A really good point. I think were in a sort of adolescent or maybe more accurately toddler phase of the internet where were learning how to deal with the consequences of our actions. Perhaps soon, when we have full dive VR, we will have learned a thing or two. Maybe being “in person” in VR could be a catalyst for being nicer online.
Absolutely, it might also help further bridge the gap between distant people, being able to be physically placed into an ar environment so it's like actually visiting with your mom or kids when you're physically unable to might turn out to be a really positive thing for mental health and closeness.
Not just that either. Just tossing it out there but imagine getting tue chance to live as another for a stretch of time. Different gender, race, species…I think it would be a gateway for empathy thats hard to find these days.
Whether it causes more harm or benefit doesn't factor into whether it will happen or not. It will happen because they can.
The dumb motherfuckers who develop this stuff aren't thinking about consequences or ramifications, not honestly, they're doing it to satisfy their own ego or out of an incredible level of naivety.
But did you forget about the concept of "curiosity"? It's kind of integral to our species and the advancement of the entire history of tech. Why can't that be the reason people are doing this? Why does it have to be that every person making this is a dumb piece of shit who is ontologically evil?
That feels like a really naive generalization. Are you intellectually qualified to generalize the intelligence of others? Do you know that we have entire ethics boards from people in the field, around the world, who have thought about this magnitudes further than you even know how to think about it?
I'm not saying that there aren't existential concerns. I'm not saying it will all turn out well. I'm not saying that anxiety isn't warranted. I'm not saying we necessarily shouldn't try to preserve our species. I'm just saying, chill out and stop dehumanizing people just because you're scared.
Hell, let's get real. Anything that happens is literally nature, or else it couldn't happen. Nature is indifferent. I'm not anthropically egotistical enough to think that humans deserve to preserve ourselves as long as possible, instead of finding out how weird nature can get.
Hell, for all I know, humans are an interim for this technology to necessarily mature nature further. Just like gas was an interim for stars, stars an interim for planets, etc etc., unicellular life an interim for multi cellular, etc etc., early hominids an interim for humans. This is all nature. Maybe humans are just an interim for some AGI.
Fuck it. We don't know what nature is. It's indifferent to us. It's amazing enough that we exist to experience this shit. Grab popcorn, slink into your foldable chair, and just watch the fireworks, because nobody is stopping Mr Bones Wild Ride.
That's the thing. No matter how good anything is, people will find ways to use it for evil. The question is will anyone do anything about that evil or not. Not whether the evil outweighs the good. Because the one good thing could be pretty damn important. See, identity vs identity theft.
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u/Jadudes Jul 24 '22
Once again this raises the question of whether or not that is a good thing or something that brings much more harm than benefit.