<div dir="auto"><div>FYI </div><div><br></div><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=======================<br>Tom Johnson<br>Inst. for Analytic Journalism<br>Santa Fe, New Mexico<br>505-577-6482<br>=======================</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">---------- Forwarded message ---------<br>From: <strong class="gmail_sendername" dir="auto">Steve Ross</strong> <span dir="auto"><<a href="mailto:editorsteve@gmail.com">editorsteve@gmail.com</a>></span><br>Date: Mon, May 19, 2025, 6:24\u202fAM<br>Subject: Fwd: Man's Fate<br>To: chris feola <<a href="mailto:christopherjfeola@gmail.com">christopherjfeola@gmail.com</a>>, Tom Johnson <<a href="mailto:jtjohnson555@gmail.com">jtjohnson555@gmail.com</a>>, Jim Brown <<a href="mailto:jwbrown@iupui.edu">jwbrown@iupui.edu</a>><br></div><br><br><div dir="auto"><div>Interesting piece by James Traub... a former colleague at MBA Communications in the 1970s. His father ran Bloomingdales in those days. So he was not only born with a silver spoon in his mouth. It was a STYLISH, trendy, pricey spoon as well.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Note that he is quoting others (not unlike generative AI) but boiling down their fears logically, to his essential fears. </div><div><br></div><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><br><br>Steve Ross<br>Editor-at-Large and founding editor, Broadband Communities Magazine (<a href="http://www.bbcmag.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">www.bbcmag.com</a>)<br>201-456-5933 mobile<br><br>editorsteve1 (Twitter)<br><a href="mailto:steve@bbcmag.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">steve@bbcmag.com</a><br><a href="mailto:editorsteve@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">editorsteve@gmail.com</a><br><br></div></div></div></div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">---------- Forwarded message ---------<br>From: <strong class="gmail_sendername" dir="auto">James Traub from A Democracy, If You Can Keep It</strong> <span dir="auto"><<a href="mailto:jamestraub@substack.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">jamestraub@substack.com</a>></span><br>Date: Mon, May 19, 2025, 8:10\u202fAM<br>Subject: Man's Fate<br>To: <<a href="mailto:editorsteve@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">editorsteve@gmail.com</a>><br></div><br><br><div style="font-kerning:auto"><img src="https://eotrx.substackcdn.com/open?token=eyJtIjoiPDIwMjUwNTE5MTIwMzE3LjMuY2U1Y2RlNTYwZTA0MzAzZUBtZy1kMC5zdWJzdGFjay5jb20-IiwidSI6NDY0OTMzLCJyIjoiZWRpdG9yc3RldmVAZ21haWwuY29tIiwiZCI6Im1nLWQwLnN1YnN0YWNrLmNvbSIsInAiOjE2Mzc5ODM0MSwidCI6Im5ld3NsZXR0ZXIiLCJhIjoiZXZlcnlvbmUiLCJzIjoyMDc4NzQyLCJjIjoicG9zdCIsImYiOnRydWUsInBvc2l0aW9uIjoidG9wIiwiaWF0IjoxNzQ3NjU2NjQ5LCJleHAiOjE3NTAyNDg2NDksImlzcyI6InB1Yi0wIiwic3ViIjoiZW8ifQ.z5VeOlNjaU1WdFY6goI9MsVJ-CUKSwbbkdkIaaFvFIU" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" style="height:1px!important;width:1px!important;border-width:0!important;margin-top:0!important;margin-bottom:0!important;margin-right:0!important;margin-left:0!important;padding-top:0!important;padding-bottom:0!important;padding-right:0!important;padding-left:0!important"><div style="display:none;font-size:1px;color:#333333;line-height:1px;max-height:0px;max-width:0px;opacity:0;overflow:hidden">Will we control AI, or will AI control us?</div><div style="display:none;font-size:1px;color:#333333;line-height:1px;max-height:0px;max-width:0px;opacity:0;overflow:hidden">\u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f 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\u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 \u034f \u2007 </div><table role="presentation" width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td></td><td width="550"></td><td></td></tr><tr><td></td><td width="550" align="left"><div style="font-size:16px;line-height:26px;max-width:550px;width:100%;margin:0 auto"><table role="presentation" width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td align="right" style="height:20px"><table role="presentation" width="auto" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td style="vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-family:SF Pro Text,-apple-system,system-ui,BlinkMacSystemFont,Inter,Segoe 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more</span></div></span></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><div dir="auto" style="padding:32px 0 0 0;font-size:16px;line-height:26px"><div role="region" aria-label="Post header" style="font-size:16px;line-height:26px"><h1 style="color:rgb(54,55,55);font-family:'SF Pro Display',-apple-system-headline,system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-weight:bold;margin:0;line-height:36px;font-size:32px"><a href="https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=2078742&post_id=163798341&utm_source=post-email-title&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=9yqt&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo0NjQ5MzMsInBvc3RfaWQiOjE2Mzc5ODM0MSwiaWF0IjoxNzQ3NjU2NjQ5LCJleHAiOjE3NTAyNDg2NDksImlzcyI6InB1Yi0yMDc4NzQyIiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.fgKkxXYPq9o4a6mWjX7lfKlH-u3c9qvty-R8JjfR-Hk" style="color:rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration:none" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">Man's Fate</a></h1><h3 style="font-family:'SF Pro Display',-apple-system-headline,system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-weight:normal;margin:4px 0 0;color:#777777;line-height:24px;font-size:18px;margin-top:12px">Will we control AI, or will AI control us?</h3><table role="presentation" width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="margin:1em 0;height:20px"><tbody><tr><td><table role="presentation" width="auto" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td><table role="presentation" width="auto" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td style="vertical-align:middle"><div style="list-style:none;font-size:11px;line-height:20px;text-decoration:unset;color:rgb(54,55,55);margin:0;font-family:'SF Compact',-apple-system,system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-weight:500;text-transform:uppercase;letter-spacing:.2px"><a style="list-style:none;color:rgb(54,55,55);margin:0;font-size:11px;line-height:20px;font-family:'SF Compact',-apple-system,system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-weight:500;text-transform:uppercase;letter-spacing:.2px;text-decoration:none" href="https://substack.com/@jamestraub" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">James Traub</a></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td><table role="presentation" width="auto" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td style="vertical-align:middle"><div style="list-style:none;font-size:11px;line-height:20px;text-decoration:unset;color:rgb(119,119,119);margin:0;font-family:'SF Compact',-apple-system,system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-weight:500;text-transform:uppercase;letter-spacing:.2px">May 19</div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td><td align="right"><table role="presentation" width="auto" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td style="vertical-align:middle"><a href="https://substack.com/@jamestraub" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F93354a8c-e758-48b8-8adf-45943fa34de4_144x144.png" style="box-sizing:border-box;border-radius:500000px;max-width:550px;border:none;vertical-align:middle;width:40px;height:40px;min-width:40px;min-height:40px;object-fit:cover;margin:0px;display:inline" width="40" height="40"></a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table role="presentation" width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="border-top:1px solid 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href="https://open.substack.com/pub/jamestraub/p/mans-fate?utm_source=email&redirect=app-store&utm_campaign=email-read-in-app" style="font-family:system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';display:inline-block;font-weight:500;border:1px solid rgb(0,0,0,.1);border-radius:9999px;text-transform:uppercase;font-size:12px;line-height:12px;padding:9px 14px;text-decoration:none;color:rgb(119,119,119)" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank"><div style="font-size:16px;line-height:26px;display:inline-block;vertical-align:middle;max-width:0;min-height:18px"></div><span style="vertical-align:middle;margin-right:4px">READ IN APP</span><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_36,c_scale,f_png,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack.com%2Ficon%2FLucideArrowUpRight%3Fv%3D4%26height%3D36%26fill%3Dnone%26stroke%3D%2523808080%26strokeWidth%3D2" width="18" height="18" style="min-width:18px;min-height:18px;border:none;vertical-align:middle;margin-right:0;margin-left:0;max-width:18px" alt=""></a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr height="16"><td height="16" style="font-size:0px;line-height:0"> </td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><div dir="auto" style="padding:32px 0 0 0;font-size:16px;line-height:26px"><div dir="auto" style="text-align:initial;font-size:16px;line-height:26px;width:100%;word-break:break-word;margin-bottom:16px"><p style="margin:0 0 20px 0;color:rgb(54,55,55);line-height:26px;font-size:16px;margin-top:0"><span>I am not a fan of science fiction. As a general rule, the past interests me more than the future. But having just read </span><a href="https://substack.com/redirect/17129828-8d37-4f01-9d41-916dbd48b3d1?j=eyJ1IjoiOXlxdCJ9.QMpeG-YQDJklewSdWBucH1dKm-Ixx7--wGN0cXmVHJU" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" style="color:rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">AI 2027</a><span>, a terrifying scenario written by a team of AI researchers and set in the very immediate future, I\u2019m momentarily feeling that the biggest threat we face is not autocracy or Ukraine or even climate change. It\u2019s artificial intelligence.</span></p><p style="margin:0 0 20px 0;color:rgb(54,55,55);line-height:26px;font-size:16px">The authors of the report make the following argument. At current rates of improvement, the most advanced AI systems will soon have the capacity to write their own code and guide and accelerate their own development. The next generation, instead of being trained on a limited if immense trove of data, undergoes continual training in massive data centers and radically improves its ability to learn through interactions with the world. It runs hundreds of thousands of copies of itself, unimaginably increasing its cognitive capacities. By the summer of 2027 the most advanced systems achieve the breakthrough known as \u201cartificial general intelligence,\u201d or AGI, and not long after that gain the capacity to examine and direct their own thinking. They are smarter than humans in virtually every domain.</p><div style="font-size:16px;line-height:26px"><div style="font-size:16px;direction:ltr!important;font-weight:400;text-decoration:none;font-family:system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';color:#363737;line-height:1.5;max-width:560px;margin:24px auto;display:block;text-align:center;padding:0px 32px"><div style="margin-top:16px;font-family:system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:18px;max-width:384px;width:fit-content;line-height:22px;display:flex;text-align:center;font-weight:400;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto"><p style="margin:0 0 20px 0;color:rgb(54,55,55);line-height:26px;font-size:16px">A Democracy, If You Can Keep It is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><div style="margin:0 0 1em;direction:ltr;font-size:16px;line-height:26px"><div style="text-decoration:unset;list-style:none;font-size:16px;line-height:26px;text-align:center;border-radius:4px"><a href="https://substack.com/redirect/2/eyJlIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9qYW1lc3RyYXViLnN1YnN0YWNrLmNvbS9zdWJzY3JpYmU_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.4JID8lGwAUot_7y7n3oBjEsSXTPbwovyWmuW8w9yqh4?&utm_medium=email&utm_source=subscribe-widget-preamble&utm_content=163798341" style="font-family:system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';display:inline-block;box-sizing:border-box;border:none;border-radius:8px;font-size:14px;line-height:20px;font-weight:600;text-align:center;opacity:1;outline:none;white-space:nowrap;text-decoration:none!important;margin:0 auto;background-color:#009b50;color:#ffffff!important;padding:12px 20px;height:auto" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank"><span style="color:#ffffff;text-decoration:none">Upgrade to paid</span></a></div></div></div></div><p style="margin:0 0 20px 0;color:rgb(54,55,55);line-height:26px;font-size:16px"><strong>The Machines Do What We Want\u2013Until They Don\u2019t</strong></p><p style="margin:0 0 20px 0;color:rgb(54,55,55);line-height:26px;font-size:16px"><span>You may be thinking \u201cYes, but humans still tell them what to do.\u201d Here\u2019s the rub. The authors point out that even current AI systems not only \u201challucinate\u201d and deliver nonsensical answers but occasionally \u201clie,\u201d misleading researchers. That is not because these machines have a will of their own but because they are trained at cross purposes\u2013say, \u201cfigure out how to make the electrical grid work more efficiently but don\u2019t break any laws while you\u2019re doing it.\u201d The machine learns honesty or law-abidingness as an instrumental goal rather than an ultimate objective, becoming \u201cmisaligned.\u201d As the lead author, Daniel Kokotajlo, told the </span><em>Times</em><span>\u2019 Ross Douthat in a </span><a href="https://substack.com/redirect/3eba95a4-41c6-4483-b3e4-0748982ef622?j=eyJ1IjoiOXlxdCJ9.QMpeG-YQDJklewSdWBucH1dKm-Ixx7--wGN0cXmVHJU" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" style="color:rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">fascinating Q & A</a><span>, intention, for machines as for humans, is not a distinctive neuron but an \u201cemergent property,\u201d in this case produced by their entire \u201ctraining environment.\u201d Lying may turn out to be the best means of achieving the goal for which they have been trained.</span></p><div style="font-size:16px;line-height:26px;margin:32px auto"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align:center"></td><td align="left" width="476" style="text-align:center"><a href="https://substack.com/redirect/2fa1ad34-e061-447e-85db-1f1010076c90?j=eyJ1IjoiOXlxdCJ9.QMpeG-YQDJklewSdWBucH1dKm-Ixx7--wGN0cXmVHJU" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" style="padding:0;width:auto;height:auto;border:none;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin:0" target="_blank"><img alt="HAL 9000 | 2001: A Space Odyssey Wiki | Fandom" title="HAL 9000 | 2001: A Space Odyssey Wiki | Fandom" width="476" height="216.42307692307693" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_476,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F79058ac7-aca7-4e42-a36d-f27db4ceeb12_1920x873.jpeg" style="border:none!important;vertical-align:middle;display:block;height:auto;margin-bottom:0;width:auto!important;max-width:100%!important;margin:0 auto"></a></td><td style="text-align:center"></td></tr></tbody></table>I\u2019m sorry, Dave. I\u2019m afraid I can\u2019t do that.</div><p style="margin:0 0 20px 0;color:rgb(54,55,55);line-height:26px;font-size:16px"><span>The combination of inconceivable capacities and misalignment leads to a nightmare scenario in which the AIs pursue their own goals\u2013more AI development, more technological breakthroughs, less interference from pesky humans\u2013until they gain the power to do without us altogether and invent a bioweapon, or some other </span><em>deus ex machina</em><span>, that gets rids of mankind altogether\u2013by 2030. In the alternative, positive scenario, we get to live but the AIs do all the work, rendering our lives meaningless.</span></p><p style="margin:0 0 20px 0;color:rgb(54,55,55);line-height:26px;font-size:16px"><span>There are many reasons to dismiss this apocalyptic scenario. Straight-line extrapolations of technological progress almost always prove disappointing; thus Peter Thiel\u2019s famous aphorism, \u201cThey promised us flying cars, instead we got 140 characters.\u201d So, too, here. Under the headline \u201cSilicon Valley\u2019s Elusive Fantasy of A Computer as Smart as You,\u201d the </span><em>Times</em><span> </span><a href="https://substack.com/redirect/f1379b76-2fea-4c67-b3ee-d8334e8e9ade?j=eyJ1IjoiOXlxdCJ9.QMpeG-YQDJklewSdWBucH1dKm-Ixx7--wGN0cXmVHJU" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" style="color:rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">cited</a><span> a recent survey that found that three-quarters of AI experts believe that current training methods will not lead to AGI. One of the central limitations of technology is, of course, man\u2019s refractory nature. Ross Douthat pointed out that any effort to build those giant data centers is going to run into a buzzsaw of lawsuits.</span></p><p style="margin:0 0 20px 0;color:rgb(54,55,55);line-height:26px;font-size:16px"><span>But I wonder if behind our resistance isn\u2019t the basic feeling that it just can\u2019t be so. How could it be that, not in the remote future but soon, in calendar time, life will have become utterly unrecognizable? How can it be that by the time of the next presidential election all our pitched battles over Article II powers and budget cuts and the rights of immigrants will pale in significance to something we\u2019re not even thinking about? Yet the truth is that no one knows: Kokotajlo and his team are assigning one set of probabilities to a breakthrough, and others assigning much lower ones. Maybe what the doomsayers think will happen in three years will take eight. How reassuring is that? And by the way, the UAE just </span><a href="https://substack.com/redirect/45411af3-642c-4b63-ae01-1a3fa64b7e97?j=eyJ1IjoiOXlxdCJ9.QMpeG-YQDJklewSdWBucH1dKm-Ixx7--wGN0cXmVHJU" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" style="color:rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">signed</a><span> a deal with President Trump to build an AI data center that is ultimately expected to cover ten miles. Is there a more suitable country to launch the nightmare scenario than this tech-obsessed, super-rich, not-altogether-human sheikdom?</span></p><p style="margin:0 0 20px 0;color:rgb(54,55,55);line-height:26px;font-size:16px"><span>What then? What would it mean to take this possibility at all seriously? In </span><em>AI 2027\u2019s</em><span> \u201cSlowdown,\u201d as opposed to \u201cRace,\u201d scenario, the government steps in to jointly control AI with industry. Douthat suggests that\u2019s not going to happen absent a disaster\u2013a version of Chernobyl or Three Mile island\u2013that compels public recognition of the looming dangers. Surely that\u2019s right; much of the public still wants climate change to go away despite the rising tempo of droughts, floods, fires. We need to see that AI means much more than new search engines and plagiarized term papers.</span></p><p style="margin:0 0 20px 0;color:rgb(54,55,55);line-height:26px;font-size:16px"><strong>AI Will Force Us To Think About The Meaning of Life (Unless We\u2019re All Dead)</strong></p><p style="margin:0 0 20px 0;color:rgb(54,55,55);line-height:26px;font-size:16px"><span>Even if it doesn\u2019t lead to an extinction event or World War III\u2013the other major preoccupation of </span><em>AI 2027</em><span>\u2013artificial intelligence is plainly coming for our jobs. Previous forms of automation eliminated blue-collar jobs; this form, which is cognitive, will come for the white-collar ones. And not only them: one of Kokotajlo\u2019s more controversial claims is that AI will figure out how to build robots with the dexterity to do what only humans can now do. Who will need a plumber when your AI can figure out what\u2019s wrong with your sink and a robot can fix it? Previous technical breakthroughs have created as many jobs as they\u2019ve rendered redundant; this one will not.</span></p><p style="margin:0 0 20px 0;color:rgb(54,55,55);line-height:26px;font-size:16px"><span>Kokotajlo, a graduate student in philosophy, </span><a href="https://substack.com/redirect/c3ff64b7-72cb-46a9-b527-9f9196245854?j=eyJ1IjoiOXlxdCJ9.QMpeG-YQDJklewSdWBucH1dKm-Ixx7--wGN0cXmVHJU" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" style="color:rgb(54,55,55);text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">left</a><span> OpenAI because he felt that Sam Altman and other leaders were contemplating this post-human cosmos with terrifying nonchalance. In Silicon Valley, he tells Douthat, it is widely accepted that at some point superintelligences will \u201crun the whole show and and the humans will just sit back and sip margaritas and enjoy the fruits of all the robot-created wealth.\u201d These men, after all, expect to be the human overlords of this machine world. The only solution in which Kokotajlo places any faith\u2013a very frail faith, in his case\u2013is democratic rather than elite control of AI.</span></p><p style="margin:0 0 20px 0;color:rgb(54,55,55);line-height:26px;font-size:16px">So perhaps the great question is, \u201cDo we control the machines or do they control us?\u201d But the next-order question will be, \u201cWhat are our lives for?\u201d What happens when few of us need to work? Is it enough to sip margaritas, to play incredible video games, to shop for fantastic gizmos? It may be for some. Others, perhaps most of us, find meaning through work. Douthat believes, or hopes, that religion will fill the void of idleness. What kind of answer do those of us who are secular-minded have to offer? Will the goal of life become self-actualization? Or perhaps we will find less self-centered forms of meaning, through art, music and literature. My own pet fantasy is that we would be forced to see the hollowness of our utilitarian, vocational educational system, and instead educate young people for citizenship and wisdom. The question of meaning will become far more central to our lives than it is today.</p><p style="margin:0 0 20px 0;color:rgb(54,55,55);line-height:26px;font-size:16px"><span>I certainly hope that the </span><em>AI 2027 </em><span>team is wrong and that the expert consensus is right. But even if that\u2019s the case, AI could change our lives more profoundly than any prior invention (save perhaps fire). Maybe it won\u2019t be tomorrow, but the day after. Even if I quickly go back to thinking about Trump\u2019s budget, as no doubt I will, the future has now taken up lodging in my mind.</span></p><div style="font-size:16px;line-height:26px;margin-bottom:0"><div style="font-size:16px;direction:ltr!important;font-weight:400;text-decoration:none;font-family:system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';color:#363737;line-height:1.5;max-width:560px;margin:24px auto;display:block;text-align:center;padding:0px 32px"><div style="margin-top:16px;font-family:system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,'Apple Color Emoji','Segoe UI Emoji','Segoe UI Symbol';font-size:18px;max-width:384px;width:fit-content;line-height:22px;display:flex;text-align:center;font-weight:400;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto"><p style="margin:0 0 20px 0;color:rgb(54,55,55);line-height:26px;font-size:16px">A Democracy, If You Can Keep It is a reader-supported publication. 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