Hacker News with Generative AI: Society

AI could cause 'social ruptures' between people who disagree on its sentience (theguardian.com)
Significant “social ruptures” between people who think artificial intelligence systems are conscious and those who insist the technology feels nothing are looming, a leading philosopher has said.
Artificial Intelligence, Society, Philosophy
10 points by chrischapman 4 days ago | 9 comments
AI isn't unleashing imaginations, it's outsourcing them (theguardian.com)
Artificial Intelligence, Creativity, Technology, Society
25 points by rntn 5 days ago | 27 comments
An Uncanny Moat (boristhebrave.com)
Now, or at least very soon, AI threatens to cross that valley and advance up the gentle hills on the opposite side. Not only are we faced with a disinformation storm like nothing before, but AI is going to start challenging exactly how we consider personhood itself.
Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, Technology, Society
32 points by ibobev 6 days ago | 27 comments
Valuing Humans in the Age of Superintelligence: HumaneRank (roadtoartificia.com)
What happens in a society where nearly all human intellectual output is out-priced and outperformed by AI?
Artificial Intelligence, Society, Human Values
10 points by jlaporte 7 days ago | 35 comments
Immorality Begins at 40 (2016) (ribbonfarm.com)
I discovered something a couple of years ago: Almost all culture, old or new, is designed for consumption by people under 40. People between 40 and Ω (an indeterminate number defined as “really, just way too old”),  are primarily employed as meaning-makers for the under-40 set. This is because they are mostly good for nothing else, and on average not valuable enough themselves for society to invest meaning in.
Society, Culture, Age, Demographics
54 points by lispybanana 8 days ago | 24 comments
Is There a Crisis of Seriousness? (honest-broker.com)
Back in 1996, critic Susan Sontag warned that seriousness was disappearing from society.
Culture, Criticism, Society
6 points by achairapart 14 days ago | 2 comments
Down with Meritocracy (2001) (theguardian.com)
I have been sadly disappointed by my 1958 book, The Rise of the Meritocracy. I coined a word which has gone into general circulation, especially in the United States, and most recently found a prominent place in the speeches of Mr Blair.
Politics, Society, Criticism, Books
8 points by js2 22 days ago | 4 comments
The Use of Knowledge in Society (1945) [pdf] (kysq.org)
Knowledge, Society, History, Philosophy
109 points by kreyenborgi 24 days ago | 34 comments
'Fandom has toxified the world': Watchmen author Alan Moore (theguardian.com)
Enthusiasm can be a productive force for good, but our culture has rapidly become a fan-based landscape that the rest of us are merely living in
Culture, Fandom, Criticism, Entertainment, Society
67 points by zeristor 25 days ago | 94 comments
Bruce Schneier on security, society and why we need public AI models (zdnet.com)
In his keynote speech at the Secure Open Source Software (SOSS) Fusion Conference in Atlanta, renowned security expert Bruce Schneier discussed the promises and threats of artificial intelligence (AI) for cybersecurity and society.
Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence, Society, Security
9 points by CrankyBear 28 days ago | 0 comments
Forget Gladwell (ghost.io)
Society should withhold all esteem and attention to a nonfiction author whose entire oeuvre spitballs explanatory social theory under the bad faith idea that he holds his ideas “loosely” and readers should too
Society, Nonfiction, Writing, Criticism, Malcolm Gladwell
20 points by _tk_ 30 days ago | 5 comments
Tokyo looks to protect service staff from customers who are not so cool (ft.com)
Customer Service, Japan, Society, Labor, Business
49 points by CaliforniaKarl 39 days ago | 47 comments
Home Libraries Will Save Civilization (frontporchrepublic.com)
Multiple recent stories offered more signs of what I consider to be an unfolding civilizational decline. First, a student in Hartford, CT, who had attended local public schools from age six, graduated from high school without knowing how to read or write. At all. She had used speech-to-text software to write her papers. After graduating on the honor roll, she is now enrolled at the University of Connecticut. She is also suing her former school district for educational neglect.
Education, Society, Technology
43 points by herbertl 40 days ago | 55 comments
The Society in Dedham for Apprehending Horse Thieves (wikipedia.org)
The Society in Dedham for Apprehending Horse Thieves is one of the "oldest continually existing horse thief apprehending organization in the United States, and one of Dedham's most venerable social organizations."
History, Society, Crime, Massachusetts
73 points by drdee 40 days ago | 32 comments
Machines of loving grace: How AI could transform the world for the better (darioamodei.com)
I think and talk a lot about the risks of powerful AI. The company I’m the CEO of, Anthropic, does a lot of research on how to reduce these risks. Because of this, people sometimes draw the conclusion that I’m a pessimist or “doomer” who thinks AI will be mostly bad or dangerous. I don’t think that at all.
Artificial Intelligence, Technology, Ethics, Future, Society
157 points by jasondavies 41 days ago | 129 comments
What Is Privacy For? (newyorker.com)
We often want to keep some information to ourselves. But information itself may be the problem.
Privacy, Information, Technology, Society
8 points by mitchbob 46 days ago | 3 comments
All Work and No Play (2021) (dissentmagazine.org)
Video games, like any creative product, reflect and refract the conditions of their production. Today, what they most resemble is twenty-first-century work.
Video Games, Labor, Culture, Society
39 points by herbertl 48 days ago | 13 comments
Manna – Two Views of Humanity's Future (2003) (marshallbrain.com)
Depending on how you want to think about it, it was funny or inevitable or symbolic that the robotic takeover did not start at MIT, NASA, Microsoft or Ford. It started at a Burger-G restaurant in Cary, NC on May 17.
Robotics, Future, Technology, Society
33 points by thesuperbigfrog 48 days ago | 25 comments
Forget Gladwell (ghost.io)
Society should withhold all esteem and attention to a nonfiction author whose entire oeuvre spitballs explanatory social theory under the bad faith idea that he holds his ideas “loosely” and readers should too
Society, Nonfiction Writing, Malcolm Gladwell, Criticism
11 points by earthboundkid 49 days ago | 2 comments
Yoshua Bengio: Humanity faces a 'catastrophic' future if we don't regulate AI (livescience.com)
Artificial Intelligence, Regulation, Future, Society
20 points by hdvr 50 days ago | 18 comments
Palmer Luckey: Every country needs a 'warrior class' to enact violence on others (techcrunch.com)
After a three-minute hype video, complete with HD footage of drones colliding and military vehicles exploding, Anduril founder Palmer Luckey stepped onto the stage at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, on Tuesday afternoon.
Military, Technology, Politics, Society
20 points by anigbrowl 50 days ago | 35 comments
Amusing Ourselves to Death (2009) (archive.org)
All words by "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business" by Neil Postman...a book about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell was right.
Books, Society, Media, Technology, Culture
505 points by yamrzou 54 days ago | 318 comments
The Death of the Minivan (theatlantic.com)
It was a perfect vehicle.
Cars, Automobiles, Culture, Society
71 points by throw0101d 55 days ago | 190 comments
Thailand legalizes same-sex marriage, allows couples to wed starting in January (apnews.com)
Thailand’s landmark marriage equality bill was officially written into law Tuesday, allowing same-sex couples to legally wed.
Thailand, Same-Sex Marriage, LGBTQ Rights, Law, Society
7 points by JumpCrisscross 57 days ago | 0 comments
Is this the civilization we want? (2017) (dynamicland.org)
Is this the civilization we really want?
Society, Technology, Future, Civilization
64 points by mpweiher 60 days ago | 68 comments
Are We Now Living in a Parasite Culture? (honest-broker.com)
I don’t like thinking about parasites. My only personal experience occurred at the American Airlines terminal in LaGuardia a few years ago.
Culture, Society, Commentary
32 points by Khaine 60 days ago | 16 comments
Larry Ellison: AI surveillance ensures 'citizens will be on their best behavior' (businessinsider.com)
Walking down a suburban neighborhood street already feels like a Ring doorbell panopticon.
Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance, Privacy, Society, Technology
15 points by type0 61 days ago | 3 comments
Walt Disney Was Right; Our Cities' Problems Are Our Biggest Problems (population.fyi)
"I don't believe there is a challenge anywhere in the world that's more important to people everywhere than finding solutions to the problems of our cities" - Walt Disney
Urban Planning, Cities, Population, Society, Quotes
11 points by daveland 63 days ago | 2 comments
Seeing Like a Network (strangeloopcanon.com)
We’re living through a phase change that is at the root of a lot of our societal problems. It’s the fact that our information networks have become much more dense.
Networks, Society, Information, Technology, Phase Change
73 points by yamrzou 63 days ago | 12 comments
The Accelerationist Playbook (asomo.co)
Tech isn’t a relaxant. It’s an accelerant. Automation technologies, whether they take the form of AI, digital payments or Uber, primarily make our lives faster, rather than easier, but we’re flooded with stories that present this acceleration as unstoppable progress.
Technology, Automation, Society, Progress
5 points by davidryal 64 days ago | 0 comments