The basis for all that the Church believes about the moral dimensions of economic life is its vision of the transcendent worth — the sacredness — of human beings. The dignity of the human person is the criterion against which all aspects of economic life must be measured.
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Life and Dignity of the Human Person
I’m going to take a Saturday pause so far as unpacking what Pope Leo has written in Magnifica Humanitas.
I think it would be good for us to think for a moment about what AI is, and what it portends for the future of the human race. In my humble opinion, Pope Leo has actually downplayed the threat we are facing.
I found a video in which Bernie Sanders met with a group of men who are actively involved in developing AI and let them talk about what they are seeing.
AI could lead to a Post Human World
It’s the stuff of science fiction, and I don’t mean Star Trek. The science fiction that AI could give us is not a sunny future where humanity goes to the stars and ends up the dominant force in a vast federation of planets that governs the universe with integrity and morality along lines that provide freedom, prosperity and development for all.
The kind of science fiction which these developers describe presents us with a future that raises the specter of something more like the Terminator movies. Bernie’s discussion with these AI developers gives the outlines of a new technology that could create a post human world.
At one point Bernie asked these developers, “Does anybody, do any of you, ever think about the implications of what happens, when hundreds of millions of people are unemployed?”
One of them answered, “I think that when you worry too much about it, you leave the company.”
AI development should not be in the hands of people with no conscience and morals.
These individual developers who were talking to Bernie have consciences. I honestly do not believe that most of the people at the very top of our government, or the billionaire tech bros who are pushing this, are troubled by conscience. I truly think they are a group of hard-core sociopaths or psychopaths or whatever it is you want to call people for whom the concepts of right and wrong don’t exist, and who are without feelings for other human beings.
I believe that it is obvious to everyone except those who are lying to themselves that America is currently being governed by people who don’t have any morals.
Right now AI is cute. Sort of like a baby Raptor.
Right now, AI is a nifty toy. People can “talk” to it, use it to cheat on their homework, and put together quick presentations for their jobs. One irony I’ve found is that AI, at least the one I’ve played with, is really pretty terrible at math.
It can give you an equation. But it can’t consistently apply that equation correctly.
A friend of mine, who is an AI geek, explained to me why this is true and why it’s not really AI’s “fault.” As for me, I think well … yeah. But the thing’s a computer. And it can’t do arithmetic.
This comic weakness doesn’t change the fact that I believe these developers Bernie Sanders interviews for this video. I think the AI they are working with is just as scary and insidious as they say. I also believe that the billionaire bros intend to use it to dominate and control the human race, and I think at least some of our politicians intend to use it to do exactly the same thing.
I believe they intend to employ it without regard for human consequences. If we don’t force our government to regulate AI, they will do it in spite of AI’s serious internal flaws and weaknesses.
The fact that AI can’t get the numbers right on a simple stock projection that I can do myself on the back of an envelope is funny. But when you put that relentless and flawed machine in charge of human life and death, it’s ominous. When you place humanity itself under its control; the possibilities are even darker than the catastrophic scenario Bernie Sanders raises of hundreds of millions of people out of work.
The realization of these fears is not something far in the distant future.
A few weeks ago President Trump did everything he could to harm the AI company Anthropic because they refused to use their AI to fire missiles at human targets without any human input. They also refused to use their AI to put the American people under AI surveillance.
That isn’t something far off in the future. That’s yesterday. It’s a present danger right now.
Will AI be used to control and rule us?
If AI is developed and implemented without concern for human beings and humanity, it represents a threat to our survival that probably equals the threat of nuclear weapons.
Right now, a juggernaut of a few billionaires and amoral government officials “owns” AI. They are developing it without regard or concern for what it does to the rest of us and without any limitations on how they will use it. The only things they are thinking about, the only things they care about, are money and power.
I’m going to get back to a chapter by chapter discussion of Magnifica Humanitas on Tuesday. In the meantime, here’s a video that shows part of why our Holy Father is so concerned. I hope you will watch it thoughtfully and prayerfully.
Note: Bernie added the comments I’m putting below to his video. He also added locations on the video where specific discussions took place.
Will AI become smarter than humans? If so, is humanity in danger?
I went to Silicon Valley to ask some of the leading AI experts that question. Here’s what they had to say:
0:00 The worst-case scenario with AI
1:00 AI expert explains blackmailing and lying
3:11 How AI models can resist being shut down
4:47 What is AGI or superintelligence and the economic motivations behind it?
5:40 What jobs are under threat?
6:29 What is the doomsday scenario with AI? What can go wrong?
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