7 ms·

Apple CEO sounds warning of algorithms pushing society towards catastrophe

55 points by nojito 6y ago

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
MR4D 6y ago
It’s interesting. There are all sorts of memes about AI killing us (Terminator, et al) but none that I’m familiar with about AI getting us to kill each other. Tim might be onto something here, even if it’s only a new way to look at the problem.
- nolok 6y ago
  The first exemple you give, Terminator, is exactly that. In the original story (T1 and T2, before they started rebooting the story again and again) Skynet doesn't fire on the US. It fires on Russia "because it knew the Russian would overwhelmingly retaliate and kill its enemies in the US". The idea was that Skynet could not kill all us forces, no where close, but retaliating Russian could (given the strikes against them had let most of their forces and weapons standing, and the US didn't have access to its own to stop them), and Skynet could trigger MAD.
trident5000 6y ago
Serious question. Why doesnt he run for president? We need someone like him to sort all this all out because clearly the technically inept people we have in office have no ability or want to deal with it. Nothing has been done. We need tech people to deal with tech issues in a tech era.
- snypher 6y ago
  We would all be paying 30% income tax. Edit: this isn't a tech problem and I don't want what tech (Apple) presents as a solution.
  - mandeepj 6y ago
    > We would all be paying 30% income tax. Only during the first year. Apple does cut it down to 15% - I guess after first year. There's this also - https://www.imore.com/apple-reducing-app-store-cut-15-vast-majority-developers https://www.imore.com/apple-reducing-app-store-cut-15-vast-m...
  - burke 6y ago
    It is in large part a tech problem though. The solution may or may not be more tech, but a huge part of the problem is the explosion of new tech uncoupled from any assessment of social good. I’d estimate a tech CEO understands the problem at hand better than an octogenarian lawyer, at any rate.
  - ricardobayes 6y ago
    Cries in European. Looking at you California tech dudes fleeing California because paying 13% income tax is 'too much'.
    - corrys 6y ago
      I don’t think people who are fleeing CA are in the 13% tax bracket. Federal + state tax is around 40% for most engineers I know.
      - aspyct 6y ago
        I see your Californian 40%, and raise you our belgian 60%, excluding VAT.
        deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
        jjeaff 6y ago
        Does that 60% include property tax?
        igravious 6y ago
- mandeepj 6y ago
  > Why doesnt he run for president? His profile is similar to Buttigeg. He met with some resistance during his campaign due to that and was not able to go beyond a certain momentum. I believe something similar would happen to him (Cook) also if he ran. Or, maybe he's not interested. Why don't you have a word with him and try to pursue - tim@apple.com ?
- mgh2 6y ago
  Elon Musk warned about AI in a similar tone before all these problems came up. So far only Zuckerberg and Thiel were politically vocal that I know of.
  - nojito 6y ago
    Musk warns about AGI, Tim Cook is talking about the algos that are currently being used to increased engagement of services.
  - Swenrekcah 6y ago
    Well out of the four of them I’d certainly want Tim Cook in the job.
- bobthepanda 6y ago
  Does he want the job? Many smart people don’t. But also, anyone desiring power is the least suitable person for it, or whatever that quote is.
yuppie_scum 6y ago
It will be nice when the last person alive at whichever FAANG can check the Git Blame for who caused the apocalypse.
- rantwasp 6y ago
  the last person alive will not know what git is or how to use it
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
ffggvv 6y ago
i don’t believe apple does anything out of a sense of charity. the subtext here is he wants congress to regulate their competitors
- np- 6y ago
  Just because it's in Apple's self interest doesn't mean Tim Cook is wrong--in fact, he is 100% spot on. In fact, maybe it's a good thing that there is a corporation as large as Apple that can throw their weight behind regulating social media behemoths, that means it will be taken far more seriously by the public.
  - sib301 6y ago
    Indeed. This is a logical trap that people fall into over, and over again. Just because this may be self serving for Apple, it doesn’t mean their interests can’t align with your own.
cronix 6y ago
The article only really points out, from Tim, the right-wing organization and violence. Most of the violence the country saw over the Spring, Summer and Fall were organized, and still are, on Twitter and Facebook. Here's just 1 twitter account that promotes the organized violence, with dates and times to appear. Just scroll through the last few months. Also check out the "suggested" twitter accounts to follow on this page, by Twitter. It leads you to more Antifa groups promoting the same types of things. https://twitter.com/pnwylf/ https://twitter.com/pnwylf/ Here's just one tweet that organized the group, Antifa, on Jan 20th during Biden's inauguration where they attacked the Democrat Headquarters and other small businesses in Portland: https://twitter.com/PNWYLF/status/1350938008254607361 https://twitter.com/PNWYLF/status/1350938008254607361 J20: Fuck the state. Fuck Biden. Land Back. Fuck 12 January 20th Revolution Hall Meet: 2 PM // Move: 3 PM Bloc up! No Streamers // No Peace Police Here is the result of that "march." https://www.cbsnews.com/news/inauguration-day-protesters-damage-democratic-headquarters-portland/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/inauguration-day-protesters-dam... I would just like an honest discussion, where one doesn't lay blame solely at one side, but takes an honest accounting about all sides who are provably doing the same, if not worse, actions. Most on the left, particularly media and social media companies, seem to only want to talk about what happened on Jan 6th on a fairly obscure app called Parler, but not the almost year long trail of destruction perpetrated by the other side organized on the big players platforms. A decent case could be made that more destruction was caused in American cities since May that was organized on Twitter and Facebook, than was on Parler. Let's just be honest about the shortcomings of both sides, or it perpetuates further divide.
- sib301 6y ago
  Yes we should be honest about the shortcomings of both sides, but if you think what happened on the 6th is even in the same league as what happened in Portland then I think you might be misguided. Aside from the death of the police officer, and the fact that this was the US Capitol and not some random democratic headquarters where some windows broke, and spray paint was left, it should astound and terrify you that one of these was done under the banner of, and at the direction of a political leader. If there are Twitter handles that are provably inciting violence on either side, ban them and turn them into the authorities, but we’re not talking about the same thing here on both sides.

55 points by nojito 6y ago

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

MR4D 6y ago

It’s interesting. There are all sorts of memes about AI killing us (Terminator, et al) but none that I’m familiar with about AI getting us to kill each other. Tim might be onto something here, even if it’s only a new way to look at the problem.

nolok 6y ago
The first exemple you give, Terminator, is exactly that. In the original story (T1 and T2, before they started rebooting the story again and again) Skynet doesn't fire on the US. It fires on Russia "because it knew the Russian would overwhelmingly retaliate and kill its enemies in the US". The idea was that Skynet could not kill all us forces, no where close, but retaliating Russian could (given the strikes against them had let most of their forces and weapons standing, and the US didn't have access to its own to stop them), and Skynet could trigger MAD.

trident5000 6y ago

Serious question. Why doesnt he run for president? We need someone like him to sort all this all out because clearly the technically inept people we have in office have no ability or want to deal with it. Nothing has been done. We need tech people to deal with tech issues in a tech era.

snypher 6y ago
We would all be paying 30% income tax. Edit: this isn't a tech problem and I don't want what tech (Apple) presents as a solution.
- mandeepj 6y ago
  > We would all be paying 30% income tax. Only during the first year. Apple does cut it down to 15% - I guess after first year. There's this also - https://www.imore.com/apple-reducing-app-store-cut-15-vast-majority-developers https://www.imore.com/apple-reducing-app-store-cut-15-vast-m...
- burke 6y ago
  It is in large part a tech problem though. The solution may or may not be more tech, but a huge part of the problem is the explosion of new tech uncoupled from any assessment of social good. I’d estimate a tech CEO understands the problem at hand better than an octogenarian lawyer, at any rate.
- ricardobayes 6y ago
  Cries in European. Looking at you California tech dudes fleeing California because paying 13% income tax is 'too much'.
  - corrys 6y ago
    I don’t think people who are fleeing CA are in the 13% tax bracket. Federal + state tax is around 40% for most engineers I know.
    - aspyct 6y ago
      I see your Californian 40%, and raise you our belgian 60%, excluding VAT.
      - deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
      - jjeaff 6y ago
        Does that 60% include property tax?
      - igravious 6y ago
mandeepj 6y ago
> Why doesnt he run for president? His profile is similar to Buttigeg. He met with some resistance during his campaign due to that and was not able to go beyond a certain momentum. I believe something similar would happen to him (Cook) also if he ran. Or, maybe he's not interested. Why don't you have a word with him and try to pursue - tim@apple.com ?
mgh2 6y ago
Elon Musk warned about AI in a similar tone before all these problems came up. So far only Zuckerberg and Thiel were politically vocal that I know of.
- nojito 6y ago
  Musk warns about AGI, Tim Cook is talking about the algos that are currently being used to increased engagement of services.
- Swenrekcah 6y ago
  Well out of the four of them I’d certainly want Tim Cook in the job.
bobthepanda 6y ago
Does he want the job? Many smart people don’t. But also, anyone desiring power is the least suitable person for it, or whatever that quote is.

yuppie_scum 6y ago

It will be nice when the last person alive at whichever FAANG can check the Git Blame for who caused the apocalypse.

rantwasp 6y ago
the last person alive will not know what git is or how to use it
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

ffggvv 6y ago

i don’t believe apple does anything out of a sense of charity. the subtext here is he wants congress to regulate their competitors

np- 6y ago
Just because it's in Apple's self interest doesn't mean Tim Cook is wrong--in fact, he is 100% spot on. In fact, maybe it's a good thing that there is a corporation as large as Apple that can throw their weight behind regulating social media behemoths, that means it will be taken far more seriously by the public.
- sib301 6y ago
  Indeed. This is a logical trap that people fall into over, and over again. Just because this may be self serving for Apple, it doesn’t mean their interests can’t align with your own.

cronix 6y ago

The article only really points out, from Tim, the right-wing organization and violence. Most of the violence the country saw over the Spring, Summer and Fall were organized, and still are, on Twitter and Facebook. Here's just 1 twitter account that promotes the organized violence, with dates and times to appear. Just scroll through the last few months. Also check out the "suggested" twitter accounts to follow on this page, by Twitter. It leads you to more Antifa groups promoting the same types of things. https://twitter.com/pnwylf/ https://twitter.com/pnwylf/ Here's just one tweet that organized the group, Antifa, on Jan 20th during Biden's inauguration where they attacked the Democrat Headquarters and other small businesses in Portland: https://twitter.com/PNWYLF/status/1350938008254607361 https://twitter.com/PNWYLF/status/1350938008254607361 J20: Fuck the state. Fuck Biden. Land Back. Fuck 12 January 20th Revolution Hall Meet: 2 PM // Move: 3 PM Bloc up! No Streamers // No Peace Police Here is the result of that "march." https://www.cbsnews.com/news/inauguration-day-protesters-damage-democratic-headquarters-portland/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/inauguration-day-protesters-dam... I would just like an honest discussion, where one doesn't lay blame solely at one side, but takes an honest accounting about all sides who are provably doing the same, if not worse, actions. Most on the left, particularly media and social media companies, seem to only want to talk about what happened on Jan 6th on a fairly obscure app called Parler, but not the almost year long trail of destruction perpetrated by the other side organized on the big players platforms. A decent case could be made that more destruction was caused in American cities since May that was organized on Twitter and Facebook, than was on Parler. Let's just be honest about the shortcomings of both sides, or it perpetuates further divide.

sib301 6y ago
Yes we should be honest about the shortcomings of both sides, but if you think what happened on the 6th is even in the same league as what happened in Portland then I think you might be misguided. Aside from the death of the police officer, and the fact that this was the US Capitol and not some random democratic headquarters where some windows broke, and spray paint was left, it should astound and terrify you that one of these was done under the banner of, and at the direction of a political leader. If there are Twitter handles that are provably inciting violence on either side, ban them and turn them into the authorities, but we’re not talking about the same thing here on both sides.