"Why are we on the verge of destroying ourselves? We have managed to reach the moon, to split the atom, to the cipher DNA, and yet with all our knowledge and wisdom, we are on the verge of ecological collapse, perhaps of a third world war. And also we are developing an extremely powerful technology AI, which might get out of our control and enslave or destroy us."
"Chapter one, the rise of alien intelligence. Storytelling has always been important from the stone age to the 21st century, whenever a large number of people are trying to cooperate on something, whether it is to hunt a mammoth or whether it is to build an atom bomb. Just knowing the facts about the objective world, about objective reality is not enough."
Humans have achieved remarkable technological and scientific advances while simultaneously facing ecological collapse, potential global war, and the emergence of powerful AI that could escape control. Large-scale cooperation relies on shared narratives and information networks in addition to factual knowledge. Poor-quality or misleading information leads generally wise people to make harmful decisions. The overall quality of societal information has remained vulnerable across millennia, allowing mass delusions and the rise of destructive ideologies even in advanced societies. Addressing information quality and the dynamics of storytelling and networks is central to reducing self-destructive outcomes.
Read at Big Think
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