<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000"><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, Mar 25, 2021 at 1:50 AM John Grigg via extropy-chat <<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">
<div>I very much look forward to reading this science fiction novel, written by one of the world's finest writers...<br></div><div><br></div><div>"In a store in the center of an unnamed city, humanoid robots are
displayed alongside housewares and magazines. They watch the fast-moving
world outside the window, anxiously awaiting the arrival of customers
who might buy them and take them home. Among them is Klara, a
particularly astute robot who loves the sun and wants to learn as much
as possible about humans and the world they live in.
<p>So begins Kazuo Ishiguro’s new novel <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/653825/klara-and-the-sun-by-kazuo-ishiguro/" target="_blank"><i>Klara and the Sun</i></a>, published earlier this month. The book, told from Klara’s perspective, portrays an eerie future society in which intelligent m<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">achines and other advanced technologies have been integrated into daily life, but not everyone is happy about it. </span></p>
<p>Technological unemployment, the progress of <a href="https://singularityhub.com/tag/artificial-intelligence/" target="_blank">artificial intelligence</a>,
inequality, the safety and ethics of gene editing, increasing
loneliness and isolation—all of which we’re grappling with today—show up
in Ishiguro’s world. It’s like he hit a fast-forward button, mirroring
back to us how things might play out if we don’t approach these
technologies with caution and foresight.</p>
<p>The wealthy genetically edit or “lift” their children to set them up
for success, while the poor have to make do with the regular old brains
and bodies bequeathed them by evolution. Lifted and unlifted kids
generally don’t mix, and this is just one of many sinister delineations
between a new breed of haves and have-nots.</p>
<p>There’s anger about robots’ steady infiltration into everyday life,
and questions about how similar their rights should be to those of
humans. “First they <a href="https://singularityhub.com/2019/07/22/will-robots-take-our-jobs-careful-its-a-trick-question/" target="_blank">take the jobs</a>. Then they take the seats at the theater?” one woman fumes.</p>
<p>References to “changes” and “substitutions” allude to an economy where <a href="https://singularityhub.com/tag/automation/" target="_blank">automation</a>
has eliminated millions of jobs. While “post-employed” people squat in
abandoned buildings and fringe communities arm themselves in preparation
for conflict, those whose livelihoods haven’t been destroyed can afford
to have live-in housekeepers and buy Artificial Friends (or AFs) for
their lonely children.</p>
<p>“The old traditional model that we still live with now—where most of
us can get some kind of paid work in exchange for our services or the
goods we make—has broken down,” Ishiguro said in a <a href="https://www.economist.com/podcasts/2021/03/04/is-ai-capable-of-falling-in-love" target="_blank">podcast discussion</a>
of the novel. “We’re not talking just about the difference between rich
and poor getting bigger. We’re talking about a gap appearing between
people who participate in society in an obvious way and people who do
not.”<span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif;font-size:large;color:rgb(0,0,0)"> </span><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif;font-size:large"><font color="#0000ff">Leading to the idea of just paying people to do nothing, so they won't revolt bill w</font></span><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:"comic sans ms",sans-serif;font-size:large;color:rgb(0,0,0)"></span></p>
</div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://singularityhub.com/2021/03/24/in-klara-and-the-sun-we-glimpse-an-eerie-future-through-the-eyes-of-a-robot/" target="_blank">https://singularityhub.com/2021/03/24/in-klara-and-the-sun-we-glimpse-an-eerie-future-through-the-eyes-of-a-robot/</a></div>
</div>
_______________________________________________<br>
extropy-chat mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org" target="_blank">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a><br>
<a href="http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat</a><br>
</blockquote></div></div>