Having listened to almost the whole of Europe 2031 ai - https://europe2031.ai/ - (it is an imaginative speculation about the near future in a world with very rapidly improving ai capabilities) - I would love to know the reaction to it of others who understand the issues it deals with better than I do - & are generally better informed than me on the topic (basically almost everyone, I suspect).
One thing that struck me about the piece is that vast areas of the world, with huge populations & economies, (India, Southern America, Africa) don't seem to get a mention - will the populations in those areas sit idly by as things spiral?
Leaving that question aside, for me perhaps the most striking thing about the scenario Europe 2031 ai paints is the assumption it is based upon - the idea that this new, ever more powerful tool will be allowed to just hurtle on unchecked, bringing the majority of people no spiritual or financial enrichment, while causing almost unimaginable disruption.
A very few will become very wealthy and some medical breakthroughs may, (or may not), be made: will that be enough to keep the bulk of humanity onside as ai takes over? Will societies really allow meaning to be removed from the lives of many, almost entirely in order to profit a few?
Already the West is in political turmoil because too many people feel that nobody in power listens to them or acts on their behalf. Will an ever enlarging ai presence be accepted in our restless contemporary world?
What are we ushering in exactly - and do we have a choice? Is ai, like the atomic bomb, a double-edged sword we might one day wish we had rejected? Is it too late to take the Bartleby approach?
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