Which do you think might be a greater future threat?

[Dave03]

Heck, I'm terrified of the fact that there are cars that drive for you now.

Used to be when you got behind the wheel, you were taking your life into your own hands.

Now you can actually take your life out of your hands. No thank you.

 

[ElCastor]

Earth’s population is at about 7.8 billion and rising. It’s theorized that the population will reach a peak of around 10 million in about 2080 unless it declines at some point before then. Some scientists predict a major decline in population sometime around the year 2100 or within a couple decades after the peak. Many are observing a decline now, and this is not a good thing, at least not economically.

Population growth is in 3rd World countries. The 1st World should supply them with large quantities of birth control and abortion meds, and do a better job of sealing its borders.

If you would like to see where world population growth is originating, take a peek ...
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/total-fertility-rate

 

[fuzzybuddy]

If AI takes over the world, at least there will still be a world. By the time we detonate the thousands of nukes on the planet, radiation not humans , nor AI will rule the planet.

 

[chic]

I never worry about nuclear war, but AI!!!! I see the changes daily that AI is making in the world, mostly negative by putting people out of work, or is this the elite's plan? To me, AI is the greatest danger. More than war or over population.

 

[Murrmurr]

Population growth is in 3rd World countries. The 1st World should supply them with large quantities of birth control and abortion meds, and do a better job of sealing its borders.

If you would like to see where world population growth is originating, take a peek ...
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/total-fertility-rate

That's true, and indeed, well developed countries should be providing medicine and medical care, education and job-training, helping them build water wells and sturdy homes, etc..

Instead, "better" countries tend to rape their forests and land, and use their people as cheap labor.

 

[Marian]

Global warming is the problem that worries me most. As someone who is out in wildlands daily I can see it happening right in front of me. I see animals disappearing. I see birds and animals here that have never been here before because their own habitat can no longer support them. I’ve been witnessing a frightening die off of oak trees in my little forest. There are trees down everywhere in just the last couple of years.It’s really frightening to me.
Did you know that white tailed deer have Covid? So do minks and some of the large cats in zoos.

 

[oldlongwalker]

I don't see AI as a threat. It may take away jobs, but that has been happening for decades and we are now at less than 4% unemployment in the US. Nuclear war also doesn't seem likely on a large, or even small scale.

Nobody has mentioned climate change, which in 75 years is forecasted to have a quite dramatic effect. This is projected to alter climate in North American cities to an equivalent 500 miles to the south.

 

[Tish]

@Gaer, Now you are asking.
I will have to think about that one.

 

[Murrmurr]

I never worry about nuclear war, but AI!!!! I see the changes daily that AI is making in the world, mostly negative by putting people out of work, or is this the elite's plan? To me, AI is the greatest danger. More than war or over population.

I'm skeptical about that.

AI isn't the only reason for lost jobs, and it's not even the main reason. Lots of various retail positions are becoming obsolete because of crime, and that will continue as retail businesses switch to online retail. Other businesses are opting for at-home work forces, making certain types of employee support departments redundant. There have been huge job losses due to increased business costs and declining profits, shifting trends and exoduses of people in large numbers, and, of course, corporate monopolies.

I honestly don't see AI maids, butlers, and home-health aids becoming any more a thing than flying cars.

We have flying cars. Nobody wants them. They are extremely expensive to own, maintain, and repair, their reliability is questionable, fuel is an issue, and considering the room needed for storing them, landing them, obtaining airspace permissions and the skills needed for flying them, they're very impractical. Weighing costs, repairs, and customer complaints alone, I can't imagine a Your Personal Robot company would fair any better.

 

[palides2021]

Earth’s population is at about 7.8 billion and rising. It’s theorized that the population will reach a peak of around 10 million in about 2080 unless it declines at some point before then. Some scientists predict a major decline in population sometime around the year 2100 or within a couple decades after the peak. Many are observing a decline now, and this is not a good thing, at least not economically.

At 10 million, setting aside deserts, arctic regions, and its highest mountain ranges, the earth will have an estimated 1 and ½ acres per person of inhabitable land. Considering tall apartment buildings, that’s more than enough acreage.

As for food production, we already produce way more food than we need, however if we all ate like Americans, we may have a problem when the population peaks. The issue with food is not production but distribution and the only issue there is poverty.

A bigger problem than the fair distribution of food is the fair distribution of fresh water. There again, Americans consume and waste more water than anyone else…nearly 250 times more.

What about resources such as metals and hydrocarbons? Scientists say it’s imperative we discover new resources soon. We are looking, and every year we are finding new places to dig, bore, drain, and syphon earth’s natural resources for use in technology, medicine, and our general comfort, but currently, there is no way to accurately guess the sustainability levels of our methods and earth’s available resources, so science is exploring alternative resources.

There are hundreds of studies out there about the earth’s capability to support its population that vary so widely (from 500 million people to 1 trillion) that I won’t make any guesses. But I won’t be at all surprised if AI actually helps solve the problems of fair distribution of food, water, habitable land, and resources.

The world has already reached 8 billion, according to Worldometer: https://www.worldometers.info

 

[Murrmurr]

I never worry about nuclear war, but AI!!!! I see the changes daily that AI is making in the world, mostly negative by putting people out of work, or is this the elite's plan? To me, AI is the greatest danger. More than war or over population.

Also, Chic, I believe the elites want you to fear "overpopulation."

There are a lot of very interesting scientific studies on population/overpopulation. Many scientists predict a major, natural decline in birth rates in most of the world within the next 50 years.

 

[chic]

I'm skeptical about that.

AI isn't the only reason for lost jobs, and it's not even the main reason. Lots of various retail positions are becoming obsolete because of crime, and that will continue as retail businesses switch to online retail. Other businesses are opting for at-home work forces, making certain types of employee support departments redundant. There have been huge job losses due to increased business costs and declining profits, shifting trends and exoduses of people in large numbers, and, of course, corporate monopolies.

I honestly don't see AI maids, butlers, and home-health aids becoming any more a thing than flying cars.

We have flying cars. Nobody wants them. They are extremely expensive to own, maintain, and repair, their reliability is questionable, fuel is an issue, and considering the room needed for storing them, landing them, obtaining airspace permissions and the skills needed for flying them, they're very impractical. Weighing costs, repairs, and customer complaints alone, I can't imagine a Your Personal Robot company would fair any better.

You don't consider AI a threat? What did you think of the movie, 2001 a space odyssey? When AI believes it can think , or is programmed to do so, I think humans could be in trouble. Humans have the quality or capacity, if you will to behave unpredictably. AI doesn't do that yet. Perhaps it cannot be programmed to. You don't believe that humans will jump at AI in their personal lives. Isn't Alexa AI? So many LOVE it. Wouldn't live without it. This is how it intrudes. In the beginning by pretending to "help" make life easier or better in some way. I do believe AI will take certain jobs away from humans and this will be catastrophic as these changes are happening too fast for us to find viable alternatives.

 

[Murrmurr]

You don't consider AI a threat? What did you think of the movie, 2001 a space odyssey? When AI believes it can think , or is programmed to do so, I think humans could be in trouble. Humans have the quality or capacity, if you will to behave unpredictably. AI doesn't do that yet. Perhaps it cannot be programmed to. You don't believe that humans will jump at AI in their personal lives. Isn't Alexa AI? So many LOVE it. Wouldn't live without it. This is how it intrudes. In the beginning by pretending to "help" make life easier or better in some way. I do believe AI will take certain jobs away from humans and this will be catastrophic as these changes are happening too fast for us to find viable alternatives.

Alexa is AI, but it's affordable. It doesn't vacuum and make beds, though.

No, I don't believe AI is a threat to the human race. It has potential to become ever more helpful. I realize it can also be made increasingly more destructive, but I doubt AI will ever weaponize itself, and may one day have the potential to actually prevent being weaponized by humans, at least before the point of complete annihilation.

I believe AI will give us more answers and solutions to problems than create problems that can't be resolved.

 

[SeniorBen]

AI will help us solve problems such as climate change by assisting engineers and scientists in the development of new clean energy technologies. It's also going to help scientists develop cures for diseases.

That's the upside. The downside is that it's already being used for warfare and will be used more and more as autonomous weapons and robots are developed. And they're going to be developed at an exponential rate because AI can assist in their development.

AI can also be used to assist in AI development. It can write its own code and learn without input from humans.

Things are going to get crazy real fast.

 

[timoc]

I've just dusted down my abacus, I reckon I might need it while I'm sitting in my AI arc, with all the other trillions and trillions of homeless people. How, and where will I hide my ice cream?

 

[hearlady]

A.I. definitely. This video is not real.........yet.

 

[Been There]

AI will increase unemployment and cost companies that use it a lot of money, but no more sick days, vacation pay, insurance benefits, etc. Someone will have to create the ways it will be used and also program it accordingly. There’s ups and downs, but overall, probably more ups. Accuracy will be a huge benefit. It will be interesting to see it grow and how it will be used.