• Eros1982
    156
    I just heard that Trump and stellar guys like Bill Gates (through his friend Sam Altman) are all in the Stargate Project, which to me sounds like a new dark age (because we will be manipulated, surveilled and controlled by the absolute, indisputable and objective knowledge of the new gods, i.e. supercomputers, whereas our children will go totally nuts).

    It all depends, you will argue, from the way we use those supercomputers, but I have lost already my faith in humanity and in the US institutions. Hence, I am more willing to believe that supercomputers will be our next dark age.

    Here are some pros:
    -We might get rid of those greedy US doctors (computers are already better than them, supercomputers will be even better)
    -Better weather forecasting & climate/pollution tracking
    -Non-stop universe exploration
    -Some mathematical puzzles will be resolved

    Cons:
    -Surveillance will be widespread, almost everywhere
    -You might be controlled and manipulated better
    -Your thinking will have less importance (you will be told all the time that a supercomputer says that you are totally wrong)
    -There may be more wars and robotic armies
    -Like with the Catholic Church, it may take thousands of years till the supercomputer knowledge/thinking moves from total knowledge to dualistic and humans are told that supercomputers are mechanical thinkers not chemical thinkers (like us), though that will happen after many generations will be manipulated very well and may become total nuts.

    What else is there to expect from supercomputers and AI? Any ideas? Thank you!
  • LuckyR
    547
    Good luck getting surgery from a supercomputer.
  • Eros1982
    156


    It's matter of time. Electricity is the future, let the trumps drill to their death :sweat:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITER
  • Agree-to-Disagree
    524
    you will be told all the time that a supercomputer says that you are totally wrongEros1982

    This has already happened. This example does not involve a "supercomputer", but it shows what can go wrong when some people believe that everything that comes out of computer system must be correct.

    This happened in real life and a TV drama series was made about it. The real legal case is called "Bates & Others v Post Office Ltd", and the TV drama series is called "Mr Bates vs The Post Office".

    Here is a brief summary of what happened.

    Subpostmasters are self-employed business operators who run Post Office branches under contract to the state-owned Post Office. In 1999 the Post Office rolled out new electronic point of sale and accounting software called Horizon (produced and maintained by Fujitsu) to its network of over 11,000 branches. Soon after the installation of Horizon, subpostmasters started to experience unexplained shortfalls in the accounts, which, under the terms of their contracts, they were expected to make good with their own money, leading to debt and, on occasion, bankruptcy. The Post Office terminated contracts and pursued subpostmasters through the civil and criminal courts over shortfalls generated by Horizon. Between 1999 and 2015, over 900 subpostmasters were wrongly prosecuted for false accounting and theft. The majority of those prosecutions were private prosecutions brought by the Post Office rather than the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

    The subpostmasters claimed to “have been subjected to unlawful treatment by the Defendant (Post Office Ltd) causing them significant financial losses (including loss of their business and property), bankruptcy, prosecutions, serving community or custodial sentences, distress and related ill-health, stigma and/or reputational damage”. The Post Office denied the claims, and submitted a counterclaim.

    The Common Issues trial examined the contract between the subpostmasters and the Post Office and found largely in favour of the claimants. The Horizon Issues trial found that Horizon, the Post Office's accounting software, contained bugs, errors and defects that could cause shortfalls in the subpostmasters' accounts.

    This problem started in 1999 when the Post Office rolled out Horizon. The court case ended in 2019. It took 20 years for the subpostmasters who were still alive to get justice, and it ruined many people's lives (including a number who lost their lives in tragic circumstances after being accused). All because the Post Office believed that the Horizon system couldn't make a mistake.
  • Eros1982
    156


    Thank you for the info. In many scandals like the one you mentioned, big tech pays a small price (our fellow citizens pay the biggest price). Here in the US we got 30 million SSN stolen (from government computers) and the biggest data outage in history (July 20th 2024). I never heard Microsoft being punished for those two gifts. On the contrary, Microsoft's satellite company, OpenAI, is going to be rewarded with 500 billion dollars for the Stargate Project.

    This is what Stanley Kubrick and his Sillicon Valley admirers got wrong: they thought (or want us to think) the machines will get loose or mad, when we know that governments and the people who put algorithms on machines get free, loose and mad, and at the end of the day these humans will blame the machines for their human (intentional or unintentional) actions.

    The reason why all these tech bosses keep splitting from each other is not because they've lost control of the machines. They are splitting on AI because they don't seem to agree on how they will manipulate all those Kubrick/Hollywood fans. These tech bosses come up with different algorithms and updated versions, and this is the reason why they pull different ways and you have hundreds of AI startups in the US only. The best manipulator and speculator from these startups will get more funding from the US government and will start buying and copying other AI companies till there is one big inconclusive AI mentality/umbrella imposed on all.
  • Banno
    25.8k
    Sure. Magic reactors.

    “we could see massive costs being incurred by other utility customers at a time when affordability has never been more important”, says Morris.

    Point being increased demand will increase price while any "catch up" occurs, so consumers will be paying more for their electricity.
  • Banno
    25.8k
    And now we have Deepseek, raising the spectre of a Chinese technical development pulling out the rug. Investors might not be so willing to take such a risk on Nvidia chips...

    Trouble is, US policy has forced China towards self-reliance, to not needing US products.
  • BC
    13.7k
    computers are already better than themEros1982

    According to Google's AI, "AI can sometimes achieve higher diagnostic accuracy than physicians when presented with case reports or patient information". That's not QUITE the same as out-performing doctors.

    In some important ways, it doesn't matter whether supercomputers and AI can outperform humans. The question we must ask is "In whose interest is it to replace human workers with computers? Chances are it won't be patients or doctors. It might be hospitals or it might be insurance companies.

    Machines have been built for many years that replace human workers. Sometimes workers benefit by being relieved of horrible jobs. Fairly often workers suffer by losing their jobs to the machine, and thus their source of the means to live.

    Yes, technology does create new opportunities, new jobs, etc. -- but not automatically and not necessarily for those directly affected. A machine may cost you your job; that doesn't mean you will become the worker that repairs the machine or makes more machines like it.
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