We're Fucked.

A coupla weeks ago HERE I noted that AI couldn’t be arriving at a worse possible time because of the unfortunate VENN diagram of our anti-regulation fever and collective stupidity; today in The New York Times - or, as I call it, "The Times" - we see this:

A half-century ago, scientists and lawyers agreed to strict self-regulation in DNA research to avoid catastrophe. Can A.I. follow the same model?

Without even bothering to read the article I already know the answer is, of course, a resounding “no” - besides my regulatory point above, there’s simply WAAAAAAAAAAY too much money to be made by letting AI run amok without any guardrails, to the point at which we’re literally gambling with the destruction of the human race. There’s not only money by the usual middle management folks, but from what I can tell what’s unique about this situation as opposed to the DNA thing or the mid-90s when fears about the Internet started rolling in, is that at the top of this money-making mountain are a handful of people poised to become the richest/most powerful humans in the history of the planet, which means good luck slowing this shit down once it becomes a competition between these guys.

Trump was right when he said the world’s a casino now; it’s just a shame that the 99.999999% of us are all gonna choose to be the big losers. Incredible.