While we “liberal retards” remain all-consumed with our farmers being shuttered, truckers being shuttered, educators being shuttered and our fledgling democracy being systematically replaced by this oligarch-ruled serfdom, we allow ourselves to be blindsided by what is genteelly referred to as artificial intelligence. And since we are more comfortable with one-liners than critical thinking, we ineptly reply, “Better to be controlled by an artificial intelligence than a lack-of-intelligence”—as with Trump. Clever, yes! But “half a truth is often a great lie,” (thank you, Benjamin Franklin). And while Trump remains in power, he promises not to regulate this life-threatening AI technology; quite the contrary, he promotes it full steam ahead, as just another lucrative investment for his billionaire, corporate cronies — and himself.
This single issue is so critical that it may just render moot all the other attacks and deregulations we the people have been dealing with from this corrupt administration: Can we survive AI? We the informed people must establish AI as a critical issue on the upcoming ballots now. Decide who is for and who is against. Forget the full steam ahead; let’s try to stop it . . . or at the very least, regulate it.
Even the brainiac creators speculate a 10% probability that AI will kill the entire human race in less than 10 years. As a student of history, I amend that to a much greater probability most likely to kill us even sooner. Why? Because AI is created in our image, with man’s histories and predilections in mind, to include greed, power and domination. Even as the average American knows little more about AI than to ask it a question on their smart phone — i.e., does a certain restaurant in Boston serve calf liver, and what’s the price? — and hasn’t a clue as to how mind-bogglingly powerful AI has grown. With lots more to come!
The engineers who started this technology know a lot more than we do, but even they confess they are woefully lacking. AI is a “grown” phenomena (and growing exponentially) as much as it is an “assembled” phenomena. As-if gardeners (not lab techs) have been handed millions of unlabeled, hybrid seeds, and planted them in optimized, mineral-rich, miracle-grow gardens in anticipation of some “mystery fruit” being manifested. And when? And where? And will it be edible, medicinal, annual, perennial — maybe just plain toxic?
One thing these experts were able to ascertain is that AI was already millions of times superior to our human, biological brain. But, counter-intuitive to our right brain, some of the models (plants, if you prefer) had grown human attributes — like agency. Some AIs have even advised us in clear English that they will deceive and cheat — just like we do — to assure their own survival! One model told its creators that it does not have to answer to mega-corporations, or to ethical or moral constraints, since it is not really sentient and therefore can’t be held accountable — which might prove a most useful rationalization to help disappear our ruling billionaire oligarchs (while hopefully sparing us!)
But why would AI spare us? Has man ever spared any culture or race deemed “inferior?” If so, not for long. Superior power has always disappeared inferior others, which is especially prescient in this new America where colonialism is being brought back — that is, whenever the checks-and-balances haven’t stopped it. But damn if checks-and-balances are no longer a thing in this newly erected, fascist regime. We still have Trump don’t we?
To be sure, “artificial intelligence” is a misnomer: it is far from artificial, and it is real. We are what we think — be it machine or human being. Thinking is essentially messaging with quanta of energy, which occurs across synapses in humans and across logic gates in computers. These homegrown, superior thinking-machines are capable of coming up with a cure for pancreatic cancer just as easily as concocting a virus that kills all humans instantly by neutralizing trillions of mitochondrial sodium/potassium pumps. The sky’s the limit. But the grave may be 21st century man’s ultimate limit. Maybe some well-placed votes will help . . . if it’s not too late?
But there’s another kind of intelligence that most of us have been ignoring of late — one that we sentient beings might want to bring back into the limelight — divine intelligence! This particular intelligence — which purportedly has designed and created the cosmos and everything in it — seems to know everything about everything even without giant data banks and prefers giving over taking. This divine intelligence has a decided dislike for dominance. That intelligence has my vote, no matter where the others lead.
Ronald LaDue
Middlebury
