"That is partly why I am suspicious of the apocalyptic framing. The more time we spend debating whether AI might exterminate humanity someday, the less time we spend examining what the companies and the state are doing with it right now."
Indeed, ask who benefits and always follow the money. Thank you Lau - you are dead right. In my many years as a corporate systems consultant, I have witnessed so many examples and variations on cartels and monopolies, it would make a long book. This AI instance is merely one of thousands going before it. For example:
In the Betamax vs VHS format war of the late 1970s and early 1980s, VHS won. This piece tells the story straight, then explains why, for anyone with old tapes today, the result still matters.
Reading about regulation, it reminds me of Atlas Shrugged. The big players asking for regulations that just happen to make it harder for anyone to catch up. Rand called it the aristocracy of pull.
Thank you for your article! I agree, and would add two things:
1. This is great marketing, because it does not look like marketing to most observers. We have come to expect marketing to sound positive.
2. Fear sells better today than it seems to have in the past. There is a large segment of the population that seems to psychologically need some apocalyptic threat to existence, and AI doomerism seems tailor made for them - they become "brand ambassadors" for it.
Off topic Lau but why is it that you and so many other financial writers only talk about Americans think, want and feel? Why are the rest of the world views not considered?
Thanks, John. Interesting question. The simple answer is that the U.S. is still the big dog in the global financial system. The dollar is the reserve currency, the petrodollar system, weakened as it is (arguably hanging by a thread), is still relevant, Treasuries sit at the center of global markets, and what the Fed does tends to spill over pretty much everywhere.
Same thing when I focus a lot on what Americans think, want or feel. It’s mostly because the U.S. is playing at the biggest table, and its decisions affect everyone else.
That said, I definitely don’t think the rest of the world is irrelevant. And I try to bring that perspective in as much as I can, whether it’s Japan, Europe, Argentina or pretty much anywhere in between.
Hmmm, I guess I can't argue with any of that well worded and direct response. All the references to what Americans think and feel still wind me up though :D I need to get over it!
America is in free fall because of government. Personal freedoms have been eviscerated in proportion to controls the leviathan has been allowed to unconstitutionally pilfer. Government approved evaluators have lead to more corruption and higher taxes while FDA approved foods permit legalized poison; pharma and the medical industrial complex knowingly kill patients; banks and financial firms sell undercapitalized, designed to fail ponzi schemes; law firms in cahoots with compromised courts peddle unconstitutional statutes and codes; and the EPA and it's environazi agencies get laryngitis when chemtrails comes up.
The courts when functioning within their constitutional guardrails would recognize the harm these companies are doing and shut down the data centers which have been allowed to mushroom. They're controlled by foreign entities and are surveilling citizens in violation of the 4th Amendment.
There is a link between these threats from the Absolute Idiocy leaders and the Effective Altruism group, started by Scam Bankrupt Fraud (SBF) and now shepherded by Dustin Moskovitz and a few others.
All the incidents which involved these models getting outside their sandbox were because the developers of those models INTENDED for that to happen. It's a power play, where they are saying, "See? This is a part of what we can do. Follow our demands before we do worse!" Their demand? Regulate us; therefore, we'll be granted a license to do whatever we want, without destroying the planet. In exchange, we'll keep this away from your enemies.
In other words: It's blackmail, from a bad James Bond script for a movie that never got made. Austin Powers, anyone?
The hysterics around AI (whatever the motive) are beginning to border on comical. Imagine actually believing you have the fate of humanity in your hands yet you can’t stop yourself from rushing forward to develop the threat so you publicly beg world governments to tie you to the mast and plug your ears so you can resist the sirens irresistible call to self destruction. At last, the altruism of Silicon Valley executives joining up with the benevolence of governments for all our salvation! Seems goofy beyond belief. Isn’t it more likely the hysterics about AI will end up being just another all too human runaway science fiction fantasy about how machines or aliens are determined to subjugate or destroy us? Remember Y2K?
Free market capitalism only exists today in the underground economy. That tech oligarchs want to limit market entry through regulation is as common and predictable as death and taxes. It also seems to me that AI is one giant loss leader that will eventually have to price in the energy intensity of its essential inefficiencies. Meanwhile the Eloi will become addicted to, and dependent on its superficial use. Perhaps the carnage predicted is in the form of the further dumbing down of the incurious grazers who vote.
Regulatory capture is, no doubt, a part of the impulse by the folks associated the the frontier companies. That doesn't mean that they are not sincere in their belief that the development of AI from this point should be in the hands of folks/companies who will be conscious of the risks, and they hope, committed to benefiting rather than harming humanity a la Ethical Altruists. Nevertheless I still suspect there is a lot of self-dealing, self-protecting, self-promoting, and delusional self-hyping. Okay. I get it. SNAFU here there and everywhere. Keep investigating and analysing with your good sense of context and following the money, Lau. We appreciate it.
People are complicated, duplicitous creatures. Now imagine how much more 'complicated' they get when there are trillions of dollars at stake. Thanks for reading, Jay.
Did they care to describe how we are all going to be killed? Power failures? Bill Gates inserting rogue “vaccines” in our water. Turning off airplanes midair? Serving free BigMacs to everyone? Killing the cows and chicken? How? Pease. Should we ask AI directly how they plan to do it?
It's all about control.
Yep.
"That is partly why I am suspicious of the apocalyptic framing. The more time we spend debating whether AI might exterminate humanity someday, the less time we spend examining what the companies and the state are doing with it right now."
Indeed, ask who benefits and always follow the money. Thank you Lau - you are dead right. In my many years as a corporate systems consultant, I have witnessed so many examples and variations on cartels and monopolies, it would make a long book. This AI instance is merely one of thousands going before it. For example:
In the Betamax vs VHS format war of the late 1970s and early 1980s, VHS won. This piece tells the story straight, then explains why, for anyone with old tapes today, the result still matters.
https://digital-archivist.com/betamax-vs-vhs/
OT/Some weekend entertainment for a curious investigator:
Nothing new under the sun eh? And does the earth really go around the sun? https://unstabbinated.substack.com/p/heliocentricity-and-scientism-part
This should be required reading for anyone thinking about A.I. over the next 10 years:
https://thatskaizen.substack.com/p/america-is-scared-of-ai-china-isnt?r=7kwue&utm_medium=ios
Reading about regulation, it reminds me of Atlas Shrugged. The big players asking for regulations that just happen to make it harder for anyone to catch up. Rand called it the aristocracy of pull.
Thank you for your article! I agree, and would add two things:
1. This is great marketing, because it does not look like marketing to most observers. We have come to expect marketing to sound positive.
2. Fear sells better today than it seems to have in the past. There is a large segment of the population that seems to psychologically need some apocalyptic threat to existence, and AI doomerism seems tailor made for them - they become "brand ambassadors" for it.
Fear is their tool to passify humanity. With the discussion on AI nobody looks at palantir, cbdc.
The LLMs are narritive closed, and ask it for something it is framed to avoid, and it refuse.
Off topic Lau but why is it that you and so many other financial writers only talk about Americans think, want and feel? Why are the rest of the world views not considered?
Thanks, John. Interesting question. The simple answer is that the U.S. is still the big dog in the global financial system. The dollar is the reserve currency, the petrodollar system, weakened as it is (arguably hanging by a thread), is still relevant, Treasuries sit at the center of global markets, and what the Fed does tends to spill over pretty much everywhere.
Same thing when I focus a lot on what Americans think, want or feel. It’s mostly because the U.S. is playing at the biggest table, and its decisions affect everyone else.
That said, I definitely don’t think the rest of the world is irrelevant. And I try to bring that perspective in as much as I can, whether it’s Japan, Europe, Argentina or pretty much anywhere in between.
Hmmm, I guess I can't argue with any of that well worded and direct response. All the references to what Americans think and feel still wind me up though :D I need to get over it!
Well that’s a cause ‘mericans, tRump, MAGA are all that matters!!! (NOT!!)
Nothing says protectionism than major developers of AI begging for government regulation.
America is in free fall because of government. Personal freedoms have been eviscerated in proportion to controls the leviathan has been allowed to unconstitutionally pilfer. Government approved evaluators have lead to more corruption and higher taxes while FDA approved foods permit legalized poison; pharma and the medical industrial complex knowingly kill patients; banks and financial firms sell undercapitalized, designed to fail ponzi schemes; law firms in cahoots with compromised courts peddle unconstitutional statutes and codes; and the EPA and it's environazi agencies get laryngitis when chemtrails comes up.
The courts when functioning within their constitutional guardrails would recognize the harm these companies are doing and shut down the data centers which have been allowed to mushroom. They're controlled by foreign entities and are surveilling citizens in violation of the 4th Amendment.
The answer is constitutional engagement starting in the counties. https://loudoun-liberty.org/why-counties-matter-most/
Thanks, Henry. Fix half of that list and we can probably call the American experiment rescued.
There is a link between these threats from the Absolute Idiocy leaders and the Effective Altruism group, started by Scam Bankrupt Fraud (SBF) and now shepherded by Dustin Moskovitz and a few others.
All the incidents which involved these models getting outside their sandbox were because the developers of those models INTENDED for that to happen. It's a power play, where they are saying, "See? This is a part of what we can do. Follow our demands before we do worse!" Their demand? Regulate us; therefore, we'll be granted a license to do whatever we want, without destroying the planet. In exchange, we'll keep this away from your enemies.
In other words: It's blackmail, from a bad James Bond script for a movie that never got made. Austin Powers, anyone?
Yeah, I think Austin Powers may be the better comparison.
The hysterics around AI (whatever the motive) are beginning to border on comical. Imagine actually believing you have the fate of humanity in your hands yet you can’t stop yourself from rushing forward to develop the threat so you publicly beg world governments to tie you to the mast and plug your ears so you can resist the sirens irresistible call to self destruction. At last, the altruism of Silicon Valley executives joining up with the benevolence of governments for all our salvation! Seems goofy beyond belief. Isn’t it more likely the hysterics about AI will end up being just another all too human runaway science fiction fantasy about how machines or aliens are determined to subjugate or destroy us? Remember Y2K?
>>At last, the altruism of Silicon Valley executives joining up with the benevolence of governments for all our salvation! Seems goofy beyond belief.
💯!
Fascinating. Thank you very much.
Free market capitalism only exists today in the underground economy. That tech oligarchs want to limit market entry through regulation is as common and predictable as death and taxes. It also seems to me that AI is one giant loss leader that will eventually have to price in the energy intensity of its essential inefficiencies. Meanwhile the Eloi will become addicted to, and dependent on its superficial use. Perhaps the carnage predicted is in the form of the further dumbing down of the incurious grazers who vote.
Regulatory capture is, no doubt, a part of the impulse by the folks associated the the frontier companies. That doesn't mean that they are not sincere in their belief that the development of AI from this point should be in the hands of folks/companies who will be conscious of the risks, and they hope, committed to benefiting rather than harming humanity a la Ethical Altruists. Nevertheless I still suspect there is a lot of self-dealing, self-protecting, self-promoting, and delusional self-hyping. Okay. I get it. SNAFU here there and everywhere. Keep investigating and analysing with your good sense of context and following the money, Lau. We appreciate it.
People are complicated, duplicitous creatures. Now imagine how much more 'complicated' they get when there are trillions of dollars at stake. Thanks for reading, Jay.
Did they care to describe how we are all going to be killed? Power failures? Bill Gates inserting rogue “vaccines” in our water. Turning off airplanes midair? Serving free BigMacs to everyone? Killing the cows and chicken? How? Pease. Should we ask AI directly how they plan to do it?
Well….1987 told us…greed is good…..