I see no sadness, just a tool that is globally available to almost anyone […] and has the capacity to elevate human cognition
Kind of off-topic, but I’m genuinely curious: how old are you if I might ask?
I’m a gen-Xer myself, and I see AI as one of the greatest advances for mankind that could have been, that is quickly being turned into a tool of utter social devastation by greedy capitalist psychopaths, putting profits before all, putting people out of a job, pushing them into poverty while widening the already obscene inequality gap between ordinary working Joes and the ultra-billionnaires. My own prediction is that all of this will end badly, and blood will be shed when enough people are unable to feed their families because AI has rendered their jobs obsolete.
All I see in AI is sad times ahead, that will pass eventually and probably lead to a better life for everybody, but not before I’m long dead and a lot of people of today have suffered greatly because of it.
But here’s the thing: whenever I discuss AI with friends and coworkers, I’m always shocked by the disconnect between people my age and people even only 15 years younger: younger folks genuinely seem to think it’s a great time to be alive, to be part of the brave new AI world, and they genuinely can’t wait to be part of it. And all I can think of - I and people my age alike - is “How can they not see what’s unfolding?”
That’s why I’m curious what age you are. If I was to guess, I’d say you’re under 40. Did I guess right? 🙂
Ultimately it doesn’t matter though: either we older folks are right and the great disaster is coming, or we’re wrong and we’ll look like fools - and we’ll probably end up just as clueless about new technologies as our grandparents were with computers. Either way, whatever must happen will happen…