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Only 16 Percent of Americans Think AI Will Have a Positive Impact on Society

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Re: Only 16 Percent of Americans Think AI Will Have a Positive Impact on Society

#421

Post by slg »

ben_w wrote: post #414
slg wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Paying for it? Well, there's a reason I chose to move to Germany rather than the USA after the Brexit referendum. Does Germany have a large enough share of these companies to be on the winning side of this or is the country effectively in the same position as the average American? Just think how much could a company charge Germany to extend the life of its citizens, could Germany actually afford to pay that price es…

> Just think how much could a company charge Germany to extend the life of its citizens, could Germany actually afford to pay that price especially if and when it tax base shrinks? The time-limited and jurisdiction-limited nature of patents aside, one of the great things about being a country is you can do things like pass laws saying "we have decided to force you to sell to us at the price we specify, and if you ref…

>one of the great things about being a country is you can do things like pass laws saying "we have decided to force you to sell to us at the price we specify, and if you refuse we will shoot you".

But these companies aren’t based in Germany, so you’re talking about invading other nations. It’s starting to sound like this version of the optimistic outcome is World War 3.

Re: Only 16 Percent of Americans Think AI Will Have a Positive Impact on Society

#422

Post by fl4regun »

peab wrote: post #340
cjfd wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not so sure. The world of printing out driving directions or emailing photos sounds a lot more calm. Also, simply quite enjoyable. The current world is cramming too many events in too little time, it seems. Stress is quite bad for health so I am not so sure about these hundreds of millions of lives saved. It may also have costed quite a few.

nah, i distinctly remember family road trips as a kid. Driving was super stressful with my mom yelling about missing an exit as she reads the map, getting lost in a not so nice neighborhood, etc. you're romanticizing the past

lol this still happens today

Re: Only 16 Percent of Americans Think AI Will Have a Positive Impact on Society

#423

Post by jondlm »

omnimus wrote: post #352
autoexec wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The wild thing is that these tech "systems" (aka companies) are made up of ostensibly good people. I don't think that's the case. The people running these companies certainly aren't good people and everyone else in any position of power is either happy to hurt anyone and anything in exchange for a paycheck, or they're willing to take the money and turn a blind eye to the things they know are wrong. It's difficult t…

> “The people running these companies certainly aren't good people” That is an heavy understatement. After reading some biographies and books about the tech elite… it's just much weirder and sickly than i ever imagined. Strange cults, religions and beliefs. Surprisingly high stupidity mixed with intense hate of humans. Straight up anti-social anti-human behaviour… and drugs, so much drugs that lead to psychosis. Narc…

You're not wrong. I also think it's a trap to think they're in a fundamentally different category than we are. Yes, the blast radius of their harm can be enormous. _And_ they're humans like you and me. Likely hiding deep wounds of their own that are screaming for care-full attention.

Re: Only 16 Percent of Americans Think AI Will Have a Positive Impact on Society

#424

Post by pixl97 »

autoexec wrote: post #219
sylos wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are rapidly reaching a point where companies will exist without human employees, there'll just be the owners and an ai workforce.

Who is going to buy what they're selling? More AI?

Why do economies need people? With a fractional reserve monetary system you can keep pumping more money in a system as the system creates more resources, so the game never has to stop. Just end up with an AI paving the Earth in solar panels buying minerals from another AI harvesting every metal in the crust of the Earth creating quadrillions of dollars in GDP.

Re: Only 16 Percent of Americans Think AI Will Have a Positive Impact on Society

#425

Post by slg »

fluoridation wrote: post #417
slg wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The stats I linked above show that those “new avenues of education and communication” didn’t actually benefit the average American financially in at least the relative sense. Do you have something to counter that evidence?

Those are just time series of wealth over time, they don't purport to establish any causal links. You can't conclude that computers didn't "actually benefit the average American financially" from these numbers, because these are measuring the total wealth of the household with all factors combined. We can't say with any certainty what effect computers had on these values; maybe without them people would have been bet…

>You can't conclude that computers didn't "actually benefit the average American financially" from these numbers, because these are measuring the total wealth of the household with all factors combined.

Fine, I’ll include your disclaimer about confounding factors.

With all factors combined, it doesn’t appear that the average American financially benefited over the course of the computer revolution. Do you dispute that and if so, what is your evidence?

Re: Only 16 Percent of Americans Think AI Will Have a Positive Impact on Society

#426

Post by AngryData »

freejazz wrote: post #392
AngryData wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. But when the opposition tells you your shitty life will remain shitty in a best case scenario it isn't very inspiring or invigorating which you need to entice people to actually go vote for someone.

Yeah, why not make up a bunch of lies?

Or why not make an actual plan to improve things and solve problems instead of throwing in the towel before you even start?

It also doesn't help to be a prosecuting attorney that extorted poor people for judicial profit. Only the wealthy view prosecutors as good people.

Re: Only 16 Percent of Americans Think AI Will Have a Positive Impact on Society

#427

Post by apparent »

olalonde wrote: post #347

Stated preferences vs revealed preferences. People say they don't like it but they still use it.

If you're going to lose your job if you don't use it, you may use it (but still wish you lived in a world where AI does not exist).

Re: Only 16 Percent of Americans Think AI Will Have a Positive Impact on Society

#428

Post by dsr_ »

torginus wrote: post #373
boothby wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The math underlying the models is widely known, and there are tons of competitors, including foreign competitors. Foreign militaries investing in autonomous warfare does not assuage my concerns about my country investing in autonomous warfare. Also, have you been paying attention to median wages vs median CEO wages since the 1960s? The benefits of computing really have gone to the captains of industry.

Yet, that 80s CEO, practically a peasant by modern standards of pay, had the option to cross the Atlantic in a Mach 2 supersonic airliner. If that's not the most obvious demonstration of technological prowess, I don't know what is. In contrast, the F-35, believed to be the world's most advanced fighter jet today, has a top speed of Mach 1.6 Today's CEOs get a gold-plated sky bus.

The Concorde was cramped. JFK to Heathrow took five hours (3 in the air, an hour in each airport) plus the time for first and last miles. JFK to Heathrow today is 7 to 8 hours with the same provisos.

If you're going to spend a quarter of the day travelling, why not spend a third of the day and do it more comfortably?

The F-35 isn't the fastest jet; fighter jets aren't business jets; apples are not rutabagas.

Re: Only 16 Percent of Americans Think AI Will Have a Positive Impact on Society

#429

Post by mcmcmc »

cryo32 wrote: post #384
mcmcmc wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Current layoffs are more correlated with overhiring during/after Covid. The fed money printer, growing national debt and low interest rates are more to blame.

I’m not in the US

Ok what’s your country’s monetary policy? Most print debt

Re: Only 16 Percent of Americans Think AI Will Have a Positive Impact on Society

#430

Post by simsla »

satvikpendem wrote: post #397
ceejayoz wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a false dichotomy; I prefer kayaking over work, but I still have to work. We've all seen stories about performance evaluations that include "how much AI are you using?" We've all seen Microsoft shove it into the OS and even the physical keyboard. We've all had the little suggestions pop up in Gmail.

ChatGPT has a billion users and it's estimated most are consumers not enterprise users. It's about 40 million paid consumer vs 9 million enterprise users. Once they file their S-1 we'll see exact figures.

How does a billion break down into 49 million? I'm assuming you mean 400 and 90 million?
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