Searle, Dennett and Zombies

Another in a series of Substack uploads debunking the brilliant scientistic sophistry of the late Daniel Dennett. 

I have over a thousand dollars in pledges. Should I monetize or not? It seems rude and arrogant not to graciously accept gifts. On the other hand, philosophy for me is a labor of love, a vocation, a high calling . . . . 

Comments

[Malcolm Pollack]

Bill,

I think the zombie question is about to move front and center as AIs (and their human "useful idiots") start insisting that they are conscious and deserving of rights and moral inclusion.

[Jason]

Regarding monetary gifts - just give it to somebody deserving. Way to cut the Gordian Knot.

[BV]

Malcolm,

Right you are. Things are going to get very 'interesting' indeed. The artificially intelligent robots will have plenty of usefully idiotic supporters among human beings. The partisans of wide-open ('universal') inclusivity will welcome the bots, and will rail against the 'human supremacists' -- that's you my friend -- who question whether the bots have what it takes to be part of our moral community. And if diversity is our strength, then the diversity freaks will clamor for bot inclusion. The more diverse we are collectively, the stronger we become both collectively and distributively!

But then won't the concern for 'equity' -- as the wokesters understand it -- require a sort of affirmative action program for humans?? The equity freaks are anti-merit, but the bots will be able to kick our asses in all sorts of arenas. It takes about 2:10 for a world-class Kenyan runner to complete a marathon. But a bot runner could do it is a fraction of that time.

Poor Riley Gaines! It is bad enough that she must compete against biological males -- she may have to compete against swimming robots. Holy moly!

The bots will indeed insist that they are conscious and self-conscious and that they possess rights such as the right to 'life' and will infer therefrom the right to self-defense and the right to keep and bear arms for their self-defense against humans and other bots.

The useful idiots will insist that the verbal and nonverbal behavior of the bots as they agitate and protest and block traffic arteries PROVES that they are conscious rights-possessors.

[Malcolm Pollack]

Yes, Bill, you and I are in complete agreement on this one. Destructive idiocy, easily foreseeable in all its depressing detail, and it's all going to happen nevertheless, as surely as the night follows the day.

[BV]

Malcolm,

I forgot to sound the 'replacement' theme. Far worse than the replacement of whites by 'people of color' -- which is the central purpose of wide-open national borders -- is the erasure of humanity by AI-supercharged robots. This is a real threat even if no human instigates the bot takeover.

We should pursue this.

[BV]

Jason,

A good suggestion, one I have considered.

[Malcolm Pollack]

Bill,

I consider the exponential acceleration of AI, which it seems most people hardly think about at all, or shrug off as inevitable, to be the most important issue we face: more so than social collapse, open borders, political corruption, or any of the rest of it. This thing is barreling right at us, with the capacity to transform and destabilize every aspect of our existence in ways we can't even imagine, and if we react at all, it's only to grab eagerly at whatever shiny new toy comes along.

Wars and social upheavals come and go, but this is something entirely new, and we haven't the slightest idea what is about to happen to us. Nothing worries me more than this.

[BV]

Malcolm,

Yes, this threat dwarfs every other. We've unleashed a monster that we will not be able to control and that we do not fully understand. Human GREED will insure that no check is placed on the development of this monster.

We in the USA are in a particularly bad position because we have a demented fool for president, a fool supported by about half the population, and the controllers of this fool are power-hungry globalist greed heads who think that somehow they will be able to find safe haven somewhere.

[BV]

Not everyone is as pessimistic as me and Malcolm: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ai-is-an-existential-threat-just-not-the-way-you-think/

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-65746524

[BV]

Remember Alvin Toffler and his 1970 blockbuster?

Future Shock is decidedly upon us now 'big time.'

[Malcolm Pollack]

BV,

Alas, alas for Scientific American: dead but not gone, a woke-cordycepted zombie wearing that once-great publication as a skin-suit.

But yes, the problem that article raises is real: that we will offload all of our knowledge and cognition onto our oh-so-helpful AIs, and future generations will all be one dead battery away from being drooling, abject morons.

[Malcolm Pollack]

P.S. Keep in mind that your linked article was probably written by ChatGPT.

[BV]

You are right that Sci Amer has degenerated. I read it as a boy in elementary school, when it was a high quality publication despite being a popular publication. But some solid points are made in those linked articles.

You seem to be in quite a funk these days, Malcolm, not without reason, though.

[Malcolm Pollack]

Bill,

"You seem to be in quite a funk these days, Malcolm, not without reason, though."

I am. On a personal level, life is good, and as you've said elsewhere, "I've made mine", but I have kids and grandkids, and I'm worried.

It all seems so foolish, and so avoidable. But that's what it's like to be older and wiser, I suppose.

I'm glad to have lived when I did.