5 ms·

Advancement of normal technologies can bring about profound conflict, I feel that is one of the main takeaways from the history of the Industrial Revolution.

• krapp 1mo ago
  The conflict in that case (and, I think AI) came about not from the technology or its advancement, but the use of that technology for class warfare by capitalists. I can imagine an alternate future where AI advances without all of the social, environmental and economic harm that it does, where there isn't a literal cult of neo-reactionaries using it to advance their authoritarian political agenda, where mass copyright theft isn't an issue, where the internet isn't consumed by slop and businesses aren't trying to put their workforce out on the streets as fast as possible. Where people don't literally believe it will evolve into some kind of techno-God whose judgement we should fear. Where we're not shoving it into every nook, cranny and orifice of our society, even when it doesn't work, because it's "inevitable" and we "just have to learn to live with it." A world where AI is just technology and not whatever this insanity is that it breeds in people. I wish I lived in that world, because the hacker in me finds the technology fascinating, and I'd like to be able to use it without abandoning my morals or supporting the infrastructure of fascism.
  • Muromec 1mo ago
    >The conflict in that case (and, I think AI) came about not from the technology or its advancement, but the use of that technology for class warfare by capitalists. Does this distinction matter practically? It's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden stop. Do I care if I'm the one falling from 10 meters high?
    • deleted 1mo ago
      [deleted]
  • globalnode 1mo ago
    defeating fascism should be tackled as a project called "defeating fascism" head on, rather than as "defeating their tools". ai is just such a generic tool that can be used in all sorts of ways to solve problems that are traditionally difficult to solve, thats why we're seeing it used everywhere right now. maybe once we have had our self inflicted extinction event we will put more care into teaching survivors of the importance of working together and all the other good things
    • krapp 1mo ago
      Unfortunately, like Tesla, SpaceX, or any of the social media silos, AI isn't politically neutral or generic. Unless you're using a model you created and trained yourself entirely on data you own then you're at least indirectly supporting technofascism, mass surveillance (which particularly targets minorities,) mass psychological manipulation and propaganda, genocide and colonialism, environmental harm, deskilling and every other negative effect this technology has. It isn't possible to fight fascism without addressing the tools of fascism, and AI is a tool of fascism even if it's also useful.
      • globalnode 1mo ago
        so are mobile phones and hammers. gonna address those too? - what about clothing.. food..
        • krapp 1mo ago
          No. Just choosing not to reorganize my entire life around LLMs and not to offload my creativity and thought to them is enough. I reject your premise that unless one fights every possible battle, one can't fight any battle. But then I suspect you don't care one way or another what the effects of LLM usage are, you just don't want the pace of LLM acceleration interfered with. It's the same basic rationale that Americans have with guns, and they make the same bad faith arguments when gun control comes up.
          • globalnode 1mo ago