Billy MacInnes would admire a little bit of peace and quiet as 2024 involves a detailed
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So right here all of us are heading into the closing levels of 2024. Does it really feel like practically a yr has passed by since final Christmas? I suppose all of it relies upon who you might be and what’s occurred to you.
Personally, I really feel that we’re all at the moment dwelling beneath the curse, usually attributed to Confucius however which, in response to some, might solely have originated within the twentieth century. the one: “Might you reside in fascinating instances.”
Having lived a considerable a part of my life in that century, I assumed I’d already lived in instances that have been fairly fascinating sufficient, thanks, however it might seem not.
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And the factor is that, within the context of the curse, nobody actually desires to dwell in “fascinating instances” as a result of, at its coronary heart, which means durations of upheaval, battle, pestilence, illness, starvation, chaos, financial despair, mass unemployment. You get the image.
Uninteresting instances, in contrast, are these temporary durations of human existence when all is peace and concord.
The issue is that this specific century appears hell-bent on giving us largely uninterrupted durations of “fascinating” and never sufficient “uninteresting”.
Know-how might have performed a component in making the instances uninteresting or fascinating. Sadly, for essentially the most half, it has been firmly within the latter camp. Sure, we have now achieved a whole lot of nice progress due to IT however we’re solely beginning to admire simply how “fascinating” it may be and the way detrimental that’s for us all.
Disinformation and misinformation have change into endemic due to the wonders of know-how they usually have had very severe penalties for us and the world. Now, we’re grappling with the implications of synthetic intelligence and its potential affect on us all. Will or not it’s fascinating? Sadly, the reply appears to be “sure”. I’d love for AI to be uninteresting, for it to do the roles and duties that we didn’t wish to do, to make the roles and duties we have now to do simpler and to free us all to dwell higher lives. However previous proof suggests it received’t.
Why? Partly as a result of the tech world is headed by individuals who assume “fascinating” is a mantra to dwell by, a characteristic not a bug. The proof means that most of the world’s tech titans have a view of our world that’s utterly indifferent from the expertise of most individuals who dwell on it. Take a look at what’s occurring within the US proper now. Elon Musk, poster boy of the tech world, has change into the self-appointed co-president of the nation and is busy displaying his full lack of information of the true world as he pontificates on what components of presidency spending might be lower.
He isn’t alone. Many different tech bros (and sure, they’re practically all males) are precisely the identical. And it’s wonderful how usually individuals who make a advantage of how complicated and superior their know-how is, can’t additionally assist telling one and all how easy all the pieces is to repair with the help of that know-how. It’s not. It actually isn’t. You solely have to take a look at how arduous it may be to implement know-how to attain what the folks fronting it promise it could actually do, to grasp nothing is so simple as they let you know. That’s partly why the channel exists.
And that is the curse all of us labour beneath, dwelling in “fascinating” instances as a result of the individuals who inform us each situation or downside is straightforward to repair with know-how are actually in positions of nice energy and affect however utterly indifferent from essentially the most fundamental aspects of on a regular basis human existence. The world we dwell in as we speak is simply easy in case you’re ignorant.
I’ve a horrible suspicion that 2025 goes to be way more “fascinating” than any of us would love however I can also’t assist questioning if the tech bros (or broligarchy) might have carried out us all a favour within the (needlessly damaging) long term by displaying everybody who may need believed in any other case that, truly, they don’t seem to be all-knowing visionaries and their know-how doesn’t have all of the solutions to the world’s issues. The truth is, in some circumstances, it’s serving to to create much more.
Attention-grabbing.
