Eric McCorkle
I am increasingly worried about the current AI hype cycle taking down all of computer science with it. The more I think about it, the field is on the verge of a legitimacy crisis from several root-causes.
I've seen some AI/ML people (Timnit, etc) talk about the need for an anti-AGI movement. I think that applies to #CS generally. If the public at large comes to equate CS with AGI, it will kill the whole field for a decade when AGI implodes.
Eric McCorkle
How I see this happening:
* AGI gets falsely presented as a real thing. The singularitists amplify this.
* Snake-oil vendors pop up, offering supposedly AGI-based solutions for replacing whole swaths of jobs. Mid-2000s style outsourcing comes back in vogue.
* These fail utterly or get revealed as theranos-type scams backed by offshore labor.
* Public opinion turns sharply against CS generally, resulting in deep funding cuts, bad legislation, etc.
Eric McCorkle
To be clear, I'm not advocating any kind of ludditism. Ludditism and primitivism need to die of fucking Ebola.
CS and particularly the industry needs to get back to basics: solving problems and enabling people.
We need to get *a lot* better at calling out kooks, crackpots, and snake-oil. We absolutely have our own analogues of anti-vaxxers, homeopathy, and flat-earthers. We've done a shit job of policing that, and we've allowed it to grow unchecked.
Tröglödÿt
luddites advocate for worker control over means of production and the produce, and direct action against the forced substitution of workers with machines
what's your problem with this position? will it rob you of your current income because you're middle class and administrate workers rather than work?
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