> I wished I could come up with a 'white mirror' alternative where all our tech is used for good but it wouldn't be nearly as believable.
Why? Imagine:
Everyone on Earth, if they have a problem, can be connected to a handful of people who already had that problem and offer friendly advice free of charge. Where that advice is tied to purchases or revenues, the network of people facilitating this experience will take a cut.
If you want to do something, say, plant some tomatoes, you can ask an AI how to do it in a way that has a high probability of success. If you are willing to follow a set of specified terms (specific production standards, etc), the AI will offer you financing and a guaranteed buyer for the product. Extend this to every form of production. Pre-financed contractors are available to take over processes you'd rather not do, or to mentor you in processes you want to learn.
Imagine every neighborhood, every culture, every regional cuisine, every micro-ecology, every species and family all has a hive of autonomous micro-corporations surrounding it, helping keep those cultures alive, keeping participants solvent and supporting its economy. Imagine people who are sick of the vanilla-ifying and globalization of culture have an alternative supported by a federation of tiny businesses powered by decentralized software... businesses that never could have existed in the "Minimum 10 Head Count Million Dollar Market Cap" business development physics of today, but are trivially financed by autonomous HR AIs with micropayment accounts.
Right now the systems we have to do these two things are imperfect, but I believe this is the future the internet/open source/open culture/non-profit/DIY/decentralization/blockchain crowd is driving toward. I welcome anyone who thinks these three goals are impossible. But imagine that we can get there. What would we do with such technologies? I think the ramifications are fascinating.
What if there are 400 million forest rangers roving the planet relocating endangered species to nearby biomes where they can survive for a few more decades?
What if the stories of the poor and the out-of-touch-with-production-culture can be told and shared, instead of being locked out of the media financing landscape?
What if the people whose home cooking you love to eat could just cook all day and live off the money?
What if you could get paid to take care of any sick person you wanted, because they're worth more to the economy healthy?
To me, there are so many beautiful uses of technology that I am certain we will get to. Black Mirror is spot-on in its worries. But I'm chock full of equivalent hopes.
I described a couple of AIs that do a couple of very specific things well. They probably won't even be able to understand each other. An AI that "is never wrong" is complete science fiction.
General AI is a fascinating thing to imagine, and great fodder for fiction, but it has no basis in science.
Why? Imagine:
Everyone on Earth, if they have a problem, can be connected to a handful of people who already had that problem and offer friendly advice free of charge. Where that advice is tied to purchases or revenues, the network of people facilitating this experience will take a cut.
If you want to do something, say, plant some tomatoes, you can ask an AI how to do it in a way that has a high probability of success. If you are willing to follow a set of specified terms (specific production standards, etc), the AI will offer you financing and a guaranteed buyer for the product. Extend this to every form of production. Pre-financed contractors are available to take over processes you'd rather not do, or to mentor you in processes you want to learn.
Imagine every neighborhood, every culture, every regional cuisine, every micro-ecology, every species and family all has a hive of autonomous micro-corporations surrounding it, helping keep those cultures alive, keeping participants solvent and supporting its economy. Imagine people who are sick of the vanilla-ifying and globalization of culture have an alternative supported by a federation of tiny businesses powered by decentralized software... businesses that never could have existed in the "Minimum 10 Head Count Million Dollar Market Cap" business development physics of today, but are trivially financed by autonomous HR AIs with micropayment accounts.
Right now the systems we have to do these two things are imperfect, but I believe this is the future the internet/open source/open culture/non-profit/DIY/decentralization/blockchain crowd is driving toward. I welcome anyone who thinks these three goals are impossible. But imagine that we can get there. What would we do with such technologies? I think the ramifications are fascinating.
What if there are 400 million forest rangers roving the planet relocating endangered species to nearby biomes where they can survive for a few more decades?
What if the stories of the poor and the out-of-touch-with-production-culture can be told and shared, instead of being locked out of the media financing landscape?
What if the people whose home cooking you love to eat could just cook all day and live off the money?
What if you could get paid to take care of any sick person you wanted, because they're worth more to the economy healthy?
To me, there are so many beautiful uses of technology that I am certain we will get to. Black Mirror is spot-on in its worries. But I'm chock full of equivalent hopes.