Silicon Valley is obsessed with talking about the end of the world. They’re largely full of sh*t. But it’s still worth taking AI seriously and asking why we can’t think about moving beyond it (and capitalism.)
Capitalism enables Silicon Valley technologists, and ethno-nationalists who make up this apocalyptic alliance to fuel the fire that is AI as we know it
00:00 - it’s easier to imagine AI ending humanity than the end of capitalism
06:19 - What’s so scary about AI?
09:52 - So why is everyone taking AI so seriously?
11:40 - Why the end times discourse?
17:19 - The logic / theology of disruption
19:47 - Why can’t we disrupt capitalism tho
22:19 - The computer as salvation
24:44 - We don’t need AI. We need to end capitalism
I miss Wisecrack.
Do it. Do it. Do it.
AI relies on energy. Energy either has already peaked or will peak soon (primarily oil). Every year it will become more expensive and require more resources to produce even less energy than the year before. This is why I am not worried about AI. In fact, it makes me happy that AI is acclerating our use of energy; the faster we run out, the faster we collapse, the faster we revert to a simpler way of life that is in harmony with the planet.
Energy either has already peaked or will peak soon
This is obviously not true with the trend that renewables are following at the moment
You know renewables are 4% of our energy lol?
Mining of and delivery of the vital materials needed to construct renewable energy infrastructure relies heavily on oil. Renewables also do not come anywhere close to the EROEI that oil provides, and they also fall far behind coal and natural gas. The amount of these non-renewable resources as a percentage of the energy required to run the global economy is so far past renewables that they are essentially a non-starter; we do not have enough to both power the current economy AND retrofit it to use renewables. Essentially, the amount of energy we get from renewables will dramatically slow and then stop once we accelerate down the downslope of Hubbert’s peak for oil, coal, and natural gas.
Oil peaked in the 70s
It was a false peak, actually. Oil picked back up thanks to fracking and deep water drilling.
Climate has always been more of a limiting factor than actual physical oil, though. If we burn all the oil, we die.
Yeah and if we switch to gasification with coal, climate change will accelerate to a degree or two per year
And that’s the only other option, no other alternatives to oil exist. 😜
In terms of energy density, correct.
If you want the world economy powered at even a remote fraction of what it is today, you are correct that oil is the only choice. Oil is also heavily used in the mining and distribution of the materials used in renewables. Nothing else comes close to its EROEI or ubiquity.
That just means ai gets some military backing to ensure all energy gets diverted to ai and wars for procuring energy for ai while everyone else is just cattle. We are already kind of prepping people for that when trump designates people terrorists for being anti tech/anti ai. We are enforcing it with palantir, flock, etc.
There’s always a little bit more oil or natural gasses they can get for quite a while, just it won’t get used on peasants. The only places that will have power or utility are the “smart” cities with survalience where all the corporations go because its ran like Dubai so it will be heavily survalied, ran by slave labor, and primarily only there to service the ruling class. No one else gets access to infrastructure, power, information, jobs, money etc. Back to the stone ages or you’re thrown in RFK’s rural labor camps
Oh I definitely agree, but my outlook is far more long term. Eventually that energy is going to run out, even if it’s 100 years from now (it’ll be more like 30 years from now though). And climate change will have fucked the planet so hard that agriculture won’t be possible, so there’ll be this one-two punch that wipes put most people.
Holy shit, Michael Burns spotted in the wild!
Is AI trying to get me to buy some kind of VPN thingy? Not today, buster!
