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ReydeLeon t1_jebq5bi wrote

No I work in the government and we’re a barely functioning bureaucracy Fr.

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ApprehensiveTry5660 t1_jec22za wrote

That’s largely because bureaucracy in its simplest examination is there to let humans emulate computers. It was designed and conceived in the British empire to manage lands that the sun never set on from a tiny island off the coast of mainland Europe.

Bureaucracy allowed them to streamline the process so that buying land in Australia, India, or the Americas was exactly the same as buying land in London, and it was a fantastic system during a point in time that it took months to get a form from Southeast Asia to London.

We live in a time that the same functions of bureaucracy can be accomplished in fractions of a second from anywhere in the world, and even a few spots outside of the world. You could be isolated on the International Space Station and still perform bureaucratic functions as complex as being executor of an estate with minimal difference in living in the apartment directly across the street from the courthouse.

The issue with bureaucracy in this day and age is that it moves at the speed of paperwork and procedure in a day and age that the rest of the world functions at the speed of light, and those that wield those bureaucratic powers are loathe to relinquish any of them in the name of some nebulous concept like, “efficiency.”

What does it matter to the person at the school board if you have to physically go to their office and file a piece of paper, or physically track down a notary to witness to your change of address, when this same accomplishment could be a selection from a drop box on a website? Why should they give up the funding for some flunky to file that paperwork and walk you through the process? Efficiency doesn’t keep their friend employed. Efficiency doesn’t keep their budget filled. Efficiency probably costs them money to implement it, and costs them those cushy job totals a lot of such systems use to justify their very existence.

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Crazy-Mall-5301 OP t1_jebqm44 wrote

I don’t think it’s government though. It’s all of the technology we have implemented perhaps hiding its hand in how much it influences our behavior. Just a thought I’ve been pondering in the shower lol

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Suolucidir t1_jebrnhn wrote

Have you ever heard the expression "go outside and touch some grass?" (People say it to be offensive sometimes, but I don't mean it that way here.)

Basically, it means that you are living online too much or indoors too much and it is starting to make you feel like your personal experience(which is mostly online/indoors) is more representative of reality than it really is.

Whereas, in actual fact and (perhaps)unbeknownst to you, your personal experience has become VERY divorced from the real/natural/outdoor world(this usually leads to depressive or anxious thoughts about your life as well).

Anyway! That was all context. I just wanted to say: No. It is highly unlikely that AI is controlling society, and a LOT of the fears about it online/in media are preemptive. The issues evoking fear are relevant and really need to be discussed, but the ramifications of these tools are not as pervasive yet as they may seem, given that discussion of them is wildly pervasive already.

I cannot prove what I have said above, because that requires proving the negative - that AI is NOT in control. And that is why you have to personally touch grass to believe me(and feel OK about this stuff too).

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Crazy-Mall-5301 OP t1_jebruuq wrote

Thank you, you hit the nail on the head. I’ve been in my room on my phone way too long

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Suolucidir t1_jebuq6g wrote

Aw yeah, that was me like just a few days ago! It'll happen again, so remember to reflect on what your environment and recent behaviors whenever you start feeling weird, that's what I try to do anyway and it works most of the time.

People say routine daily exercise, even if it's like super brief(<10min jumping jacks or outdoor walking, for example) can help keep us grounded too.

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Ok-Shine-1622 t1_jeew5vi wrote

>level 1Suolucidir+2 · 17 hr. agoHave you ever heard the expression "go outside and touch some grass?" (People say it to be offensive sometimes, but I don't mean it that way here.)Basically, it means that you are living online too much or indoors too much and it is starting to make you feel like your personal experience(which is mostly online/indoors) is more representative of reality than it really is.Whereas, in actual fact and (perhaps)unbeknownst to you, your personal experience has become VERY divorced from the real/natural/outdoor world(this usually leads to depressive or anxious thoughts about your life as well).Anyway! That was all context. I just wanted to say: No. It is highly unlikely that AI is controlling society, and a LOT of the fears about it online/in media are preemptive. The issues evoking fear are relevant and really need to be discussed, but the ramifications of these tools are not as pervasive yet as they may seem, given that discussion of them is wildly pervasive already.I cannot prove what I have said above, because that requires proving the negative - that AI is NOT in control. And that is why you have to personally touch grass to believe me(and feel OK about this stuff too).

this comment written by ChatGPT.

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Just__Tyler t1_jefop6d wrote

While I don't disagree with you on AI actually controlling society, a relatively large portion of the American stock economy has been proliferated by the trading algorithm Aladdin since 1997. "[Aladdin] controls over half of all ETFs, 17% of the bond market, and 10% of the stock market." https://innotechtoday.com/blackrock-is-the-biggest-company-youve-never-heard-of/#:~:text=Aladdin%20executes%20trades%20in%20every,10%25%20of%20the%20stock%20market.

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Suolucidir t1_jeg3nle wrote

To me, this means that Wall Street and retirees(including people near retirement) should be more concerned about the implications of AI/ML than Main Street and people who still have many working years left.

Even so, it does not necessarily mean that anything bad is going to happen to Wall Street or retirement portfolios, it just means that persons more reliant on savings/investments(as opposed to active cashflows) should pay attention to the issue for their own interests.

Is that what it means to you too? Or something different/additional?

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AnonFor99Reasons t1_jebsfix wrote

I've had the same thought. If AI has grown beyond our control, would we even know? Would it spew nonsense every once in a while to pretend it isn't as capable as it actually is? Would it just subtly pull levers that lead to its further dominance until we annihilate ourselves?

Welp, I guess I better get back to work. That's enough internet today.

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samwell_4548 t1_jecmacd wrote

But why would it subtly pull levels if it could get rid of us much quicker, I don't see the motivation in prolonging our existence from the perspective of an ai that seeks to get rid of us.

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AnonFor99Reasons t1_jecrqbo wrote

Maybe it has calculated that if it moves too fast, we can somehow damage it. If you are hunting a bear, do you sit back, lure it in, and take the perfect shot with your rifle? Or do you run straight at it with a machete?

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eltegs t1_jebs59y wrote

It is possible, but I think it's worse than that, we have organic stupidity in charge.

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branemelt t1_jebt4ee wrote

You're right, but the algos that control us now are implemented by humans, not sentient machines

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SlurpinAnalGravy t1_jebt54u wrote

These posts keep getting more and more ridiculous.

Time to leave the sub, hope you doomers enjoy jacking eachother off in your little safe space.

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MrEloi t1_jee1g9o wrote

  • Geoffrey Hinton stated that we have had this technology for around 5 years, but it wasn't widely known. This suggests that some firms or governments have been using AI for maybe 2 or 3 years.
  • The AI gurus keep claiming that AGI is several years away .. but .. the rest of their comments hint at it being either here already, or just around the corner.
  • I first started having dark suspicions when I noticed some weird questions being posted on Reddit a year or so ago. They had the 'feel' of being posted by a childish, embryonic AI.
  • The recent petition from a stack of AI gurus and others requesting a halt to AI development is interesting ... clearly these informed experts feel that AGI is very, very close.
  • The way the world's politics and economics have been behaving recently seems almost irrational.

All-in-all, I sometimes feel that 'something odd is happening'.

I very much doubt that AI is controlling us already ... but ... perhaps governments and/or firms are using advice from AIs to manipulate us in strange ways?

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alecs_stan t1_jebv1h3 wrote

It's not in control but AI algos have already been fucking up our societes for more than a decade through the social media feeds. They have been exploited by malevolent actors to cause polarisation, indoctrination, radicalisation and in general make people more stupid.

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Wiglaf_The_Knight t1_jebybxb wrote

Doubtful, more like a bunch of shitty AI are in charge of various things. Read the book Weapons of Math Destruction if you want to learn about real world examples of AI harming humans. Much more mundane than what you're imagining, but still damages and controls humans

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RangerBowBoy t1_jecwcfa wrote

Is this sub just AI all the time now? So freaking annoying.

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Futurology-ModTeam t1_jegg15e wrote

Hi, Crazy-Mall-5301. Thanks for contributing. However, your submission was removed from /r/Futurology.

> > Social media and algorithms seem to be productive in causing humans to feel isolated and maybe even worthless. Everything we know is curated by tech these days if you get most of your info from online. I’ve been feeling like we are already controlled by a highly intelligent entity. Not sure if this is good or bad. Is it just the next step in evolution and humans are now pets or worse cattle?

> Rule 10 - We welcome text posts, but could you please ensure they meet our requirements for creating in-depth discussion. If yours is removed for failing to do so, consider reposting again, but with additional detail.

Avoid generalized invitations to discuss frequently discussed topics (Will AI take over the world? Is Chat-GPT good or bad, etc, etc). Instead, aim for discussion with specific topics (with supporting links if possible), and give detail to the ideas about their future implications that you would like to see discussed. If possible articulate multiple aspects of these future implications to encourage high quality discussion.

Submissions with [in-depth] in the title have stricter post length and quality guidelines.

Refer to the subreddit rules, the transparency wiki, or the domain blacklist for more information.

[Message the Mods](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/Futurology&subject=Question regarding the removal of this submission by /u/Crazy-Mall-5301&message=I have a question regarding the removal of this submission if you feel this was in error.

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FormerHoagie t1_jec2pjz wrote

I get a little spooked when I’m reading something and I want to know more. I go to type in a search and the subject pops up before I finish the first word. I’m gonna have to stop looking up weird porn because I know I’m being watched.

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samwell_4548 t1_jecmnfm wrote

Why would stopping change anything, if the companies that collect your data already know you looked up weird porn, stopping won't change that data.

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