RE: Are You Drinking the Transhumanist Kool-Aid?
Problem I think is not with the technology or the innovations or AI.
It is the intent for which they are being built. Greed. Greed for more profits/money, more power more control. Most BIG wigs that sponsor (or who can sponsor) don't get into it for general welfare!
What happens when you develop a stealth machine that can do anything that humans can do and much better/faster - it does it without question.
What happens when you gift it with intelligence, it mocks our own intelligence and as I said before, those who are bulding these are (for most part) Greedy.
If these machines emulate those characteristics, they will DO a better job at being greedy for control and power than humans ever did. Lucky for them, they don't have a heart to hurt...
So yeah, we should be scared about the abuse the AI may come to yield
We should also be excited about the possibilities it will open humans to
The concern is, should we be more excited or more scared?!
Time will tell!
Many view the world as full of evil or full of good or somewhere in between. Some see "Greed" as evil, others an expression of honest humanity, seeking self-benefit. Personally, I think that's a bit of stretch of the word, but I do admit I'm influenced by Ayn Rand's writings and I am impressed without how individual actors striving for the virtue of rationality do create an amazing symphony of market forces and price discovery in a sea of chaos.
Not everyone is wanting to destroy the world. Read some Steven Pinker or Matt Ridley and you may see a different picture how the world really is getting much better on many levels, including our understanding of morality.
I was making a point.
I believe the farther the technology takes us away from nature the more miserable our lives be.
We have best communication technology now and Look at dinner table - probably the worst generation to converse in human terms.
Truth is not for all men but for those who seek it (Ayn Rand) and with technology humanity may not go on investigation truth but rather create and chase more illusion (3D, VR, AI)...
I am optimistic about what technology can and will do, that is the exciting part. It is the humans that swayed away by everything that concerns me.
You're still making a distinction between technology and nature. I see them as very closely related. The rise of technology by homo sapiens is a deterministic, natural process. When you say "in human terms" it reveals a bias. From my perspective, we'll soon have incredible conversations in VR with people around the world and not be limited by just the people in our immediate family. My thinking, currently, is that what we now call illusion will become more real than we currently realize. Our thoughts dictate our actions which impact physical reality.
But yes, I do think some caution is definitely in order. Humans being swayed or even controlled by others is not a good thing.