2 ms·

I take the view of humans being very innovative cockroaches (in the most endearing sense possible) with a strong will to survive. There are surely global catas

I take the view of humans being very innovative cockroaches (in the most endearing sense possible) with a strong will to survive. There are surely global catastrophes in store for us in the near future, climate change particularly, but I don't expect these to exterminate humanity or even do enough damage to seriously set back technological development for long. I expect mass migrations and major wars, but humanity has a track record of surviving these sort of things. We'd need something more in the magnitude of a comet strike to really unwind the technological-industrial revolution.

CatWChainsaw 4y ago
I am more willing to bank on climate feedbacks we don't even know about yet doing a number on our ability to keep modern infrastructure running on a wide scale. It depends on regular inputs of resources of no small portion of the periodic table as well as energy sources, and I do not think nuclear/renewables can sustain today's infrastructure. And of course, there could be nuclear war, societal breakdown as mentioned, another global plague (H5N1? Marburg? Cordyceps? Prions? The possibilities are endless), or, my favorite, Butlerian Jihad. :)
- cld8483 4y ago
  Butlerian Jihad gives me a spark of hope. ;) A global taboo against thinking machines is probably our best bet for freedom.
  - CatWChainsaw 4y ago
    I agree. Hopefully the zeitgeist gets to critical mass before the thinking machines do!
  - _yb2s 4y ago
    It does seem like we need a ban on AI progression unless we can figure out AI alignment first, which seems unlikely. Unfortunately, I do not see people taking that seriously at all until it is too late. I feel like much of the sci-fi about this was written by intelligent people that could see where this was going, but they inadvertently poisoned it culturally. "ha-ha, you mean like terminator? get real, that's just a movie."

CatWChainsaw 4y ago

I am more willing to bank on climate feedbacks we don't even know about yet doing a number on our ability to keep modern infrastructure running on a wide scale. It depends on regular inputs of resources of no small portion of the periodic table as well as energy sources, and I do not think nuclear/renewables can sustain today's infrastructure. And of course, there could be nuclear war, societal breakdown as mentioned, another global plague (H5N1? Marburg? Cordyceps? Prions? The possibilities are endless), or, my favorite, Butlerian Jihad. :)

cld8483 4y ago
Butlerian Jihad gives me a spark of hope. ;) A global taboo against thinking machines is probably our best bet for freedom.
- CatWChainsaw 4y ago
  I agree. Hopefully the zeitgeist gets to critical mass before the thinking machines do!
- _yb2s 4y ago
  It does seem like we need a ban on AI progression unless we can figure out AI alignment first, which seems unlikely. Unfortunately, I do not see people taking that seriously at all until it is too late. I feel like much of the sci-fi about this was written by intelligent people that could see where this was going, but they inadvertently poisoned it culturally. "ha-ha, you mean like terminator? get real, that's just a movie."