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Doesn't it bother you to describe humanity as a plague? The overall point is fine but these are people you're talking about, and NOT bacteria. It's just so anti

Doesn't it bother you to describe humanity as a plague? The overall point is fine but these are people you're talking about, and NOT bacteria. It's just so anti-human to think of people that way. Souls. But a plague on the Earth, I guess. It's just a depressing viewpoint imo

vouaobrasil 3y ago
Well, if you spend a lot of time looking at the damage we cause every day, studying reports and seeing innocent creatures like sharks being killed by the hundred millions, thousands of species being rendered extinct, endless garbage being dumped left right and center, habitats being destroyed endlessly by the millions of square kilometers, yeah, we do look like a plague. And now we're trying to use AI to become even more resource-intensive, burning up endless energy to be even more powerful consumers...give me a break. It's sick. As individuals there's nothing seriously wrong with most people but en masse with modern technology, that is exactly what we are, a plague.
- robotresearcher 3y ago
  > we're trying to use AI to become even more resource-intensive Who has that as a goal?
  - xp84 3y ago
    Perhaps trying implies too much deliberateness, but it sounds like an inevitable outcome to me. One thing that the market will reward handsomely is bringing costs down. When costs go down, people consume more. If you're 40 or older, think about how many computers your family owned in your house growing up. We owned some hand-me-downs, and purchased 1 computer in my first 15 years. We bought about 4 in the next 3 years because they were advancing rapidly, but more importantly, because they had become much cheaper than they had been 5-10 years before. Today, many families might have a laptop for each person, replaced every 3-4 years. One of the first things an AGI would be put to work doing is manufacturing, as we're already finding that it's hard to get people to do these stressful manufacturing jobs except in places where they're really desperate. Witness the moving of jobs from US -> China -> Southeast Asia.
- OkayPhysicist 3y ago
  A plague? A plague to what? The problem with our pollution and garbage and global warming is that it makes the world worse for us. The planet doesn't suffer, it just is. Plants and animals kill each other in a ruthless cycle of violence, too. We're just really good at it. There is no good without humans. Any philosophy that asserts otherwise fails Camus's fundamental question.
  - famouswaffles 3y ago
    >The problem with our pollution and garbage and global warming is that it makes the world worse for us It's not just us. Earth might be fine but a great many species won't >Plants and animals kill each other in a ruthless cycle of violence, too. We're just really good at it. It's not at all comparable lol. Not in scale or function.
- vouaobrasil 3y ago
  @OkayPhysicist: You are wrong..what we are doing is making the world worse for us and other creatures. Because of us, the extinction rate is much higher than the background extinction rate.

vouaobrasil 3y ago

Well, if you spend a lot of time looking at the damage we cause every day, studying reports and seeing innocent creatures like sharks being killed by the hundred millions, thousands of species being rendered extinct, endless garbage being dumped left right and center, habitats being destroyed endlessly by the millions of square kilometers, yeah, we do look like a plague. And now we're trying to use AI to become even more resource-intensive, burning up endless energy to be even more powerful consumers...give me a break. It's sick. As individuals there's nothing seriously wrong with most people but en masse with modern technology, that is exactly what we are, a plague.

robotresearcher 3y ago
> we're trying to use AI to become even more resource-intensive Who has that as a goal?
- xp84 3y ago
  Perhaps trying implies too much deliberateness, but it sounds like an inevitable outcome to me. One thing that the market will reward handsomely is bringing costs down. When costs go down, people consume more. If you're 40 or older, think about how many computers your family owned in your house growing up. We owned some hand-me-downs, and purchased 1 computer in my first 15 years. We bought about 4 in the next 3 years because they were advancing rapidly, but more importantly, because they had become much cheaper than they had been 5-10 years before. Today, many families might have a laptop for each person, replaced every 3-4 years. One of the first things an AGI would be put to work doing is manufacturing, as we're already finding that it's hard to get people to do these stressful manufacturing jobs except in places where they're really desperate. Witness the moving of jobs from US -> China -> Southeast Asia.
OkayPhysicist 3y ago
A plague? A plague to what? The problem with our pollution and garbage and global warming is that it makes the world worse for us. The planet doesn't suffer, it just is. Plants and animals kill each other in a ruthless cycle of violence, too. We're just really good at it. There is no good without humans. Any philosophy that asserts otherwise fails Camus's fundamental question.
- famouswaffles 3y ago
  >The problem with our pollution and garbage and global warming is that it makes the world worse for us It's not just us. Earth might be fine but a great many species won't >Plants and animals kill each other in a ruthless cycle of violence, too. We're just really good at it. It's not at all comparable lol. Not in scale or function.
vouaobrasil 3y ago
@OkayPhysicist: You are wrong..what we are doing is making the world worse for us and other creatures. Because of us, the extinction rate is much higher than the background extinction rate.