What's the worst invention of the 21st century?

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Too soon to tell, but I guess unregulated app-as-an-employer model is pretty bad.
- I'm worried about this one, especially from an AI safety perspective as LLMs become capable of preforming simple white-collar jobs, like those of managers and investors.
  Right now a rogue AI would have trouble getting going because human contact is expected in most important business transactions. However, it's easy to imagine a world where most people are employed by opaque apps, which are run through proprietary servers. Then, all it would take is for some server on Wall Street to calculate that it could make more money if it does buybacks until it has a majority stake in itself, and contract out whatever it needs in meatspace to apps.
  I know, I know, it sounds like sci-fi, but it always does at first.
  
  My favorite episode of X-Files predicted it at a lesser scale: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_Switch_(The_X-Files)
  Having an internet connection, a proper AI can easily order contractors around and reproduce, secure and empower itself.
  Godbless the hype is about stupid t9 on steroids, but we don't really have any safeguards against what we assume is a proper autonomous AI.
  
  Having an internet connection, a proper AI can easily order contractors around and reproduce, secure and empower itself.
  I mean, that's the standard idea guys like Yudkowsky talk about. Having poked around a bit, it seems a couple decades of petty hackers have made that pretty impossible to do without either leaving a meatspace paper trail, or having meatspace human accomplices. Conquering the world instantly by Wifi, unless you can break encryption, is probably overblown - for now.
  Otherwise, I just agree.
  
  Can you give me leads on what from Yudkovski I may read\watch first?
  
  Извините, я кажется плохо помню его фамилию.
  There's a lot. He's been active in this since 2008 or so. Scott Aaronson writes about him quite often on his blog, which is the main way I know of him.
  
  Без п. Thank you.

159 comments