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Why Nietzsche matters in the age of artificial intelligence

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Re: Why Nietzsche matters in the age of artificial intelligence

#91

Post by stanfordkid »

hyperadvanced wrote: post #44
stanfordkid wrote: post #26

Whoever wrote this article probably has little more than a cursory or highly aesthetecized understanding of Nietzsche’s philosophy. It feels like they just related his idea of value-creation to a bunch of pre-conceived purportedly “bad things” like lack of social cohesion. Most of his work deals with the psychological and historical origins of morality/philosophy, as well as how it might change as a result of herd dy…

I agree, I think that AI is not some “new” thing - we’ve had machines for a long time, and we just so happened to invent really good ones. Similar to how the machine of the Industrial Revolution laid waste to the social order of the landed aristocracy and what you might call “late stage feudalism”, so too does AI destabilize and outmode the core mythos of our time. We’re rapidly shedding an illusion of a world of fre…

Agreed. I think for Nietzsche a man creating meaning to their own existence is the act of the artist — conquering one’s self. God and the afterlife provided some basic land and footing to do this… or at least posited the possible existence of some unknown and to be discovered universal morality or frame of reference. God was sort of like Ether in pre-relativistic physics.

The famous god is dead quote paints the image of the madman screaming into “the market” that god is dead, no one knows, and it will take centuries to wash away the blood, that we’ve unchained the earth from the sun.

I think Nietzsche would view capitalists, industrialists and technocrats / technology idealists through very much the same lens as those “people in the market”… aloof, dumb, and completely with their head in the sand.

I think he’d view AI largely in the context of “what kind of soil” it provides within society for accomplishing the task of self conquest.

On further reflection I do think there is some opportunity to embody a notion of this into AI. Like AI needs to help humans with self mastery and understanding while divorcing them from the status quo.

Re: Why Nietzsche matters in the age of artificial intelligence

#92

Post by thrance »

kbrkbr wrote: post #71
keiferski wrote: post #59

Very generic weak article, as many others have said. I spent a lot of time studying Nietzsche in college (while getting a degree in philosophy) and it is pretty annoying how the pop culture conception of his ideas has so little to do with what he actually wrote. I think Nietzsche would find the “entrepreneurial” rebranding of his ideas to be irritating and frankly not the audience he wanted. He was writing for a very…

But why would we care what Nietzsche would think and for whom he wrote? That idea seems to rest on a very narrow and philosophically contested understanding of the nature of the work of an author. Eco, to take one of the more uncontroversial figures in tradition, holds that you can understand an author better than he himself did. Nietzsche himself also had interesting views of authorship and interpretation.

Why put "Nietzsche" in the title of your article if you're going to do your own schtick? It's rather dishonest, IMO.

I personally disagree with a lot of Nietzsche's ideas, but if I'm ever to explain how, I would strive to present his ideas with the best interpretation of them I could muster, before disagreeing.

Philosophical figures of the past should not be used as names you throw randomly to support your positions. You have to talk about their ideas, why they believed in it and what they intended to do by sharing them.

Re: Why Nietzsche matters in the age of artificial intelligence

#93

Post by cess11 »

exoverito wrote: post #53
hamasho wrote: post #51

It's sad that many nihilists think like that life is meaningless, there's no point in trying. Nihilism suggests our lives don't have inherent purposes defined by religion or culture. That means we can define our own purposes and values of lives, not by following a god packaged with harmful commandments. Many people feel fulfilled when they notice small improvements or helping others for tiny things, and they're grate…

The obvious problem with nihilism is that ultimately everything is ungrounded and there are no moral truths. Some people are naturally altruistic and feel fulfilled when helping others, others are naturally sadistic and feel fulfilled when torturing others. Nihilism means these are fundamentally equal impulses. This is why humans invented various religious systems and philosophies to provide grounding for absolute mo…

You should read Nietzsche.

Re: Why Nietzsche matters in the age of artificial intelligence

#95

Post by voidhorse »

trinsic2 wrote: post #22
voidhorse wrote: post #2

I'm so torn about this article. On the one hand, it's great to see technologists engaging more with philosophy—arguably the technological landscape we currently have would h ave been much better if they had done so more deeply and more frequently. On the other hand, this is a pretty shallow article and does not, on my read, offer anything to anyone even vaguely familiar with technology and Nietzsche's philosophy. A m…

I didn't read anything about a connection between technology and philosophy. Its more about finding meaning in a world that has been over technologised.

How is "finding meaning in a world that has been over technologised." anything other than an intersection of philosophy and technology?

Re: Why Nietzsche matters in the age of artificial intelligence

#96

Post by YinglingHeavy »

beedeebeedee wrote: post #30

Nietzsche is brilliant and the best thing he did was to inspire other people to their own thoughts. That is what was needed then and needed now, and at all times. The article didn't share much insight but glad to see him talked about, if only because it gives us permission to talk about deep things. Everybody should embrace their role as philosopher, take it seriously, and develop themselves- and through that, prompt…

The Redditor demographic, and this one as well, is the epitome of "Last Man".

Re: Why Nietzsche matters in the age of artificial intelligence

#97

Post by cyber_kinetist »

hastamelo wrote: post #33

Funny, some philosophers which wrote about how technology and AI are going to replace humanity - Deleuze & Guatarri, and Nick Land trace their thinking back to Nietzche, saying that "will to power" and "becoming" is exactly how AI takes shape and incorporates itself.

Did Deleuze & Guatarri explicitly comment on the topic of capitalism / technology / AI? I know that their concept of deterritorialization / desiring-production has certainly influenced Nick Land's accelerationist writings, but haven't heard anything about it from D&G themselves.

Re: Why Nietzsche matters in the age of artificial intelligence

#98

Post by ogogmad »

Libidinalecon wrote: post #87
voidhorse wrote: post #2

I'm so torn about this article. On the one hand, it's great to see technologists engaging more with philosophy—arguably the technological landscape we currently have would h ave been much better if they had done so more deeply and more frequently. On the other hand, this is a pretty shallow article and does not, on my read, offer anything to anyone even vaguely familiar with technology and Nietzsche's philosophy. A m…

It is almost like there is a book by Heidegger called "The Question Concerning Technology" that basically talks about all the things mentioned in the article.

Heidegger has a reputation of explaining his opinions poorly. That would still be fine if I didn't also suspect that he was a pseudo-intellectual.

Re: Why Nietzsche matters in the age of artificial intelligence

#99

Post by blackadder »

voidhorse wrote: post #2

I'm so torn about this article. On the one hand, it's great to see technologists engaging more with philosophy—arguably the technological landscape we currently have would h ave been much better if they had done so more deeply and more frequently. On the other hand, this is a pretty shallow article and does not, on my read, offer anything to anyone even vaguely familiar with technology and Nietzsche's philosophy. A m…

Gertz speaks at tech conferences and that’s how I came across his work https://youtu.be/mcPFs5im2bs?si=DeEcWROAWBjR-RVu

Re: Why Nietzsche matters in the age of artificial intelligence

#100

Post by ogogmad »

blackadder wrote: post #99
voidhorse wrote: post #2

I'm so torn about this article. On the one hand, it's great to see technologists engaging more with philosophy—arguably the technological landscape we currently have would h ave been much better if they had done so more deeply and more frequently. On the other hand, this is a pretty shallow article and does not, on my read, offer anything to anyone even vaguely familiar with technology and Nietzsche's philosophy. A m…

Gertz speaks at tech conferences and that’s how I came across his work https://youtu.be/mcPFs5im2bs?si=DeEcWROAWBjR-RVu

Any book about technology's effects on society written before 2022 needs a massive update since the LLM revolution. Sadly, Gertz's "Technology and nihilism" was published in 2018.
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