Send this list (or the entire essay) to your political representatives.
In no particular order---
1. Without "Open Source" (decentralized) A.I., there's no safety valve or protection against only a few people determining the content and use of the technology. In such a situation, there's a tremendous potential for abuse, for molding the public mind.
2. Augmented Reality (AR), which eventually most likely will be some sort of glasses (rather than a full headset or "helmet") will become affordable for most people in developed countries in the not-too-distant future. It will enable people to be in physical/actual reality, but change/augment parts (or all) of what they see. Some experts say it will be as addictive as heroin or crack cocaine, and over time easily could cause the user to become detached from actual reality. With further use, varying degrees of mental illness may loom large.
3. Relatively soon and not including AR, A.I. will be in everything made by humans. Initially, its purpose will be to suck up data about every one of us. [That's already in progress with the internet, SMART appliances owned by most people, social media, and a few other things...but not yet everything.] That data will be way beyond name, address, phone number, etc. It will include what you wear, what you read, your habits, what your total behavior is like, your politics, your spiritual beliefs, your economic beliefs, your health, and more. Basically, a model of you will be assembled. Why? The models will be sold for profit. The data will be orders of magnitude larger and more detailed than what's sold now.
4. The data obtained will be used to create other A.I.s (assistants, tutors, companions, mentors, and the like) which will be able to influence us in a certain direction (as consumers, or voters, or employees, or citizens, or volunteers, or other functions). Millions of people will be influenced simultaneously in real time. The current battle is over who gets to insert their values into these A.I.s because that will determine the direction of the influencing.
5. It will be difficult to opt out of having an A.I. assistant, tutor, mentor, etc. because those who do opt out will find it increasingly difficult to make a living, keep a job, advance in your job, get an education, change careers, and the like. All industries will be immersed in A.I., and employers will use the technology to either "improve" you, or replace you.
6. High Tech A.I. companies essentially are strip mining our data from us, using it to make a profit, but not compensating us. Plus, we have zero say in how our data is used. Data ownership is a key issue not being addressed by politicians.
7. As the availability of natural and social resources continues to diminish, augmented reality A.I. and mentoring/tutoring type A.I. will be relied upon more and more for both mental escape and learning or decision-making. If only a few people are controlling the content of those A.I.s, then the likelihood of authoritarian scenarios increases. So, too, does the likelihood of some sort of neofeudalism.
Go to the link on the post below (from last month) for many more details provided by John Robb: https://individualsovereignty.blogspot.com/2024/02/this-peril-goes-way-way-beyond-trump.html
As Robb points out, totalitarian communism was defeated largely because its system was overly centralized. The system of democratic countries, for the most part, is decentralized, which over time makes it more innovative and resilient. Unfortunately, though, with financialization and corporate globalization, democratic countries essentially have created a highly centralized system. Only a relatively small number of people control the direction of finance, economics, trade, and politics. If A.I. remains a "black box" (so to speak) with only a small number of corporations determining its content and direction, then our centralization problem will increase exponentially. There's a high degree of probability that a somewhat subtle form of Authoritarianism will follow. It's highly likely that a majority of people will be convinced to demand it.
Practically speaking, only politicians can prevent that "Brave New World". If society is to thrive with any degree of vibrancy, then A.I. must be opened up, decentralized. Inform your political representatives now.
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Not only my opinion. Good Luck to us All
