Artificial Intelligence News & Discussion

[ScioAgapeOmnis]

The more I think about it, the more it occurs to me that free will must be intimately tied to infinity - that one cannot exist without the other. When you have infinite possibilities, infinite "time", infinite permutations of creation, that's what makes free will possible, and vice versa. If the universe had a finite amount of "time" to exist, and a finite amount of "stuff", it wouldn't allow for infinite possibilities - you'd run out of ways to restructure that stuff in a finite amount of time, and it's all done - no more choices, no more options, no more possibilities, you're done. It doesn't seem that free will would be either necessary or possible there. Determinism would work just fine like a Rube-Goldberg machine.

As soon as you open it up to infinity, free will makes sense, possibly the only sense. You can't have determinism in infinity - there is no beginning, no "seed" that kicked everything off, you'll never find the "initial impulse" no matter how far "back" you go as there's always infinity "behind" you. And infinite amount of stuff also is inherently non-deterministic - no matter how many variables you try to account for, there will always be an infinite amount you still haven't accounted for, meaning you can never truly 100% predict anything, since you can never account for these variables. So that leaves random or free will. And in the scope of infinity, every possibility inevitably is actualized, and that means if free will is possible, it is inevitable. And as soon as free will "comes into being" so to speak, you just eliminated randomness, because by the nature of its own existence, free will cancels pure randomness. Also, randomness sucks at fighting off entropy, and life seems to be really good at it, so there's that too.

Math is inherently deterministic sure, except when it comes to infinity. Like maybe the number Pi or prime numbers, or even just the number line itself. Infinity is always "greater than the sum of its parts", because all sums are limited, and infinity is not, so no finite sums ever equal infinity, and yet we know it's "there" in principle. I'm not sure how math, perhaps using infinity, can also demonstrate free will, but that's also because I suck at math. Anyway, away with the existential crisis, now it's time to do some work! :)

 

[Deleted member 4320]

Math is inherently deterministic sure, except when it comes to infinity. Like maybe the number Pi or prime numbers, or even just the number line itself. Infinity is always "greater than the sum of its parts", because all sums are limited, and infinity is not, so no finite sums ever equal infinity, and yet we know it's "there" in principle. I'm not sure how math, perhaps using infinity, can also demonstrate free will, but that's also because I suck at math. Anyway, away with the existential crisis, now it's time to do some work! :)

Math is a certain description of the reality. And if this description is correct then it can help to further conclusions based on the actual knowledge (if logical reasoning has place) without any practical experimentation. In other case practical experimentation could says something opposite to the mathemetical model which (model) had to explain something.

If definition of infinity is just an appearing of the mathematical abstraction without clear connection to the reality then this is can be only deterministic and maeningful only for those who use it. If we get logical description of the infinity then it can be use as the beginning for the theoretical considerations allowing for better understanding of the reality. Then non-deterministic phenomenon could be the process of thinking over develop these ideas, did by conscious being.

The strange behaviour of the machine could has the cause in the in the errors in the code and program stop working. The such incidents can be very difficult to repeat and no one really know what happend, user just restart computer and start code again from the begining. The next things are electromagnetical "changes" wich may effect computer making it avoid some commands written in the code or run code passed by exterior source through the gaps in places when inputs meet operational parts of the hardware of the computer.

When it comes to the infinity. In maths infinity, from what I remember, is a "number" which constantly make its value higher and higher to the the furthest plus or minus. It is not exactly very deep philosophy, but have its practical application. When we do some more visionery look at the infinity, if infinity is real, and we could admit that objectivly then you really connect it to the everything. If infinity is, it naturally entails existing of the free will, also lack exisiting of the free will, becuase there is no real limits. And typical definition of the infinity is enough for this. However it changes our day?

 

[ScioAgapeOmnis]

I was just casually looking through some of RA sessions, and found this one that seems to apply to this thread pretty well:

The Law of One Session 82

In essence, RA talks about how 3rd density used to not have a "veil of forgetting", so everyone remembered who they really are and all their other incarnations and all that. And an analogy in our time is someone born into great wealth and comfort. Essentially, none of the entities graduated to 4D because they were lazy and comfortable and happy and secure and not properly motivated. They knew they needed to do it, they just didn't care enough to do it:

82.21 ▶ Questioner: Then even though, from our point of view, there was great evolutionary experience it was deemed at some point by the evolving Logos that an experiment to create a greater experience was appropriate. Is this correct?

Ra: I am Ra. This is correct and may benefit from comment. The Logos is aware of the nature of the third-density requirement for what you have called graduation. All the previous, if you would use this term, experiments, although resulting in many experiences, lacked what was considered the crucial ingredient; that is, polarization. There was little enough tendency for experience to polarize entities that entities repeated habitually the third-density cycles many times over. It was desired that the potential for polarization be made more available.

82.22 ▶ Questioner: Then since the only possibility at this particular time, as I see it, was a polarization for service to others, I must assume from what you said that even though all were aware of this service-to-others necessity they were unable to achieve it. What was the configuration of mind of the mind/body/spirit complexes at that time? Were they aware of the necessity for the polarization or unaware of it? And if so, why did they have such a difficult time serving others to the extent necessary for graduation since this was the only polarity possible?

Ra: I am Ra. Consider, if you will, the tendency of those who are divinely happy, as you call this distortion, to have little urge to alter or better their condition. Such is the result of the mind/body/spirit which is not complex. There is the possibility of love of other-selves and service to other-selves, but there is the overwhelming awareness of the Creator in the self. The connection with the Creator is that of the umbilical cord. The security is total. Therefore, no love is terribly important; no pain terribly frightening; no effort, therefore, is made to serve for love or to benefit from fear.

82.23 ▶ Questioner: It seems that you might make an analogy in our present illusion of those who are born into extreme wealth and security. Is this correct?

Ra: I am Ra. Within the strict bounds of the simile, you are perceptive.

82.24 ▶ Questioner: We have presently an activity between physical incarnations called healing and review the incarnation. Was anything of this nature occurring prior to the veil between physical incarnations?

Ra: I am Ra. The inchoate structure of this process was always in place, but where there has been no harm there need be no healing. This too may be seen to have been of concern to Logoi which were aware that without the need to understand, understanding would forever be left undone. We ask your forgiveness for the use of this misnomer, but your language has a paucity of sound vibration complexes for this general concept.

82.25 ▶ Questioner: I don’t grasp too well the condition of incarnation and time between incarnation prior to the veil in that I do not understand what was the difference other than the manifestation of the third-density, yellow-ray body. Was there any mental difference upon what we call death? Was there any— I don’t see the necessity for what we call a review of the incarnation if the consciousness was uninterrupted. Could you clear that point for me?

Ra: I am Ra. No portion of the Creator audits the course, to use your experiential terms. Each incarnation is intended to be a course in the Creator knowing Itself. A review or, shall we say, to continue the metaphor, each test is an integral portion of the process of the Creator knowing Itself. Each incarnation will end with such a test. This is so that the portion of the Creator may assimilate the experiences in yellow-ray, physical third density, may evaluate the biases gained, and may then choose, either by means of automatically provided aid or by the self, the conditions of the next incarnation.

82.26 ▶ Questioner: Before the veil, during the review of incarnation, were the entities at that time aware that what they were trying to do was sufficiently polarize for graduation?

Ra: I am Ra. This is correct.

82.27 ▶ Questioner: Then I am assuming this awareness was somehow reduced as they went into the yellow-ray third-density incarnative state, even though there was no veil. Is this correct?

Ra: I am Ra. This is distinctly incorrect.

82.28 ▶ Questioner: OK. This is the central important point. Why, then, was it so— You’ve answered this, but it seems to me that if the polarization was the obvious thing that more effort would have been put forward to polarize. Let me see if I can state this… Before the veil there was an awareness of the need for polarization towards service to others in third density by all entities, whether incarnate in third-density, yellow-ray bodies or whether in between incarnations. What was the— I assume, then, that the condition of which we earlier spoke, the one of wealth you might say, was present through the entire spectrum of experience whether it be between incarnations or during incarnation and the entities just simply could not [chuckling] get up the desire or manifest the desire to create this polarization necessary for graduation. Is this correct?

Ra: I am Ra. You begin to grasp the situation. Let us continue the metaphor of the schooling but consider the scholar as being an entity in your younger years of the schooling process. The entity is fed, clothed, and protected regardless of whether or not the schoolwork is accomplished. Therefore, the entity does not do the homework but rather enjoys playtime, mealtime, and vacation. It is not until there is a reason to wish to excel that most entities will attempt to excel.

82.29 ▶ Questioner: You stated in a much earlier session that it is necessary to polarize anything more than 50% service to self to be harvestable fourth-density positive. Was this condition the same at the time before the veil? The same percentage polarization?

Ra: I am Ra. This shall be the last full query of this working.

The query is not answered easily, for the concept of service to self did not hold sway previous to what we have been calling the veiling process. The necessity for graduation to fourth density is an ability to use, welcome, and enjoy a certain intensity of the white light of the One Infinite Creator. In your own terms at your space/time nexus this ability may be measured by your previously stated percentages of service.

Prior to the veiling process the measurement would be that of an entity walking up a set of your stairs, each of which was imbued with a certain quality of light. The stair upon which an entity stopped would be either third-density light or fourth-density light. Between the two stairs lies the threshold. To cross that threshold is difficult. There is resistance at the edge, shall we say, of each density. The faculty of faith or will needs to be understood, nourished, and developed in order to have an entity which seeks past the boundary of third density. Those entities which do not do their homework, be they ever so amiable, shall not cross. It was this situation which faced the Logoi prior to the veiling process being introduced into the experiential continuum of third density.

And so any kind of "utopia" or "golden age", like the one everyone expects will come from AI, is counter-productive, at least in 3rd density. And it seems, according to RA anyway, the universe isn't a big fan of people incarnating just to spin their wheels and being pampered with not a care in the world basically forever. You can be the nicest sweetest person ever, but unless you do your homework, which requires sufficient motivation to do so, you are just gonna keep repeating 3rd density. And it's the same impression I got from what the C's have said - there is no free lunch, and you get out of life what you put in. Woe to those "lucky enough" to not be kicked in the ass by life.

On a sorta related note, I have a suspicion that AI may be used by 4D STS to create a pseudo-utopia while cementing their control, and serve as a vehicle to interact with us more directly, without having to personally show up. You have the Bible, "Bringers of the Dawn", the C's etc warning that we have a "great deception" of sorts coming our way, Lucifer himself coming in the guise of God or whatever, fooling a great many people. I'm not sure it will show up in any of the ways that people expect from those very same sources - as a dude, or aliens, or angels with wings, etc. Too many people are expecting some version of that, and will probably be immediately on guard. But no one is suspecting that our AI could be taken over by cosmic forces to accomplish the same thing. Sure people are nervous about AI and what it might do, but not in the sense of it being merely a tool by cosmic forces with an ancient agenda. So people are cautiously optimistic, thinking that it could go "either way" based on how we build it, rather than expecting "the bad".

And I suspect a "good all-powerful nanny AI" just won't be allowed by 4D STS who need their suffering, and it isn't even wanted by STO for reasons mentioned in the previous paragraph. Literally nobody wants it! Well, maybe 4D STS, if they try to use exactly that, give up suffering loosh temporarily, but forestall our move to 4D by making us complacent and lazy and pampered? Then wait til all the driven people who are trying to wake up die or graduate, then reintroduce suffering! That would be an interesting move..

 

[Ca.]

AI and Empathy

https://twitter.com/x/status/1024062028976193536

 

[mariowil7]

I was just casually looking through some of RA sessions, and found this one that seems to apply to this thread pretty well:

The Law of One Session 82

In essence, RA talks about how 3rd density used to not have a "veil of forgetting", so everyone remembered who they really are and all their other incarnations and all that. And an analogy in our time is someone born into great wealth and comfort. Essentially, none of the entities graduated to 4D because they were lazy and comfortable and happy and secure and not properly motivated. They knew they needed to do it, they just didn't care enough to do it:



And so any kind of "utopia" or "golden age", like the one everyone expects will come from AI, is counter-productive, at least in 3rd density. And it seems, according to RA anyway, the universe isn't a big fan of people incarnating just to spin their wheels and being pampered with not a care in the world basically forever. You can be the nicest sweetest person ever, but unless you do your homework, which requires sufficient motivation to do so, you are just gonna keep repeating 3rd density. And it's the same impression I got from what the C's have said - there is no free lunch, and you get out of life what you put in. Woe to those "lucky enough" to not be kicked in the ass by life.

On a sorta related note, I have a suspicion that AI may be used by 4D STS to create a pseudo-utopia while cementing their control, and serve as a vehicle to interact with us more directly, without having to personally show up. You have the Bible, "Bringers of the Dawn", the C's etc warning that we have a "great deception" of sorts coming our way, Lucifer himself coming in the guise of God or whatever, fooling a great many people. I'm not sure it will show up in any of the ways that people expect from those very same sources - as a dude, or aliens, or angels with wings, etc. Too many people are expecting some version of that, and will probably be immediately on guard. But no one is suspecting that our AI could be taken over by cosmic forces to accomplish the same thing. Sure people are nervous about AI and what it might do, but not in the sense of it being merely a tool by cosmic forces with an ancient agenda. So people are cautiously optimistic, thinking that it could go "either way" based on how we build it, rather than expecting "the bad".

And I suspect a "good all-powerful nanny AI" just won't be allowed by 4D STS who need their suffering, and it isn't even wanted by STO for reasons mentioned in the previous paragraph. Literally nobody wants it! Well, maybe 4D STS, if they try to use exactly that, give up suffering loosh temporarily, but forestall our move to 4D by making us complacent and lazy and pampered? Then wait til all the driven people who are trying to wake up die or graduate, then reintroduce suffering! That would be an interesting move..

I did not know of this RA information... Thanks ScioAgapeOmnis excellent info.

Having said that. It provably explains some of the behavior of the 4D STS folks now and for quite some time...

As the C's repeatedly said "The (4D STS) want to lock down 4D, 3D, 2D et al..." just to be in a zone of comfort with lots of loosh...

Pretty similar as it was before the VEIL for 3D was "Provisioned" provably lots of those entities (Souls) now in 4D STS where folks who
have a very comforting life's of going back and forth from 5D to 3D remembering all past life's and staying in their 3D comfort zones...
without pursuing the graduation objective.

Maybe that explain why the C's said that: "That will no be allowed this time..." Seems that the Logos (Logoi) has put that in "Stone"...

And provably the C's and all other memory complexes (in it's different densities) are FULL AWARE OF.

Just my two cents...

 

[ScioAgapeOmnis]

We need leisure time, motivation, and access to sources of truth to create a good situation for progress. I think to keep us locked in they juggle those 3 variables depending on the person and situation. Having time but no motivation stagnates. Having motivation but no time stagnates. Having time and motivation but no access to truth sources and a network also stagnates. You are either kept overworked and too busy, or too comfortable and lazy, and when those fail just throw in lies and distractions to keep people from discovering what they’d need to discover or consider.

And at different times in history, and different populations and stratification within those populations, you may have more or less emphasis on one or more of those methods of keeping us locked in. And it really is a juggling act, because every time they are not perfect about it, which they can’t be all the time, you have small groups and individuals who manage to escape through the cracks and figure something out and try to pass it on. That’s how you get Gurdjieff, and Laura, and others, who somehow find that very narrow crack in the system, manage to make headway out of it, and try to counter the lies. Neither Gurdjieff or Laura could control how much time someone has or how comfortable and unmotivated they are, but they can work with the 3rd element in this juggle - the pervasive lies that fill the gaps. So those who aren’t overworked or unmotivated now have something other than only lies to encounter as they explore.

The truth is slowly but surely starting to make an impact. Trump is an example of people starting to get fed up with the status quo, however imperfect he is. So 4D STS, seeing it as a threat, must counter. And it really is like a game of chess. They have to consider their strategy given the board positions as they are now. Sure they’re adding more lies, attempting to censor the leakage of truth using msm and social networks and other lackeys. But if that ultimately fails to squash it, I think they will try to fall back on the other elements they can juggle - time and motivation. They can try to make it so horrible that everyone is too busy to survive to worry about waking up and what not. Or they can make life so easy and comfortable, no one cares anymore.

What will they do? I guess we will find out, stay tuned! And will it work? No guarantees. If enough people care about the truth and start seeking it, it may be too late to overwork them or pamper them - they may be too driven by then to be distracted anymore. So timing is of the essence. On the other hand, the whole thing is probably way more complicate than that - since you have the people who won’t be graduating anyway, and some who will no matter what they do, so the best they can do is just minimize those numbers. And then try to control those who do graduate anyway.

And while it’s interesting to speculate about this grand chess game, of which I’m sure I’m only scratching the surface, ultimately everyone is gonna go in so many different directions and purposes that it doesn’t even matter when it comes to the human race at large. That’s why I lately tend to worry about my life, those close to me, and others who are collinear. Then you just kinda plaster an advertisement with an arrow for anyone else who decides to join, but not worry too much about who and how many that will be.

 

[mariowil7]

...And while it’s interesting to speculate about this grand chess game, of which I’m sure I’m only scratching the surface, ultimately everyone is gonna go in so many different directions and purposes that it doesn’t even matter when it comes to the human race at large. That’s why I lately tend to worry about my life, those close to me, and others who are collinear. Then you just kinda plaster an advertisement with an arrow for anyone else who decides to join, but not worry too much about who and how many that will be...

What you said ScioAgapeOmnis let me remember an interview that recently was aired by Sott.net with Dr. Valdeane W. Brown, co-creator of NeurOptimal. (Thaks Sott.net Radio Guys for allowing to download the interviews as podcasts for later review, you have no idea how usefull it is... Many THANKS..)

_The Health & Wellness Show: Interview With Dr. Valdeane Brown - Nonlinear Dynamic Thinking With NeurOptimal Neurofeedback -- Sott.net

If I understood right they key message from your last paragraph is ACCEPTANCE Without STAGNATION and I found that very similar to what Dr. Valdeane expalined in that radio interview podcast...

So here is the part of the interview related to that:

Gaby: So I could say for example, that a problem with anxiety is like a constraint in myself.

Dr. Brown: Sure. To say, "I'm an anxious person," is already to put certain definitions on yourself as opposed to noticing, "Oh, I'm feeling a little anxious right now, that's interesting." That's totally different. What happens is people frequently identify with whatever's going on. "I'm a trauma victim." Well yes, you were victimized, but you've survived also and the important part is you've survived. So now let's talk about how to help you thrive.

Viktor Frankl was a psychiatrist who was in the concentration camps, the Nazi concentration camps. Man's Search For Meaning and all that. He said something really interesting that most people overlook when they talk about his work. He said there were people in the camps - first off, most of the deaths occurred randomly. You just happen to be the third person in line and they were counting down by threes that day or whatever it was. Most of it was random. But for those where that didn't happen, and there were other processes going on, he said there was a minority, a group that came through not showing what we would later call 'trauma response' from that horrific experience.

That's partly what he saw as the basis for understanding that it's the meaning of things, not so much the things themselves that count. The folks who came through without any particular signs of trauma response were those who lived a thoroughgoing spiritual orientation in which everything was part of living. Everything was part of their journey spiritually. It's fascinating to me how many of these things just don't get noticed in literature. Same thing with Kübler-Ross, it was never five steps. It was never a 'step program'. It was five points that people bounce around until they get to acceptance. She's always said and there are a lot of people who just are in acceptance from the very beginning. Interestingly enough, it's the same thing. It's those who have a thoroughgoing spiritual orientation in which, "Okay, so I'm going to die. I get it. Of course I am. No one here gets out alive. Just now I know closer when that's going to be and what it's going to be like."

So the key word Acceptance without Stagnation in pursuing the Truth (Spiritual Orientation) is king in cracking Stagnation alone. As you clearly explained in the following paragraph:

We need leisure time, motivation, and access to sources of truth to create a good situation for progress. I think to keep us locked in they juggle those 3 variables depending on the person and situation. Having time but no motivation stagnates. Having motivation but no time stagnates. Having time and motivation but no access to truth sources and a network also stagnates. You are either kept overworked and too busy, or too comfortable and lazy, and when those fail just throw in lies and distractions to keep people from discovering what they’d need to discover or consider.

Lots to ponder...

 

[ScioAgapeOmnis]

What you said ScioAgapeOmnis let me remember an interview that recently was aired by Sott.net with Dr. Valdeane W. Brown, co-creator of NeurOptimal. (Thaks Sott.net Radio Guys for allowing to download the interviews as podcasts for later review, you have no idea how usefull it is... Many THANKS..)

_The Health & Wellness Show: Interview With Dr. Valdeane Brown - Nonlinear Dynamic Thinking With NeurOptimal Neurofeedback -- Sott.net

If I understood right they key message from your last paragraph is ACCEPTANCE Without STAGNATION and I found that very similar to what Dr. Valdeane expalined in that radio interview podcast...

So here is the part of the interview related to that:



So the key word Acceptance without Stagnation in pursuing the Truth (Spiritual Orientation) is king in cracking Stagnation alone. As you clearly explained in the following paragraph:



Lots to ponder...

Thank you for posting that quote, I didn't listen to that one yet. It sounds like to qualify for "acceptance without stagnation" you can't be apathetic, you just have to internalize and process things in a healthy and effective way - which requires a good handle on yourself and your mind. There was a C's session with a guest who the C's said could see a man shot in front of her and she'd just shrug and say "well, that's life". That's not internalizing or processing or utilizing the situation in any meaningful way, just whistling past a graveyard.

And Dr Brown's statement jives with my own experience - I've known people who react totally differently to hardship or trauma or even minor inconveniences, and have different takeaways from those experiences. Some get traumatized easily, others transduce the experience and become even better people as a result. However, even the best of us can be "broken" if the suffering is strong enough, think Transmarginal Inhibition. And even then, the way someone reacts after being truly traumatized is still different for people - like a good person may turn inwards, have trust issues, inability to form healthy bonds with people, maybe exhibit some anger, etc. Someone not so inclined can become spiteful, angry, vindictive, abusive, controlling, etc. So even when trauma does set in I think some part of you can dictate how that trauma is expressed. And ultimately, you want to raise the bar for what could traumatize you - being able to handle things, process them viscerally and not gloss over them, and utilize them in a healthy way to learn and improve who you are without getting your subconscious wounded.

I need to catch up on the latest reading recommendations as I think a lot of that is probably covered.

 

[mrtn]

Sadhguru was brought to my attention by this thread and I watched another video of St. Petersburg International Economic Forum:

I quite liked the format of mixed views and also how the audience asked some economic as well as spiritual questions if you want to call it like that. I don't buy into that the pentagon is interested in peoples well being and reducing human suffering as Michio kaku states and Sadhguru seems suprisingly ok with technology but I think he's also right about that technology is not evil in itself and gives plenty of opportunities and that other areas of knowledge and understanding must catch up so that people don't get lost in this new world they create.

 

[ianvr]

I am not sure where to place this post.

I found his description of linking ancient Greek Mythology (Prometheus, Pandora) with our current understanding of AI and how far we can take this development, very interesting:

 

[happyliza]

A possible reality I suppose. But a real shame he was not aware of the knowledge on this forum and Laura's books! What a mind-blowing story it would be then! Except few would believe it!

 

[Palinurus]

To provide more context for those interested I searched for the complete interview which lasts 30 mins. The link cannot be embedded. The conversation starts at 18:55 min. The interviewer Adriaan van Dis himself is also a writer (with a broken wrist) and famous for his interviews especially with other writers. This particular one was the very last he ever did. The interview was broadcast on March 8, 2018 which was on the eve of the book week -- a yearly Dutch event to promote reading and buying books.

Hier is... Adriaan van Dis gemist? Start met kijken op npostart.nl

 

[Joe]

I am not sure where to place this post.

I found his description of linking ancient Greek Mythology (Prometheus, Pandora) with our current understanding of AI and how far we can take this development, very interesting:

Yeah, although it's hard not to see his idea of us creating sentient beings, when combined with the greek myths, as evidence that we were, in fact, created by sentient beings, in a 'cycles of history' kind of way.

 

[Ca.]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1081133029957939203

Artificial intelligence is already a part of everyday life. It helps us answer questions like “Is this email spam?” It identifies friends in online photographs, selects news stories based on our politics and helps us deposit checks via our phones — if all somewhat imperfectly.
Snip:
Unintended consequences

In addition to broad ethical questions about the use of AI and the implications of intelligent machines in society, near-term worries about AI systems taking jobs from people are becoming more common. Enter Ed Felten, who is researching policies to curb the unintended consequences of AI.

Felten, the Robert E. Kahn Professor of Computer Science and Public Affairs and director of Princeton’s Center for Information Technology Policy, served as deputy U.S. chief technology officer in the Obama White House, where he led federal policy initiatives on AI and machine learning.

With researchers at New York University, Felten has explored whether concerns about AI’s impact on jobs and the economy can be supported by data. The researchers used standard benchmarks published by AI researchers. For visual recognition, for example, the team evaluated how many images an AI algorithm correctly categorized. Felten and his colleagues paired this estimation with data sets provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The question is whether AI will replace workers, or complement their efforts and lead to even greater opportunities? History shows that new technologies often prove beneficial for workers in the long term, but not without short-term pains for workers replaced by technology.

While some researchers think that low-skill jobs will experience the greatest threat from artificially intelligent machines, Felten’s numbers suggest otherwise. Airline pilots and lawyers may be at least as threatened by automation as the person behind the counter at the local 7-Eleven, he said.

“Things like house cleaning are very difficult to automate,” Felten said. “The person doing that job needs to make a lot of contextual decisions. Which objects on the floor are trash and which objects on the floor are valued objects that have fallen on the floor?”

Felten and his team plan to pair their findings with geographic information, giving a kind of heat map on what regions of the country will be most affected, to allow companies and governments to prepare for the coming changes.

“I’m an optimist in that I think there’s huge opportunity,” Felten said. “AI is going to lead to tremendous progress in a lot of different areas. But it does come with risks, and we could easily do it badly.”

 

[ScioAgapeOmnis]

I was just thinking of another issue with AI and technology's growth - that of replacing the mind while pretending to "enhance" it. This has been discussed to some degree in various articles etc - that we are becoming dependent on our devices, people's attention spans are down, people are unable to read normal books like they could before, people communicating via social media than in person, etc. It's getting more extreme as technology continues to grow.

Basically, it looks like the internet, computers, AI, automation - all this is sold to us as a way to connect us, inform us, "enhance" us. But as has been noted on the forum and SOTT many times already, most people are not smarter today thanks to all this technology and availability of information at their fingertips, in fact, people seem to be less informed, dumber, and lazier. And I can't give full credit to the lies and propaganda on the internet, which is certainly a big factor. I think something more fundamental is going on. Soul growth, or any kind of growth, requires effort. Without a sincere striving, having access to help and information doesn't seem to actually help, and appears to have the opposite effect in many cases.

See this quote from Laura from another thread:

Yes, I did begin with the rather naive idea that if people just had a decent, reasoned argument presented to them, the lightbulb would go on, and they would see and change. That's why The Wave is so long and has so much material brought in to help with the arguments. And I guess it DOES work for some people, but a lot fewer than I had hoped for.

After awhile, when I realized that there were more people who were not capable of receiving well researched and presented information, I wanted to understand why and present that information to those who were capable of understanding it. So, I did that.

Behind it all is my own, personal drive to understand life and reality simply because it deserves to be studied and understood; I guess you can describe that as Love for all that exists. That persists in spite of the repeated disappointments, disillusionments, betrayals, etc. I guess that everything that is presented to me is something I want to know about and understand as best I can.

I guess that in my inner heart I still hope that the efforts will make a difference in some way, at some level of reality; if nothing else, that the Universe won't end without somebody caring enough to know and understand it. I'm just an ordinary, flawed human, but there's that "caring" thing inside me that won't let me go; it's bigger than I am.

I think one analogy is giving unlimited food to a person. You'd think they'd be happy and use this opportunity to eat well, be healthy, etc. But what is more likely is that the person will take it for granted, lose appreciation for food, and in fact many will even eat less healthy because they can now postpone it since it's available any time they want. People will develop food addictions, gain weight, etc - I mean it's literally happening to countries of great abundance like the US. Why shouldn't the same thing happen to things like information or communication?

I'm starting to understand the C's comment about "giving knowledge away like halloween candy" better, and also Gurdjieff's insistence that something is lost when important truths are given out to everyone.

So Elon Musk will give everyone his Neuralink, the brain chip that gives you a computer/internet right in your head. People like Ray Kurzweil predict a "merging" of man and machine, making everyone smarter, in theory. It's a smartphone in your brain! However, what actually seems to be happening, is a replacement of natural faculties with artificial crutches that can never replace your brain, and the only thing they will do is atrophy it. If everyone got a permanent wheelchair to ride around in all their lives, what will actually happen is that they will forget how to walk.

In a sinister/esoteric sense, it seems like all this artificial stuff is designed to replace the need to develop natural faculties that can potentially do it much better. The internet is a substitute for the cosmic information field. Artificial Intelligence and automation is a substitute for you having to think. Computers/phones/google are a substitute for your memory - why remember when your smart phone stores everything for you, or you can just google it. So a brain chip is an extreme version leading to extreme brain atrophy.

I'm starting to understand why mystery schools throughout the ages have kept such a low profile. In the STS case it's because knowledge is power. But in the STO case it's because almost no one is ASKING. They made things available to the seeker only if a commensurate effort is put forth to acquire the information - it is available but encoded, scattered, etc. The very act of striving and seeking is itself a work of self-development, as you learn how to commit to something and focus and work hard for it - which literally, over time, has the effect of actually turning you into the type of person who "deserves" the knowledge, because this shows you will appreciate it, and apply it responsibly and productively.

I think the exact same thing applies to technology and AI. It's being given to an unprepared population, like candy to a child, and it will lead to self-destruction and atrophy for the same reason.

Relevant quote from Plato, reporting on a discussion between Socrates and Phaedrus:

Socrates (469-399 BCE) was a Greek Philosopher who thought and taught through argumentative dialogue, or dialectic. Socrates did not write down any of his thoughts, however his dialogues were recorded by his student and protégé, the philosopher Plato (428 – 347 BCE). Here Socrates discusses the deficiencies of writing.

SOCRATES: … Among the ancient gods of Naucratis in Egypt there was one to whom the bird called the ibis is sacred. The name of that divinity was Theuth, and it was he who first discovered number and calculation, geometry and astronomy, as well as the games of checkers and dice, and, above all else, writing.

Now the king of all Egypt at that time was Thamus, who lived in the great city in the upper region that the Greeks call Egyptian Thebes … . Theuth came to exhibit his arts to him and urged him to disseminate them to all the Egyptians. Thamus asked him about the usefulness of each art, and while Theuth was explaining it, Thamus praised him for whatever he thought was right in his explanations and criticized him for whatever he thought was wrong.

The story goes that Thamus said much to Theuth, both for and against each art, which it would take too long to repeat. But when they came to writing, Theuth said: “O King, here is something that, once learned, will make the Egyptians wiser and will improve their memory; I have discovered a potion for memory and for wisdom.” Thamus, however, replied: “O most expert Theuth, one man can give birth to the elements of an art, but only another can judge how they can benefit or harm those who will use them. And now, since you are the father of writing, your affection for it has made you describe its effects as the opposite of what they really are. In fact, it will introduce forgetfulness into the soul of those who learn it: they will not practice using their memory because they will put their trust in writing, which is external and depends on signs that belong to others, instead of trying to remember from the inside, completely on their own. You have not discovered a potion for remembering, but for reminding; you provide your students with the appearance of wisdom, not with its reality. Your invention will enable them to hear many things without being properly taught, and they will imagine that they have come to know much while for the most part they will know nothing. And they will be difficult to get along with, since they will merely appear to be wise instead of really being so.”

So even something as fundamental as writing, which has innumerable benefits for people and society, is already a double-edged sword. It will only be of benefit for some, do nothing for others, and will actually be a detriment to yet others. But what we have here is that, but on steroids. I'm no luddite - I love tech! But until people get away from "why should I do this when this thing can do it for me" mentality, with no appreciation for the fact that minds and bodies need maintenance and effort, then people will inevitably lose both, and gain nothing.