technology and society
Is material abundance actually possible?: Distribution critics
The richest country in history The United States. 37 million in food insecurity. 580,000 sleeping outside on a given night. Infrastructure grade of C-minus from its own engineers. If abundance were a function of productive capacity, the US would have achieved it decades ago.... Is material abundance actually possible?: The Story
Enough for ten billion In 2023, global agriculture produced enough calories to feed approximately 10.1 billion people. The planet held 8.1 billion. That same year, 735 million people experienced chronic hunger — a number that had risen since 2019.... What makes learning about the ultimate easier in the modern era, and what makes it harder?: Modernists
Diana A woman named Diana sat in a therapist’s office in Portland and said the sentence that begins a thousand modern spiritual journeys: "I think I need to meditate." She had left the Southern Baptist church at twenty-two after her pastor said her depression was a failure of... What makes learning about the ultimate easier in the modern era, and what makes it harder?: The Story
Ten thousand people in silence In 2003, a Burmese meditation teacher named S. N. Goenka filled Madison Square Garden with ten thousand people sitting in silence. Most had found their way there through a website.... If machines do most of the work, what do the humans do?: Virtue and vocation
Ora et labora In 529, Benedict of Nursia wrote a Rule: prayer and work. Not prayer instead of work. The conjunction is the theology. The baker who rises at four is not earning a living. He is participating in the sustenance of his community.... What's actually happening with AI?: Rationalists
The number that should bother everyone Zero. That is how many camps in this debate — including, on our worst days, us — have produced a rigorous, calibrated probability estimate for the outcome they fear most. The accelerationists assert civilizational flourishing.... What's actually happening with AI?: The Story
A six-year-old in San Francisco told an LLM to build her a game about a cat that collects stars. She could not spell "function." Within forty minutes she had a working program with a scoreboard.... Has social media broken our brains?: The Story
In 2017, Facebook’s own data scientists found that Instagram made teenage girls feel worse about their bodies. Thirty-two percent of teen girls said so directly. The company shelved the report. Four years later, Frances Haugen walked out with the documents.... The Open Question March 18: How do we reason about the future given AI? I find this topic extremely perplexing, and endlessly fascinating.
- What are we raising our kids to be ready for? What skills don't matter anymore that we used to hold sacred, and what do we need to emphasize?
- Will we have universities?
- Where to invest time/energy?
- Where to invest money? Will money even matter?
- Purpose and meaning, etc...
especially when I factor in stuff like Nate Soares talking about If Anyone Builds It Everyone Dies, Rob Miles and Jeffrey Ladish communicating the wild risks involved in AI acceleration, there's almost too much to contemplate at once, and I'd love y'all's help.
Some convos already on UpTrust that might be relevant:
- Blake on AI collaboration
- Tommy on TikTok brain with AI
- Renee on Older people adopting AI
- Leif on Digital Mystics
- Alex on AI & the Second Coming of Christ
- Dave on an AI Safety introduction he likes
#openquestion
AI can be a trap, but it can also be a tool. When the internet first became popular in the mid-1990s, many people believed that it was full of porn. Everyone was afraid of the unknown and making up stories to support their fears.... AMA with Tim Urban
Wednesday, 3/4 at 2:00 PM CT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJqtVCgxXTE Post questions you're curious about here, and continuously during the conversation.... The Open Question Feb 25: What's the future of America? Are we (USA) in a decline? Are we thriving? Does it matter? Think The Fourth Turning, Ray Dalio's changing world order, The Decline of the Roman Empire, rise of China, and whatever else you bring.
#openquestion
ha! I appreciate this idea... I think at least elon thinks he can be? And that optimus robots will be part of it... My guess is that he's too engineering minded, and that there's a political/social skill people need to be able to do this that Elon doesn't have.... AI inevitably will change the film industry forever. Deal with it.
Many of my friends in the film industry HATE AI. The hate the fact that AI will collapse the status quo in the industry. For some reason they prefer the studios to gate keep everything. I just don't get it.... AMA with Nate Soares. Wednesday 2/4 at 10am CT
Author of If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies answers questions about why superhuman AI would kill us all.
One takeaway I had from the metacrisis conversation is that the challenge isn’t whether we use AI, but how. I don’t want systems that do my work for me or hide me from it.... AMA with Nate Soares. Wednesday 2/4 at 10am CT
Author of If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies answers questions about why superhuman AI would kill us all.
On the Mark to Stop Super Intelligence page, the case is that we're set on a path to create a super-intelligence that will destroy us. We believe that if any company or group, anywhere on the planet, builds an artificial superintelligence using anything remotely like current... AMA with Nate Soares
Wednesday 2/4 at 10am CT
Author of If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies answers questions about why superhuman AI would kill us all.
What is something you admire about each candidate? Inspired by Brian's post
I feel you, this is partly why I don't follow politics or the news. Politicians are great projection screens for my unconscious guilt or whatever, great ways for me to feel justified in my anger but in the end myself and everyone else worse off for it.... Hey Gang. Hey there! I am a children's book author, part time travel agent and sports nut. Hope everybody's hanging in there.
https://www.aaronfoxwrites.comI know so many of us here agree that creativity is important to humanity. AI is a tool, much like a hammer. A hammer can build a wall, or be wielded to knock one down.... Hey Gang. Hey there! I am a children's book author, part time travel agent and sports nut. Hope everybody's hanging in there.
https://www.aaronfoxwrites.comHey, thanks, good question! I think it's hard for anything not to be impacted by AI. Artists of all kinds are rightfully fighting back because AI has never been able to capture human imagination....