I have a fear of loss of information.
I was in the library today and noticing how the reference
materials were all dated 2006, 2009, 2002. These publishers
stopped publishing paper books, putting the information
exclusively online.
Now, I want to see *everything* online - a lot of stuff is
trapped in books even today, so I'm grateful things are going
online.. but...
here's the problem:
DIgitized information is a fragile thing. I don't want to go
into the technical details of it, but suffice to say, it's very
fragile on far too many levels. It's easy to wipe out the
Internet as we know it. I could do it from my chair, right here.
It's not difficult and there are quite a number of ways.
Now, there's nothing magical about books to me, but they have
something the 'net doesn't have: object permanence. A library is
on fire, some books are saved, some fragments remain.
But consider this:
Where will THIS MESSAGE be in 10 years?
The likelihood of Facebook still being here is pretty small. It
*might* exist in 10 years but it's more likely that it won't be
here. Or, if it is here, where will this message from way back
in July 2015 be in 2025?
Good luck finding it.
This is a problem. Loss of history happening as we speak. These
very words.
Now, I conveyed that fear in a few Vines but I considered it
carefully. What's an unintended consequence of this "fear of
loss of information"?
Let's say a 9 yr old kid sees it. It sinks in deeply for some
reason I can't fathom.
It leads to a compulsion. What kind of compulsion could it lead
to? Saving data? Backing up? Remembering to remember what people
say? Becoming a hoarder? OCD? Never throwing a scrap of anything
away?
Worst case scenarios. All possible. Maybe even worse things are
possible. But of what I considered, *more fear* being received
than I "intend" - amplified by their own psychological nature
won't be in an area that I consider "a bad thing".
But... notice how in just a couple of messages, I misinterpreted
what you wrote: it went from "emergent tech being a threat" to
"Hawking calls for ban on AI robots" and concluded, incorrectly,
that AI research should be banned.
It's not what you intended, but it's what happened. That stuff
happens all of the time. People make connections. We can't
always be AWARE of the connections people are going to make but
it's good to try.
It's more than just one's own reputation; I don't care so much
about my own reputation; but I *do* care about people treating
each other well. I can't see any better way to make a better
future than to try to make nicer people who are then nicer to
others,and people who are fearless, not in proving their fears
right - but fearless in pursuing their dreams instead of their
fears.
Anyway, that's a load of babble from me but when you said,
"responsibility for the future" , this is the train of thought I
jumped on.
