What I’m reading into what you are saying: this is the most uncertain time to be alive. And I think that is true. Societal change at this pace is a relatively new thing for humans, and it’s speeding up. Simultaneously, we are losing many anchors and touchstones at once. In the past, even in times of great uncertainty, there were always constants that humans could lean on. From family, to country, to religion, to occupation, even to art and media. That is less and less the case. Everything is uncertain, everywhere, all at once.
For most of human history humans weren't really certain of anything other than their own poverty. Anchors like family and nationhood disappeared with a premature death in the family or the king's family and the most constant thing about religion was the punishment meted out to those who didn't keep up with changes, in doctrine if not in deity. And people lived in mortal fear of gods frowning upon them because at an individual level famine and pestilence were commonplace and at a tribal and civilizational level conflict seldom ceased and ordinary people were expected to be ready to contribute. With great regularity throughout history, people pointed to pace of social change as evidence that religious prophecies were coming true and the world was ending.
Now most people based in the West are relatively safe from infectious diseases and war, we have the luxury of being uncertain about what the chatbots are going to do with us.
I mean, if I had a choice of people to rule superpowers or dish out the AI investment I'd probably pick different options, but in most respects life is pretty cushy and its basics pretty certain compared with most of history. I'd certainly pick uncertainty about next year's employment than certainty I'd be a subsistence farmer but uncertainty about whether my farm would produce enough to subsist....
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What I’m reading into what you are saying: this is the most uncertain time to be alive. And I think that is true. Societal change at this pace is a relatively new thing for humans, and it’s speeding up. Simultaneously, we are losing many anchors and touchstones at once. In the past, even in times of great uncertainty, there were always constants that humans could lean on. From family, to country, to religion, to occupation, even to art and media. That is less and less the case. Everything is uncertain, everywhere, all at once.
For most of human history humans weren't really certain of anything other than their own poverty. Anchors like family and nationhood disappeared with a premature death in the family or the king's family and the most constant thing about religion was the punishment meted out to those who didn't keep up with changes, in doctrine if not in deity. And people lived in mortal fear of gods frowning upon them because at an individual level famine and pestilence were commonplace and at a tribal and civilizational level conflict seldom ceased and ordinary people were expected to be ready to contribute. With great regularity throughout history, people pointed to pace of social change as evidence that religious prophecies were coming true and the world was ending.
Now most people based in the West are relatively safe from infectious diseases and war, we have the luxury of being uncertain about what the chatbots are going to do with us.
I mean, if I had a choice of people to rule superpowers or dish out the AI investment I'd probably pick different options, but in most respects life is pretty cushy and its basics pretty certain compared with most of history. I'd certainly pick uncertainty about next year's employment than certainty I'd be a subsistence farmer but uncertainty about whether my farm would produce enough to subsist....