3 ms·

Ask HN: Could an AI world government result in a world without wars?

2 points by amichail 2y ago

Maybe countries would agree to give up some control in exchange for permanent peace and prosperity via a fair AI world government?

TheAceOfHearts 2y ago
How do you imagine such a system would work and how do we know that it's actually fair? Maybe an incremental approach would work if you managed to create an ultra-prosperous society with amazing scientific advances, and you gated sharing of those scientific advances through peace treaties or something like that... There's a lot of inequality between countries, and it doesn't seem like an AI would be able to magic away the problems.
Piskvorrr 2y ago
Betteridge's law of headlines supports this: adding 1/8 cup non-toxic glue will surely bring peace and prosperity. (Sources: made it up myself. But if I just had made it up using a large language model, suddenly it would have been workable. (NB the similarity to late 19th century technooptimism: "with wireless telegraph, surely no more wars are necessary!"...a wild World War I appears))
techostritch 2y ago
I think there’s two answers to this question, obviously yes and obviously no. Obviously yes: Some people’s definition of peace is an authoritarian version of peace. There’s a dictator who makes the law and keeps the peace and dissent is squashed. I imagine if you had enough AI robots around you could make this kind of peace. Obviously no: I think this raises the question of is world conflict a natural state of things or a problem to be solved, and also, is conflict mostly based on political boundaries and I think the answer to both questions is no. I think that conflict is sort of a natural state of things and I think abortion is a great example. There’s no 220 IQ take that “solves” abortion. And I think that conflict often develops from social, ethnic or religious boundaries rather than political ones.
- squircle 2y ago
  Yep/nope, I agree. AI world government is a terrible idea. Edit: Peace leads to stagnation/stasis. Stasis is death. Nature does not work this way. Make chaos. (No, I'm not advocating violence, especially when it comes to human sacrifice.) Balance, fun, frivolity.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

2 points by amichail 2y ago

Maybe countries would agree to give up some control in exchange for permanent peace and prosperity via a fair AI world government?

TheAceOfHearts 2y ago

How do you imagine such a system would work and how do we know that it's actually fair? Maybe an incremental approach would work if you managed to create an ultra-prosperous society with amazing scientific advances, and you gated sharing of those scientific advances through peace treaties or something like that... There's a lot of inequality between countries, and it doesn't seem like an AI would be able to magic away the problems.

Piskvorrr 2y ago

Betteridge's law of headlines supports this: adding 1/8 cup non-toxic glue will surely bring peace and prosperity. (Sources: made it up myself. But if I just had made it up using a large language model, suddenly it would have been workable. (NB the similarity to late 19th century technooptimism: "with wireless telegraph, surely no more wars are necessary!"...a wild World War I appears))

techostritch 2y ago

I think there’s two answers to this question, obviously yes and obviously no. Obviously yes: Some people’s definition of peace is an authoritarian version of peace. There’s a dictator who makes the law and keeps the peace and dissent is squashed. I imagine if you had enough AI robots around you could make this kind of peace. Obviously no: I think this raises the question of is world conflict a natural state of things or a problem to be solved, and also, is conflict mostly based on political boundaries and I think the answer to both questions is no. I think that conflict is sort of a natural state of things and I think abortion is a great example. There’s no 220 IQ take that “solves” abortion. And I think that conflict often develops from social, ethnic or religious boundaries rather than political ones.

squircle 2y ago
Yep/nope, I agree. AI world government is a terrible idea. Edit: Peace leads to stagnation/stasis. Stasis is death. Nature does not work this way. Make chaos. (No, I'm not advocating violence, especially when it comes to human sacrifice.) Balance, fun, frivolity.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]