RSA Daily

For atheists, rationalists and secular humanists in Australia

Tuesday, November 21, 2023

Good morning ,

I've always said, "The bugs will get us before climate change does." Why? Because the effects of climate change will take decades but bugs - in the form of new viruses, engineered or naturally occuring - can devastate within years. 

Below, some insight into why the board of OpenAI sacked Sam Altman, the driving force behind the runaway development of AI. Seems they were worried about his ethics. So they should be. Like Elon Musk and all the other billionaires, they have just too much power, facilitated by a culture that validates and glorifies the rich.

Sometimes I'm glad I'm not young any more...

Lead stories

Two of the board members who effectively sacked the founder of Open AI "have ties to the Rationalist and Effective Altruist movements" and another was born in the Soviet Union, spent his formative years in Israel and then emigrated to Canada as a teenager. It was Altman who turned the original not-for-profit into a for profit company and negotiated a US$1bn investment from Microsoft and then with the Saudis. Why did they sack him? Seems to me they were genuinely worried about Altman's sheer commercialism, who, they thought, was ignoring the risks of out-of-control AI - or maybe not "out-of-control" but under the control of malign actors in a free-for-all 'marketplace of ideas'.

From Kurzgesagt ('In a nutshell'), a warning that the bugs will get us before climate change does... (Go on, watch it - it's only a couple of minutes long).

Other stories of interest

Say your prayers

In the lead up to the Secularism Australia conference on 2 December, this is the first of a Feature Series on "A secular Australia future".

Argentina: What to expect from populist President Milei 

Do cry for Argentina... The guy they just elected as president used to be called "El loco" (the madman). During his campaign, he used a chainsaw as a symbol of his intent. He has called for a strict ban on abortion and called climate change "a socialist lie".

Billionaires are out of touch and much too powerful. The planet is in trouble

"Being a billionaire tends to isolate you from the rest of humanity, and too often places you in an echo chamber of your own making; it’s arguably a disqualification for participating in the affairs of ordinary people."

Experts Outline 14 Ways Humanity Could Drive Itself to Extinction

How? Among other things, by growth for growth's sake, international conflict, infectious diseases, and using more than Earth can provide.

Got a comment on any of these stories? 

Write to me at president@rationalist.com.au

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