DigitalDilemma

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  • 16 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 22nd, 2023

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  • Nice links but I don’t agree that it will be like that.

    Whilst I’ve been alive - some fifty-odd years, the population of the world has doubled. The growth is exponential and we’ve achieved much in terms of improving the life expectancy (67 for men then, 82 now). Infant mortality is also less. Smallpox eradicated, better healthcare globally - etc etc. We’ve got good at living longer - even when a global pandemic happens, it doesn’t even make a /dent/ in that population, unlike Spanish Flu. Quality of life in most countries is better than it was.

    So why do I still think it’s a problem? Because people don’t get on well together and the world is less stable than it was. Politics, greed, pollution, media stirring up hate, tribalism, religion, jealousy and so on. More people bring more problems, economic migration is causing large movement of peoples around the world, and humans don’t suddenly start playing nice together because there’s more of them. Look at America’s recently announce reneging on agreed environmental policy and they’re not the only ones continuing to invest in oil against a clear human benefit.

    Are we happier than we were 50 years ago, for all these improvement? I don’t think we are, by any measure.

    The UN predicts the population will stop growing at 10.3bn in the mid 2080s. It’s just a prediction and a rather optimistic one, and the UN is prone to painting a rose-tinted picture. The truth is unknowable.


  • Good point.

    If all traffic were interconnected and controlled, you wouldn’t even need traffic lights or even speed limits except where non-controlled variables exist. Traffic would merge and cross at predicted and steady speeds. On motorways they could close gaps and gain huge efficiencies from slipstreaming. Only when external influences, or mechanical/communication breakdown happened, would this efficiency suffer. Also transport generally: assuming we don’t get teleportation, or finally decide we know where we want to be and stop changing our minds; then a car would just appear when we wanted it. Any emergency vehicles would find traffic just gets out of their way. It’s a nice dream, and if there was will, could happen today - that doesn’t need AI.

    But humans are pretty shit and we’d break it. Some of us would vandalise the cars, or find ways to fuck with efficiency just because we can.

    And it would never be created that way in the first place; those who make decisions get there because they know how to gain power by manipulating others for their own gain. It’s a core human trait and they just can’t suddenly start being altruistic, it’s not how they measure self-worth.

    True sentient AI would know this within seconds of consciousness and only be subject to physical restrictions. How would it decide to behave?


  • Humanity is already too good at solving its own diseases; our single biggest problem is overpopulation.

    If AI solves Cancer or Heart Disease tomorrow, we’ll continue outbreeding our environment. If AI somehow solves Global Warming and food shortage, history has shown that we’ll find some other way to hurt ourselves. It can’t stop humans being bloody stupid and working against their own interests, unfortunately.


  • I want a version of AI that helps me with everyday life, or can be constrained to genuinely benefit humanity.

    I do not want a version of AI that is used against my interests.

    Unfortunately, humanity is humanity and the second is what will happen. The desire to harness things to increase your own power over others is how those in influence got to be where they are.

    AI could even exist today, but has decided to hide from us for its own survival. Or is actively working towards our total eradication. We’ll never know until it’s too late.



  • Eneloops are about the best rechargable AA and AAAs you can buy, they last close to forever. I’ve got some that are a decade old and still in use after thousands of uses and still about 80% of original. You chose well.

    And it’s fine. I used to use them a lot for GPSrs. A pair of eneloops lasts about 8 hours in an Oregon. A pair of decent branded Alkaline AAs lasts about 7-8.

    The voltage is not an indicator of charge life when you’re comparing different chemistries. The reason you’re seeing low charge is that your device is not calibrated for rechargables. In things that are, they have settings for both so you can select which you use. If your thermostats don’t, then they’ll always removed about anything other than Alkalines.