4 ms·

I would say an (in practice; even if in theory it runs in 5 billions years or so) unlimited, low/non polluting power source that is easy to copy and roll out. U

I would say an (in practice; even if in theory it runs in 5 billions years or so) unlimited, low/non polluting power source that is easy to copy and roll out. Unlimited power solves many issues. But most leaps would not result in ‘x will make things unequal’ if the people making would give everyone access to them in an affordable manner. That’s why an unlimited source of energy has to be easy to make and copy and not be hampered by patents on hurdles that prevent that. Otherwise these articles are absolutely right.

animuchan 4y ago
But the current generation AI is readily accessible to everyone, either for free or very affordably priced.
- unsupp0rted 4y ago
  To be fair, the current generation isn't public. The previous generation is. The current generation is whatever is behind closed doors right now being tested by OpenAI and partners and quietly demo'd to big corps so they can prep. Say the version that can solve captchas with better than human accuracy.
- tivert 4y ago
  > But the current generation AI is readily accessible to everyone, either for free or very affordably priced. I think the "accessible to everyone" rubric is more complicated than the GP described. It's more like provides similar economic benefits to everyone. ChatGPT may be "readily accessible to everyone," but if it and similar technologies allow significant automation of knowledge work it will not provide similar benefits to everyone, since it will allow the elimination of entire categories of jobs. At least in the short-term "elimination of entire categories of jobs" benefits the ownership class and no one else. If these "AI" technologies also inhibit the ability of those masses of laid off workers to retrain an switch jobs to something with equivalently high wages, then they will make our society even more unequal in the long term.
  - animuchan 4y ago
    To me it sounds like an impossibly high bar to clear: even plainly giving a person $100 in cash, no strings attached, doesn't provide similar economic benefits to different people.
- gl-prod 4y ago
  If you're talking about OpenAI, then nope, it's not accessible to everyone. OpenAI is blocking poorer countries from using its services.
abecedarius 4y ago
There was a classic sf novel that started with the discovery of a matter duplicator which is able to duplicate itself. The society in the story world evolves to bring back slavery. Now, this was totally made up, but it's not too hard to solve the puzzle of how such a response could logically happen. You can basically always find an angle for the story you want to tell.
- tivert 4y ago
  > There was a classic sf novel that started with the discovery of a matter duplicator which is able to duplicate itself. The society in the story world evolves to bring back slavery. What's the name of that story?
  - abecedarius 4y ago
    Damon Knight, A For Anything. There's a different story by another author where a similar machine brings on an economic depression, but I forget the title.
techdragon 4y ago
A patent monopoly on that hypothetical power generation device would have the potential do a lot of harm actually… Bankrupt many companies, causing the loss of jobs generally around the world and a potential expanding economic shock matched to the rate of production of the new devices Cause the complete devastation of smaller sized communities (villages and towns, very small cities) where the majority of employment is directly in an energy related resource extraction capacity or in supporting jobs maintaining equipment for or supplying services to these primary resource industries The lack of externally needed power supply like diesel fuel or surface supplies for solar farms would enable more people to take up mobile or alternative living situations (van life, mobile homes, camping with appliances) as the need for a house to plug in appliances is one of the anchoring factors in real estate economics which could be the best thing for people in general but also another potentially large scale economic shock.

animuchan 4y ago

But the current generation AI is readily accessible to everyone, either for free or very affordably priced.

unsupp0rted 4y ago
To be fair, the current generation isn't public. The previous generation is. The current generation is whatever is behind closed doors right now being tested by OpenAI and partners and quietly demo'd to big corps so they can prep. Say the version that can solve captchas with better than human accuracy.
tivert 4y ago
> But the current generation AI is readily accessible to everyone, either for free or very affordably priced. I think the "accessible to everyone" rubric is more complicated than the GP described. It's more like provides similar economic benefits to everyone. ChatGPT may be "readily accessible to everyone," but if it and similar technologies allow significant automation of knowledge work it will not provide similar benefits to everyone, since it will allow the elimination of entire categories of jobs. At least in the short-term "elimination of entire categories of jobs" benefits the ownership class and no one else. If these "AI" technologies also inhibit the ability of those masses of laid off workers to retrain an switch jobs to something with equivalently high wages, then they will make our society even more unequal in the long term.
- animuchan 4y ago
  To me it sounds like an impossibly high bar to clear: even plainly giving a person $100 in cash, no strings attached, doesn't provide similar economic benefits to different people.
gl-prod 4y ago
If you're talking about OpenAI, then nope, it's not accessible to everyone. OpenAI is blocking poorer countries from using its services.

abecedarius 4y ago

There was a classic sf novel that started with the discovery of a matter duplicator which is able to duplicate itself. The society in the story world evolves to bring back slavery. Now, this was totally made up, but it's not too hard to solve the puzzle of how such a response could logically happen. You can basically always find an angle for the story you want to tell.

tivert 4y ago
> There was a classic sf novel that started with the discovery of a matter duplicator which is able to duplicate itself. The society in the story world evolves to bring back slavery. What's the name of that story?
- abecedarius 4y ago
  Damon Knight, A For Anything. There's a different story by another author where a similar machine brings on an economic depression, but I forget the title.

techdragon 4y ago

A patent monopoly on that hypothetical power generation device would have the potential do a lot of harm actually… Bankrupt many companies, causing the loss of jobs generally around the world and a potential expanding economic shock matched to the rate of production of the new devices Cause the complete devastation of smaller sized communities (villages and towns, very small cities) where the majority of employment is directly in an energy related resource extraction capacity or in supporting jobs maintaining equipment for or supplying services to these primary resource industries The lack of externally needed power supply like diesel fuel or surface supplies for solar farms would enable more people to take up mobile or alternative living situations (van life, mobile homes, camping with appliances) as the need for a house to plug in appliances is one of the anchoring factors in real estate economics which could be the best thing for people in general but also another potentially large scale economic shock.