Who’s Afraid of AI? Pulling Comedy from the Teeth of Tragedy. And the Crazy Target of 60s Conspiracy Theorists – Plus More! #163
Grüezi! I’m Adrian Monck, and welcome to this newsletter featuring seven things that caught my attention this week.
Also in this edition – polar melt (a problem not a sandwich), future jobs, and phones that can’t talk back.
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1️⃣ Scary Scientists
An AI guru frets about weapons, jobs and more. Should you?
‘Godfather of AI’ Geoffrey Hinton is best known for training computers to recognise images. He built a company to do it, sold it to Google for $44m, and became part of their research faculty.
Now, at 75, he’s quit Google, and on the way out the door has done an apocalyptic interview about the dangers of artificial intelligence.
Should we be concerned about Hinton’s warnings?
TL;DR? No.
Here’s his three critiques of #AI.
Disinformation: “His immediate concern is that the internet will be flooded with false photos, videos and text.” He obviously hasn’t logged on lately.
Jobs: “[AI] takes away the drudge work ... It might take away more than that.” Prehistoric spear developers obviously worried about the impact of their technology on mammoth strangling jobs.
Weapons: “He fears a day when truly autonomous weapons — ... killer robots — become reality.” From chariot wheels to killer drones, technology and weaponry are not about to end their millennia-long relationship.
Hinton undoubtedly has deep knowledge, but another AI guru Yann LeCun (signed up by Meta) doesn’t share his gloom.
The objections Hinton raises are familiar tropes.
Does he have more in his locker? If he does, he needs to share it in a more structured and less clichéd way.
Forty years ago, John Carpenter’s bleakly hilarious movie Dark Star explored the idea of an #AI bomb.
⏭ A recent art exhibit imagines an AI apologising for the apocalypse.
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2️⃣ One Wedding and a Funeral
And how it shaped a comedy screenwriter.
This week, comedy writer Tim Sullivan shared a story about his wedding.
“I was getting married... as we left the church, my father suddenly collapsed and died in my arms.”
From this potentially crippling moment of personal tragedy, Sullivan reflects on what it is to be funny and how people respond.
“This is so often the key with comedy.
“You need to infuse it with regular doses of tragedy or sadness. Things are often funnier with that juxtaposition.
“The secret is to get your audience to both laugh and cry, preferably at the same time.
“Even better if they’re not entirely sure which of the two they should be doing.
That strangeness is something all of us have likely experienced, but from Sullivan’s incredible story of a wedding and a funeral, one final reflection bears repeating:
“The thing I discovered that day was that people often behave in the most extraordinary ways in the face of the most extraordinary circumstances. They just get on with it.”
⏭ More tragic than funny: people writing their wedding vows with ChatGPT.
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3️⃣ The Original Proto-Conspiracy Theorists
And one of their original targets.
Which politician springs to mind when you think – “One-World tool of the Communist-Wall Street internationalist conspiracy”?
Justin Trudeau? Joe Biden? Who could it be?
The answer – non-GIF viewers – is none other than the 41st President of the United States, George H W Bush. In 1964, when Bush was running for a Texas senate seat, a group of fringe conspiracy theorists derailed his candidacy.
They were the John Birch Society. Somewhat quaint sounding in today’s world. But their ideological story is told by Matt Dallek in a new book that tracks the history of the group and its malign influence on American politics.
One of their founding aims was to impeach Earl Warren, the reforming chief justice.
Today, some members of America’s highest court are far closer to the principles of the John Birch Society than to Warren’s. As Ed Luce notes in his review:
One recurring Bircher claim was that the US was founded as a republic not a democracy. There are a handful of justices on today’s Supreme Court who are thought to agree with that position. As president, Trump put three of them on the bench. Their work is still unfolding.
⏭ This profile of JBS features a little about John Birch himself.
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4️⃣ Pause for Thaw-t
Ice is melting under scientists’ feet near the North Pole.
⏭ What will people do to combat climate change. TL;DR? Not much.
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5️⃣ Want a Sustainable Job?
These are the top growing roles – and sustainability is one.
⏭ There’s more in the Future of Jobs report.
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6️⃣ Functionally-challenged Phones are Back!
Just don’t call them ‘dumb.’
⏭ Abandoning our small-screen addiction may be good for us.
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7️⃣ Milken It
‘My conference brings all the bros to the yard...’
This week, for the first time, I took part in the Milken Institute’s Global Conference in Los Angeles.
A couple of thousand silvery people squeezed liked sardines into the hotel that hosts the Golden Globes.
Up side? A chance to take the business pulse at a moment in time, meet interesting people, and to listen to expert panels making sense of the world.
Down side? Panellists who give pitches with slides and video...
⏭ Milken has its own Spotify playlist. Kudos to the legend who chose Mahler.
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If you enjoy this newsletter – please recommend it!
Best,
Adrian
