"Many of these newly minted student leaders view rogue AI as an urgent and neglected threat, potentially rivaling climate change in its ability to end human life."
This is horrifying/ridiculous. Climate change is happening now, it's here. A.I. may never even exist.
Link: https://wapo.st/3NGlmQJ
@charliejane but what if it did, Charlie? What. If. It. Did.
@annaleen TBF this is why I'm spending all my time building my anti-dragon trebuchet in my back yard. Just because we haven't seen any dragons doesn't mean they won't show up at any moment!
@charliejane @annaleen Your go-to search term of the month is TESCREAL (Transhumanism, Extropianism, Singularitarianism, Cosmism, Rationalism, Effective Altruism, and Longtermism). I'm currently working on a space opera about it. (Elevator pitch: "what if everyone believes REALLY HARD in the AI/uploading Singularity, like, forever, but believing in Tinkerbell would be more likely to prove productive?")
@cstross You seem to promote the keyword eagerly. I'm a huge fan of yours for exactly the carving up of ideologies and motivations, but I struggle to understand your point here.
Is it "short term is equally/more important than long term"? That may be a valid position on resource allocation. Is it "SciFi has a fiction core, not science"? Sure, okay... But that doesn't warrant the hatchet job^W campaign, does it?
The writing around it is so confused and riddled with self-conflicting narratives I don't even know what to make of it. I see a lot of "silicon valley right wing cryptobros death cult" meme being forced, in attempt to what?.. Deplatform Thiel, Musk et al. with guilt by association?
@dpwiz @cstross I think the point is to be on guard against them. If it weren’t for the sheer amount of money and influence they wield, no-one would care about their tapestry of science-fantasy fairytales. But as it is, they have to be watched in case one of them really is dumb enough to try and invent the Torment Nexus.
@utterfiction @cstross but they're specifically against inventing the torment nexus (that would be e/acc, and they're outside. And most of them wield no power whatsoever.
If you want to go slam billionaires, I'd wholeheartedly support the cause. You should not need to invent and force a new "them" meme for that.
It's not like believing fairy tales and/or donating to animal wellfare is anywhere close to nazi level of punching. I hope not.
