© 2023 Bill Wallsgrove
Some of my best friends are AI – in literature, at least. Ships Behaving Badly in Iain M Banks’ Culture novels for example, which led a human friend to say they couldn’t make a worse job of running the world than humans.
I am sad to say I expect less in reality, and any technology under the control of the rich few. But should we fear conspiracy or cock-up more, I wonder?
I seem to have become a luddite about ‘smart technology’ in managing infrastructure, delivering less and threatening more than enthusiasts are claiming. Systems too complex to manage, or to understand the potential implications of; and products that don’t offer much except big price tags.
But I had to smile at this image, the first result of my brother using an AI art app to create images for me of duck-billed platypuses.
Love a duck x
Our ability to reason will always set us apart. I think often we overlook or disregard simplicity as the best solution.
Ruth, loved the article.
Penny’s book is a great illustration of the complex systems that, like weather systems, make infrastructure useful. AI can’t, by its design, foretell implications of intervening in such a complex network. Humans have trouble taking diverse impacts into consideration.