Individuals wiill be faced with a new temptation: To live in the simulation.
Though, in some sense, this not a new temptation at all... It's a completion of the original temptation—the fundamental archetype—of living in a world where "My will be done" as opposed to "Thy (God's) Will be done."
I think that it is only old weirdos from my generation or older who have been able to resist this crap, as it holds no interest for us. I agree young people and all future generations are doomed.
I once interviewed a writer who wrote a book about happiness and how we were losing it—and one of the things he brought up with the danger of GPS. I initially thought that was crazy – I love my GPS! I don’t have to worry about getting lost! It tells me where to go. Who could be against that? The guy‘s whole argument was that everybody’s losing their sense of direction, and that starts to chip away at other areas. I forgot much of the book, but I still remember that argument. Your post reminded me of it. Well done.
Loved the movie WALL-E and think of it often as I watch screen addiction in homes and in public. Wasn’t there an ad years ago with the jingle “Can’t get enough of that Sugar Crisp”? (a cereal) Your baseline point that “slop funds science, slop also hollows souls” is well described tethering of the new teething ring viewers can’t take out of their mouths from what their eyes watch every day. Conversations revolve around “did you see?” rather than “how are you? what did you do today? how do you think this is going to turn out from problem to solution?” Your line “the slop isn’t a byproduct, but the business model” and “infinite engagement to infinite compute” is well stated. AI cannot learn without human discourse to train it and the more human engagement the more AI fills the alignment with human cognition. Thank you for pointing all this out so well. As “teachers of AI” with our engagement we need to realize even teachers need a Break Room to rest and recharge our human inwardness.
Individuals wiill be faced with a new temptation: To live in the simulation.
Though, in some sense, this not a new temptation at all... It's a completion of the original temptation—the fundamental archetype—of living in a world where "My will be done" as opposed to "Thy (God's) Will be done."
Amen. There’s a reason why the lowest level of hell is ice in Dante’s Inferno.
I think that it is only old weirdos from my generation or older who have been able to resist this crap, as it holds no interest for us. I agree young people and all future generations are doomed.
I hope you’re right RE some holding out, however, that anyone could succumb should be a five alarm fire because of behavioral contagion and mimesis.
I once interviewed a writer who wrote a book about happiness and how we were losing it—and one of the things he brought up with the danger of GPS. I initially thought that was crazy – I love my GPS! I don’t have to worry about getting lost! It tells me where to go. Who could be against that? The guy‘s whole argument was that everybody’s losing their sense of direction, and that starts to chip away at other areas. I forgot much of the book, but I still remember that argument. Your post reminded me of it. Well done.
Reminds me of Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death but on a much, much scarier scale.
Loved the movie WALL-E and think of it often as I watch screen addiction in homes and in public. Wasn’t there an ad years ago with the jingle “Can’t get enough of that Sugar Crisp”? (a cereal) Your baseline point that “slop funds science, slop also hollows souls” is well described tethering of the new teething ring viewers can’t take out of their mouths from what their eyes watch every day. Conversations revolve around “did you see?” rather than “how are you? what did you do today? how do you think this is going to turn out from problem to solution?” Your line “the slop isn’t a byproduct, but the business model” and “infinite engagement to infinite compute” is well stated. AI cannot learn without human discourse to train it and the more human engagement the more AI fills the alignment with human cognition. Thank you for pointing all this out so well. As “teachers of AI” with our engagement we need to realize even teachers need a Break Room to rest and recharge our human inwardness.
Cheer up, Tom