Why is the Obvious Our Leaders Ignore that Others See So Clearly?

 

What never ceases to amaze me is how senior American leadership, immediately embraced by blind-followers who have totally outsourced their opinions to those leaders as well as corporations desperately trying to make profits without taxes or regulations by head-in-the-sand tactics, believe that ignoring a problem or kicking the can down a very long road is a good idea. I wrote a book, Not on My Watch; Hollywood vs. the Future (New Millennium Publishing, 2003), about the entertainment industry’s top management’s proclivity to make any serious problems become the next management’s headache… by minimizing, lying, accounting games, hiring high-priced consultants to tell them what they need to pretend the issues don’t really matter or simply hoping that a serendipitous success will bail them out… at least for a while. But someday, the piper comes with a huge invoice that must be paid.

And no, it’s not about our deficit, which could be fixed if the mega-rich actually paid taxes relative to their wealth. I’ve written about it before, but let me remind you that loan proceeds are not taxable and interest is often deductible… so if you are mega-rich with mega-assets… guess how you can avoid paying taxes?! No, instead I am focusing today on mega-trends, global realities that will impact every human being on earth (and most other biological species): 1. the growing intolerable consequences of climate change (and have we already passed the tipping point?) and 2. the rise of artificial intelligence, which if carried to the extreme, could foment new military conflicts and, by taking the value of education and experience away from people and giving it to artificial intelligence driven technology, force a new world social order.

Since I’ve already blogged frequently about climate change, let me just present this short summary of our pending “tipping point” reality from the April 9th BBC.com: “Last month was the world's warmest March ever measured, breaking the global temperature records for a tenth month in a row. March 2024 was 1.68C (3.02F) warmer than "pre-industrial" times. This all-time high was expected, partly because the El Niño weather system, which peaked in December, caused some of the extra warmth. But even El Niño can't explain why records were broken with such large margins over the past months. The climate phenomenon is waning, but scientists are worried that average temperatures might not cool down. ‘By the end of the summer, if we're still looking at record breaking temperatures in the North Atlantic or elsewhere, then we really have kind of moved into uncharted territory,’ said Gavin Schmidt, the director of Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The next few months will tell researchers if the past year was just out of the norm, or the sign of a sea change in our climate. But scientists are certain about one thing: the way to stop the world warming is to rapidly cut emissions of planet-warming gases.”

Now, inspired by an April 7th Wall Street Journal article by Peter Landers, I look at how generative artificial intelligence (where access to information is not limited but determined by the AI machines), could, as Lander’s headline reads: ‘Social Order Could Collapse’ in AI Era, Two Top Japan Companies Say: “Japan’s largest telecommunications company [Nippon Telegraph and Telephone] and the country’s biggest newspaper [Yomiuri Shimbun Group Holdings] called for speedy legislation to restrain generative artificial intelligence, saying democracy and social order could collapse if AI is left unchecked…

“Combined with a law passed in March by the European Parliament restricting some uses of AI, the manifesto points to rising concern among American allies about the AI programs U.S.-based companies have been at the forefront of developing…. The Japanese companies’ manifesto, while pointing to the potential benefits of generative AI in improving productivity, took a generally skeptical view of the technology. Without giving specifics, it said AI tools have already begun to damage human dignity because the tools are sometimes designed to seize users’ attention without regard to morals or accuracy.

“Unless AI is restrained, ‘in the worst-case scenario, democracy and social order could collapse, resulting in wars,’ the manifesto said… It said Japan should take measures immediately in response, including laws to protect elections and national security from abuse of generative AI.

“A global push is under way to regulate AI, with the European Union at the forefront. The EU’s new law calls on makers of the most powerful AI models to put them through safety evaluations and notify regulators of serious incidents. It also is set to ban the use of emotion-recognition AI in schools and workplaces.

“The Biden administration is also stepping up oversight, invoking emergency federal powers last October to compel major AI companies to notify the government when developing systems that pose a serious risk to national security. The U.S., U.K. and Japan have each set up government-led AI safety institutes to help develop AI guidelines… Still, governments of democratic nations are struggling to figure out how to regulate AI-powered speech, such as social-media activity, given constitutional and other protections for free speech.

“NTT and Yomiuri said their manifesto was motivated by concern over public discourse. The two companies are among Japan’s most influential in policy. The government still owns about one-third of NTT, formerly the state-controlled phone monopoly… Yomiuri Shimbun, which has a morning circulation of about six million copies according to industry figures, is Japan’s most widely-read newspaper. Under the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his successors, the newspaper’s conservative editorial line has been influential in pushing the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to expand military spending and deepen the nation’s alliance with the U.S… The two companies said their executives have been examining the impact of generative AI since last year in a study group guided by Keio University researchers.”

Questions arise like: “who owns AI software and hardware”? Rich people owning the technology through their controlled corporations? The government? Which party? If the value of people is devalued, who earns enough to buy the products AI creates? Do we battle for goods and resources? Is socialism the only system of government that can sustain a viable economic model? Who or what makes the decisions and allocations? Why would education continue to be relevant except for entertainment value?

I’m Peter Dekom, and if you think the above set forth the only real issues, you ain’t seen nuffin’ yet!