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The last time my family was replaced by technology

339 points · 641 comments · megalomanu

  1. glimshe · · focus · HN ↗
    There are two key elements in the current AI fearmongering:

    1) People think they can predict the future

    2) People think humans can't adapt

    The number of disruptive "game changing" technologies throughout history is immense. There's no question some people get negatively affected, but humanity as a whole has prospered because of these disruptions.

    Literally every time, including during the industrial revolution, people thought it was game over for society, good manners, the youth, the planet etc.

    Keep cool and try to adapt to the inevitable change. The next generation will certainly do it and leave you behind if you stay in a corner denying the new reality.

    1. Forgeties79 · · focus · HN ↗
      Why is it whenever people try to downplay the efficacy of LLM’s evangelists go “there’s literally never been anything like this,” but the moment people critique them or try to weigh their impact on society the response is “well it’s nothing we haven’t seen before”?

      The amount of money flowing and the sheer scale of all of this stuff is without precedent. We are seeing governments from the local to federal level literally shift their economies because of all the speculation. We are clearly experiencing a moment of sorts, and anybody who is worried about what the fallout will be is just handwaved away as ignorant fear mongers. Unless you are the head of these companies doing it in a disingenuous way to pump up your valuation, then suddenly it’s legitimate - but not so legitimate that we should do anything besides let the US government build a moat for them!

      1. glimshe · · focus · HN ↗
        You're mixing a bunch of different "people" in the same bag. I'm not the one saying "there's never been anything like this before".

        The investment is massive, but not bigger than other projects by an order of magnitude. Major wars were bigger than AI. The dot com bubble was 2-3T dollars.

        1. Forgeties79 · · focus · HN ↗
          If we’re comparing war between entire nations to speculative economic investment than I’m not sure I need to make any more points.
          1. win311fwg · · focus · HN ↗
            There may not be so much in the way of soldiers in the field guns blazing, but we are very much seeing a 'cold war' emerging with AI at the centre of it. The incentives for nations to spend are essentially the same in cold and hot wars.
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