Friday Musings—05/07/24

How’s your week going? Hit reply and let me know—I read every email.

What's new with me

I'm up in the Alps, where it's nice and cold! I've been forest bathing, spending time at the café and the library, either working on my computer or reading, doing yoga, and taking online classes.

The Tour de France passed through the village on Tuesday. In fact, they cycled right past my balcony! The resort gets busy from mid-July to mid-August, so in a couple of weeks, there will be more activities I can join (if my proctitis will allow!).

I also had an online meeting with my new psychotherapist. I probably prefer in-person sessions, but it's great that I can keep the sessions up even if I'm not in the city.

Heading towards super intelligence?

I came across this article summarizing Leopold Aschenbrenner's recent essay on AI. A former employee of OpenAI, Aschenbrenner provides an in-depth and somewhat alarming forecast of AI development over the next decade, predicting that artificial general intelligence (AGI) could be achieved by 2027.

With time on my hands, I decided to ask ChatGPT how it felt about the potential leap from AI to AGI, whether there was a consensus around Aschenbrenner's thesis, and what the risks and benefits of such a change might be. It told me that it does not have personal desires or preferences, and that while Aschenbrenner's predictions are grounded in current trends and informed by his experience, they represent one perspective within a broader debate. It listed several potential benefits AGI could bring, but also warned about challenges and risks, from "ensuring that AGI systems align with human values and do not act in ways that could harm humanity" to ethical considerations, from significant economic disruption to the difficulties of establishing effective governance frameworks.

ChatGPT ended by recommending that I: stay informed and educated; advocate for responsible AI; engage in public discourse about AI ethics and safety to raise awareness and foster a more informed community (does sharing this in my weekly musings count?!); use AI tools responsibly in my personal and professional life; and donate to or collaborate with organizations focused on AI safety and ethics.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Do you use AI in your daily life? Do you know people who work in the field? Are you worried or excited about what's to come? Is it mostly hype and things are being blown out of proportion?

Would you clone Fido?

Did you know that since 2005, more than two thousand dogs have been cloned? I had no clue. In fact, the cloning business is huge, and dogs represent only a tiny part of it, albeit one that raises more concerns given that our attitude toward dogs is that they are members of our families, while many other mammals are treated purely instrumentally.

Most of us love our pets to the point that we assign them preferences, fears, plans, and moods. However, asks the author of this unsettling article, if it's their individuality that we value, what should we make of the idea that their unique and unreproducible selves can, in fact, be reproduced? Just like with AI, cloning technology comes with a host of ethical concerns, along with issues of exploitation, and identity and existential questions—who, exactly, is produced when a dog is cloned?

The author goes on to explain how cloning actually works. I didn't know it involved surrogacy, which raises even more ethical questions. Most cloned embryos don't make it, while others may end up deformed. He calls the whole business an opaque process, "opaque" being a word that is also often used to describe how artificial intelligence works. Is cloning something else that could quickly get out of hand, offering huge benefits but also leading to huge risks?

A world with less kindness

Yesterday I was reminded of my blog post on the power of kindness. The owner of the café where I'm spending my afternoons has had a few busy days because of a motorcycling event and the Tour de France. While that was good for business, in many of the conversations he had with his regular customers, I heard him bitterly complain about the rudeness displayed by a lot of the people passing by.

Honestly, I don't have a hard time believing him. These past few years, especially after the pandemic, I too have had the impression everyone is more stressed and less kind. A lot of people seem to be out only for themselves, and we're gradually losing the sense of belonging to a community and working towards the common good. Of course, there are still people who will say hello to me as we walk past each other and smile, or people holding the door open for me when I'm struggling with carrying my groceries, thank God. But I find myself more and more being surprised by these acts of kindness and politeness, when they should be the norm in a well-functioning, respectful, and happy society.

Quote of the week ✍️ 

"Hubris is one of the great renewable resources."  (P.J. O'Rourke)

As always, I welcome your insights or questions. Which musing was your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Any other suggestions? Let me know in the comments or send me an email. Don't forget to share this with someone who may find it interesting.

Enjoy your weekend and TTYS

ML