alt Hacker NewsI agree with you, but those examples are going to fall on deaf ears. The pessimistic mindset will say that smartphones were a terrible invention that's ripping society apart, Uber is an unethical company exploiting workers, etc.
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dofm • yesterday at 11:18 PM
When did Uber stop being unethical? Did I miss the memo?
Because they didn't just break laws, they built an entire system to mislead law enforcement.
(How do tech people not know about Greyball??)
I think ridesharing was a net good for ordinary people even if Uber is/was unethical.
However, the counterargument falls entirely flat. "Whatever benefits AI has to offer on a societal level are going to take a long long time to show up". We don't have the luxury of time because AI disrupting communities and livelihoods faster than perhaps any other technology we've ever seen, with the most capital that has ever been put into any tech since the railroads.
Even if you're optimistic we'll eventually get the cancer cures and fusion reactors, doesn't it make sense from the perspective of an ordinary American to regulate the harms like the homework cheating, parasocial relationships, job losses, cyber attacks, etc., especially if it will take years to get the benefits?