The Physical Reality of Artificial Intelligence

"Perhaps I may clarify the historical background of the present situation if I say that the first industrial revolution, the revolution of the “dark satanic mills,” was the devaluation of the human arm by the competition of machinery. There is no rate of pay at which a United States pick-and-shovel laborer can live which is low enough to compete with the work of a steam shovel as an excavator. The modern industrial revolution is similarly bound to devalue the human brain, at least in its simpler and more routine decisions. Of course, just as the skilled carpenter, the skilled mechanic, the skilled dressmaker have in some degree survived the first industrial revolution, so the skilled scientist and the skilled administrator may survive the second. However, taking the second revolution as accomplished, the average human being of mediocre attainments or less has nothing to sell that it is worth anyone’s money to buy. The answer, of course, is to have a society based on human values other than buying or selling. To arrive at this society, we need a good deal of planning and a good deal of struggle, which, if the best comes to the best, may be on the plane of ideas, and otherwise―who knows?" – Norbert Wiener, Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, 1948

Ok, first, I'll be talking with Yasha today at 2:00 pm est about the politics of AI, have a listen.

Secondly, I've been telling people for awhile now that AI offers the opportunity to redefine politics in America from the ground-up, giving new life to our democratic structures and evolving them, even the eminently conflicted NYT's caught on:

"That matches what is happening in Michigan, where citizens of all political stripes are filling once empty town meetings to voice their opposition. Republicans are strategizing with Democrats on Signal chats and Facebook pages. People are becoming experts at extracting government documents, gathering signatures and fund-raising to pay for lawyers. They are even writing songs for the cause."

Sisters and Brothers, can I get an Amen!

Finally, there were two quarterly reports yesterday giving a little light on the physicality of AI. Google showed they are ahead of the game. AI should first and foremost be thought of as "search" on steroids, hence Google's advantage. It's imperative people quit talking just about the fever dreams of our Tech Lords and bring in compute's past 75 years track record, understanding AI is first and foremost the next generation of compute.

The overwhelmingly result of compute to date has been a greater concentration of wealth and power in handful of corporations. So, when Google's CEO reports increasing profits resulting from "doubling the number of $100 million to $1 billion deals year on year and signing multiple $1 billion-plus deals,” this is our concern dude. The only people with that kind of money are big corporations or the federal government – big corporations need big government.

Added to this is Caterpillar, can you say Peoria, announced a jump in earnings "as its power equipment business benefited from an AI ⁠infrastructure boom." Power equipment means diesel generators, coming soon to a town near you, not that a big part of the world wouldn't mind a diesel generator near them, if they could get the diesel.