I think you're missing an elephant in the room... 15 minute cities.
If you cannot travel and can only know your friends and family are still alive via whatsapp and facebook etc, then indeed an entire city could be wiped out and people outside that city, who could not travel there because it's more than 15 minutes from home, would not know.
Secondly, once a dead person is successfully impersonated, it would then be easy for that 'person' to gradually change their views and eventually adopt a 'masks work!' etcetera persona.
AI can already produce photorealistic images and basic video. Give it 4 or 5 years it will be able to be your best bud in the next town over, who is having 2nd thoughts about this whole 'freedom' thing... on a video chat.
Good point, AI 'friends' posing as dissidents and on and on. Saw a lot of footage from protests in Oxford, UK against the 15 min city (termed LTN - low traffic neighbourhood). I intend to write about that soon.
Feb 28, 2023·edited Feb 28, 2023Liked by Nicholas Creed
I have a unique insight on this post. I spent several years (2003 through 2006) living and working near a primary originator of advanced AI. See my substack for details. I've seen this tech in action and can vouch 100% that it works. I first saw this AI tech in play in 2004. Here are two examples I've personally observed of this tech in action:
#1 In 2004 this tech was used in cooperation with Interpol to make mass arrests of several child exploitation criminal groups. The tech was used to emulate interesting online real time [simulated underage] 'targets' for many of these pedophile criminals all at once. This kept the pedos in question online and 'vulnerable' for near-simultaneous police raids on many locations on multiple continents. The original inventors and controllers of this tech intensely disliked pedos.
#2 In 2005 this tech was adapted to create 'superbots' in a certain 'invitation only' online game arena associated with an infamous hacker collective. I played in this 'invite only' arena, where I was often a team leader. An AI tech inventor, my housemate, was showing off to me and made a 'superbot' that emulated ME. Not only did it emulate all my in-game moves, it ALSO emulated my running text chat commentary, my strategic and tactical sense, and my SENSE OF HUMOR. This 'superbot' would crack jokes. This 'superbot' would even riff on jokes made by other people with a joke of its own, indicating an appreciation of HUMOR. Sometimes it would lead its team, issuing commands like a human leader and demonstrating an advanced strategic sense.
Note that this 'superbot' perfectly emulated my precise level of proficiency at strategy & tactics as well as my sense of humor. When I teamed up with this 'superbot' it was like having telepathy with my team member because we understood each other perfectly. I later interacted with this same 'superbot', my 'virtual clone' in a several other online environments. What I observed clearly qualified as full General Artificial Intelligence. Public roll out of features has been a gradual trickle for the past 20 years. Much is still withheld to the public.
Given that I observed this 19 years ago I know, for sure, that's it's definitely possible now. There's no doubt about that. Back then it was restricted to a small cadre of elite Darpa scientists who were also expert programmers & hackers. In 2006 it was also able to write computer software, at well above my expert skill level, in every programming language. It seems entirely plausible that this tech is now available to Meta. These 'shadow superbot virtual clones' already exist, one for each of us. This is the basis of e.g. personalized google search, among many other applications.
As to the rest of this article, the potential for using it to hide the death of humans, that's already been a thing for years. It's very creepy and a thing we should be wary of. Feel free to ask questions and I'll do my best to answer.
I hope people think deeply about this. My insider knowledge is years out of date but was once very near the center. I received an Elite(tm) education (via academic scholarships) and have years of experience mixing with the wealthy elite. I'm hoping for thoughtful and detailed questions. You won't find much about what I'm saying via search engine etc, as elements are both classified and censored.
These are intriguing questions and I think warrants its own article, which I've begun researching.
At the core level, I see the so called "right to be forgotten" laws being infringed upon (massive understatement). A new law or a broadening of that existing scope to encompass the right to be forgotten, extending to of course not being resurrected as an AI, never mind the storage of personal data.
My train of thought follows opposite extremes of any spectrum, or antonyms of vocabulary that have significance in any given event, law, or concept. Therefore, the idea of this AI impersonating a person, especially the deceased, is the polar opposite to the "right to be forgotten". It actively 'desecrates' their memory in death, by continuing their life.
It gets much darker than this, and we need an exploration of multiple iterations of the so called "laws of robotics", because we have a Transhumanist agenda to contend with; to encompass in any legislative proposals, as well as the philosophical and ethical considerations.
I will endeavour to better answer these questions in the next article you have inspired me to write. Thank you for the thinking points.
I confess I've not considered the ethical implications of this topic in enough depth to have a valid opinion. The concept of using AI to enable fake 'life after death' is repugnant to me. It's dangerously close to mythological concepts of 'undeath'.
I don't believe that legislation is likely to work very well. I suppose it's worth trying.
I've spent a lot of time thinking about ways to weaponize AI, and this proposed technique hadn't even made my list.
Feb 28, 2023·edited Feb 28, 2023Liked by Nicholas Creed
What I find most interesting regarding this technology being used to keep the dead alive has much less to do with say Aunt Sally or my 94 year old grandmother who never used a computer at all, and much more to do with what could and likely has been done to cover up the deaths of so called elites. We see this phenomena now with speculation about Joe Biden, the whereabouts of Zelensky, Damar Hamlin and others. Would any of us myself included really know if Bill Gates was shot by sniper 3 years ago? You could have a revolution happening all without it being televised at all. May the best botkeeper win! Thank you for restoring trust that not every framework is for nefarious purposes. Behind the scenes I suspect an epic battle between dark and light...
maybe little Timmy barely notices mom is gone because the only time he actually interacts with her in a way that doesn't involve text or phone is when he goes down to pick up the uber order and run it back upstairs to her.
not only is project lazarus feasible, it's probably at least in beta testing and may have gone live.
once people on FB adapt auto-replies for everything, it will be even easier to maintain the fiction that they're alive. all this is to drive the myth that cyborgs and sentient computers are real
I think there would be some resistance but I actually wrote about exactly this scenario among others in God Save the Prom Queen. If it is combined with a denial of the right to travel and visit face to face with loved ones, then you could envision a dystopia not there far off where the pod people would be none the wiser that aunt Sally actually passed on years before. That's what makes it so chilling. At some point in all this it is helpful to ask what we can't replace...
Spot on Amy. We cannot replace the human lived experience. We cannot replace the knowledge passed down to us by parents and grandparents, with artificially intelligent facsimiles.
This AI impersonation will lead to a huge increase in diagnosis of "Capgras Delusion", or "Doppelganger delusion", because human beings do have a sixth-sense that something's not right.
I think you're missing an elephant in the room... 15 minute cities.
If you cannot travel and can only know your friends and family are still alive via whatsapp and facebook etc, then indeed an entire city could be wiped out and people outside that city, who could not travel there because it's more than 15 minutes from home, would not know.
Secondly, once a dead person is successfully impersonated, it would then be easy for that 'person' to gradually change their views and eventually adopt a 'masks work!' etcetera persona.
AI can already produce photorealistic images and basic video. Give it 4 or 5 years it will be able to be your best bud in the next town over, who is having 2nd thoughts about this whole 'freedom' thing... on a video chat.
Good point, AI 'friends' posing as dissidents and on and on. Saw a lot of footage from protests in Oxford, UK against the 15 min city (termed LTN - low traffic neighbourhood). I intend to write about that soon.
I have a unique insight on this post. I spent several years (2003 through 2006) living and working near a primary originator of advanced AI. See my substack for details. I've seen this tech in action and can vouch 100% that it works. I first saw this AI tech in play in 2004. Here are two examples I've personally observed of this tech in action:
#1 In 2004 this tech was used in cooperation with Interpol to make mass arrests of several child exploitation criminal groups. The tech was used to emulate interesting online real time [simulated underage] 'targets' for many of these pedophile criminals all at once. This kept the pedos in question online and 'vulnerable' for near-simultaneous police raids on many locations on multiple continents. The original inventors and controllers of this tech intensely disliked pedos.
#2 In 2005 this tech was adapted to create 'superbots' in a certain 'invitation only' online game arena associated with an infamous hacker collective. I played in this 'invite only' arena, where I was often a team leader. An AI tech inventor, my housemate, was showing off to me and made a 'superbot' that emulated ME. Not only did it emulate all my in-game moves, it ALSO emulated my running text chat commentary, my strategic and tactical sense, and my SENSE OF HUMOR. This 'superbot' would crack jokes. This 'superbot' would even riff on jokes made by other people with a joke of its own, indicating an appreciation of HUMOR. Sometimes it would lead its team, issuing commands like a human leader and demonstrating an advanced strategic sense.
Note that this 'superbot' perfectly emulated my precise level of proficiency at strategy & tactics as well as my sense of humor. When I teamed up with this 'superbot' it was like having telepathy with my team member because we understood each other perfectly. I later interacted with this same 'superbot', my 'virtual clone' in a several other online environments. What I observed clearly qualified as full General Artificial Intelligence. Public roll out of features has been a gradual trickle for the past 20 years. Much is still withheld to the public.
Given that I observed this 19 years ago I know, for sure, that's it's definitely possible now. There's no doubt about that. Back then it was restricted to a small cadre of elite Darpa scientists who were also expert programmers & hackers. In 2006 it was also able to write computer software, at well above my expert skill level, in every programming language. It seems entirely plausible that this tech is now available to Meta. These 'shadow superbot virtual clones' already exist, one for each of us. This is the basis of e.g. personalized google search, among many other applications.
As to the rest of this article, the potential for using it to hide the death of humans, that's already been a thing for years. It's very creepy and a thing we should be wary of. Feel free to ask questions and I'll do my best to answer.
Thank you for such an informative and detailed comment. I will check out your Substack and I appreciate you being open to questions.
I hope people think deeply about this. My insider knowledge is years out of date but was once very near the center. I received an Elite(tm) education (via academic scholarships) and have years of experience mixing with the wealthy elite. I'm hoping for thoughtful and detailed questions. You won't find much about what I'm saying via search engine etc, as elements are both classified and censored.
These are intriguing questions and I think warrants its own article, which I've begun researching.
At the core level, I see the so called "right to be forgotten" laws being infringed upon (massive understatement). A new law or a broadening of that existing scope to encompass the right to be forgotten, extending to of course not being resurrected as an AI, never mind the storage of personal data.
My train of thought follows opposite extremes of any spectrum, or antonyms of vocabulary that have significance in any given event, law, or concept. Therefore, the idea of this AI impersonating a person, especially the deceased, is the polar opposite to the "right to be forgotten". It actively 'desecrates' their memory in death, by continuing their life.
It gets much darker than this, and we need an exploration of multiple iterations of the so called "laws of robotics", because we have a Transhumanist agenda to contend with; to encompass in any legislative proposals, as well as the philosophical and ethical considerations.
I will endeavour to better answer these questions in the next article you have inspired me to write. Thank you for the thinking points.
What are your thoughts Bruce?
I confess I've not considered the ethical implications of this topic in enough depth to have a valid opinion. The concept of using AI to enable fake 'life after death' is repugnant to me. It's dangerously close to mythological concepts of 'undeath'.
I don't believe that legislation is likely to work very well. I suppose it's worth trying.
I've spent a lot of time thinking about ways to weaponize AI, and this proposed technique hadn't even made my list.
What I find most interesting regarding this technology being used to keep the dead alive has much less to do with say Aunt Sally or my 94 year old grandmother who never used a computer at all, and much more to do with what could and likely has been done to cover up the deaths of so called elites. We see this phenomena now with speculation about Joe Biden, the whereabouts of Zelensky, Damar Hamlin and others. Would any of us myself included really know if Bill Gates was shot by sniper 3 years ago? You could have a revolution happening all without it being televised at all. May the best botkeeper win! Thank you for restoring trust that not every framework is for nefarious purposes. Behind the scenes I suspect an epic battle between dark and light...
Oh, Nicholas, don't be so ridiculous. Those kindly entities who control our lives would never pervert technology for such nefarious purposes.
Not effing much!
maybe little Timmy barely notices mom is gone because the only time he actually interacts with her in a way that doesn't involve text or phone is when he goes down to pick up the uber order and run it back upstairs to her.
not only is project lazarus feasible, it's probably at least in beta testing and may have gone live.
once people on FB adapt auto-replies for everything, it will be even easier to maintain the fiction that they're alive. all this is to drive the myth that cyborgs and sentient computers are real
Great comment, nailed it.
I think there would be some resistance but I actually wrote about exactly this scenario among others in God Save the Prom Queen. If it is combined with a denial of the right to travel and visit face to face with loved ones, then you could envision a dystopia not there far off where the pod people would be none the wiser that aunt Sally actually passed on years before. That's what makes it so chilling. At some point in all this it is helpful to ask what we can't replace...
Spot on Amy. We cannot replace the human lived experience. We cannot replace the knowledge passed down to us by parents and grandparents, with artificially intelligent facsimiles.
This AI impersonation will lead to a huge increase in diagnosis of "Capgras Delusion", or "Doppelganger delusion", because human beings do have a sixth-sense that something's not right.
Yes, it could be used to cover up deaths. Online.
IRL, they have a problem.
Alexa, add hairy buttholes to my shopping list...
Ha, as well as a fact checking operating system, a new VR headset, and an omnidirectional treadmill for full immersion into the metaverse...
Are you 'Ready Player One'?
Kids love that film... Noticeable is the uncanny resemblance of the character who created the metaverse to Fried-Bagman, Sam...