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by sadboi31 533 days ago
I think you'd enjoy this. https://nickbostrom.com/papers/vulnerable.pdf

"Abstract: Scientific and technological progress might change people’s capabilities or incentives in ways that would destabilize civilization. For example, advances in DIY biohacking tools might make it easy for anybody with basic training in biology to kill millions; novel military technologies could trigger arms races in which whoever strikes first has a decisive advantage; or some economically advantageous process may be invented that produces disastrous...."

1 comments

Thanks; that is a good paper. I had heard of the author from his Superintelligence book but never really read any of his works. I had come to my own conclusions that Science/Technology, the Complexity they entail and the uses they will be put to will ultimately be our undoing. This paper on their stark misuse (IMO it is a question of "when" and not "if") is indeed a timely reminder.
His other work "information hazards" is brilliant. Definitely a must-read if you are someone interested in talking about topics like the OSS/CIA + communications technology with people who have more lived trauma or exist in sensitive public spaces.

My PoV is that we have lived in that very system for 30-40 years. I blame a poor interpretation of "limits to growth" for most of the worlds problem (no fault of the other of course). https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-poli...

insane link but i don't want to wrap it in a shortener. Check Don's website for more content.

If you really want to hop into some scary stuff check this out: https://www.nano.gov/timeline and https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/media/series/aiei/new-war-te...

On the less spooky more preventative side of things def watch some videos from stafford beer on cybernetics and see if any of his written works interest you.