Don't Worry; Nothing to See Here . Don't worry; people will all be out of work, and tremendous social upheaval will happen but AI will solve all conceivable problems. Lots of talk about what "we" need to do.

If you think you know about AI Watch A great blog entry was lost due to a quirk in Blogger. I will attempt to re-post later. Watch the video - it's scarier than anything I can say here. As if that weren't enough, Quantum computer is taking off. The presentation seems to have some elements of Utopial Activism. Updating Your Ideas about Quantum Computing

Russel writes here as a politician , not an "expert" on Artificial Intelligence. In fact, one may ask if there is any such thing as "Artificial Intelligence," the entity that needs to be controlled. Page 173 summarizes Russel's Utopia: The machine's only objective is to maximize the realization of human preferences The machine is initially uncertain about what those preferences are The ultimate source of information about human preferences is human behavior The assumption that underlies the book is that "AI" can be controlled to create a society that follows the rules above. The rules don't arise from "AI" itself. They are straightforward statements of political agenda. Russel spends the rest of the book showing that all the above rules are not feasible in practice (let alone desirable). He misses the real issue with Rule #1, which calls for the optimization of an ordinal entity. This fallacy is so common it passes without notice. Ho...

In the Canadian context, the Leap Manifesto is worth a detailed look.  The Manifesto should be seen as a continuation of the activist rhetoric of Namoi Kine and her husband, Avi Lewis (pictured). Both are well-known and respected figures in the activist world. Kline is frequently found commenting "out of her lane," as with her astonishingly ignorant comments on nuclear power . Kline's "Manifesto" has much in common with the other famous one, the Communist Manifesto , another Utopian vision of a classless society purged of the profit motive. We have a pretty good idea of how that turned out. We should be wary of "manifestos." All of them seem to skip the nasty details of getting the public to go along with the dream, along with the troublesome problems of dealing with  real problems without a magic wand. The couple has presented us with their dream world, a Utopia (making them "Left Wing Utopians" on my political spectrum), along with some co...

Any version of the widely discussed Green New Deal project must include these priorities:  1. Greenhouse gas emissions reductions will at least achieve the targets set in 2018 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, namely a 45 percent reduction in global emissions by 2030 and the attainment of net zero emissions by 2050.  2. Investments to dramatically raise energy efficiency standards and equally dramatically expand the supply of solar, wind, and other clean, renewable energy sources will form the leading edge of the transition to a green economy in all regions of the world.  3. The green economy transition will not expose workers in the fossil fuel industry and other vulnerable groups to the plague of joblessness and the anxieties of economic insecurity.  4. Economic growth must proceed along a sustainable and egalitarian path, such that climate stabilization is unified with the equally important goals of expanding job opportunities and raising mass livi...

  While I am sympathetic to many "Liberal" or "Socialist" ideas, I see that there are many still far to my "left." I refer to these as the "Utopian Far Left." Marx, Lenin, Mao, and Pol Pot would fall into this classification. The common thread is a promise of Utopia if only reason and individual rights are swept aside. I take a close look at the inaugural address of the current head of the IPCC, Yensan-gun. My reasoning comes from many sources, but the reader who finds my thinking novel should refer to: The False Promise of Green Energy , Andrew Morris, et al. How to Spend $50 Billion to Make The World A Better Plac e, Bjorn Lomborg The IPCC report itself (IP6 ) and what it really says, not the "summaries." How to Avoid Climate Disaster , Bill Gates. Exactly what "net zero 2050" would take. United Nations Environmental Program ( UNEP ) provides the complete UN vision of Utopia. It is important to notice that UNEP priorities ar...

I take this to be a perfect statement of the position of the Activist, Utopain "left". For the moment, I want this document to stand on its own. This is the language that has been percolating down throughout the IPCC "summaris for decision makers" since the beginning. I see little point in rebutting Mr. Yensan-gun one-by-one. His mind is plainlly made up.  Bold face and underline is my own of course.   From the inaugural address by the current IPCC chairman, Yensan-gun 9 June 2022 Bonn, Germany Colleagues, Delegates, I’m honoured to provide this keynote address at the opening ceremony of the first Technical Dialogue. In the past 10 months, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has released a trilogy of reports providing policymakers with the most up-to-date science on climate change. These three reports are a dire warning about the consequences of inaction. Climate change is a grave and mounting threat to our well-being and a healthy planet. ... The climat...