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
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.
We should be strictly rationing oil for only what really needs it, and not wasting it on things which can be electrified.
This idea that we have to just drill for every drop of oil because we need it to run mining equipment or make lubricants is absurd.
Electricity doesn’t just come out of thin air though (well I mean technically it can). It still relies (for the vast majority) on underlying fossil fuels to be created. And the amount of energy needed to create the electricity needed to do mining vs. the amount needed just to use oil to do the same job is much higher.
The real solution is to just end civilization.
Also required for some lubrication, high density rocket fuel, plastics, etc.
And food production!
Duh, how could I forget 🤦?