LogFAQs > #979031083

chaos_knight posted...

The future cannot be stopped.

I've long suspected that a species inability to choose to avoid "inevitable" or convenient technologies might a Great Filter or maybe even the Great Filter. The threat of nuclear annihilation hangs over our heads because we "inevitably" had to make weapons once we learned how to split the atom, and these "inevitably" had to proliferate and grow in number. There certainly is a possibility that AI research may eventually produce an incredibly dangerous system that leads to our destruction (something as simple as a misaligned autonomous system connected to military assets might do it). I mean, it's not even out of the realm of possibility that if AI technology doesn't plateau that the economic and creative impacts combined with unchecked climate change and global political instability might do it, or at least deal an incredible amount of damage to society the likes of which the world hasn't seen in thousands of years.

It's depressing to think that humans collectively have no free will because things simply must happen for money, political advantages, or military advantages. Maybe the dolphin people on Europa are doing better?