Hacker News Reader

I submitted this story. This is a conversation I have with non-tech friends who don't yet grok just how much society is going to change in the next few decades because of technology.

View on HN

And you have a single paragraph explaining anything at all as to why you think that will happen, and it's basically, "too much efficiency will ruin capitalism." I'm going to need more convincing than that.

Try this: http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/. Long, but very much worth the time.

Wow, quite a good rant on the state of the world! I only had time to read the first 1/3 but will enjoy the rest tonight. Thanks.

edit: I finished it. Good read, and recommended.

I believe that the accelerating rate of improvement in AI, IoT providing intelligent systems with more fine grained data on what is happening in the physical world, and general improvements like the deep learning neural network hacks will profoundly affect society.

Do I totally buy into the basic premise of the article? No. As another commenter pointed out, who owns the intelligent machines? The rich.

I am an enthusiastic AI practitioner since the 1980s, remain excited by tech advances, but, I believe that it is important to talk about how technology affects society.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com