Many people seem to be acting irrationally about AI with no literal supporting reasons for it. This is why they say that AI will one day become a conscious living autonomous entity.
What they really mean, but are saying in myth and symbol, is that a new group of people who benefit from it will use its benefits, but not for good reasons. They are absolutely correct to warn of this danger. But cannot say it literally because they are scared of being attacked for it or are seen to be complicit in the danger they point out so well.
People are not really scared of it directly. They are pointing at the dangers they have witnessed many times before when enormous new found power is placed in the hands of other people.
Some people do not trust themselves yet to use the huge increase in productive power a new labour saving invention like AI brings to the world. But cannot say that directly for fear of harm or complicity.
Is it possible this mistake in thinking AI is conscious is people 'projecting' their internal anxieties onto it?
I'm not justifying their neurosis. But it explains a possible cause and effect of this irrational and widely held belief that AI will become conscious of itself and autonomous.
Large groups of people are terrified of AI, seeing it as a potentially sentient entity one day. Symbolically, these people are using this 'AI consciousness' as a myth to signal a real truth which cannot be told in any other way.
This real truth has nothing to do with AI itself. And everything to do with a danger which everyone understands by intuition.
So these apparently neurotic people are right. But they cannot speak directly about the danger, for various reasons - usually:
- they will be attacked for speaking about it directly or
- they are already complicit in the problem(shame and guilt)
So they use a myth, symbol or metaphor to point at the danger in safety.
What is this real danger they are so confident about yet cannot speak of directly?
In this case, it's that the people, as a collective, cannot be trusted to do the good with the enormous productive power of AI... yet. People know for certain that in the wrong hands this significant increase in economic power will certainly be used harmfully. 1) Maybe by others who will attack them for pointing at it or 2) Maybe by themselves with all the shame and guilt that will bring.
History testifies well to this activity without exception.
Because they cannot speak about this directly for reasons 1) and 2) , they create a myth about it from within an unconscious social sanctuary zone.
This is why so many people seem to be acting irrationally about AI with no literal supporting reasons for it. This is why they say that AI will one day become a conscious living autonomous entity.
What they really mean is that a new group of people who benefit from it will use its benefits, but not for good reasons. They are absolutely correct to warn of this danger. But cannot say it literally because they are scared from being attacked for it or are seen to be complicit in the danger they point out so well.