4 ms·

The rich will always be powerful. The irony is that we do live in the best of all worlds, but it still sucks. There's no utopia, there's only dystopia. And I d

The rich will always be powerful. The irony is that we do live in the best of all worlds, but it still sucks. There's no utopia, there's only dystopia. And I disagree that democracy will ever be improved, at least not with humans at the helm.

JumpCrisscross 4y ago
> I disagree that democracy will ever be improved, at least not with humans at the helm Again, this is an easy and thoughtless take without a proposed alternative. (Benevolent AI is just benevolent dictatorship with a veneer.) It's also gratingly at odds with very modern history. History that, granted, is not part of our public education corpus.
- surgical_fire 4y ago
  I proposed no alternative because there is no alternative. A benevolent AI would not work as humans will be the ones to define the constraints under with the benevolent AI operates. Make no mistake, the ruling class will define constraints that will give them more power. My remark about "humans at the helm" may have given you the false impression that I am optimistic about technology solving our societal woes. I apologize for that. I state that there's no eucatastrophe to save us from ourselves. My remark was intended as a sardonic statement that while there are humans, nothing will ever be improved. These problems are as old as humanity, and will only cease being problems when humanity ceases to exist.
pas 4y ago
It's pretty easy to improve democracy, get better constituents. Also it's pretty easy to list actual small tweaks. Does that count as improving democracy itself? Education works, even if its "efficacy" is pretty low.
- nsriv 4y ago
  >It's pretty easy to improve democracy, get better constituents. Simple solutions aren't the same as easy ones. Education absolutely does work wonders on social and economic fronts, but it is unevenly distributed and the administration of it is easily subverted.

JumpCrisscross 4y ago

> I disagree that democracy will ever be improved, at least not with humans at the helm Again, this is an easy and thoughtless take without a proposed alternative. (Benevolent AI is just benevolent dictatorship with a veneer.) It's also gratingly at odds with very modern history. History that, granted, is not part of our public education corpus.

surgical_fire 4y ago
I proposed no alternative because there is no alternative. A benevolent AI would not work as humans will be the ones to define the constraints under with the benevolent AI operates. Make no mistake, the ruling class will define constraints that will give them more power. My remark about "humans at the helm" may have given you the false impression that I am optimistic about technology solving our societal woes. I apologize for that. I state that there's no eucatastrophe to save us from ourselves. My remark was intended as a sardonic statement that while there are humans, nothing will ever be improved. These problems are as old as humanity, and will only cease being problems when humanity ceases to exist.

pas 4y ago

It's pretty easy to improve democracy, get better constituents. Also it's pretty easy to list actual small tweaks. Does that count as improving democracy itself? Education works, even if its "efficacy" is pretty low.

nsriv 4y ago
>It's pretty easy to improve democracy, get better constituents. Simple solutions aren't the same as easy ones. Education absolutely does work wonders on social and economic fronts, but it is unevenly distributed and the administration of it is easily subverted.