Ethics Is the Skill That Matters Most Now

I love the idea of Ethics in technology. I love the move to bring more Ethics and Morality into technology. I love discussing our place in a crazy marketplace that is the current technology space. I'm sure LLMs and their capabilities are on most people's mind, especially when you think of how people can be differentiated from them. This is a conversation that really should be had in a deep and thoughtful way.

Unfortunately, most of my interest in this article was stifled by the LLM writing. All the wind left my sails when I realized that this website is trying to sell something. Content-wise this article is actually very forgettable. It essentially boils down to:

> Machines can't think, only you can think; and LLMS make bad actors way more powerful. This website will help you think (and stop you from becoming a sucker).

It's trying to sell self-improvement, to make those who are ethically inclined take an AI test. Either the "free" test means that your free-text responses are all being trained on/sold, or they plan to sell you "insights" on your "ethical profile". I'm not against making money; am I the only one who found this monetization a little insidious and manipulative?

Frankly, I'd rather not put my eggs in this LLM shaped basket. Rather I'm going to continue to think critically about myself, write my own self-diagnosis along with talking to friends and family. If I get really worried, I'll get therapy and I already volunteer at church regularly (insert your own way of giving back to the community). Self-reflection is important; if this tool does it for you, then go for it. I, for one, would much rather keep my "human-ness training" in the hands of humans.

>Hollywood and the startup world enables nepo kids to lie to themselves and to the public about their "selfmade" status until they receive their ancestral Lordship from the King of England, and this fake meritocracy keeps everyone in line trying their best because one day you could be a billionaire, too.

What about the exceptions? Doesn't that disprove the theory? You mentioned Hollywood. There has been a lot of malaise the last few years that many of the new "stars" are just kids of existing famous actors. Hollywood is already a extremely tiny industry(Only about 6% of the actual LA economy).

Then comes along an independent movie like Obsession, breaks so many records and launching its star actress into an overnight rising star. This is a person who has no familial history in the industry and was walking dogs for a year and a half to pay rent because no roles were landing.

> I don't think ethics exists anywhere other than impressionate minds and words on paper.

Same as law. The only difference is enforcement.

> This is a conjecture that ethics emanates from the whole of society and somehow keeps the things from falling apart

If something doesn't emanate from the whole of society and doesn't keep it from falling apart - the society will fall apart and seize to exist as a whole. We may call that "something" ethics just to give a clear meaning to that word and repair some of the immeasurable damage done to it by modern philosophy. Only then ethics can be used as one of the foundations of law.

> and then explains it to have cyclical nature.

The hopes of self-repairing cyclical nature are a coping mechanism that seeks to avoid the reality of self-destructive cycles - the repairs are never complete, destruction accumulates until repairs are no longer possible.

It remains to be seen if this will stick. The jury is still out:

In favor of this: US is having trouble projecting its desires onto others now. Its citizens are not in a good spot, hyper concentration of wealth and a growing distrust in the system.

Against this: China is suffering from a upcoming demographic implosion that they have no immediate solution for. This will lead to a slow in their growth, insane senior care obligations and a current youth unemployment of 25% will lead to long term limits on these peoples potential. What might seem like a rising power might actually be more of a paper tiger than the US, its just easier for them to hide it for now.

There is no "third" super power as everywhere else is much worse in some area (demographics, limited population, limited resources). I've said this before elsewhere but maybe the US just has to outlast China.

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