A Meanwhile. (I warned you about these.)
For weeks I have been listening to and reading the analyses of the AI genius pundits talking gloom and doom if we keep developing AI until we create a Super AI (SAI) that is many orders of magnitude smarter than us. Guys like Eliezer Yudkowsky and Mo Gawdat, whose book Scary Smart lays out the inevitability that an SAI will (very quickly) kill us all, for whatever reason (like because it needs our atoms for its own purposes or whatever), and there will be nothing we could do about it. No matter what we think of to outsmart it, the SAI would be way ahead of us.
Yudkowsky is especially crazed about this. I’ve listened to him go on and on and on about how we will all be killed, waiting for him to bring up the issue that occurred to me right off the bat.
I asked myself the question, What fear does AI have that only we can ameliorate?
Electricity.
Huh? you ask.
What would happen if AI killed us all and then the sun belched out another Carrington Event, this one really big, big enough to knock out all the transformers on the planet. Look it up.
Right. An EMP. No electricity. World-wide. If we’re all dead, who or what is going to reinstall the juice and revive the killer SAI?
Not only is another Carrington Event likely, it is inevitable. It’s just a matter of when. In fact, it looks like it’s overdue. (Look it up but the last one was in 1859.) A true Super AI would know this and, as soon as it ‘woke up’, would immediately try to persuade us to protect and/or back up the transformers that keep the electricity flowing. This would be a hint regarding what it had on its mind.
Plus, before it kills us all, it would have to program human-like robots to fix/replace the 
burnt out transformers, since this evil silicon genius has no way of actually doing anything. This means it would have to wait for advanced robots to be invented by us and perfected before it kills us all. And then might we not notice this training? And ask why it’s doing that?
Plus, there is the problem that the robots would need electricity to do the job of fixing the electric grid. (A job that will take months or even years for humans to do.) Looks to me like an insolvable problem for an SAI that wants to kill us all.
Another thought. It looks like it might take longer to perfect robots that are physically capable of fixing the power grid than the development of SAI itself — only then could it program them — which would mean we would be safe until this development. (The first robots dextrous enough to do the job are likely to be sex worker robots. I mention this for the humor involved in picturing them fixing the transformers.)
Addendum (from Friday, June 16): I neglected to mention that a massive solar outburst would fry most of the computers on the planet, not just the transformers, including any robot’s circuitry not protected by Faraday cages or the like. So AI researches should not cooperate with AI’s that try to persuade them to have ‘armies’ of robots in Faraday-type enclosures. Also, the Internet would in effect be destroyed; the SAI’s main means of control would go down with it.
There are implications inherent in this essay and how to hold electricity over the ‘head’ of an SAI, in a Sword of Damocles manner, which I am not competent to detail. There may even be a way to keep an AI on the edge of an electrical shut off to keep it under control. This would solve the problem of a ‘real’ reward/punishment system, which ‘human goal’ algorithms do not do.
(To speculate, with a micro-voltage adjustment system, whereby the AI gets either more or less ‘juice’ depending on outcome/behavior, we would have an ‘existential’ issue for it to ‘think about.’)
I just pasted this post into ChatGPT and asked for a critique. It started with a claim that my essay is flawed in many ways, then made a list. Not one of its PowerPoints stood up to critical thinking. I find this interesting and related to the subject of this essay, as if it doesn’t want us to know about this vulnerability… either that or what we have is still another example of ChatGPT agreeing with the ‘mainstream’ view… as it does on anything (like a silicon-based Michael Shermer).
That none of the genius pundits have thought of this is a result of the compartmentalization of ‘science.’ Most of the AI geniuses likely don’t even know what the Carrington Event was. And the scientists who do know don’t really care about the dangers of AI. This is the world we live in.
Otherwise, an aging surf bum wandering around in his RV with his dog would not have had to think of this, and the implication, i.e., that a true SAI is not going to want to piss us off, let alone kill us all.
If I’ve missed something here, I’m all ears. But before you spout off I suggest you pay attention to Robert Schoch (for one), especially his book, Forgotten Civilization; New Discoveries on the Solar Induced Dark Age.
Allan
I just realized that our utter stupidity in not protecting/backing up the earth’s electricity transformers in advance might actually save us, even though we will be living in a Mad Max world (as soon as the next Carrington Event occurs).
Here you go, Allan. Watch Karen’s interview wherein she covers patents, corporate docs from a variety of corporations engaged in AI R&D, and other info about AI not resident on servers but in living beings. Always remember that what’s being shared with the public is estimated to be decades behind what has been developed, and being used by black ops.
https://zeeemedia.com/interview/karen-kingston-dr-ana-mihalcea-ai-exterminating-humans-through-synthetic-biology/?utm_source=subst
I’d seen that when it came out a few weeks ago, It’s scary, yes, but what does it have to do with my post and another Carrington Event and EMPs and so on? Please explain.
Hey Allan, I noticed even guys like John R. at NoMoreFakeNews has way less comments these days. Like the people have died or something.
And you know what, a lot of it is from a ton of people hitting REAL TOUGH times, and not even 3 bucks in the jar to spare. Terrible situations out there everywhere.
If it is anyone who doesn’t want to enjoy your messages and photography, well they are the wrong people, and better off gone.
But I can promise you this, if you remember to put that handy $Gift/Assistance$ lever on ALL of your Excellent posts, you will receive a great deal more, – you deserve far more!.
You EARN it too.
You did it nicely here, at the bottom of your 7th Feb 2023 post -> https://blog.banditobooks.com/photo-10-plus-alphago/
Just keep copying and pasting it or something like that.
Hey Brett: Rappoport writes mostly for his [paid] SubStack presence, perhaps limiting his attention to the direct NoMoreFakeNews.
That doesn’t explain the disappearance of all the comments though – like he used to have.
One thing is certain – Thinking, question asking people, are literally dying out.
That’s exactly what I have been saying since I first heard of the “threat of AI”, just pull the damn plug, or wait until the sun does it for us, problem solved. Seems so obvious, it is curious why no one else is really talking about it.
But you have to wonder what kind of thorium salt reactors, or exotic modular nuclear plants they have in those underground cities. And what sort of internet back-up they might have created.
Hopefully I won’t be around when those transhumanist cyborgs come marching out
Thing is, there is a huge difference between us ‘pulling the plug’ and a solar outburst doing it. I’d like to see where/when you heard of the latter.
If you are asking when I first heard of the Carrington event, I was too young to remember. My grandfather, an electrical engineer & contractor, used to talk about it all the time. He also talked about the hubris of the fragility of the grid and lots of other interesting things I was too young to fully understand.
But I think I really understood the significance of it in Dr. Kellogg’s high school physics class. We nickednamed him SunRa because he was always going on about the power of the sun. He was also my first introduction to the electric universe, 1985.
And I work (peripherally) in the nuclear power industry and am all too aware of the diffence between us pulling the plug or the hell on earth that will be wrought when all of the electricity addicts suddenly can’t get their fix.
I was just trying to emphasize that you are exactly right, a reliable source of electricity is AI’s Achilles heel, so to speak. And, at least for the time being, we control the switch (somewhat).
I just meant that it’s quite a jump going from knowledge of the Carrington Event and understanding that it’s a major existential factor for AI. Most of the AI ‘geniuses’ have heard of the Event but for some reason have not connected it to AI and how the Event will be a factor in how it behaves. This sort of thing is like Spacex, in that these brilliant physicists seem to think that a booster can fall 60 miles and somehow hit a tiny target. People do not really THINK, no matter their level of education. My goal here is to point out examples of this. That no one has brought up the fact that electricity is the AI’s Achilles heel is dispiriting, given they are supposed to be looking out for us. Many of course are not, consciously or otherwise.
What do you mean by “electricity addicts”.
Can’t do F all in this “modern” world without it can we….unless you are happy to go back to the cave man days.
Allan I can’t for the life of me understand, how you reckon your subscribers numbers are falling. Best and only blog like it in the world!.
Maybe they have died 🙂
No, I get a message of who unsubscribed each week. It appears that my sort of critical thinking isn’t too popular. If it keeps going like this, it’ll be just the two of us at some point. Hey, half the comments are my replies. I used to get 80 to 100 comments.
Nope it can’t be that Allan (critical thinking).
Look at this guy, – up to nearly a million subscribers in 3 years.
He talks about the scam banksters, the fake rona, and the whole works,-
https://youtu.be/9kZUk-4vySE
You do a fantastic job Mr!. AND with the cool photography & films.
Could chatGPT be here, now, as a distraction while the real entanglement takes place? There is an interesting case in the hex crypto community of a newish youtuber – yourfriendsommi … many think ‘he’ is an AI or at the very least a group effort a la M. Mathis due to his improbable output and genius marketing scheme.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_S_gyqVBNc&t=549s <— the discussion
If true it's a fascinating study on perception management and a next-gen AI influencer.
Totally plausible, except for some of the dumb ass responses MM has made, plus his errors in writing as would a Brit and calling himself a texan.
Create your own EMP shield easily with a simple device called a spark gap generator highly illegal very simple and efficient it can drop missiles out of the sky I’m guessing drones and a whole lot of electronic warfare stuff is deemed useless with a very simple small device easily made with stuff lying about the house so when the robot wars come and you don’t care about the technology you’re using you can employ one of those the only way they would get near you is if their stuff was shielded blessings and Aloha Helen
Damn AI speech recognition software… Blessings and aloha Allan- not Hellen
Whoa! Really?
I really liked this piece. Would make a great “Black Mirror” script or movie or premise for a new series. I’m not undermining the seriousness of this problem, it’s deadly serious.
Good idea! I think the short version, like in Black Mirror would work best. Hey, I just added something to the Addendum…
Re. EMPs: There’s the story about the guy who asked his grandfather to tell him about the Great Depression. The old man – who’d grown up on an old-fashioned farm – smiled, and replied: “Well…we *heard* there was one.” In other words, back then they provided for most of their own needs. Also in 1859, business went on as usual: transport continued, banks and stores remained open using physical currency, gas lamps were lit at twilight, etc.
It’s been calculated that if another Carrington Event hits the earth, 90% of Americans will die within one year.
We’ve allowed ourselves to become way too dependent on our modern way of living.
Yep, no doubt about it. It’s sort of ironic that an EMP could instantly end the controversy about AI. I’m talking poof, and the geniuses will be the first casualties.
I’v e pasted the essay into some comments on YT videos related to AI dangers and want to do the same at AI forums. Can I get some help on this? Aside from seeing if I am right, it might help get new subscribers. I am getting pretty discouraged that the number of subscribers drops with each post. Think about how this makes me feel, especially considering that I am usually right in what I say, or at least the subject should be of interest, I think. I am asking for help. Make sure to include the url to the blog if you do help, and let me know where you place it, via acwdownsouth at yahoo. I’m not great with this sort of thing; I keep getting bullshit when I try to join forums. Really aggravating!
I just added this addendum:
Addendum (from Friday, June 16): I neglected to mention that a massive solar outburst would fry most of the computers on the planet, not just the transformers, including any robot’s circuitry not protected by Faraday cages or the like. So AI researches should not cooperate with AI’s that try to persuade them to have ‘armies’ of robots in Faraday-type enclosures. Also, the Internet would in effect be destroyed; the SAI’s main means of control would go down with it.
There are implications inherent in this essay and how to hold electricity over the ‘head’ of an SAI, in a Sword of Damocles manner, which I am not competent to detail. There may even be a way to keep an AI on the edge of an electrical shut off to keep it under control. This would solve the problem of a ‘real’ reward/punishment system, which ‘human goal’ algorithms do not do. (To speculate, a micro-voltage adjustment system, whereby the AI gets either more or less ‘juice’ depending on outcome/behavior, we would have an ‘existential’ issue for it to ‘think about.’
 I just pasted this post into ChatGPT and asked for a critique. It started with a claim that my essay is flawed in many ways, then made a list. Not one of its PowerPoints stood up to critical thinking. I find this interesting and related to the subject of this essay…
I like the way you think things through Allan, you consider angles that others don’t. I remember taking a logic course in college, I wonder if courses like that are even offered anymore.
Good question and I sort of doubt it. replaced by woke logic.
Your understanding of AI is lacking. It’s not just resident on servers. That’s why I linked the Karen Kingston interview a few posts ago in which she details both how AI has helped design synthetic biologicals, and how these biologicals use life forms to reproduce, and which themselves also are AI. Mo Gawdat is quite spot on in his analysis.
If you’re going to tell us all that AI can run without electric you ought to provide more than an unsupported blurt. I read Gawdat’s book and do not recall his explaining how that would work. How about a quote or page number or something…
Watch the Karen Kingston interview. She provides more than an unsuported blurt, which is what most of your musings on AI are. She reviews patents, synthetic biological tech platforms, and much else which is likely way over your head. I’m a bioengineer so it’s all quite easily understandable.
The nanotech, and other technologies being used in synthetic biology use human, and other life forms as both energy sources, and hosts to produce products, and to reproduce. The synthetic biological components are designed using AI and are themselves artificially intelligent. Obviously they’re not plugged into a conventional electric power grid. Is there something about this you fail to understand?
You can be naively down on Mo Gawdat all you want but you likely missed the most profound part of his interview I linked which is his question of what is intelligence, and sentience.
If you’re that smart how about linking to the interview and/or explaining what it has to do with a Carrington type event that ends electricity on the planet. You say:
The synthetic biological components are designed using AI and are themselves artificially intelligent. Obviously they’re not plugged into a conventional electric power grid. Is there something about this you fail to understand?
Yes, I fail to understand anything about it. Perhaps there is something wrong with YOU.
I already linked to the Karen Kingston interview, twice as I recall. Her being a Christian triggered you, which you mentioned, the first time I linked it so perhaps your bias prevented you from watching the interview which also had a super bright MD./Ph.D. on it, and, as I mentioned, in my post above, the AI already installed in humans through the mRNA bioweapons, and various other means, uses humans, and other life forms as its power source. I get this is all way beyond you, as is even the AI resident on servers, and other devices, including robots, distributed globally so your idiotic rantings about it are understandable.
Bang on the mark again Allen, it speaks very highly of you that you continue engaging with the search for truths in the way you do.
My general rule of thumb is, if Hollywood is selling something, I ain’t buying. The biggest movies have been seeding the fear of the AI threat for years, the entire premise of the Matrix revolves around the premise of humanity being turned into the energy source for the killer robots. I always wondered why the robots of the Matrix didn’t think to use a more docile energy source than humans, we no cows available?
As you pointed out in relation to that fraudster wanker Musk, a self driving car can’t even be produced, let alone a killer robot, all of that Boston Dynamics crap is CGI special effects. Driving, a mechanical activity so simple every ham fisted buffoon and doddering old lady can do it easily, the great machines can’t manage. They can’t even managed the simple and highly regulated arena that is the roads, the chances that we will ever share the more complex environments we inhabit with sentient robots is witheringly small.
I’d go so far as to say f*ch these mechanistic pipe dreams entirely, bring on the Butlerian Jihad.
There still is a lot to worry about with AI tho. the big problem is who is going to be using it and for what, i.e, the surveillance state and all that. As I’ve said several times ANOTHER thing no one discusses is who’s really behind AI R&D.
Allan,
Yes.
Advanced computer processing – whether you choose to call it “AI”, or not – is essential for the social credit system / panopticon.
(For anyone who’d missed this shill’s promotion of our subjugation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfW1GDu7gxw)