DEEP SCRATCH

Tag: humanity

  • Spaceship Earth: Buckminster Fuller at MIT

    Spaceship Earth: Buckminster Fuller at MIT

    The earliest known use of the term[1] is a passage in Henry George‘s best known work, Progress and Poverty[2] (1879). From book IV, chapter 2:

    It is a well-provisioned ship, this on which we sail through space. If the bread and beef above decks seem to grow scarce, we but open a hatch and there is a new supply, of which before we never dreamed. And very great command over the services of others comes to those who as the hatches are opened are permitted to say, “This is mine!”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceship_Earth

    First, I’d like to explore a few thoughts about the vital data confronting us right now — such as the fact that more than half of humanity as yet exists in miserable poverty, prematurely doomed, unless we alter our comprehensive physical circumstances. It is certainly no solution to evict the poor, replacing their squalid housing with much more expensive buildings which the original tenants can’t afford to reoccupy. Our society adopts many such superficial palliatives.

    https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Operating_Manual_for_Spaceship_Earth
  • Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter

    Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter

    A lot of food for thought, I generally agree with the sentiments and without digressing to far from the point, would add that there should also be a pause on giant weapons development and giant financial institutions, for similar reasons.

    I strongly feel that the discussions about policy and regulation should include a wide cross section of people, not all of them AI professionals or computer scientists, or government officials and giant global institutions. A comprehensive open discussion must include a comprehensive array of human beings, their concerns, desires, and alternative solutions to these big problems and paradoxes.

    We may all eventually have to confront the AI singularity looming on the horizon, and therefore take this pause period to refresh our explanatory knowledge. Perhaps try reading some Shakespeare, James Joyce and Robert Anton Wilson, discover your inner and outer humanity and embrace the art of language charged to the highest degree. A panpsychist approach would pay respect and honor all entities, everywhere, all the time. Take caution. My 5c.
    –SJP

    “AI systems with human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity, as shown by extensive research[1] and acknowledged by top AI labs.[2] As stated in the widely-endorsed Asilomar AI Principles, Advanced AI could represent a profound change in the history of life on Earth, and should be planned for and managed with commensurate care and resources. Unfortunately, this level of planning and management is not happening, even though recent months have seen AI labs locked in an out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no one – not even their creators – can understand, predict, or reliably control.”AI systems with human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity, as shown by extensive research[1] and acknowledged by top AI labs.[2] As stated in the widely-endorsed Asilomar AI Principles, Advanced AI could represent a profound change in the history of life on Earth, and should be planned for and managed with commensurate care and resources. Unfortunately, this level of planning and management is not happening, even though recent months have seen AI labs locked in an out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no one – not even their creators – can understand, predict, or reliably control.

    Contemporary AI systems are now becoming human-competitive at general tasks,[3] and we must ask ourselves: Should we let machines flood our information channels with propaganda and untruth? Should we automate away all the jobs, including the fulfilling ones? Should we develop nonhuman minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart, obsolete and replace us? Should we risk loss of control of our civilization? Such decisions must not be delegated to unelected tech leaders. Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable. This confidence must be well justified and increase with the magnitude of a system’s potential effects. OpenAI’s recent statement regarding artificial general intelligence, states that “At some point, it may be important to get independent review before starting to train future systems, and for the most advanced efforts to agree to limit the rate of growth of compute used for creating new models.” We agree. That point is now.

    Therefore, we call on all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4. This pause should be public and verifiable, and include all key actors. If such a pause cannot be enacted quickly, governments should step in and institute a moratorium.

    AI labs and independent experts should use this pause to jointly develop and implement a set of shared safety protocols for advanced AI design and development that are rigorously audited and overseen by independent outside experts. These protocols should ensure that systems adhering to them are safe beyond a reasonable doubt.[4] This does not mean a pause on AI development in general, merely a stepping back from the dangerous race to ever-larger unpredictable black-box models with emergent capabilities.

    AI research and development should be refocused on making today’s powerful, state-of-the-art systems more accurate, safe, interpretable, transparent, robust, aligned, trustworthy, and loyal.

    In parallel, AI developers must work with policymakers to dramatically accelerate development of robust AI governance systems. These should at a minimum include: new and capable regulatory authorities dedicated to AI; oversight and tracking of highly capable AI systems and large pools of computational capability; provenance and watermarking systems to help distinguish real from synthetic and to track model leaks; a robust auditing and certification ecosystem; liability for AI-caused harm; robust public funding for technical AI safety research; and well-resourced institutions for coping with the dramatic economic and political disruptions (especially to democracy) that AI will cause.

    Humanity can enjoy a flourishing future with AI. Having succeeded in creating powerful AI systems, we can now enjoy an “AI summer” in which we reap the rewards, engineer these systems for the clear benefit of all, and give society a chance to adapt. Society has hit pause on other technologies with potentially catastrophic effects on society.[5]  We can do so here. Let’s enjoy a long AI summer, not rush unprepared into a fall.”

    https://futureoflife.org/open-letter/pause-giant-ai-experiments/


    Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter

  • Thoughts On Race Identity Politics Conspiracy

    Identity?

    Our pen names, pet names, imaginary friends and guardian entities are not just simply fiction. (a lot depends on who you’re talking to). Yes, we are our names and social security numbers, our birth certificate and our identity cards, but we are so much more than that. Inner self-identity can be deceiving. In a digital landscape of splintered digital identities, consider becoming/seeking the author of your authentic identity by doing language, before it does you. Work with your dog-given infinite-flux of beingness to track and trace distinguishing features, differences…between biological, written and imagined identities, seeking group narrative story as a means to investigate inner/outer unity of beingness. Find coherence in feedback from the tribes.  

    Race?

    Our ancestor worship and cultural genetic complex of origins is not fiction, it’s in religion for some people, it’s within biological genetic family tree diagrams for others, but it’s so much more too. Outward appearances can be deceiving. Use your innate human abilities to distinguish contour, tone, pattern and features for celebrating similarities and showing empathy where injustice and tragedy is endured by any tribe. A rainbow of inclusive narrative stories. India, Asia, Africa, Indonesia, America’s and Europe are all in the story. Seek out new narrative stories in groups to celebrate the never ending story of races, demonstrate once and at the same time: honoring of ancestors, by sharing, comparing with your tribes and the others. The tale of the tribe is a tale/story including all the other tribes, by default a rainbow coalition of earth peoples. We’re all in it together trying to make it (the story) cohere. Actung! never underestimate the stupidity of people in large groups. 

    Politics?

    Progressive dreams of a world without war, where all are housed, fed, clothered and loved is not fiction. Yes, we are the X on the ballot paper but we are much more than that, we are more than the policies and the words of those we vote for. We’re not their logo or their brand. Party politics can be deceiving, two party politics is divisive. Perhaps, work toward joining affiliation groups that better reflect your place in nature, in society. Question the relationship between the individual and the state, use critical thinking to unite opposing forces through group feedback/synthesis. Seek a new group narrative story, consider each major culture and their founding story, consider founding one that includes all around the earth humanity, celebrating individual liberty self-owning ones.

    Conspiracy?

    The trust must begin somewhere, if eveything is a conspiracy then nothing is a conspiracy, check those equivalences again and again, avoid the slow slip into the slop of solipsism. Who benefits? who can break their spell and how? Conspiracies are by definition deceiving. Use a hierarchy of values approach, with a probabilistic language to explore shades of conspiracy, toward a conspiracyometer that ranges from highly probable (revelations from the Panama papers) to total batshit (flat earth, satanic invasion, one almighty creator), that’s to share my conspiracyometer. Seek group narrative stories that are informed by all above questions: individual vs. the state, inner/outer self identity, biology vs. never ending story of races. Flip the script to produce benevolent altruistic conspiracies, secret plans to bring health, wealth, love, comfort and good cheer to all around the world humanity, by tomorrow night! 

    These are my suspicions, I’d be interested to know your thoughts on these critical issues facing all-around-the-world-humanity.

    –Steve

  • Hope – A Slice Of Life

    HI,

    This blog has been pretty formal and usually my posting of something readymade, or linked to some media or other. Here I’ll simply describe my day so far, and two events that gave me, and with luck will give you, some hope. (or extra courage of hopelessness, however you prefer?)

    Friday night I lost my phone! You know the feeling? For me, in light of the fact that my phone is an unlocked old school Nokia, the paranoia grew as time passed and I could not find it. What if….what if….I let a few people know it was lost. And I could feel my guts tighten.

    Yesterday, less than 24 hours after it was lost, my partner received a phone call from a dude who had the phone, and gave me a time and an address to pick it up (Today, about 1 hour ago, in Amsterdam North). I felt my shoulders relax and my head clear. Thank &%6£ for that. Although not in my hand yet, I felt high as a kite knowing I was either getting kidnapped at gunpoint or getting my phone back. My blind faith had been restored.

    This morning while on the bus to the pickup point, we stopped and as we paused I saw 2 young girls with trash tweezers, or whatever you call those things you pick up rubbish with. They were laughing and picking up cigarette butts and paper, ejecting the items into the trash can. One girl had 60’s style coloured beads in her hair, and this made me think of the hippie stereotype, and also of extinction rebellion and Greta Thunburg. The younger generation recognizing the only way to make the change is doing it yourself, and then finding the others. I felt my heart warm up a few degrees, and smiled all the way to my stop.

    I walked to the apartment and rang the bell,
    “Gudder mid dag, yow spreken wit steve…I break into English…I’m here to pick up the phone.”

    The dude answered “Yes, hi” and he buzzed in the fly.

    I walked up to a flight of steps and was greeted by a smiling young man, with my phone in his hand. I greeted him with smiles back, we shook hands.
    “Wow, dude, that’s amazing, thank you so much, danku-vell, man.” I said.

    “My aunt found it on the bus, and she brought it back here. I saw a message about returning the phone, so called back.”

    “Wow, your aunt, is she here so I can thank her?”

    “No, she’s at Church” he said.

    And we chatted for a small while, I gave him a free album download card and told him to come visit me at work some time, and to please pass on my sincere thanks to his aunt for picking up the phone.

    Man, I was skipping back to the bus, phone in hand, sun shining, and with a inner sensation best described as new hope. This was humanity. Strangers doing good deeds for others, without care for who or what they are. His Church going aunt was my hero, and so I was temporarily and still am in the chicane of religious rapture. Yes, what a good women, and what a good lad.

    A new world is possible. We must fight hatred with kindness. Love all the people. Give thanks. Give away free milkshakes. Thanks.

    –Steve Fly

    p.s In other news, there is great cause for concern across Europe today, as the far right galvanizes support and proposes a new party which will probably have the words freedom and democracy in it. Remain vigilant.