👏👏👏 An excellent article by the great Ashtok Panniker on the potential dangers of AI! I was beginning yo think you’d retired from Substack! The problem we humans have is our ambition outpaces our better judgment. I will quote Dr. Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Mark for this one, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should." We need to stop looking at AI as some folks do, either as an unmitigated good or an unmitigated bad. Neither is the case! AI can be a good thing or a bad thing, it depends on how we use it and program it. We need to use it wisely and carefully! We also need to put strict regulations on its use as well. The lack of nuance surrounding the public discourse in the West on AI doesn’t surprise me at all. I think it is time for one of my nuance exercises again.
I think dinosaurs are cool and fascinating. But I wouldn’t want them to be brought back to life. I think Robert DeNiro is a good guy and a great actor, but I would prefer he stop talking about politics and going on his rants about Trump. I applaud the AfD for standing with Israel but I don’t like their reasons for doing so. I think Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson meeting with Adolf Hitler was a HUGE mistake. But I don’t think either of them are as bad as they’re made out to be and sympathize with them. I think that Ulysses S. Grant was a great general but a mediocre President. I recognize that Theodore Roosevelt was racist and had an imperialist streak. But I also admire him and consider him one of United States’ greatest Presidents. I admire Winston Churchill while criticizing him for how bad the Gallipoli Campaign went. I think Hollywood movies generally are garbage. But I thought Oppenheimer and Toy Story 5 were both great movies. I’m all for protecting endangered species of animals but I don’t think we should bring species who’ve gone extinct back. That just opens up a whole new can of worms.
Let’s say I’m living in Germany during World War I. I would be a patriotic German, would proudly fly my country’s flag and sing the German national anthem, love traditional German culture and food, enthusiastically celebrate Oktoberfest, support our soldiers as they went off to war, I would admire the Hohenzollern Dynasty, would be furious with the British Navy for their blockade of our country, and help treat German soldiers who’d been wounded in combat. All that being said, I would oppose German entry into World War I, despise Kaiser Wilhelm II and protest for democracy in Germany, be appalled by the atrocities committed by German soldiers in Belgium, be shocked and revolted by the German Army’s use of poison gas against Allied soldiers, tout the service of African Colonial Soldiers, defend German Jewish soldiers, support women receiving the right to vote and run for office in 1918, urge Germany to surrender in 1918, and rejoice at the coming of the Weimar Republic.
Alright, let’s say I lived in Egypt in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. I would be an Egyptian patriot, revere my Ancient Egyptian ancestors, be proud of my country’s thousands of years of history, look up to the Pharaohs of old, denounce British exploitation of our country, call for gradually moving towards full sovereignty for Egyptians over their country, denounce British atrocities and injustices against my people, advocate for gradual independence and sovereignty for other Arab countries, have sympathy for the Palestinian refugees, cheer the Construction of the Aswan Dam, and embrace my Syrian, Jordanian, Iraqi, and Lebanese brothers. However, at the same time I would admire and support the British Empire, generally think positively over their influence on our country, tout the benefits of British rule and involvement in Egypt, love and respect King Farouk, refuse to work with the Nazis and support the Allies in World War II, oppose the 1952 Revolution, be horrified by Gamal Abdel Nasser and denounce him as a madman, welcome the birth of the new state of Israel, refused to serve in the Egyptian Army during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the Six-Day War, I would be a proud Muslim Zionist, I would urge Egypt to make peace with Israel and engage in peaceful trade and commerce with the Jewish state, I would call for the Suez Canal to remain in British hands and for their buffer zone and troops to remain their, cheer on the British, French and Israelis during the 1956 Suez Crisis, embrace and help protect the Egyptian Jewish community, oppose the expulsion of British, French, Greek, Maltese, and Armenian foreign nationals and lobby the government to let them stay, applauded women getting the vote in 1956 and would call to eliminate all restrictions on voting for them, and would urge Egyptians to see themselves as Arabized Africans and to push back against Pax Arabica.
Last example, let’s say I lived in Japan in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. I’d be a patriotic Japanese citizen, be proud of my Samurai ancestors, revere Emperors Taishō and Hirohito, I would be frustrated that Japan didn’t get what it deserved at the Versailles Conference for helping the Allies win the war, I would love Japanese culture and traditions, cheer the arrival of universal male suffrage in 1925, enthusiastically support modernization and parliamentary democracy in Japan, help Japanese tenet farmers during the Great Depression, and love seeing tradition and modernity being blended together in Japan. But at same time, I would be most wary of the rise of nationalism in my country, curse the ultranationalists in the Japanese military for taking over the country, oppose strict media censorship, be appalled by the Japanese invasions of Manchuria and China, express my shock and revulsion at the war crimes the Japanese Army committed in China, oppose Japan pulling out of the League of Nations, detest General Hideki Tojo and his government, oppose the Tripartite Pact with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, urge good relations and friendship between the United States and Japan, condemn the attack on Pearl Harbor, be appalled by Japanese war crimes against Asian civilians and Allied POWs, oppose Tojo’s successors as Prime Minister, would be a proud Japanese dissident who’d send valuable intelligence to the United States and the Western Allies, would urge Japan to surrender after the dropping of the two atomic bombs and the Soviets entered the War in the Pacific, and would welcome the American occupation.
There already exists an AI since long, it gets called "Islam". Peope "ask" a "question" and the AI / "Holy Book" prattles an "answer" jabble - and millions do "believe" it as "truth". That´s what I call "dangerous".
Thank you for republishing my article, Daniel.
👏👏👏 An excellent article by the great Ashtok Panniker on the potential dangers of AI! I was beginning yo think you’d retired from Substack! The problem we humans have is our ambition outpaces our better judgment. I will quote Dr. Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Mark for this one, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should." We need to stop looking at AI as some folks do, either as an unmitigated good or an unmitigated bad. Neither is the case! AI can be a good thing or a bad thing, it depends on how we use it and program it. We need to use it wisely and carefully! We also need to put strict regulations on its use as well. The lack of nuance surrounding the public discourse in the West on AI doesn’t surprise me at all. I think it is time for one of my nuance exercises again.
I think dinosaurs are cool and fascinating. But I wouldn’t want them to be brought back to life. I think Robert DeNiro is a good guy and a great actor, but I would prefer he stop talking about politics and going on his rants about Trump. I applaud the AfD for standing with Israel but I don’t like their reasons for doing so. I think Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson meeting with Adolf Hitler was a HUGE mistake. But I don’t think either of them are as bad as they’re made out to be and sympathize with them. I think that Ulysses S. Grant was a great general but a mediocre President. I recognize that Theodore Roosevelt was racist and had an imperialist streak. But I also admire him and consider him one of United States’ greatest Presidents. I admire Winston Churchill while criticizing him for how bad the Gallipoli Campaign went. I think Hollywood movies generally are garbage. But I thought Oppenheimer and Toy Story 5 were both great movies. I’m all for protecting endangered species of animals but I don’t think we should bring species who’ve gone extinct back. That just opens up a whole new can of worms.
Let’s say I’m living in Germany during World War I. I would be a patriotic German, would proudly fly my country’s flag and sing the German national anthem, love traditional German culture and food, enthusiastically celebrate Oktoberfest, support our soldiers as they went off to war, I would admire the Hohenzollern Dynasty, would be furious with the British Navy for their blockade of our country, and help treat German soldiers who’d been wounded in combat. All that being said, I would oppose German entry into World War I, despise Kaiser Wilhelm II and protest for democracy in Germany, be appalled by the atrocities committed by German soldiers in Belgium, be shocked and revolted by the German Army’s use of poison gas against Allied soldiers, tout the service of African Colonial Soldiers, defend German Jewish soldiers, support women receiving the right to vote and run for office in 1918, urge Germany to surrender in 1918, and rejoice at the coming of the Weimar Republic.
Alright, let’s say I lived in Egypt in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. I would be an Egyptian patriot, revere my Ancient Egyptian ancestors, be proud of my country’s thousands of years of history, look up to the Pharaohs of old, denounce British exploitation of our country, call for gradually moving towards full sovereignty for Egyptians over their country, denounce British atrocities and injustices against my people, advocate for gradual independence and sovereignty for other Arab countries, have sympathy for the Palestinian refugees, cheer the Construction of the Aswan Dam, and embrace my Syrian, Jordanian, Iraqi, and Lebanese brothers. However, at the same time I would admire and support the British Empire, generally think positively over their influence on our country, tout the benefits of British rule and involvement in Egypt, love and respect King Farouk, refuse to work with the Nazis and support the Allies in World War II, oppose the 1952 Revolution, be horrified by Gamal Abdel Nasser and denounce him as a madman, welcome the birth of the new state of Israel, refused to serve in the Egyptian Army during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the Six-Day War, I would be a proud Muslim Zionist, I would urge Egypt to make peace with Israel and engage in peaceful trade and commerce with the Jewish state, I would call for the Suez Canal to remain in British hands and for their buffer zone and troops to remain their, cheer on the British, French and Israelis during the 1956 Suez Crisis, embrace and help protect the Egyptian Jewish community, oppose the expulsion of British, French, Greek, Maltese, and Armenian foreign nationals and lobby the government to let them stay, applauded women getting the vote in 1956 and would call to eliminate all restrictions on voting for them, and would urge Egyptians to see themselves as Arabized Africans and to push back against Pax Arabica.
Last example, let’s say I lived in Japan in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. I’d be a patriotic Japanese citizen, be proud of my Samurai ancestors, revere Emperors Taishō and Hirohito, I would be frustrated that Japan didn’t get what it deserved at the Versailles Conference for helping the Allies win the war, I would love Japanese culture and traditions, cheer the arrival of universal male suffrage in 1925, enthusiastically support modernization and parliamentary democracy in Japan, help Japanese tenet farmers during the Great Depression, and love seeing tradition and modernity being blended together in Japan. But at same time, I would be most wary of the rise of nationalism in my country, curse the ultranationalists in the Japanese military for taking over the country, oppose strict media censorship, be appalled by the Japanese invasions of Manchuria and China, express my shock and revulsion at the war crimes the Japanese Army committed in China, oppose Japan pulling out of the League of Nations, detest General Hideki Tojo and his government, oppose the Tripartite Pact with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, urge good relations and friendship between the United States and Japan, condemn the attack on Pearl Harbor, be appalled by Japanese war crimes against Asian civilians and Allied POWs, oppose Tojo’s successors as Prime Minister, would be a proud Japanese dissident who’d send valuable intelligence to the United States and the Western Allies, would urge Japan to surrender after the dropping of the two atomic bombs and the Soviets entered the War in the Pacific, and would welcome the American occupation.
There already exists an AI since long, it gets called "Islam". Peope "ask" a "question" and the AI / "Holy Book" prattles an "answer" jabble - and millions do "believe" it as "truth". That´s what I call "dangerous".