"J.C. DE MARTIN" <[email protected]> writes:

> https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/apr/19/oxford-future-of-humanity-institute-closes

Bostrom passa alla cronaca come filosofo.

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Bostrom is a proponent of the related long-termism movement, which held
that humanity should concern itself mostly with long-term existential
threats to its existence such as AI and space travel.  Critics of
long-termism tend to argue that the movement applies an extreme calculus
to the world that disregards tangible current problems, such as climate
change and poverty, and veers into authoritarian ideas. In one paper,
Bostrom proposed the concept of a universally worn “freedom tag” that
would constantly surveil individuals using AI and relate any suspicious
activity to a police force that could arrest them for threatening
humanity.

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Quando ho letto quella frase pensavo fosse una esagerazione
giornalistica (che succede neh!), ma poi ho aperto il _romanzo_:

https://nickbostrom.com/papers/vulnerable.pdf

«The Vulnerable World Hypothesis»,  Nick Bostrom, Novembre 2019

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[...] Technology policy should not unquestioningly assume that all
technological progress is beneficial, or that complete scientific
openness is always best,

[...] In order for civilization to have a general capacity to deal with
“black ball” inventions of this type, it would need a system of
ubiquitous real-time worldwide surveillance. In some scenarios, such a
system would need to be in place before the technology is invented.

[...] Rather than allow anybody to buy their own DNA synthesis machine,
DNA synthesis could be provided as a service by a small number of
closely monitored providers.

[...] Type-2b (‘worse global warming’)

There is yet another way in which the world could be vulnerable; one
that we can illustrate with a counterfactual related to climate change.
[...] the transient climate sensitivity [...] could have turned out to
be much greater than it is (Shindell, 2014). If it had been several
times larger than its actual value, we would have been in for a
temperature rise of, say, 15o or 20o C instead of 3o – a prospect with
far greater civilization-destroying potential than the actual
expectation. [...] To get a truly civilizational threat from global
warming, it may also be necessary to stipulate, counterfactually, that
mitigation through geoengineering is infeasible.

[...] in what we will call a Type-2b vulnerability, there is a large
number of individually insignificant actors who is each incentivized
(under the semianarchic default condition) to take some action that
contributes slightly to what cumulatively becomes a
civilizationdevastating problem:

[...] Type-2b vulnerabilities, such as a ‘worse global warming’ scenario
in which some states are inclined to free-ride on the costly efforts of
others to cut emissions. An effective global governance institution
could compel every state to do its part

[...]

High-tech Panopticon

Everybody is fitted with a ‘freedom tag’ [...] ‘a personal tracking
device that can also be used to make calls’). The freedom tag is a
slightly more advanced appliance, worn around the neck and bedecked with
multidirectional cameras and microphones. [...] If suspicious activity
is detected, the feed is relayed to one of several patriot monitoring
stations. [...] a freedom officer reviews the video feed on several
screens and listens to the audio in headphones. [...] The freedom
officer then determines an appropriate action, such as contacting the
tagwearer via an audiolink to ask for explanations or to request a
better view. [...]  In the small fraction of cases where the wearer
refuses to desist from the proscribed activity after repeated warnings,
an arrest may be made or other suitable penalties imposed.

[...]

Creating and operating the High-tech Panopticon would require
substantial investment, but thanks to the falling price of cameras, data
transmission, storage, and computing, and the rapid advances in
AI-enabled content analysis, it may soon become both technologically
feasible and affordable. For example, if the cost of applying this to
one individual for 1 year falls to around US$140, then the entire world
population could be continuously monitored at a cost of less than 1 per
cent of world GDP.  At that price, the system would plausibly represent a
net saving – even setting aside its use in preventing civilization-scale
cataclysms – because of its utility for regular law enforcement. If the
system works as advertised, many forms of crime could be nearly
eliminated, with concomitant reductions in costs of policing, courts,
prisons, and other security systems.  It might also generate growth in
many beneficial cultural practices that are currently inhibited by a
lack of social trust.

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Non è un racconto di Orwell?!?
Non è una fiction di Bob Shaw [1]?

Cioè quelle cose lì qualcuno andava in giro a dirle seriamente, non in
uno spettacolo teatrale di pura fantasia?

Cioè qualcuno è stato davvero in grado di sostenere che un mondo del
genere, infarcito di "feedom officers" stile Stasi, oltre che essere
peggio della morte, rappresenterebbe un "net saving" perché costerebbe
l'1% del prodotto interno lordo (laido?) mondiale?

So che in ambito accademico era in uso il cosiddetto "bacio accademico",
ma esiste(va) anche il "calcio nel culo accademico"?  O il "vaffanculo
accademico"?  NON alle persone, ma alle /idee/ come queste?

Come è potuto accadere che una istituzione come Oxford abbia dato ampio
credito a simili idee, come se non ci fosse un _ieri_?!?  Oppure è la
punta dell'iceberg della _corruzione_ (almeno corruzione dell'ethos)
accademica?

Ora, la prima reazione è di /grande sollievo/ per il fatto che un simile
meta-progetto (uno dei tanti?) sia stato gentilmente accompagnato fuori
dalla porta dell'accademia, le persone troveranno senza dubbio altri
lidi molto remunerati.

Terminata l'euforia però penso al sistema di sorveglianza di Venezia,
alle smart-cities, ai continui e incessanti attacchi alla E2EE: stanno
_vincendo_ i progetti propagandati dalle persone come Nick Bostrom?


Saluti, 380°

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_light#In_fiction

-- 
380° (Giovanni Biscuolo public alter ego)

«Noi, incompetenti come siamo,
 non abbiamo alcun titolo per suggerire alcunché»

Disinformation flourishes because many people care deeply about injustice
but very few check the facts.  Ask me about <https://stallmansupport.org>.

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