Great re-surface of Deus. Have been thinking of similar themes and questions, but with a slight twist:
1. dataism strikes me as a consequence of a left-brain dominant culture (McGilchrist)
2. the left hemisphere also fixates on what can be described, grasped, pointed to, etc in language
3. as software ate the world and AI eats software, might there be a new dataism emerging that is more potent and potentially harmful given its channel through natural language?
5. however, I think the potential harm with #3 comes with symmetric upside on extending our ability to know ourselves better with AI through a David Deutsch-esque optimism
Some truly mind boggling questions at the end there.
I think being conscious is more "important" than intelligence.
But my reasons for this are purely human, and all my examples steam from human experience.
I don't know what non human intelligence would deem important, most likely not babies or having the ability to go under the influence of drugs where one might flirt with unconsciousness.
Great re-surface of Deus. Have been thinking of similar themes and questions, but with a slight twist:
1. dataism strikes me as a consequence of a left-brain dominant culture (McGilchrist)
2. the left hemisphere also fixates on what can be described, grasped, pointed to, etc in language
3. as software ate the world and AI eats software, might there be a new dataism emerging that is more potent and potentially harmful given its channel through natural language?
4. I think yes since there's evidence that dataism has its very roots in how our brain uses language itself (good summary here: https://brettandersen.substack.com/p/being-becoming-and-the-cerebral-hemispheres)
5. however, I think the potential harm with #3 comes with symmetric upside on extending our ability to know ourselves better with AI through a David Deutsch-esque optimism
Some truly mind boggling questions at the end there.
I think being conscious is more "important" than intelligence.
But my reasons for this are purely human, and all my examples steam from human experience.
I don't know what non human intelligence would deem important, most likely not babies or having the ability to go under the influence of drugs where one might flirt with unconsciousness.
Great essay and interview Erik. Thanks for your thought leadership.