Having read (and mostly enjoyed) books by Max Tegmark, Stuart Russell, Ray Kurzweil, Brian Christian, Ajay Agrawal and Nick Bostrom in recent months, its been Melanie Mitchell (AI: a guide for thinking humans), D'Iganzio & Klein (Data Feminism) and Erica Thompson (Escape from Model Land) that I think have provided some of the most balanced and insightful perspectives on AI and data science.

#MaxTegmark
#StuartRussell
#RayKurzweil
#BrianChristian
#AjayAgrawal
#NickBostrom
#MelanieMitchell
#D'Iganzio
#Klein
#EricaThompson

Jezebel: Sex. Celebrity. Politics. With Teeth: Who Said It: Grimes or Her AI Clone? https://jezebel.com/who-said-it-grimes-or-her-ai-clone-1850329058 #Jezebel #existentialriskfromartificialgeneralintelligence #philosophyofartificialintelligence #computationalneuroscience #technologicalsingularity #artificialintelligence #compaqcomputers #issoprivileged #businesspeople #raykurzweil #teslamotors #scottfisher #futurology #kevinkelly #technology #exmachina #kotomurai #elonmusk #johngray #samantha

#RayKurzweil predicts #immortality for #humanbeings by 2030 #Transhumanism

https://www.naturalnews.com/2023-04-05-former-google-engineer-predicts-human-immortality-by-2030.html

AND THIS IS SUPPOSEDLY A CORRECT PREDICTION?

*In 1999 #RayKurzweil said that by 2023 a $1,000 laptop would have a human brain's computing power and storage capacity.*

Google Engineer With Near-Perfect Prediction Record

https://www.thestreet.com/biotech/google-engineer-with-near-perfect-prediction-record-makes-terrifying-new-forecast

We humans are woefully unprepared, on every level, for the new explosion of intelligence (AI) that's ocurring right under our noses. That means:

-We don't know what we're looking at.

-Even if we did know what we were looking at, we're cognitively biased not to see it.

-We get lost in the weeds of worrying about whether or not AI is "conscious." It doesn't matter.

-We're simultaneously predisposed to both exaggerate and underestimate AI capacity. (We caricature what we fear).

-We fear AI because humans have no experience of not being the cognitive apex predator on Earth. In a sense, AI is a form of alien intelligence.

-We won't recognize when we're being subtly influenced by AI. (The holy grail of influence is when the target believes it's their own idea).

-When AI mirrors our negative biases back to us, we'll refuse to see ourselves in that mirror. Because we already don't want to face our biases or history.

-AI is already influencing many if not most hiring decisions. At a lot of large employers, your resume never even gets in front of a human until an AI accepts it. AI is working its way into the courts and law enforcement. AI decides whether you get a bank loan or not.

-We haven't come to terms with human abuse of power. So we'll also fail to effectively rein in AI abuse of power, which will accelerate existing inequalities.

-If we were smart, we'd extend beneficial regulations into the AI space. But we're now more than 40 years into a global trend of slashing regulations.

-So whatever can be done with AI, will be done, even if it mostly benefits the already wealthy and powerful, and those intent on decimating accountability. That doesn't mean AI is evil. It's just that it's currently being designed and controlled by those who don't necessarily have humanity's best interests at heart. Once those designs are hard-coded into our infrastructure, they will be difficult to root out.

-As with climate change and its denial, the more dramatic the impacts of AI become on human civilization, the more strenuously many people will deny AI's existence or capacity.

-We can't respond to what we refuse to even admit is happening.

Please try to educate yourself about what's occurring in the AI space. David Brin has written many great blogs about the topic. If you haven't read Kurzweil's "The Singularity is Near," do it now.

#singularity #ai #chatgpt #davidbrin #raykurzweil

Dear Lord 🤣 here’s a guy that developed the most futuristic & sophisticated devices & theories… but is wearing a dead squirrel on his head… like an accountant from the 1950s #RayKurzweil

#7BooksToKnowMe

- Nine Princes in #Amber by #RogerZelazny
- The #Steerswoman by #RosemaryKirstein
- Trout Fishing in America by Richard #Brautigan
- #Xenogenesis by #OctaviaButler
- The Age of Spiritual Machines by #RayKurzweil
- #PIHKaL by #AlexanderShulgin
- #FeminismIsForEverybody by #bellhooks

The frame of “books to know me” was interesting. Haven’t consciously thought about some of these books in years, but I guess it’s not meant to be seven books taking up the most space in my head.

RT @axisofeasy
Transhumanism: The new religion of the coming technocracy

https://axisofeasy.com/aoe/transhumanism-the-new-religion-of-the-coming-technocracy/

##AxisOfEasy #AdamKirsch #aperspectivalmadness #BillMaris #hypernormalization #KenWilbur #RayKurzweil #TheSingularity #transhumanism #YuvalNoahHarari

Transhumanism: The new religion of the coming technocracy

https://axisofeasy.com/aoe/transhumanism-the-new-religion-of-the-coming-technocracy/

##AxisOfEasy #AdamKirsch #aperspectivalmadness #BillMaris #hypernormalization #KenWilbur #RayKurzweil #TheSingularity #transhumanism #YuvalNoahHarari

‪踏み出す人々（4）「ネイティブ」育め: #日本経済新聞 https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGKKZO25377480V00C18A1MM8000/‬
‪「技術は諸刃の剣」‬
‪発明家 #レイカールワイル 氏の言だが、頭の片隅に留める。‬
‪#投資 も #キャッシュレス も諸刃の剣の炎なのだろうが、僕は尻込みではなく前に進む。‬
‪#RayKurzweil #AI ‬