So there’s this article in the
London Review of Books (July 13) about the latest book by the Israeli historian
Yuval Harari that carries the title above.
I underlined a few things that,
well, appeared sound but utterly frightening, ie:
- Humanity’s future is in the hands of technical experts – in biotech, artificial intelligence, cognitive and computer science.
- Algorithms embedded in silicon and metal will replace algorithms embedded in flesh, and remember, we have no immortal soul; there is no essential human “self,” and our thoughts and emotions are the product of electrochemical impulses which can, in principle, be modeled by these formal problem-solving rules we call algorithms.
- In the argot of Silicon Valley, now-useless human beings are just “meat puppets.”
- Harari doesn’t go so far as to imagine the superhumans accepting the logic of the Final Solution. (But) what will (regular folks) do all day? Will they discover the joys of art? Probably not: it’s more likely that the “useless masses” will find whatever satisfaction they can in shopping, drugs, computer games and the thrill of virtual reality, which will “provide them with far more excitement and emotional engagement than the drab reality outside.”
Man, this kind of outlook has me
jonesing for the latest from the climate futurists …
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