Ephemera

I have to comment on one of the things I read today. This kind of historical ephemera is the exact reason I considered studying history in university. Whnever I read these things, even something as short as a pseudo-stub Wikipedia article, I feel it intensely. I picture the streets the Jews walked in this strangest of strange countries, the most xenophobic of strange countries. I picture a young boy taken to his first celebration of the cherry blossoms...

But eventually sense re-asserted itself, and I am now going down a path that (and I say this only with a bit of self-aggrandizement) may threten to destroy the world. How cool is that? Come on! Artificial intelligence could overturn many cherished human illusions. It may overturn our illusion of being in control. Psychology is already doing that, AI or no AI. But once we get past the sci-fi "evil robot" stereotype, we begin to see how the good emerges, and I'll make an unwarranted prediction and say the benefits will outweigh the costs. Robot soldiers would be less inclined to rape; they may be less ruthless than humans. We could treat mental disorders almost like we would a physical ailment. We could re-inject positive spirituality into humankind's search for meaning; our therapies would be more human, less metallic and hars; more human, less choppy and disjointed. We would know what brings aobut happiness when and could act on it in rational ways. We would know what maximizes creativity at any goven point and in many circumastances. We could have Beethoven factories. Robot Hemingways. Mechanical Martin Luther King Juniors. Robot idealists. Robot bankers; robot politicians. How would that be any worse than what we have now? AI could make us better parents, better lovers, better neighbours; better workers and better rulers. Better able to deal with life's stresses, better managers. But not just managers--who would like to live in a micro-managed cage? We would grow more quickly. I mean that in a "spiritual", "self-actualizing" way. Whatever you choose to call it. We could invoke God and know Her to be an excellent listener, a personal therapist without all the brimstone and burning.

It could do all these things, but it won't. We'll be lucky to achieve just a few. Why? It'll be because of greed. Some gluttonous pig with his fingers in the research funding pie will shape the nascent project. If we let him. We better not fucking let him. But we might. Just becase there are many of the same mind, but they are a distributed network. Fragile and isolated. Or so it seems.

Consider: "The two greatest characters in the 19th century are Napoleon and Helen Keller. Napoleon tried to conquer the world by physical force and failed. Helen tried to conquer the world by power of mind—and succeeded!"