Maybe you should be scared of AI, J.K. Rowling dares police to arrest her, the rotting American midwest & a potential breakthrough on the science of death 😳
What to be culturally aware of this week..
What industries and skills are most at risk of AI takeover?
Artificial Intelligence is experiencing exponential growth, meaning that what we assume to be decades away, is in fact right around the corner. As young people, this can be concerning as our careers become uncertain in the face of new technology. At its current rate of improvement, artificial intelligence will be smarter than human beings by 2029. It will be able to self-improve, constantly becoming smarter and more efficient. This means that many industries will be able to cut workforce costs by replacing people with AI.
Industries that I think will be safe from this are trades. Recent research also found that plumbers made more, on average, than doctors. This is due to the lack of student debt that plumbers experience. Trade-based jobs won’t be replaced by AI anytime soon and offer a reliable income.
That being said, I don’t think AI will replace people in industries such as healthcare. No one wants to be diagnosed by a machine, despite the fact that it can often be more accurate and so there will still be a place for trained medical professionals. Rather, I think we’ll be seeing an increase in AI in the workplace as something to help eradicate human error.
When it comes to creative industries, I also predict that these will be largely safe. While AI is nearly able to create film, music and writing to a high degree, the thing that makes entertainment and arts so engaging is the connection you feel with the creator. While AI can replicate art, it cannot write poetry about a heartbreak it experienced, write a song that reminds it of a lost summer in Italy, create a film with real actors who have real experiences to draw from.
As we move deeper into the age of information, I have noticed a desire amongst younger people to have real and organic experiences, away from technology. I think this is also the reason we’re all so obsessed with the nineties and Y2K. We’e nostalgic for a time before the internet, a simpler life.
On that mildly spooky note, ever heard of Roko’s Basilisk?
A couple of years ago I was hanging out with a physicist who used to tell me loads of nerdy stories about tech, which I loved. One of which was that of The Basilisk Theory, a thought experiment on AI.
I’m warning you now, if you continue to read, you are agreeing to be part of this experiment. That being said, if you don’t continue to read, it may turn out worse for you (I’m joking, ish).
So, this thought experiment first appeared online in 2010, posted to online forum LessWrong by ‘Roko.’ The idea is that as AI becomes more intelligent, which we now know is inevitable, it will surpass the intelligence of human beings. It will probably surpass the intelligence of humans to a degree that is currently incomprehensible to us. Roko suggested that AI may one day become so intelligent that it will be able to recreate the entire history of the world. It will know every single thing that has ever happened. It will be able to recreate you, me, every person that has ever existed. Therefore, it will be able to read every thought anyone has ever had. This thought experiment suggests that an AI that reaches this level of intelligence would be fully self-serving. It would act purely in its own interest. It would know that humans fear how intelligent it is. Roko suggested that a computer like this would then kill off any human that didn’t aid it coming into existence. That means that any negative thought or conversation you have about AI would theoretically mean it might end up wanting to kill you whereas those who think and speak favourably of AI’s existence would be safe.
When ChatGPT was first released, I asked it to write me a Black Mirror episode about the Basilisk Theory but it had blocks in place to stop it from discussing the theory in detail, making it equally spooky. The people who made the language model have put restrictions on it to stop the computer from understanding this theory.
But by buying into this theory, you need to actively help the AI come into existence to escape torture. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. Those who try to stop it from existing risk being targeted.
So, will you be changing how you think of AI?
Why is J.K. Rowling daring police to arrest her?
New legislation in Scotland, The Hate Crime and Public Order Act, came into force on Monday, sparking controversy as it failed to include protection for women as a group and leaving some words up to interpretation, meaning that many could face harsh punishments. Rowling posted on X saying “It is impossible to accurately describe or tackle the reality of violence and sexual violence committed against women and girls, or address the current assault on women and girls’ rights, unless we are allowed to call a man a man.”
This, in of itself, has also sparked outrage online. But I think that people are very quick to use Rowling as a punching bag for transphobia. I agree that her platform and influence may be cause for concern with some of her previous comments, but at the core of what she says is concern for the wellbeing of young people and women’s rights.
The Scottish government has made a promise for a misogyny law, but I find it interesting that this didn’t happen either at the same time or before this new legislation, seeing as women make up half of the population.
Researchers believe we’re on the cusp of a breakthrough on what happens after death
In a fascinating long-read article published in The Guardian this week, Alex Blasdel gave a full rundown of the history of the science of death and the exciting discoveries that have been made recently.
Blasdel reveals that in the past year, data was published on a woman who died in 2017, referred to as Patient One. Patient One died after suffering heart issues while pregnant and her family decided to take her off of life support. This meant that her brain was being monitored at her time of death. Jimo Borjigin, a professor of neurology at the University of Michigan has been researching brain activity after death for some time. Looking at the records of electrical activity in Patient One’s brain after death, Borjigin told Blasdel: “I believe what we found is only the tip of a vast iceberg. What’s still beneath the surface is a full account of how dying actually takes place. Because there’s something happening in there, in the brain, that makes no sense.”
I can’t explain Blasdel’s story and do it justice so I just urge you to read it for yourself - it’s fascinating.
There was one particular part that stood out to me when Blasdel was explaining why, after over 50 years of research, so little has been discovered. It’s because so many large organisations and investors have interests in religious and spiritual institutions which interfers with their desire to invest in research that may disprove their religious beliefs. This doesn’t seem to be the case when it comes to investing in tech or businesses that contradict religious beliefs but line their pockets though, does it?
America’s midwest is rotting
A few months ago my dad and I were talking about what we like to watch on YouTube and he told me about an account he follows. @petersantenello travels through America, documenting the parts of the US that the rest of the world doesn’t see. Countless abandoned towns full of poverty and addicts, desperate and with no one to help them, great expanses of lawless land.
Santenello says he “make[s] videos showing you a world that the media fails to capture” and currently has nearly 3 million subscribers. I hadn’t thought about this conversation with my dad until a few days ago when a video appeared on my Instagram feed by the account @decayingmidwest. The video was a collaboration with @rotting.midwest and showed the pair breaking into the mall they’d gone to as a kid, now long abandoned. Under the mall they show sprawling tunnels and halls with old computers and tech left behind, gathering dust.
Together they have 1.5 million followers and videos rack up hundreds of thousands of views. They explore abandoned hospitals, nightclubs and malls with everything left behind. It’s honestly freaky as hell.
The attention these accounts are getting speaks volumes. America is rotting. In 2022, Oxfam America reported that the pandemic was making a new billionaire every 30 hours. Meanwhile, the rest of the country seems to be falling to ruin. Why this isn’t reported on in the rest of the world is also curious. Food for thought.
Something to watch, something to read, something to listen to:
Watch - 3 Body Problem - TV
Started watching while stoned, didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into, got freaked out, had weird dreams.
Available on Netflix.
Read - The new science of death: ‘There’s something happening in the brain that makes no sense’ - The Guardian
Blasdel’s long-read on the science of death - so interesting (click the image for link):
Listen - Californication, Red Hot Chilli Peppers
I had linked a playlist I’ve made of pop music I actually like at the moment but I changed my mind because I’m already bored of it. This album, on the other hand, is a classic that will never become boring. For the weird few who haven’t listened before, I’ve done you a favour and linked it below.
My favourite tracks:
Easily | Road Trippin’ | Scar Tissue