Silicon Valley's Obsession with AI Looks a Lot Like Religion

thereader.mitpress.mit.edu

10 points·____H____··2 comments

Yeah, just because one does not believe in fantastic stories of a particular old book doesn't mean one is immune to new ones.

> perhaps many who imagine such scenarios do so with tongues in cheeks

Over the last 20 years, I've seen too many things get started as jokes before becoming tragically serious, that this is actually a worrying sign. Individual human minds are vulnerable to repetitive exposure, and a "joke" group can also incubate a too-serious one by providing a safe community for trial-balloons disguised as jokes.

> Cannon’s business model also reminded me of Ray Kurzweil, the famous inventor, computer scientist, and Singularitarian who openly takes hundreds of daily pills and supplements to avoid the irony of dying just before the all-but-omniscient computers he believes are coming soon can arrive.

I see Kurzweil's "predictions" more as a desperate attempt to convince himself he will live forever, since that seems to be the one unifying theme.

There is a difference between scientific prediction and made up biblical stories though. I mean Kurzweil predicts computers will beat the human champion at chess by 1998 and it happens in 1997, predicts computers will pass the turing test by 2029 and that seems to be happening a bit ahead of schedule. That is a different category of thing to:

>And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes...

etc. I haven't seen any seven eyed Lambs for a while.

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