[ExI] karp at reagan ndf

[spike at rainier66.com]

From: Mike Dougherty <msd001 at gmail.com> 
Subject: Re: [ExI] karp at reagan ndf

 

On Tue, Dec 10, 2024, 5:45 PM spike jones via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org <mailto:extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> > wrote:

>>…I have been listening to excerpts from Palantir CEO Dr. Alex Karp’s pitch at the Reagan National Defense Forum…

 

>…Oh I know the dystopian horror porn has been discussed ad nauseam.  Could we be just as imaginative with alternatives?

 

 

 

OK sure, Mike I will give it a try.

 

Let us imagine it in a sense analogous to the cold war.  When the nuclear arms race started, few visualized where it is now: we built up mind-boggling stockpiles of nuclear destructive potential, capable of not just destroying human civilization but bouncing the rubble half a dozen times.  All that was in place by about the mid 1960s, but over time even the least cynical among us recognized the profound absurdity of it all.

 

The stockpiles leveled off, then declined.  Now Russia and the USA don’t like each other, but it is possible to envision peace negotiations happening soon which will end the pointless stalemate of a war in Ukraine and reduce to normal levels the risk of global nuclear warfare.

 

However… I mentioned the least cynical among us.  That isn’t me.  I am not in that least cynical group, for I have a very firm belief that the human lust for power over other humans will crush the better angels of our nature.  If that power exists, someone will get to it first.  Then that person will become the modern Simon Bar Sinister, with a singular drive to rule the world.  Are we to theorize that the AI-armed person will be a benevolent dictator?  Well, we can hope.  If I am that person, I can assure you I will be benevolent as all hell.  Well, depending on your point of view of course.  I will damn sure make bullfighting illegal internationally.  Farm animals are not toys or sports opponents.  The guys making their living as matadors will not see me as beneficial.

 

The problem is that I don’t trust me.  Once the bullfighting is over with, I will have other reforms in mind.  As nice a feller as I am, I don’t trust me with unlimited power over humanity.  It would corrupt me, just as it would anyone else.  Power does that to humans.

 

Mike my apologies sir, I failed your test.  I tried to spin it positively and just couldn’t get there.  Let me sleep on it and try again tomorrow.

 

spike

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