From writing to the bicycle to the internet, history's great technology scares ended not in ruin but in human flourishing, and there is little reason to think AI will be the exception.
Well, many people, myself included, would argue that the last three items in your list are still systematically destroying our families and our culture. AI is a greater threat than all of these put together.
I would go a step further and say, setting aside bikes, critics of every item had a point. The common theme of that list is those things changed the way humans think, communicate, and access information. Over time the intrinsic value of communication and information is diminished. Sure, a lot is gained, but there is always something lost.
The later items are exponentially more destructive, with the "AI" being the latest step. A potential useful tool, but greater consequences.
I feel that the last half of the innovations did and still are ruining our society. Maybe I should write a book showing how he is wrong and why the facts show the opposite. AI lies and I’ve called AI out on its lies showing proof of its errors.
I say it often as someone in the construction industry involved in data center (DC) builds: The DC industry has itself to blame for much of this. Take water: Using open-loop evaporative cooling is incredibly wasteful. But it's cheaper, and it uses less power. So they get built. More advanced builds use chilled water. But many of those use cooling towers which, if open-loop, also use tremendous amounts of water. But they are electrically more efficient to operate than air-cooled, and therefore they get built.
There are easy engineering solutions to water and noise, but they are costly. Power is more difficult, but also workable, especially if DCs can be allowed to throttle back in times of peak need (less than 1% of the hours per year). Some operators are willing to do this, others - the same who want to use evaporative cooling - do not.
Eventually, the grid operators will stop allowing DCs to connect because they will run out of power slots. At that point, new builds will self-generate power, which they should be doing anyway. But again, this is costly. (and time consuming, and they want the new builds yesterday).
Focusing on long-term community partnership and solving water, power, and noise with tried and true engineering solutions - instead of squeezing every penny of profit with cheap builds - would go a long way towards helping the tech community overcome the panic.
"Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them."
Wrong. AI is truly demonic and will destroy all life on earth. Anyone with critical thinking skills can see this. AI is bringing in the Beast System. The Golden Age of Lucifer. Total slavery and misery. Is that what you want? We need to stop this antichrist system NOW.
Yeah what could go wrong with putting the power of AI in the hands of communist globalist satanic child sex-traffickers who have already mapped the globe, want us to be eternal slaves and will achieve power by any means necessary?
This is about the dumbest premise anyone has ever entertained. AI is not just another invention genius.
The ATM scare looks quaint, for sure, but to gloss over the widespread disappearance of consumer banking services as you have is careless.
The ATM was a training device, in much the same way as the Skinner cages were. Hullabaloo about the disappearance of bank tellers was the smokescreen for the longer-term program.
AI is just the buzzy word for 'machine'. Unfortunately our ancestors, who saw this coming and tried to smash the looms, lost this battle. We should honour them by obstructing the AI steamroller as much as we can.
The Television, Internet has and AI will corrupt and enslave us.
What started out as life enhancing was slowly turned into a propaganda and brainwashing machine.
Yes, some AI will be beneficial, but the nefarious lucifer worshippers will turn it against us and there is nothing we an do. Don't believe me? Why do CNN , etc al still get away with propaganda? The internet is full it too.
Simply put - AI is Orwell's Big Brother. Nothing to cheer on.
One only has to look to China and their "social credit score" system to see the problems with embracing this "technological change". It is not a new technology - it is a new world governance system in which
You have turned me from a potential doomer to now on the side we need data centers. However I really do hate saying it this way but I am not entirely convinced AI is the same thing as all these past technological advancements, there is a chance (I think at least 50/50) its something completely different. Also the fears in every single one of those points has a snippet of truth. There are always negatives with the positives. So what is the net benefit? It "appears" we always end up on the positive side. I wonder if that is actually true though or just perceived that way. I would argue a lot of those points the negatives still plague us. We consider ourselves a pretty grand and enlightened civilization. We are not, we are actually pretty dumb despite all these great technological advancements. Don't believe me? Pick up some old books sometime and read them. The farther back you go the more intelligent and wise the writers become. In the case of AI, anecdotally there are more and more studies coming out about how people literally stop thinking when using AI. This is Jurassic Park, we keep asking ourselves if we can do something and not whether we should do something. I am not convinced on AIs moral goodness. I am convinced its here to stay and that we need data centers to compete with the rest of the world. That seems like the best thing we can do right now given the situation. But there really are valid concerns and I don't want those to be swept under the rug. I also don't want to sit here and pretend everything is lollipops and rainbows, its not. I guess what I am really asking for is better arguments or even assurances. I am on the side of moving forward with this technology but its hard.
The above link is to a good Brownstone article that addresses this topic. It's not so much that AI is all bad, or that it's going to be used to replace humans. The real-time problem is the accompanying infrastructure that is already largely in place, and growing, that could easily allow for surveillance and control of people all over the world, by unelected and unaccountable holders of the technologies.
I don’t understand a lot of this. No engineering background but I do like reading about this stuff. Isn’t musk building these with their own power plants
You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to see what they are doing. Musk is a technocrat. If you don’t know what that means you need to do some research.
Technology is a tool. It is only as useful for good or ill as the tools that use it. Too many people nowadays are complete tools of the technocrats and governments.
Well, many people, myself included, would argue that the last three items in your list are still systematically destroying our families and our culture. AI is a greater threat than all of these put together.
You beat me to it - exactly what I planned to say. I would only just change it to "strongly" before "argue""
I’d agree with adding the word “strongly” before “argue”.
I would go a step further and say, setting aside bikes, critics of every item had a point. The common theme of that list is those things changed the way humans think, communicate, and access information. Over time the intrinsic value of communication and information is diminished. Sure, a lot is gained, but there is always something lost.
The later items are exponentially more destructive, with the "AI" being the latest step. A potential useful tool, but greater consequences.
I feel that the last half of the innovations did and still are ruining our society. Maybe I should write a book showing how he is wrong and why the facts show the opposite. AI lies and I’ve called AI out on its lies showing proof of its errors.
AI models are only as trustworthy as the logic & trustworthiness of the people who programmed them ...
I say it often as someone in the construction industry involved in data center (DC) builds: The DC industry has itself to blame for much of this. Take water: Using open-loop evaporative cooling is incredibly wasteful. But it's cheaper, and it uses less power. So they get built. More advanced builds use chilled water. But many of those use cooling towers which, if open-loop, also use tremendous amounts of water. But they are electrically more efficient to operate than air-cooled, and therefore they get built.
There are easy engineering solutions to water and noise, but they are costly. Power is more difficult, but also workable, especially if DCs can be allowed to throttle back in times of peak need (less than 1% of the hours per year). Some operators are willing to do this, others - the same who want to use evaporative cooling - do not.
Eventually, the grid operators will stop allowing DCs to connect because they will run out of power slots. At that point, new builds will self-generate power, which they should be doing anyway. But again, this is costly. (and time consuming, and they want the new builds yesterday).
Focusing on long-term community partnership and solving water, power, and noise with tried and true engineering solutions - instead of squeezing every penny of profit with cheap builds - would go a long way towards helping the tech community overcome the panic.
Nice perspective given ...
"Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them."
INDEED ........
Wrong. AI is truly demonic and will destroy all life on earth. Anyone with critical thinking skills can see this. AI is bringing in the Beast System. The Golden Age of Lucifer. Total slavery and misery. Is that what you want? We need to stop this antichrist system NOW.
I'm with you, Lucy. The fact that AI is presented to society with no invitation to debate is indicative of "something to hide."
I am sick of "something to hide."
As I said elsewhere within this commentary ... AI models are only as trustworthy as the logic & trustworthiness of the people who programmed them ...
Yeah what could go wrong with putting the power of AI in the hands of communist globalist satanic child sex-traffickers who have already mapped the globe, want us to be eternal slaves and will achieve power by any means necessary?
This is about the dumbest premise anyone has ever entertained. AI is not just another invention genius.
The ATM scare looks quaint, for sure, but to gloss over the widespread disappearance of consumer banking services as you have is careless.
The ATM was a training device, in much the same way as the Skinner cages were. Hullabaloo about the disappearance of bank tellers was the smokescreen for the longer-term program.
AI is just the buzzy word for 'machine'. Unfortunately our ancestors, who saw this coming and tried to smash the looms, lost this battle. We should honour them by obstructing the AI steamroller as much as we can.
Not buying that BS in this article.
When do you go and interview local who have had data centers build next to their homes?
The Television, Internet has and AI will corrupt and enslave us.
What started out as life enhancing was slowly turned into a propaganda and brainwashing machine.
Yes, some AI will be beneficial, but the nefarious lucifer worshippers will turn it against us and there is nothing we an do. Don't believe me? Why do CNN , etc al still get away with propaganda? The internet is full it too.
My advice: KEEP PRAYING 🙏
Simply put - AI is Orwell's Big Brother. Nothing to cheer on.
One only has to look to China and their "social credit score" system to see the problems with embracing this "technological change". It is not a new technology - it is a new world governance system in which
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength.
REJECT IT.
You have turned me from a potential doomer to now on the side we need data centers. However I really do hate saying it this way but I am not entirely convinced AI is the same thing as all these past technological advancements, there is a chance (I think at least 50/50) its something completely different. Also the fears in every single one of those points has a snippet of truth. There are always negatives with the positives. So what is the net benefit? It "appears" we always end up on the positive side. I wonder if that is actually true though or just perceived that way. I would argue a lot of those points the negatives still plague us. We consider ourselves a pretty grand and enlightened civilization. We are not, we are actually pretty dumb despite all these great technological advancements. Don't believe me? Pick up some old books sometime and read them. The farther back you go the more intelligent and wise the writers become. In the case of AI, anecdotally there are more and more studies coming out about how people literally stop thinking when using AI. This is Jurassic Park, we keep asking ourselves if we can do something and not whether we should do something. I am not convinced on AIs moral goodness. I am convinced its here to stay and that we need data centers to compete with the rest of the world. That seems like the best thing we can do right now given the situation. But there really are valid concerns and I don't want those to be swept under the rug. I also don't want to sit here and pretend everything is lollipops and rainbows, its not. I guess what I am really asking for is better arguments or even assurances. I am on the side of moving forward with this technology but its hard.
https://brownstone.org/articles/ai-doomsday-warnings-distract-from-more-imminent-ai-concerns/
The above link is to a good Brownstone article that addresses this topic. It's not so much that AI is all bad, or that it's going to be used to replace humans. The real-time problem is the accompanying infrastructure that is already largely in place, and growing, that could easily allow for surveillance and control of people all over the world, by unelected and unaccountable holders of the technologies.
I don’t understand a lot of this. No engineering background but I do like reading about this stuff. Isn’t musk building these with their own power plants
You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to see what they are doing. Musk is a technocrat. If you don’t know what that means you need to do some research.
Technology is a tool. It is only as useful for good or ill as the tools that use it. Too many people nowadays are complete tools of the technocrats and governments.
People need people, not AI.
Thx Jordan. I hope you don’t mind if I share this with my less fortunate friends who don’t read your Substack.