Does anyone else worry about these things?

[keaton85]

There are two big things that occupy my thoughts now: artificial intelligence and automation of jobs. I see superintelligent ai that is smarter than humans in most ways as likely to be created soon, and it is going to be terrible. And if it's smarter than humans, there will be nothing we can do to stop it. In my view it'll probably take over or kill/enslave humans or something. All I can do is think about the negative outcomes and what does it mean when humans are no longer the smartest creatures on the planet?

I also worry about everyone's jobs being automated out of existence and that we will have nothing to do or derive meaning from. And this also seems imminent.

Is anyone else concerned about any of this?

 

[nonaeroterraqueous]

No. Maybe I'm just unimaginative.

Whether or not AI can conquer humans is one thing, but it will always derive its motivation from whoever designs it. It could be weaponized, and we could see nations fighting each other with it, but it will never change its objective on its own, except by glitch. We could just as easily see an army of AI robots obsessed with grooming hamsters as we are to have them out to dominate the planet, if it merely comes down to the AI deciding new objectives on its own.

As for outsourcing jobs, that's a concern that has been around since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Many jobs have been lost because of machinery, but that machinery not only improved the lives of the general population, but it also created new kinds of employment in the process. There really has been no general trend of increasing unemployment since people first started worrying about this. So far, the threat is purely theoretical.

 

[keaton85]

Based on what I've read automation is different this time because machines theoretically could do anything a human could do.

 

[Ken Rank]

Is anyone else concerned about any of this?

Only because I have kids. I don't worry but I know as they enter the adult world (they are 19 and 15) that they will make choices and learn lessons and I would be a bad father if the direction things are going didn't concern me. But personally... no, not so much. Keep your heart trained on God, period. As long as you do, even if you taste death, you will always have life.

Blessings.

 

[VCR-2000]

There are two big things that occupy my thoughts now: artificial intelligence and automation of jobs. I see superintelligent ai that is smarter than humans in most ways as likely to be created soon, and it is going to be terrible. And if it's smarter than humans, there will be nothing we can do to stop it. In my view it'll probably take over or kill/enslave humans or something. All I can do is think about the negative outcomes and what does it mean when humans are no longer the smartest creatures on the planet?

I also worry about everyone's jobs being automated out of existence and that we will have nothing to do or derive meaning from. And this also seems imminent.

Is anyone else concerned about any of this?

Yes I do think about this stuff a lot. It's a big contributor of my stress and anxiety. I also worry about "loss" or significant reduction of things like different races/ethnicity/cultures/businesses/etc. Essentially I kind of long to have lived where I am now in a past decade or era.

 

[HenSoma-OneBody]

I believe we must set our hearts on things above and not on the things of this earth. We cannot stop what will happen, but we can learn to find peace in spite of what happens.

 

[Kenny'sID]

The first is the things movies are made of, nothing more. AI's don't worry me in the least.

Automation? If that takes all the jobs then we all go on welfare or we will simply revolt if too many are left to starve. In a perfect world, high dollar welfare where all in all, life is much better than it used to be. We'll just have to find other ways to keep us busy, like hobbies/helping others, and such...aw shucks.

 

[Jon Osterman]

I am looking forward to it. It may cause upheaval for a while, but it will ultimately be a good thing. A bit like the industrial revolution. Of course, I will probably be long dead before it really bears fruit.

 

[Kenny'sID]

Here you go, perfect timing.

Are we Nearing "The Age of Plenty?" and Possible Ramifications

 

[VCR-2000]

I read the one you linked to just minutes before I discovered this thread.

 

[VCR-2000]

I am looking forward to it. It may cause upheaval for a while, but it will ultimately be a good thing. A bit like the industrial revolution. Of course, I will probably be long dead before it really bears fruit.

Or like, Industrial Revelation

 

[keaton85]

Thanks for the feedback. Hopefully I can handle this. It's very difficult for me right now because I don't really have much faith that God exists and is in charge.

 

[Michael]

There are two big things that occupy my thoughts now: artificial intelligence and automation of jobs. I see superintelligent ai that is smarter than humans in most ways as likely to be created soon, and it is going to be terrible. And if it's smarter than humans, there will be nothing we can do to stop it. In my view it'll probably take over or kill/enslave humans or something. All I can do is think about the negative outcomes and what does it mean when humans are no longer the smartest creatures on the planet?

I also worry about everyone's jobs being automated out of existence and that we will have nothing to do or derive meaning from. And this also seems imminent.

Is anyone else concerned about any of this?

I've been hearing about AI catastrophes since the Apple II days. Artificial intelligence has gotten consistently better at playing chess (and various games) and helping in research, but I think we're still a long way away from AI that's particularly threatening in the "terminator" sense. I do however worry about autonomous weapons systems that are based on AI.

An algorithm powered by this $35 computer just beat a human fighter pilot

That kind of stuff seems dangerous and it's become pretty sophisticated.

Automation has been a fact of life in business for decades now. It's been both a blessing and a curse as it relates to jobs. It tends to replace low wage jobs faster than higher wage jobs, and it tends to replace repetitive and "heavy lifting" type jobs more than others. Overall I would say that society has adapted pretty well to automation, but I can foresee a day when most jobs are automated, and the ones that are not automated require a much greater level of education than an average person possesses. I'm not sure that automation is fully compatible with pure capitalism, but it's probably pretty compatible with a form of socialism. It could be that automation pushes us more toward socialism, but even that seems decades away.

 

[VCR-2000]

I've been hearing about AI catastrophes since the Apple II days. Artificial intelligence has gotten consistently better at playing chess (and various games) and helping in research, but I think we're still a long way away from AI that's particularly threatening in the "terminator" sense. I do however worry about autonomous weapons systems that are based on AI.

An algorithm powered by this $35 computer just beat a human fighter pilot

That kind of stuff seems dangerous and it's become pretty sophisticated.

Automation has been a fact of life in business for decades now. It's been both a blessing and a curse as it relates to jobs. It tends to replace low wage jobs faster than higher wage jobs, and it tends to replace repetitive and "heavy lifting" type jobs more than others. Overall I would say that society has adapted pretty well to automation, but I can foresee a day when most jobs are automated, and the ones that are not automated require a much greater level of education than an average person possesses. I'm not sure that automation is fully compatible with pure capitalism, but it's probably pretty compatible with a form of socialism. It could be that automation pushes us more toward socialism, but even that seems decades away.

Which means nobody can just get any kind of job anymore. What about the severely physically or intellectual disabled for example?

 

[Michael]

Which means nobody can just get any kind of job anymore. What about the severely physically or intellectual disabled for example?

I think there will continue to be a lot of jobs for the foreseeable future but the job prospects will become more limited and they're require more education. Those who are most physically and intellectually challenged will surely the suffer the most from automation and AI in terms of job prospects.

I'm curious to see if capitalism as we experience it today will survive the coming automation age. If people can't find work, they will revolt against the institutions that oppress them. In a perfect world we would all benefit from automation with improved standards of living. In the current system however, the rich will just get richer and the poor will get poorer. The US has already almost completely decimated it's middle class as it stands. I doubt our current system will survive an automation revolution. Some form of socialism might work gracefully with automation, but capitalism probably won't.

 

[VCR-2000]

I think there will continue to be a lot of jobs for the foreseeable future but the job prospects will become more limited and they're require more education. Those who are most physically and intellectually challenged will surely the suffer the most from automation and AI in terms of job prospects.

I'm curious to see if capitalism as we experience it today will survive the coming automation age. If people can't find work, they will revolt against the institutions that oppress them. In a perfect world we would all benefit from automation with improved standards of living. In the current system however, the rich will just get richer and the poor will get poorer. The US has already almost completely decimated it's middle class as it stands. I doubt our current system will survive an automation revolution. Some form of socialism might work gracefully with automation, but capitalism probably won't.

I just wish God push his "RESET" button back to a certain point and we can start from that point again from scratch.

 

[dms1972]

There are two big things that occupy my thoughts now: artificial intelligence and automation of jobs. I see superintelligent ai that is smarter than humans in most ways as likely to be created soon, and it is going to be terrible. And if it's smarter than humans, there will be nothing we can do to stop it. In my view it'll probably take over or kill/enslave humans or something. All I can do is think about the negative outcomes and what does it mean when humans are no longer the smartest creatures on the planet?

I also worry about everyone's jobs being automated out of existence and that we will have nothing to do or derive meaning from. And this also seems imminent.

Is anyone else concerned about any of this?

Yes to some extent, I could if I let myself worry unduely about things like that, and have in the past for periods, because of what I have read though less so about AI I would say, but I have given thought to automation as I have done repetitive work in the past, packing work for a small business, which on a larger scale could in theory be automated. The likelihood of a business of the size I was working for introducing machinery to do the task was negligible however. There will always be jobs that require human labour, even on farms where milking and other tasks are automated. While such jobs will require a greater measure of technical acumen that can be learned, there will still be plenty of by "the sweat of the brow" type work.

I had an interest in my teens in "expert systems", a form of computerised question and answer program, by which the computer is programmed to ask questions (designed by an expert in the particular field) and to narrow in on an answer. Although work in that field still continues, the drawback has always been that existing experts in any field are already in demand and cannot always spare time to sit with a programmer while he sets up the rules of the expert system

The antidote is to anxiety about technology of course is to remember that the God of the Bible is sovereign over the march of technical 'progress', and rest in that knowledge when worried.