If you are interested in AI, freewill and the future of technology, I highly recommend this video. If you don't have 90 minutes to spare, below is my summary of the key points:
+ Before the internet, you might have joined any club in your home town that was available such as a football club. This was unifying, bringing people from different backgrounds together. Now with the internet, we have niche groups but interest and thinking are very similar.
+200 or 300 years ago if you went to another country you would stick out with the way you dressed and the way you acted. Now you can fit in easily, learning about customs and what to wear beforehand.
+We need global cooperation to solve issues such as climate change and AI and automation.
+If things aren’t working for people at home. They are not going to support global cooperation and a global safety net.
+People join extreme groups because they don’t have any other communities and don’t have healthy economic progress.
+Some of the happiest people have been the most brutal. And they wouldn’t say their ideas were extreme. For example the Roman Empire, Slavery, Nazi Voters.
+ The British during colonization was the richest country in the world. They thought that they were bringing good to the world when they were colonizing Australia, India, and Africa.
+Globalisation has been a net positive but the story that we have told has been too optimistic.
+if people in middle America feel angry, then we pay attention because they have their finger on the button. When people in Zambia are angry no one pays attention because they have less power.
+We are going to see a big gap between countries that have AI and those that don’t. It took 150 years to close the gap after the industrial revolution with AI it will be worse. We need a global safety net.
+The downfall of authoritative regimes such as Soviet Russia in the 20th century was because they couldn’t process all the data they were recording. With AI this won’t happen.
+The easiest people to manipulate are the ones who believe in free will.
+If you tell a person that something they believe is false they end up not trusting you. If you frame 2 things as opposites and show opposing evidence, it entrenches their original beliefs further because they feel someone is trying to control what they believe. What works is giving people a range of choices of different related articles so people can decide for themselves what is true. Most people don’t choose the most extreme version and they feel like they are making an informed decision.
What striked me the most: the easiest people to manipulate are the ones who believe in free will.
Yes! It reminds me of the Dunning-Kruger effect.