Monday, April 9, 2018

AI: "An Immortal Dictator"

Hat Tip: Douglas and Jonathan


Elon Musk recently sounded the alarm regarding an "immortal dictator" produced by the convergence of new technologies for rendering visible and controlling dissenting populations:
Peter Holley (2018, April 6). Elon Musk's nightmarish warning: AI could become 'an immortal dictator from which we would never escape.' The Washington Post. Available http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/elon-musk-s-nightmarish-warning-ai-could-become-an-immortal/article_bc9e653a-3576-5552-a876-64d953321d84.html
Among his many warnings about the rise of artificial intelligence, Elon Musk has said that autonomous machines are more dangerous to the world than North Korea and could unleash "weapons of terror." He has compared the adoption of AI to "summoning the devil."   
Now the billionaire inventor and Tesla chief executive - who believes artificial intelligence could help trigger the next world war - has issued another severe warning about how super-intelligent machines could come to dominate the world. Those super computers could become "an immortal dictator from which we would never escape," Musk passionately warns in the new documentary "Do You Trust This Computer?"
Super computers that control us?

I have described on this blog the encroaching war on political and cultural dissent occurring through the deployment of "algorithmic governmentality," a form of rule that operates through autonomous and non-transparent coding schemes, that normalize truth around a hegemonic mean articulated by the mainstream news media.

The mainstream news media and those whom refer to their expertise delimit truth through choices about issues coverage and framing. Accordingly, corporate news cannot be truly said to be "objective" given profit imperatives and ownership structures, the latter of which are highly consolidated, as discussed in this article and concisely represented in a chart:
Rani Molla and Peter Kafka (2018, feb 1). Here’s the chart that explains why CBS and Viacom want to merge. Recode, https://www.recode.net/2018/1/18/16906042/cbs-viacom-merger-media-market-landscape-streaming
Media ownership matters when it comes to the diversity of issues and opinions represented and incorporated in news media story telling, as demonstrated by this article from years past when the media were less concentrated than today:
Dell Champlin &Janet Knoedler (2002). Operating in the Public Interest or in Pursuit of Private Profits? News in the Age of Media Consolidation.Journal of economic issues, 36(2): s 459-468 | Published online: 05 Jan 2016 https://doi.org/10.1080/00213624.2002.11506490
Today, algorithmic governmentality disciplines truth according to the infotainment imperatives of media conglommerates that are motivated first and foremost to maximize the value of their advertising space.

Algorithmic governmentality coupled with ubiquitous surveillance create the conditions of possibility for unprecedented societal control, especially when combined with repressive apparatuses domestically and abroad such as robotic weapons.

I agree with Musk when he posits super computers that control us all. However, Musk's warnings are framed in such a way as to imply that the new algorithmic and robot control technologies are immune from human control.

That is, in my opinion, a fundamental mystification.

What we need to ask is what authorities and for what purposes are developing and deploying these new control technologies?


RELATED POSTS
Majia's Blog: The Crisis of the Digital Commons and Algorithmic Truths
majiasblog.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-crisis-of-digital-commons-and.html
Oct 4, 2017 - The Crisis of the Digital Commons and Algorithmic Truths* Majia H. Nadesan October 4, 2017. Allegations of election interference by “Russian” and other special interests have problematized the legitimacy of the democratic process in the US. An internal review conducted by Facebook concluded that ...

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6 comments:

  1. Hi Majia !

    Elon Musk is the new Al Gore! They lie as they breathe! AI does not exist today. All that is done is like a calculator or only 'ON' and 'OFF'.
    Robots, computers are calculators. Nothing more with electrical memory.
    AI is just lobbying like Global Warming!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Right-wing troll. How much does mercer pay it to publish the blog

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  3. It does get worse. The memes. The twitter lies.

    From Cecalli Helper twitter account. Retweeted garbage.
    Nice try from disinformation operative Cecalli Helper , but Pakistan was known to have nuclear bomb scientists and probably a bomb by the end of the 1980s. What a piece of trash cecalli helper is.
    https://mobile.twitter.com/MikeTokes/status/983005470758612992

    1997: Bill Clinton approves sale of nuclear technology to China.
    1998: China sells it to Pakistan.
    1999: Pakistan tests nuclear weapon.

    2010: Obama tries to secure enriched Uranium for Iran

    Democrats have been selling state secrets to hostile foreign enemies. Treason!


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  4. Again pure right wing garbage and propaganda in the face of nuclear sales to the saudis. The hawk democrats do suk. The russians have always had the most enriched uranium available in the world. The tweet from the partisan twitter troll or bot "New Right, " implies uranium for both the paki and n korean bombs came from democrats. Several articles present that, if any uranium came went out, it was from Russia.

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  5. Burroughs on Nuclear energy and nuclear war. Now listen and hewr the truth about the hardcore proponents of nuclear energy https://youtu.be/MpHs0vDlRBA

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  6. That is a big prob w the inet. Boots to ground as clamshellernh said. Throw away the stinkin laptops and smart phones. The fascist pigs will probably always control the radio and tv, but community action will be more important.

    ReplyDelete

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