Is a bad future real?

 Some literate physicists say that, perhaps, all the possibilities that are more or less real for us already exist somewhere in the mysterious depths of the universe. Nevertheless, we do choose something, which doesn't mean that the future of each individual is predetermined. We have a certain parametric space of possibilities, in which we are active factors, and some probabilities depend on each of our choices. So, if something depends on ourselves, we should think about it before making a choice. Of course, this is not always the case in everyday life; sometimes it is even better to choose without thinking. There are situations when time is more important, it is important to choose as quickly as possible, so well-thought-out decisions can give a significant advantage. In addition, it is useful to have the broadest possible worldview for this. The wider it is, the better even small everyday decisions can be, which we often make in an unconscious mode at all. So building your own model of the world around you is a worthy goal.

All this has been on my mind for quite some time, there is even something on this topic here: https://blotproject.blogspot.com/2024/11/a-little-more-fun-than-usual.html, but when I saw an interesting conversation, I wanted to share some ideas that were expressed there with you. For example, the main thing that Geoffrey Hinton sincerely says, when he is asked what future he considers more likely for humanity in general, he says that he considers a bad future quite real. I think this is a serious argument in favor of spending some time on this conversation. This conversation is generally conducted absolutely virtuoso and despite the long duration, you do not feel the time, when one deep idea follows another at such a pace as there. Therefore, I will definitely put this video right here. Note that YouTube now allows creators to automatically create additional audio tracks in different languages, they are even already testing Lip Sync - a function that will synchronize to this video... Even I am amazed by the pace of technological progress, although I consider myself relatively knowledgeable. This, by the way, is also an important point from that conversation - how quickly it can all happen, it is sometimes difficult to predict even for very knowledgeable people. This is another argument that all these things are worth thinking about sometimes.

Despite being so impressed with the high level of this conversation, some things there, of course, I evaluate quite differently. I think it's perfectly normal, we don't have to agree with everything, and we should say it frankly. For example, Hinton is sometimes called a socialist, I think he is actually quite moderate, but socialism for me is a somewhat dangerous utopia that ends badly. Therefore, I cannot refrain from mentioning it, because I think it is important. We must someday take responsibility for things that concern larger social groups more than each of us individually. Judging by what is happening in the world right now, and especially by what happened not so long ago in the history of mankind, we should keep in mind that, even being in very well-organized societies, you can at some point find yourself in a situation when it will be too late to even think about any influence on what is happening, and it will already be a very individual catastrophe that will have to be resolved urgently and by all possible and impossible means. Believe me, I live in western Ukraine, and sometimes I looked into the eyes of people who were going nowhere, who were forced to leave everything and just save themselves. In our case, they could do little before, because we were simply attacked by an absolutely savage enemy. Although, we all saw his actions already in Chechnya, Georgia... So, a bad future for me is associated not with new technologies, but, rather, on the contrary, with various archaic ideas in people's heads.

Nevertheless, I think that conversation is very useful, because it is full of well-thought-out ideas that not everyone can afford to spend time on, and here we have it all in a ready-made, perfectly presented form. I really recommend watching this conversation. As an added bonus, I think it's worth keeping in mind that YouTube will then try to show you something similar, and from this, I hope, your ideas about everything that is happening around us will only benefit and become more complex and deeper. And this, as a rule, improves all our conscious and not-so-conscious decisions. I also urge you to try to do something of your own, in some form that suits you best, to show your reaction, maybe even your ideas. For example, you can write something right here, or subscribe to this blog. By the way, Hinton believes that artificial neural networks can share experiences with each other amazingly well, and this is extremely useful for them. I think he knows what he's talking about here, he received the Nobel Prize precisely for the development of artificial neural networks. Of course, I'm not going to retell all the ideas from that conversation here, I can only mention one more. He believes that even in the best scenarios, people who are left without work but still receive some income will still suffer from the lack of a clear purpose in life. And shouldn't we try to discuss this, not so much this idea, but, in fact, what could become a worthy goal. This, of course, can be done right here, in the comments, or, for example, you can go to discord, where we have created several topics, and everything there already looks more or less cozy. I invite you there: https://discord.gg/rFEcrRyHzA