What concerns you most about the acceleration of technology?

bobcat said:
You missed the point of the thread. I'm shocked.
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While it's clear that "2001: A Space Odyssey" elicits strong reactions—both positive and negative—it's important to recognize that its legacy is tied to its ambition to challenge viewers' perceptions of reality and humanity. Whether one sees it as a masterpiece or a failure, it undeniably sparked conversations about art, technology, and our future.

For an example of how new technology can do marvelous things, and can possibly make very bad decisions, the story is right on. The space ship is a super duper "Alexa" powered machine. It has traveled through space to the exact location of this monolith far off in space somewhere. What an extraordinary operation. Then it kills a human, by making it's own decision to do so. It is the "shock" of the whole movie. So it represents the doubts we have about this AI new technology including robotics.

I keep up with AI development news, and this question of trust is always present. It depends completely on those people involved in creating it. If their objectives are to help and do no harm, it will be a useful tool. If their objectives are to do harm to others, that too will be made easier. Right now, as our world is in such large transitions, it is becoming increasingly important to regulate, by law, the punishments for misusing the technology. The problem is that some people will learn how to create these new assistants without any regulations. They are working furiously to be able to track these projects. Probably some will get through, and bad stuff will happen...and there is always human error which can cause major disruptions.

For us "baby-boomers" we will die , but the robotics will keep getting more advanced. I can't imagine the world my grandchildren will face when they are 60. No one can. For now, I am supporting it's development with very exacting oversight. They have to go together.
 

Paco Dennis said:
While it's clear that "2001: A Space Odyssey" elicits strong reactions—both positive and negative—it's important to recognize that its legacy is tied to its ambition to challenge viewers' perceptions of reality and humanity. Whether one sees it as a masterpiece or a failure, it undeniably sparked conversations about art, technology, and our future.

For an example of how new technology can do marvelous things, and can possibly make very bad decisions, the story is right on. The space ship is a super duper "Alexa" powered machine. It has traveled through space to the exact location of this monolith far off in space somewhere. What an extraordinary operation. Then it kills a human, by making it's own decision to do so. It is the "shock" of the whole movie. So it represents the doubts we have about this AI new technology including robotics.

I keep up with AI development news, and this question of trust is always present. It depends completely on those people involved in creating it. If their objectives are to help and do no harm, it will be a useful tool. If their objectives are to do harm to others, that too will be made easier. Right now, as our world is in such large transitions, it is becoming increasingly important to regulate, by law, the punishments for misusing the technology. The problem is that some people will learn how to create these new assistants without any regulations. They are working furiously to be able to track these projects. Probably some will get through, and bad stuff will happen...and there is always human error which can cause major disruptions.

For us "baby-boomers" we will die , but the robotics will keep getting more advanced. I can't imagine the world my grandchildren will face when they are 60. No one can. For now, I am supporting it's development with very exacting oversight. They have to go together.
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I echo your view here. I guess the thing that rattles my cage most is that once you imbue AI's with the ability to think and reason and make independent decisions, then you are headed down a path of uncertainty with no clear way back. We are abdicating control of our future.

I am aware that everyday computers are already making decisions for us, but most of them are relatively benign, however, as the sand continues to run through the hourglass, they are becoming incorporated into very significant parts of our lives. They are in the auto-pilot features of aircraft, guidance systems of weapons, self-driving cars, and even stock trades.

We are currently crossing the threshold into a whole new generation where AI's will play a major role. Just what I have witnessed in the last 3 years has been mind blowing to me, and it seems to be pedal to the metal. How do we know when we have crossed the point of no return? Perhaps I have watched to many Sci-Fi's, and I am picturing the Borg assimilating us. IDK

Interesting reading on the subject: AI Agents: Are We Ready For Machines That Make Decisions?
 
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Personally, I think more good than bad will come from A.I.

A.I. has the power and potential to revolutionize the music industry. Before too long, we'll all be able to create music to our liking in whatever style, genre, lyric subject matter, instruments, and vocal style we want. Most of today's music is quantized to suck all the life out of it anyway, and lyrics couldn't get any more inane and banal, so why not have them generated by a computer?
 

HermitHogan said:
Personally, I think more good than bad will come from A.I.

A.I. has the power and potential to revolutionize the music industry. Before too long, we'll all be able to create music to our liking in whatever style, genre, lyric subject matter, instruments, and vocal style we want. Most of today's music is quantized to suck all the life out of it anyway, and lyrics couldn't get any more inane and banal, so why not have them generated by a computer?
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I posted this yesterday, but this is where it should go. I had AI write the lyrics, and then I had a music making AI write the song in a country type style. People are making songs all day like this, and more. This one is from udio.com :

 
HermitHogan said:
I'm a little concerned about AI generated images and videos. Before long, we won't be able to tell what's real and what's AI generated. People already believe lies without any proof. Before too long, they'll have fabricated proof.
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This worries me too and there's no accountability for it. Huge opportunities for fraud.
 
bobcat said:
We are fast approaching the singularity where technological developments will overwhelm so much of society in a runaway reality.
With the rise of Artificial Intelligence, quantum computing, robotics, self-driving vehicles, and everything becoming automated, it seems we are facing a new reality that we may not be prepared for.
What worries you most about where things are headed?
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The lack of attention to detail. ATT is always making mistakes with my account and customer service, in general, is worse than ever.
 
"What worries you most about where things are headed?"

That my grandkids and great-gkids will be slaves to it. Literally. I'm concerned it will siphon off their earnings, tell them what to think, what behaviors and words are acceptable and what behaviors and words they must not tolerate, shape their opinions; iow, brainwash them, and convince them they're happy af about it.

Wait....
 
Lara said:
I'm concerned for my children keeping up with accelerated change
but not as concerned now that we have ✨a new energy happening✨
that is filled with leaders who have high IQs and are focused
on our whole world and it's people.
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I don't want to get into politics but I want to say that the quality of our learners right now is terrible. I don't know about their "high" IQs but I do know that they are terrible leaders and are completely isolated from the needs of the average person on the street.

Technology is running away and leaving most people behind. Technology has brought us many advantages but also alot of misery. Many people have become mindless robots starring at their "smartphones" all day. More and more technology is making more and more people lonely. Mostly, we have lost common sense and the human touch.
 
I'm not in any panic over A.I.

The hula hoop today is really just an advanced version of the old "Eliza" chatbots with a far larger database of factoids to reshuffle.

But whether that gets real capabilities approaching intelligence or some completely unrelated approach does, it'll probably come about eventually. Unless we collapse into economic anemia or depopulation first.

Much of the heavy lifting is being done by people ~ 45 to 65, and I'm unconvinced that the foot soldiers supporting them are as innovative, with the technical chops to make advancements themselves as their elders go into management or retire.

An awful lot of it is media hype. The generated images and video are produced by tools in the hands of human authors.

Joe Sixpack was left behind a long time ago, without a clue about how even the old rotary telephone dials worked and much less what went on back in the Central Offices and Switching Centers. Even the cave paintings of old were produced by a small subpopulation of specialists.
 
dilettante said:
...Even the cave paintings of old were produced by a small subpopulation of specialists.
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And we're only guessing what they mean.

And a lot of those guesses have to do with spirituality, religion, cult, and representations of mystical beliefs. So, I wonder what faiths and beliefs will be assigned to the tribes of the 2nd millennium, and after how many guesses.
 
I think my biggest worry is the sheer size of things that we depend on. For example, there are so many people and businesses dependent on Google and it's infrastructure for mail, documents, calendar, etc.. Some catastrophic failure occurs and how much of, literally, the world would find themselves impacted in a negative way? As a career IT person I know they design and build against such a catastrophic failure - but there is a quote we used to use as a reminder; "If you believe that you have a foolproof system, you have failed to take into consideration the creativity of fools."

Another thing is the undersea cables that connect everything. Again, there's a lot redundancy but, for the most part, those things are not necessarily guarded where they come ashore (hidden pretty well, but not guarded). A coordinated attack to sever a large number of those cables at once could really isolate a country and break down a lot of systems.

And then, personally, I echo the sentiment about being able to keep up. As a younger man in the tech industry I used to wonder what would be thing things in my old age that baffle me as much computers and cell phones baffled my parents. So far I'm tracking pretty well, but I'm only in my 60's and not that far removed yet.
 
Anarchy. That is what worries me. Am petrified of disorderly crowds of people, like with riots and BLM.
Also had a really hard time being forced to wear a face mask I knew didn't work and realizing so many people in the world are just ignorant sheep who will follow blindly. The internet et al has made a source of trustworthy knowledge deteriorate.
 
I am far too old to care. I just try to keep up so I am functional in a technological world.

If I were a lot younger, I would worry about AI and robotics taking over.

This Song, however, is starting to be an earworm:


And I don’t think we have to wait until 2525——-
 
Around 32 years ago very, very few people owned a cellphone. One of the female VPs where l worked did. She did lot of working at night so felt safer with it. I felt kind of jealous but when l went shopping at our largest shopping center felt so free! No cellphone, no way for anyone to reach me. It's really not that way any more. We are already a slave to technology.
 
It concerns me that the U.S. is so far behind other more developed nations that have embraced new technologies including high-speed rail and clean energy sources. We were once a leader in technology; now we're laggards.
 
HermitHogan said:
It concerns me that the U.S. is so far behind other more developed nations that have embraced new technologies including high-speed rail and clean energy sources. We were once a leader in technology; now we're laggards.
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I checked about 10 different sites, and most showed us in the top three, which seems pretty good to me. JMO, but it doesn't really bother me that much who invents something as long as I have the choice to use it or not.
 
Paco Dennis said:
I posted this yesterday, but this is where it should go. I had AI write the lyrics, and then I had a music making AI write the song in a country type style. People are making songs all day like this, and more. This one is from udio.com :

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I have friend who gets AI to produce songs and singers..often... it's really difficult to tell that it's not a real singer...
 
bobcat said:
I checked about 10 different sites, and most showed us in the top three, which seems pretty good to me. JMO, but it doesn't really bother me that much who invents something as long as I have the choice to use it or not.
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That's the problem... we don't have the choice to use high-speed rail because that's not an option in the U.S.
 
HermitHogan said:
That's the problem... we don't have the choice to use high-speed rail because that's not an option in the U.S.
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Do you understand why?

This is horribly expensive to implement and maintain. And even then it would only service a few densely populated already-overprivileged corridors on the coasts. And most likely only on the East coast from DC to Boston.

Would it even take you anywhere that you need to go? It's unlikely to stop at your street. And it would probably quickly become another urine-soaked high crime venue like so many others.
 
HermitHogan said:
It concerns me that the U.S. is so far behind other more developed nations that have embraced new technologies including high-speed rail and clean energy sources. We were once a leader in technology; now we're laggards.
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Are you kidding?

Germany is in a very bad way right now, largely due to an ill-advised bet on "clean energy." As things are, their best and brightest are already jockeying to emigrate to the US.
 

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