[latexr]

> I feel AI and robotics are very important for progressing humanity

Why? And what does “progressing” mean, exactly? I’m not trying to be combative or flippant, I’m genuinely asking because the rest of your comment is a great argument for the opposite view.

I’d argue humanity will “progress” when we collectively learn to treat each other and our environment with respect and care. When we have a sense of community with our fellow people instead of placing undue value on individuals and personal gain.

Technological advance could be a boon for humanity if those were our shared values, but as it stands it seems pretty obvious that what it does instead is consolidate power in the hands of those who should never have it.

We already have the technology and resources to improve the lives of everyone, they’re just not fairly distributed.

[lo_zamoyski]

> And what does “progressing” mean, exactly?

Indeed. This is characteristic of a reflexive and unthinking Progressivism that presumes the reality of some kind of nebulous, arbitrary, and ill-defined "progress", but very often denies the very basis that makes progress of any kind possible, which is teleology. In other words, Progressivism is one of the modernist idols in Nietzsche. The modern haughtily throws off the "old metaphysics" and the "old religion", but fails to notice how it has sawed off the branch it is sitting on. Its peculiar form of worship, its peculiar focus, is hollow because it has been gutted of the concepts that it draws a residual parasitic strength from. Hence, the twilight of the idols...

Postmodernism is to a large degree a reaction to the emptiness of modernism. Postmodernism is also self-refuting, but to its credit, it does respond to something very true about modernism. We are witnessing postmodernism bury the last vestiges of modernism along with itself. It is an ideological kamikaze.

[pcooper]

“Progress” can be of the Steven Pinker kind, where the long term trend of things like infant mortality, deaths from violence, etc. are going in a direction that most people would agree is good.

> Technological advance could be a boon for humanity if those were our shared values, but as it stands it seems pretty obvious that what it does instead is consolidate power in the hands of those who should never have it.

Why can’t it be both? I’m optimistic that AI and robotics will produce innovations that will benefit all of humanity, even if the financial gains are concentrated among the few.

[latexr]

> “Progress” can be of the Steven Pinker kind, where the long term trend of things like infant mortality, deaths from violence, etc. are going in a direction that most people would agree is good.

Are AI and robotics “important” for that, though? I’m not convinced they are, or that their detriments are worth it. E.g. maybe a fleet of robot police could reduce deaths from violence, but it would also certainly be used for citizen control.

Caring for our fellow humans as a community and thus sharing resources and knowledge appropriately would be much more beneficial.

Additionally, it’s not like Pinker’s argument is without (a lot) of criticism. It doesn’t seem like a good basis for this conversation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Better_Angels_of_Our_Natur...

The rise of the alt-right and the current state of the USA and the division it is causing worldwide does not bode well for the argument that the world is progressing in a desired direction.

> Why can’t it be both?

Because you can’t have shared values of community and care for your fellow humans and the environment when the ones with the concentrated power gain it and keep by doing the exact opposite.

> I’m optimistic that AI and robotics will produce innovations that will benefit all of humanity, even if the financial gains are concentrated among the few.

I said “power”, not “money”. They are related but not the same. AI and robotics bring new capabilities for despots to surveil, control, and kill. It is naive to believe these will benefit all of humanity. They clearly won’t. Recent history is ample proof of that.