This period of AI hype is built on twin pillars, one, a broad and deep contemporary dissatisfaction with modern life, and two, the natural human tendency to assume that we live in the most important time possible because we are in it.

Our ongoing inability to define communally-shared visions of lives that are ordinary but noble and valuable has left us terribly frustrated with the modern world, and our sclerotic systems convince us that gradual positive change is impossible. Hence pillar one. And the very fact that we have a consciousness system, the reality of our lives as egos, of dasein, makes it very difficult to avoid thinking that we live in a special place and special time.

Hence the second pillar. I’m not assessing character here; the solipsism of consciousness is inherent, and our nervous systems are set up to make us feel that we are the protagonists of reality. I too have to remind myself that I don’t live in a privileged time. But I think adults do need to fight the temptation to think that way, and unfortunately the limitless sci-fi imaginings that artificial intelligence invites has made this habit irresistible to many.

Says Freddie deBoer on his Substack site, as he discusses the incredible amounts of bullshit surrounding Artificial Intelligence (AI), which has sucked in even one of his favourite science writers. As always, read the whole thing. Also see this.

As someone involved with impementing AI tools, I concur, and I when I read stuff like the following…

… I can’t help thinking that we’re heading for DotCom-type financial crash: