Chronic2h

So what can you do to prevent it? I suppose you could shop strictly on Amazon, which could actually work.

Go ahead and take the moral high ground here. No one is stopping you. But you'll be broke as hell if you do (or run out of funding).

Let me help you out by responding as an authority to the parent.

I worked at DeepMind as an AI researcher. I can guarantee you will not see "AGI" or "strong AI" in your or your children's lifetimes. It's fun to believe, it gives us something to look forward to, talk about with friends, and discuss on HN. But in reality, we are so far from artificial general intelligence, even with an exponential curve, it will take us 100 more years. The current deep learning era (or more aptly named, pattern recognition) will last another 5-10 years, at best. Then another winter will come.

Have you even talked to the elderly? They are much happier today than they were kids. The ability to communicate with old friends and family across the globe and purchase medicine easily.

Over half of your claims relate to the environment. Perhaps you are too attached to that? Or are you so firmly fixed to your narrative that quality of life is decreasing? I can easily cite many MORE animal species that are not extinct today, but would have been, if it were not for our technological advances and conservation efforts. But of course, this doesn't match your narrative, so you will deny it at all costs.