Due to AI: Now is the best time to be alive? But not 10 years from now?

[GammaGlobulin]

Dear Folks,

 

Do you agree with both statements/questions in the headline of this Topic?

 

Do you disagree?

 

This is not a Yes/No questionnaire.

 

These are Essay Questions.

 

Therefore, get out your Blue Books, and please reply with your thoughts.

 

This is not a pass/fail exercise, obviously.

 

Rather, this is one of those very deep philosophical Topics.

 

Please do your best.

 

You will be judged by your writing, and your creativity, as is always the case, around here.

 

Try your best, even if you might not, at first, think you are up to the task of thinking.

 

Thank you.

 

Best regards,

As always….

Gamma

[hankypankee]

The best time to be alive was the eighties and nineties. After Y2K, and especially with the invention of the iPhone and the rise of social media, everything started going downhill rapidly.
 

The smartphone has been an incredibly useful tool; for communication, information, navigation, financial transactions, music, photography, and more. But in the hands of younger generations, it has stunted intellectual development. These devices have proven far more beneficial for adults who had already developed intellectually by the time smartphones became mainstream.

 

AI is another brilliant, powerful tool, an exceptional enhancement that further expands our ability to access and interact with information through advanced technology. It’s simply another addition to the digital toolbox.

 

Ten years from now, things will likely be even worse, not because of technology, but due to tribalism, environmental collapse, war, and the steady rise of ignorance and lack of self-awareness in society.

 

I could keep going, but the more I say, the more grim the outlook becomes, and what I’ve said already is more than the average mind is willing or able to fully grasp. 

[Gandtee]

Born in London in 1933, I've experienced many bad bits but also the good bits. The late fifties through to the seventies were the best for me. Now? I'm just glad that I am ninety-one and not nineteen. I doubt I'll be around in ten years' time. But who knows?

[GammaGlobulin]

28 minutes ago, Gandtee said:

Born in London in 1933, I've experienced many bad bits but also the good bits. The late fifties through to the seventies were the best for me. Now? I'm just glad that I am ninety-one and not nineteen. I doubt I'll be around in ten years' time. But who knows?

 

You mean:  Due to AI?

 

I mean, this was the Topic....

Right?

 

DUE TO AI:  Blah, blah....

 

Did they have AI back then, in 1933?

 

Note: CONGRATULATIONS for living this long, so far.  Hope you break 120, and I am sure that you will.

 

Note2:  What is your golf handicap, by the way?

 

Note3:  You are one who might have the best perspective on the course of things.  The older we become, the better our perspective in some respects.

 

 

 

[GammaGlobulin]

45 minutes ago, hankypankee said:

Ten years from now, things will likely be even worse, not because of technology, but due to tribalism, environmental collapse, war, and the steady rise of ignorance and lack of self-awareness in society.

 

 

So then, you are completely discounting the impact of AI, during the period from now to "ten years from now"?

 

Is this what you are saying?

 

You are saying that due to environmental collapse and imminent war, AI, and AI development, will prove to be completely inconsequential, since any effects due to AI will be preempted by the other forces you mention?  This might prove to be true.

 

[save the frogs]

No, we're in the transition phase.

 

So 10 years from now, a lot of things will change.

Hard to say if it's "the best time to be alive". Some people don't like changes.

 

Self-driving cars are coming out this June from Elon Musk. I like those that concept, but eventually driving will be banned. But that might take 100 years. But people who love to drive may not like it.

 

There is no "best". It depends what you like. 

 

Also, we don't know the negative impacts of AI yet. We have to let the genie out of the bottle first. 

 

What is your P(Doom)? (probability of doom) ... Everyone needs to come up with a number.

 

 

 

 

 

[Negita43]

60's in the UK was great - sex, drugs and rock n Roll (well two out of 3 for me) - internet hardly started - AI meant artificial insemination and Government wasn't too powerful.

[Gandtee]

18 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

You mean:  Due to AI?

 

I mean, this was the Topic....

Right?

 

DUE TO AI:  Blah, blah....

 

Did they have AI back then, in 1933?

 

Note: CONGRATULATIONS for living this long, so far.  Hope you break 120, and I am sure that you will.

 

Note2:  What is your golf handicap, by the way?

 

 

In 1933 we had real intelligence, not artificial. Golf? Why spoil a good walk? Thanks for your good wishes.

[hankypankee]

40 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

So then, you are completely discounting the impact of AI, during the period from now to "ten years from now"?

 

Is this what you are saying?

 

You are saying that due to environmental collapse and imminent war, AI, and AI development, will prove to be completely inconsequential, since any effects due to AI will be preempted by the other forces you mention?  This might prove to be true.

 

You clearly don’t understand AI, so it’s hard to take anything you’re saying about it and your grandiose apocalyptic fantasies about it seriously. AI isn’t sentient, it doesn’t think, and it’s certainly not self-aware. It’s just an advanced tool that aggregates and organizes information from online sources. That’s it. A glorified information aggregator with a sleek interface designed to mimic human communication. You've watched too many Terminator and Matrix reruns. 

 

It’s not any smarter than a search engine, it’s just better at sounding like a person. But somehow, you’ve been fooled into thinking it’s something more. If you want to keep fantasizing about how it’s going to shape or control the future, go ahead. I won’t be joining you in that confused delusion.

 

AI is just another tool. And like all tools, it functions based on the input it receives. Garbage in, garbage out. It isn’t in control of anything.

 

The real threats aren’t artificial, they’re natural. You should be more worried about Mother Nature, about floods, food shortages, and the growing number of places becoming unlivable resulting in forced, human, mass migrations. Or better yet, about weapons of mass destruction. That’s where the real danger lies, not in a chatbot that rearranges text.

[Harrisfan]

Today is the only day that exists

[GammaGlobulin]

11 minutes ago, Gandtee said:

In 1933 we had real intelligence, not artificial. Golf? Why spoil a good walk? Thanks for your good wishes.

 

a.  Yes.  Golfing while walking is just far too frustrating and aggravating.  I stopped golfing long ago.

b. Since you have lived this far, then you will break 120.

c. Never worry about your golf handicap...because...it will shorten your life expectancy.

 

 

[Gottfrid]

Yep, my grandfather also had such questions and his relatives before that. 

[GammaGlobulin]

53 minutes ago, hankypankee said:

You've watched too many Terminator reruns.

 

But, who does not like Arnold?

 

I understand what you are saying.

You are saying the same thing as my fellow alum, Chomsky.

 

However, I see further than Chomsky, now.

I hope you will too, one day, before it's too late.

 

 

[GammaGlobulin]

28 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

relatives

 

Presumably, they were his ancestors?