2 ms·
As an American, it seems too me that our country is at an end of a long upwards arc of scocial progress. While technological progress continues, it isn't clear
by dzdt 4y ago
As an American, it seems too me that our country is at an end of a long upwards arc of scocial progress. While technological progress continues, it isn't clear that progress will be good for humanity. Global warming looms as an immense threat but without any meaningful response. As a nonbeliever religion offers no solace, but even believers tend towards welcoming the "end times" rather than non-apocolytpic comfort. Political power of individuals is infintesimal and shrinking, as money interests and gerrymandering remove any remaining impact of our voices on the process.
- dqpb 4y agoI think we’re living in the most exciting time in the history of the universe. Our resource consumption is on trajectory to result in global civilization collapse around 2040: https://www.vice.com/amp/en/article/z3xw3x/new-research-vindicates-1972-mit-prediction-that-society-will-collapse-soon https://www.vice.com/amp/en/article/z3xw3x/new-research-vind... On the other hand, Juergen Schmidhuber (and Eric Schmidt, and Ray Kurzweil) predicts the “Omega point” of technological development (including AGI) to be around 2040: https://youtu.be/pGftUCTqaGg https://youtu.be/pGftUCTqaGg This race between progress and destruction was destined to happen and it culminates in our lifetime.
- faitswulff 4y agoKurzweil’s predictions haven’t been very reliable IIRC.