alt Hacker NewsI'm legitimately terrified by these people, and seriously worried now that this is not just hype and that they truly don't care about what will happen. And that they may use these models to insulate themselves from the consequences when that time comes.
The fact that Nick Land has taken hold as a philosopher in some circles in Silicon Valley truly scares me: https://www.compactmag.com/article/the-faith-of-nick-land/
Nick Land is arguably the most influential philosopher in SV (at least over the past 3 years). Marc Andreessen's acknowledgment of Land in his 2023 The Techno-Optimist Manifesto has brought his underground influence more to the surface.
Land's explicit anti-humanism can be repulsive to some on first encounter, but some of his ideas -- e.g. about the identity of capitalism and AI, the autonomization of capital, the technological singularity as capitalism's inherent teleology -- are interesting and can provide a very unique perspective.
It's also important to note that he tends to resonate more with creative types. Historically, these were mostly artists. Today, they are also founders (who are psychometrically similar to artists at the population level).