3 ms·

And what if some people don't want to use AI? How is that maximizing freedom when people begin to be forced to use it in their jobs? Doesn't sound like freedom

And what if some people don't want to use AI? How is that maximizing freedom when people begin to be forced to use it in their jobs? Doesn't sound like freedom to me. What if people do not want to be exposed to the creations of AI? I really don't think there is any freedom in a world saturated by AI.

aspenmayer 2y ago
AI and the debate around its usage is reminiscent of nuclear weapons, deterrence, and mutually assured destruction. Due to MAD, nuclear weapons are useful as a deterrent, and ideally not used, leading to nuclear technology and access to it becoming politicized, resulting in anti-proliferation strategies and peaceful applications that do not lend themselves to dual-use. AI is almost a mirror image of this, in that AI is used because it is useful, not because it is ideal. Following the analogy, now that AI exists in increasingly useful forms, calls for AI safety echo those made by anti-nuclear advocates and Luddites centuries ago, but nuclear technology and AI both are simply too useful to be returned to that Pandora's box. So, we are seeing a relitigation of the same arguments used to curtail or prohibit technology in the same way we did in the crypto wars[0], only applied to AI instead of cryptography. With MAD, the only winning move was not to play, and that thinking largely remains so to this day, as the nuclear stalemate has thankfully not been broken. The delicate balance of terror[1][2] never ended, and may never end. The players and pieces may change along with the rules and the game board, but war will always be politics by other means.[3][4] However, with AI perhaps the only winning move is to play early and often? The Balkanization of the AI landscape between China and the rest of the world[5] suggests that both sides view AI technology similarly to nuclear technology: a tool too useful to ignore, an idea whose time has come. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crypto_Wars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crypto_Wars [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_of_terror https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_of_terror [2] https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P1472.html https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P1472.html https://web.archive.org/web/20241204201606/https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P1472.html https://web.archive.org/web/20241204201606/https://www.rand.... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_War [4] https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/articles/grand-strategy-clausewitz/ https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/articles/grand-strategy-c... https://web.archive.org/web/20241130183926/https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/articles/grand-strategy-clausewitz/ https://web.archive.org/web/20241130183926/https://warroom.a... [5] https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PEA3703-1.html https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PEA3703-1.html https://web.archive.org/web/20241214130855/https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/perspectives/PEA3700/PEA3703-1/RAND_PEA3703-1.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20241214130855/https://www.rand.... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42416878 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42416878

aspenmayer 2y ago

AI and the debate around its usage is reminiscent of nuclear weapons, deterrence, and mutually assured destruction. Due to MAD, nuclear weapons are useful as a deterrent, and ideally not used, leading to nuclear technology and access to it becoming politicized, resulting in anti-proliferation strategies and peaceful applications that do not lend themselves to dual-use. AI is almost a mirror image of this, in that AI is used because it is useful, not because it is ideal. Following the analogy, now that AI exists in increasingly useful forms, calls for AI safety echo those made by anti-nuclear advocates and Luddites centuries ago, but nuclear technology and AI both are simply too useful to be returned to that Pandora's box. So, we are seeing a relitigation of the same arguments used to curtail or prohibit technology in the same way we did in the crypto wars[0], only applied to AI instead of cryptography. With MAD, the only winning move was not to play, and that thinking largely remains so to this day, as the nuclear stalemate has thankfully not been broken. The delicate balance of terror[1][2] never ended, and may never end. The players and pieces may change along with the rules and the game board, but war will always be politics by other means.[3][4] However, with AI perhaps the only winning move is to play early and often? The Balkanization of the AI landscape between China and the rest of the world[5] suggests that both sides view AI technology similarly to nuclear technology: a tool too useful to ignore, an idea whose time has come. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crypto_Wars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crypto_Wars [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_of_terror https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_of_terror [2] https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P1472.html https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P1472.html https://web.archive.org/web/20241204201606/https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P1472.html https://web.archive.org/web/20241204201606/https://www.rand.... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_War [4] https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/articles/grand-strategy-clausewitz/ https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/articles/grand-strategy-c... https://web.archive.org/web/20241130183926/https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/articles/grand-strategy-clausewitz/ https://web.archive.org/web/20241130183926/https://warroom.a... [5] https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PEA3703-1.html https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PEA3703-1.html https://web.archive.org/web/20241214130855/https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/perspectives/PEA3700/PEA3703-1/RAND_PEA3703-1.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20241214130855/https://www.rand.... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42416878 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42416878