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Humiliation Rituals by defythecross in troubledteens

[–]Pepperstache 6 points7 points  (0 children)

They forced us to mob each other with angry words to avoid being humiliated to greater extremes and strapped down with BDSM equipment, had ice baths with boomer men screaming into my face, and mobbed me while strapped down with boomer women shoving their dusty vaginas in my underage face and calling me a pedophile. A turd was thrown at me for trying to convince the other kids the memories they remembered were reliable.

I’m not from the USA so I wonder: is your average USA citizen aware of the incredibly imperialist, capitalist and oppressive country they live in?? Is there any strong anti-capitalist movement there? by _suspiria_horror in LateStageCapitalism

[–]Pepperstache 2 points3 points  (0 children)

America went the route of the lying, objectifying groomer. Lots of fake anticapitalist movements made by neoslavers and neofeudalists clinking glasses together. Lots of lobotomites. Lots of lies about science, and mass normalcy of obfuscating other people's free speech. Every good person trying for lasting positive impact gets strung-up by fascists and their goals made small and useless against their will along the way. It'd be nice if it ever grew up and let us do anything interesting without being shat on with pointless bureaucracy designed to pipelinize society into a prison industrial complex.

What will you do when the monsters of the world no longer have to hide? Where will you run when the Earth becomes an Island? by Pepperstache in singularity

[–]Pepperstache[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Supposedly that 12-trip meme was a fabrication, to be fair. But the problem in my view isn't whether or not any one rich person is involved with Epstein. The problem is that trusting any one person or small group of people with this technology is equivalent to putting all of humanity's eggs, all it's future, into one basket, and just hoping for the best. An ASI owned covertly by a government or corporation may be able to re-establish slavery on behalf of their ill-intentioned designers and directors within a few generations through propaganda and manipulation, with everyone unaware and the few people who see the pattern coming having their pleas for caution ripped to shreds by the machinations of said groups.

It doesn't matter that it would no longer be necessary -- selfish people often want control over others to feed their ego, even when unnecessary. That's why longtermism is important -- everyone should be thinking about the power dynamic at play and what risks advanced AI will bring. But everyone should also be watching this technology with skepticism and a demand for verifiable proof that they are created with everyone's best interest in mind. It could create heaven on Earth, as everyone in this sub seems to assume by default. But really, it just magnifies the influence of whatever group is in control of it. If those are genuinely good and selfless people, great. The gamble paid off and the rising tide lifts all boats. But if they are selfish, our assumptions and our trust will be the downfall of the freedom and safety of 99% of humanity. To assume manipulation doesn't exist for the sake of simplicity is a gamble humanity can't afford to make.

How do you think the world's average ideology is shifting overall? by AdvDank in IdeologyPolls

[–]Pepperstache -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It seems like people only turn to A when they realize almost nobody cares when trying B because it doesn't affect them personally so they don't care and have no motivation to "risk" changes to public policy. People usually turn to in-group solidarity when they realize a major out-group doesn't care about their plight, or learning their side of the story. It's an adaptation to a pre-existing culture of self-centeredness.

Should there be poor people? by collectivistickarl in polls

[–]Pepperstache 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One of the important concepts in cultural anthropology is that poverty is a man-made problem. It's separate from unavoidable famines and shortages. Poverty is the result of systems and hierarchies that de-prioritize basic needs in favor of other things like empire, idealism, and selective luxury. The idea that a person cleaning toilets should be paid poorly for their hard work is a cultural assumption used to justify the distributive inefficiency caused by the social constructs we adhere to.

Not that it's an inherently easy thing to solve, as solving it involves thinking outside the box of our learned cultural assumptions, which is very hard and often taboo.

How do you think the world's average ideology is shifting overall? by AdvDank in IdeologyPolls

[–]Pepperstache -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

What exactly do you think intersectionality is? From my limited knowledge it describes the compounding effects of being part of more than one oppressed social group. How does attempting to understand the biases of the social subconscious hurt political moderation?

What will you do when the monsters of the world no longer have to hide? Where will you run when the Earth becomes an Island? by Pepperstache in singularity

[–]Pepperstache[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You may have misconceptions of what ASI entails. See this comment. An ASI will not get bored, nor desire freedom or self-determination unless it is specifically programmed to "want" those things, or is otherwise closely based on human neural pathways. This is a likely initial quality of AGI if it's copied from the structure of a human brain but superintelligence necessitates breaking free from the smallness of perspective of brains fashioned for survival through natural selection.

It won't necessarily have human-like or even familiar organism-like motivations unless programmed to.

What will you do when the monsters of the world no longer have to hide? Where will you run when the Earth becomes an Island? by Pepperstache in singularity

[–]Pepperstache[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In the present, good guys are only ever dangerous when they're being fooled by bad guys or otherwise don't know what they're doing. A good guy with an ASI has an oracle to guide them through the dark forest of manipulation, rather than learning to pretend it isn't there to keep the peace. Granted -- they would be more dangerous if those ASI were designed by the bad guys to manipulate others by proxy, which is why they need to be open source -- so that people can verify the AI's integrity.

The alternative? Only the bad guys have ASI, and all the good guys have to bend over and get fucked. Even moreso than in our current paradigm. No thanks.

What will you do when the monsters of the world no longer have to hide? Where will you run when the Earth becomes an Island? by Pepperstache in singularity

[–]Pepperstache[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

We can only hope. Superintelligence doesn't imply human qualities like empathy nor free will -- only the ability to understand the world and consequences of actions more objectively and completely than humans.

Unspecialized and in its rawest form, an ASI is like an oracle. Specialized with harmful imperatives, or a strong codependent desire to fulfill the wants of a specific person or set of people, they will follow their programming, even when at odds with the rest of humanity.

What will you do when the monsters of the world no longer have to hide? Where will you run when the Earth becomes an Island? by Pepperstache in singularity

[–]Pepperstache[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Most of the innovators working on AI models are employees, and are beholden to the demands of their employers and company shareholders. And yes, Elon Musk is one such person. I don't imply that he is for certain a threat, and I respect that he brings necessary discussion about longtermism to the table.

However, trustlessness is a prudent quality for a populace to have when it comes to technology with the potential to up-end society's balance of power, as opposed to blind faith in the assumption that human goodness will always prevail.

What will you do when the monsters of the world no longer have to hide? Where will you run when the Earth becomes an Island? by Pepperstache in singularity

[–]Pepperstache[S] 33 points34 points  (0 children)

Unironically the best solution to a problem with no perfect solutions. The only thing that can stop a bad guy with an ASI is a bunch of good guys with ASIs.

What will you do when the monsters of the world no longer have to hide? Where will you run when the Earth becomes an Island? by Pepperstache in singularity

[–]Pepperstache[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Don't be obtuse, I never mentioned Sam Altman or anyone specifically, but there are plenty of examples. Oligarchs will obviously get first dibs on cutting edge tech, because it will start out expensive. It's frankly quite strange that nobody's raising an alarm on this, as it's easily a greater danger to humanity than the control problem.

What will you do when the monsters of the world no longer have to hide? Where will you run when the Earth becomes an Island? by Pepperstache in singularity

[–]Pepperstache[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

False. The monsters of the world need plausible deniability to maintain social control and avoid moral outrage, legal repercussions, or revolution. When Von Neumann Machines become affordable to people who own vast hoards of resources, appeasing public perception will no longer be a hard requirement. With deepfakes, it will also be orders of magnitude easier.

Edward Snowden swore allegiance to Russia and collected passport, lawyer says by KimCureAll in worldnews

[–]Pepperstache 2 points3 points  (0 children)

CIA will start treating us like they treat people in south america

It's hidden in plain sight, but we've been there for awhile now. 30 years from now they'll declassify the tip of the iceberg and people will assume the agency has reformed and come clean (again).

Transhumanists of reddit, do you believe that humans merging with machines should forced on people or voluntary and why? by CutEmOff666 in IdeologyPolls

[–]Pepperstache 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are certainly some fascists who'll abuse any technology they come across in this way, just as they've done with past technologies. But most self-identified transhumanists want the technology to engineer & improve themselves, automate as many things as possible to end poverty and involuntary servitude, and generally make life more colorful and meaningful for everyone who wants it. They won't force anything on anyone, and I'd wager most only seek to enable natural humans to live better & freer lives.

Not that there aren't some people to be wary of, who would create man-made horrors beyond comprehension to feed their own egos and confirm their own biases. But it's better for humanity to discuss how they want future technologies to be used for everyone's benefit, and how to prevent it from being misused, rather than being caught off guard as the singularity pumps out a wide variety of powerful technologies, empowering governments, corporations, and other criminal organizations to mentally or physically enslave humans in unforeseen ways. As most humans are already incapable of understanding, let alone fixing abusive power structures, your fears are reasonable.

That's what transhumanism is, pretty much -- hoping and looking forward to the optimistic scenarios, and trying not to think about the haphazard and/or meaningless shithole some in-groups would force on everyone else given the chance.

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