Game of Thrones, Firefly, Kim Kardashian, and the Real Dangers of AI
Re-posted from my blog here: http://richardeverts.com/got-firefly-kim-kardashian-and-the-real-dangers-of-ai/
This past month, I spoke at CPOSC 2018 on “The Real Reasons to be Afraid of AI”. I covered the big topics like Universal Basic Income, Deep Fakes, data monopolies, and supply chain weakness. Talks though need to be fun, and I was able to hit two Game of Thrones references (Theon & Night King), shout out to the Browncoats of the tech world, and of course, how Kim Kardashian may have prevented a specific AI apocalyptic event, too. Heck, I even covered DARPA and Nicolas Cage for good measure.
If you just want to watch, check it out!
The real challenge with this talk for me personally was the controversial nature of the topics, especially when speaking from a Tech stage. How often do other technologists want to face the overwhelming ideological homogeneity of our industry and talk not just about physical diversity, but mental diversity as well? In my personal conversations on both sides of the political aisle, a Tech Industry black list is clearly real like Hollywood of the 1950’s, with self-censoring and the Twitter witch hunts for wrong-think.
Is it proper to support DARPA’s goals? Some Google employees would say not. I’m not sure it’s so cut and dry.
Is the Spirit of the West, found in the cultural bases traced through the ancient Greeks, Romans, Europe, and now the United States, worth defending and discussing in the Age of AI? Does it even matter? If you follow critical theory, the dominating school of thought now in western education (tragically, now the most mentally homogenous industry), then you say no. Personally, I find it hard to believe people still utilize critical theory so much, but generations of people can get stuck in mental paradigms as Kuhn noted in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
As I say in the talk, the war to implement the initial steps of AI in the next 10 years and create a General AI in the next 30 — 40 years is truly one of the only battles that matter. (It will tie in with the only other battle, the battle for anti-aging, in the synthesis of wetware and AI extensions). If we all work together on areas of common interest towards this goal, then there is much to be accomplished from not only all the political parties in the US, but the different groups of people throughout.
That was ultimately my message, however, compromise is a dirty word today. Being real, authentic, and a leader has been confused with being inflexible and tyrannical. With any luck, this will change in the future.
I’m doing my part to make that happen.
From what I understand, people were pretty excited about the talk overall, which is good. I hope Arthur Weasley was right when he claimed, “Truth will out!”
So, if you made it this far, congrats.
For the talk, I do apologize for my not-so-good Chinese pronunciation, I am getting better.
Also, I am aware I mis-spoke on the x86 manufacturing base. My point was to focus on the challenges of smaller entrepreneurs building AI hardware in the US currently and I got carried away. Like most things in life, some who live and breathe this stuff made me aware of my error, and after a number of questions to verify, I simply changed me mind.
Thanks again, and hope to kindly see you out there!
