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170 points bookofjoe | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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vannevar ◴[] No.43644575[source]
I don't think Asimov envisioned a world where AI would be controlled by a clique of ultra-wealthy oligarchs.
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klabb3 ◴[] No.43646696[source]
Yes. When I hear dreams of the past it makes me nostalgic because they all come from a pre-exploited era of tech with the underlying subtext that humanity is unified in wanting tech to be used for good purposes. The reality is tech is a vessel for traditional enrichment, such as resource wars of say oil or land have been. Both domestically and geopolitically, tech is seen that way today. In such a world, tech advancements offers opportunities for the powerful to grab more, changing the relative distribution of power in their favor. If tech shows us anything is that this relative notion of wealth or social posturing is the central axis around which humans align themselves, wherever on the socioeconomic ladder you are and independent of absolute and basic needs.
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1. tim333 ◴[] No.43648577[source]
There are some dreams of the past like that but most sci-fi tends to be quiet dark like The Matrix or Terminator. In practice a lot of tech proves to be helpful in not very sci-fi like ways like antibiotics, phones etc. Human nature is still what it is though.