No Singularity Without Transparency

I was planning a post on singularity when this form came up ahead of a Singularity99 event. I might as well put down my answers there:

Q - Will technology create or destroy jobs?
A - Technology redefines employment. You won't employ a person, but hire skills, connections, shares of time and people. Jobs will be more contextual, evolutive, shared. There will be fewer permanent jobs, which doesn't necessarily mean that fewer people will have a job.

Q - Relation between technology, developement, unemployment:
A - Technology, as an accelerator and a revealer, accelerates unemployment, exposes discrepancies.
Some jobs are naturally made irrelevant or obsolete, new ones emerge, but we're reaching the point when the old employment model itself is obsolete.

Q - Is it the same as previous industrial revolutions, will new jobs compensate for the lost ones?
A - This is a more fundamental revolution than the previous ones.
The question remains what and where will be the added value of humans, but will we still be looking for the optimal return on investment, or at long last consider a sounder trade off?
Instant players will destroy jobs, humanists will work on a more sustainable, fair, open, shared platform.

Q - A.I., Deep learning, etc a threat to humans?
A - Since the stakes (economy, social trends, politics, environment, ethics...) and the complexity are maximal, so is the risk of seeing a minority trying to control key entry points.
The only answer is transparency: an open debate on the risks and opportunities, on who's doing what, on who's behind which initiative. Anyone can contribute on any issue, each decision can be monitored.

Also:

. There is a need for monitoring, regulation, ethics, but innovation demands reaching beyond limits. The 99% must act as moderators, not as censors. It is essential to not kill the game, but also to expose unfair play.

. High frequency trading proves that the frontier between intelligence and stupidity isn't that clear. As a reminder, here's my definition of both, along with other terms:




At a personal level, I don't want an enhanced brain. 

I have the right to remain stupid, and to write silly stuff about hacked transhumanism, such as my old "Rise Of The Nork Zombies".


mot-bile 2014