Work's been really slow lately, and yet I've squandered a substantial portion of the extra leisure time on pointless activities. Typical. It's not as though this matters in any way, especially given the apparent causal nature of the universe, probabilistic determinism. Still, the illusion of choice plus the extreme lengths to which some people are willing and able to change, all of this dictates that a non- negligible probability exists in which I change myself considerably - trading sloth and apathy for diligence, valor, perhaps even honor in the fight against the impending doom held forth in our species' blind path forward - polluting, ooze and stumbling. Stumbling as I have toward the topics I actually care to write about. Of the few precious moments I capitulated on diligence, most where spent reading books: Liu Cixin's Rememberance of Earth's Past trilogy and Harari's Sapiens and Homo Deus. I started working on Pinker's Better Angles of Our Nature, but its slow going given the redundant content overlap with Harari's work. Plus this Quillet article already spoiled the punchline for me a bit. Regardless, its not a comparison I care to write so much as my own take on the situation at hand.

For one, it seems odd that for all the urgency, forward-thought and grandeur surrounding the issues of humanity's future, these authors would be wont and capable of offering answers on top of their relevant questions. Homo Deus closes like this:

"

...[I] raise three key questions...


  1. Are organisms really just algorithms, and is life really just data processing?

  2. What's more valuable - intelligence or consciousness?

  3. What will happen to society, politics and daily life when non-conscious but highly intelligent algorithms know us better than we know us better than we know ourselves?

"

To be fair, he's concluding a book in which his personal answer's are strongly evidenced, even if not directly stated in response to the posed questions: 1) yes and no; 2) consciousness; and 3) we don't know, but maybe some or all of the bad things he spent the last few chapters detailing and maybe some of the good things that are also possible but that he doesn't focus on for whatever reason (fear, humility, etc.)

He's also penned a number of articles lately regarding similar topics, going to far as to suggest we demand of our leaders (aka politicians) thoughtful answers to such questions - including views on the positive end of the spectrum.