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Lots of things look like cults from the outside, for me at least the other HN thread from today about self-driving cars was a perfect example of that, it had lo
by paganel 7y ago
Lots of things look like cults from the outside, for me at least the other HN thread from today about self-driving cars was a perfect example of that, it had lots and lots of commenters (I presume the big majority of them pretty smart people) saying things like “I believe” and dismissing those that didn’t “believe” (in the idea of self-driving cars, in that case).
- LockAndLol 7y agoWhen you talk about the future, there's only one thing you can actually do and that's believe (not in the religious sense), because it is uncertain. Especially sensationalist expressions like "self-driving cars will never happen". Making absolute statements, especially about the future, is not a mark of an intellectual or of intelligence. But everything is relative.
- paganel 7y agoBelieving in self-driving cars is believing in AGI, and if some people find not believing in that “sensationalist” then it all kind of proves my point. I also don’t live in the SV bubble, maybe down there the AGI church is stronger, I wouldn’t know. I strongly recommend Jacques Ellul’s “The New Demons” [1], and Ellul’s works generally speaking. [1] https://www.amazon.com/New-Demons-Jacques-Ellul/dp/0816402663 https://www.amazon.com/New-Demons-Jacques-Ellul/dp/081640266...