My random thoughts

Anything that doesn't quite fit in elsewhere...
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funkervogt
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Re: My random thoughts

Post by funkervogt »

The AIs would conclude that humankind's interests were best served by sending us to a much better afterlife.
Vakanai
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Re: My random thoughts

Post by Vakanai »

funkervogt wrote: Wed Oct 26, 2022 5:03 pm In the future, if you have a low social credit rating and are likelier to trash the inside of an autonomous taxi, the only taxis that will let you in will be those with hard seats and vinyl floors that can be sprayed down and thick windows that can't be broken. Public buses already have the first two features.
I'm hoping that this future doesn't come to pass. I'm staunchly opposed to social credit systems, as it's ripe for abuse by those in power who get to decide what is socially good or bad - see China's social credit system (hint, those who openly disagree with the party or Xi Jinping have very low scores).

A better system is just having companies blacklist the individual from using their services. Same end result, but without the possibility of having your life made harder because your political views are in opposition to those in power.
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funkervogt
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Re: My random thoughts

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Within 20 years, it will be possible to build highly accurate digital copies of people that talk, act, and think just like them (this isn't the same as a mind upload). I think the process of creating a copy will involve continuous observation of the human as they go about their daily routines, plus a battery of written tests and interviews conducted by advanced chatbots. The most fun and interesting element of the process will be following the machine's instructions to go into unusual situations so it can see how the person behaves.

"You've never gone to a rap battle, so go and let me record what you do."

"Now that you're there, get up on stage and participate."

"Get drunk at a gay bar."
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funkervogt
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Re: My random thoughts

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Vakanai wrote: Fri Nov 25, 2022 6:00 am
funkervogt wrote: Wed Oct 26, 2022 5:03 pm In the future, if you have a low social credit rating and are likelier to trash the inside of an autonomous taxi, the only taxis that will let you in will be those with hard seats and vinyl floors that can be sprayed down and thick windows that can't be broken. Public buses already have the first two features.
I'm hoping that this future doesn't come to pass. I'm staunchly opposed to social credit systems, as it's ripe for abuse by those in power who get to decide what is socially good or bad - see China's social credit system (hint, those who openly disagree with the party or Xi Jinping have very low scores).

A better system is just having companies blacklist the individual from using their services. Same end result, but without the possibility of having your life made harder because your political views are in opposition to those in power.
I don't see how it would be different from casinos banning customers who were caught cheating.
Vakanai
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Re: My random thoughts

Post by Vakanai »

funkervogt wrote: Fri Nov 25, 2022 2:53 pm
Vakanai wrote: Fri Nov 25, 2022 6:00 am
funkervogt wrote: Wed Oct 26, 2022 5:03 pm In the future, if you have a low social credit rating and are likelier to trash the inside of an autonomous taxi, the only taxis that will let you in will be those with hard seats and vinyl floors that can be sprayed down and thick windows that can't be broken. Public buses already have the first two features.
I'm hoping that this future doesn't come to pass. I'm staunchly opposed to social credit systems, as it's ripe for abuse by those in power who get to decide what is socially good or bad - see China's social credit system (hint, those who openly disagree with the party or Xi Jinping have very low scores).

A better system is just having companies blacklist the individual from using their services. Same end result, but without the possibility of having your life made harder because your political views are in opposition to those in power.
I don't see how it would be different from casinos banning customers who were caught cheating.
Your example is more in line exactly with what I'm suggesting - a casino banning gamblers they've caught cheating is just like a robotaxi business banning users who break their rules and terms of service. Neither are social credit programs, where people are rewarded or penalized not by companies who are fully in their rights to withhold services from people who violate certain rules, like if someone streaks at a fast food restaurant and is subsequently banned from from that chain, but more like what China has now, where being a known supporter of the Hong Kong protesters or Taiwan's right to be it's own self governing country can negatively impact your chance at getting a loan or having to pay more for services. That is a social credit system, and it's quite dystopian in an Orwellian fashion. For example depending on who's in power in the USA, if we had a social credit system I might suffer more unduly for being a known liberal who supports LGBTQ rights. This distinction between companies having the right to refuse service and social credit is an important and fundamental difference to make. Companies and corporations have rights too, our capitalist system would fall apart in the week if they didn't, and that's fine. But social credit is just too easily used as a tool by authoritarian regimes to keep their populace in line and in check, and no one who values freedom should be in support of the idea.

Of course it doesn't have to be like that, social credit does have the capability to be used as a tool for the greater good in the world - but frankly it requires a government so noble and free from corruption that it just doesn't exist. The threat of misuse and abuse of such systems like in China's current example is just too great for the potential rewards which can be pursued by other means.
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funkervogt
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Re: My random thoughts

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Imagine a future where all humans have brain implants allowing us to share thoughts and feelings. Forced empathy would keep people from hurting each other, and forcible mind scans would become possible.
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ººº
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Re: My random thoughts

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funkervogt wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 11:44 pm Imagine a future where all humans have brain implants allowing us to share thoughts and feelings. Forced empathy would keep people from hurting each other, and forcible mind scans would become possible.
https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/464cec79c393a
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funkervogt
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Re: My random thoughts

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In the same way that The Borg ignored intruders on their space ships so long as they weren't threats, a hostile AGI will focus its resources on defeating the most threatening humans, while ignoring the others, at least until the first group was destroyed. Imagine the Global South watching, basically helpless but also unscathed, as the U.S., Europe, Russia, China, and Japan fight against something like Skynet. Though they weren't under attack, the people of the Global South would know their own long-term fate was being sealed by the conflict happening thousands of miles away.
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funkervogt
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Re: My random thoughts

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These beautiful, expensive wood species will someday be common thanks to genetic engineering for hardiness, and later, to the rise of lab-grown wood.
https://ligno.com.ua/en/news/33_the-mos ... -wood.html

For the same reason, illegal logging in poor countries will end thanks to a lack of demand.
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funkervogt
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Re: My random thoughts

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In the posthuman era, will toxic materials like asbestos and lead paint become widespread again, since posthumans and robots won't be hurt by them?
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