Technology Review jumps the shark
The ultimate in nonsensical AI puff pieces, featuring the ubiquitous Bryan Johnson
Worst combination of headline and interview I have ever seen in Tech Review?
The headline is bad. The interview is worse. There is no skepticism, no discussion of how a new religion would do anything of substance to defend against the risks of superintelligent AI — just pictures of a buff, topless Bryan Johnson and (I kid you not) remarks about how his attire must be more expensive than it looks (“Johnson, in worn trainers and the kind of hoodie that is almost certainly deceptively expensive, had told the audience about what he saw as the end of humanity“).
In lieu of a real plan, Johnson, who admits he “gave himself over to algorithm” (and therefore seems like a poor candidate for leading an AI resistance movement) offers nothing but tech bro platitudes.
Example: “My new religion is] humanity’s religion. It’s different from other religions, which are very founder-centric. I think this is going to be decentralized, and it will be something that everybody can make their own.”
So, what, when AI goes rogue, an NFT is gonna save us?
I can’t even. My father wrote for Tech Review, for decades (as the class of 1963 secretary in the alumni notes). He would be absolutely appalled.
Johnson added, "It really is in my best interest to let it tell me what to eat, tell me when to sleep and exercise, because it would do a better job of making me happy. Instead of my mind haphazardly deciding what it wants to eat based on how it feels in the moment, the body is elevated to a position of authority. AI is going to be omnipresent and built into our everyday activities. Just like it autocompletes our texts, it will be able to autocomplete our thoughts."
This reads like an episode synopsis for the Black Mirror series, but IRL.
We don’t need a new religion to counter AI-theism.
Traditional atheism works just fine.