Fair assessment, but no I was not conditioned to value those things. Quite the opposite. I have grown to become a deontological thinker. To “think like a mountain” as Leopold put it. I see the interconnectedness of all things (scientifically not mystically) and have not been convinced (yet) that we as humans have the capacity to overwill the premise of nature. I like progress. But tactical, logical, and beneficiary progress. Financial incentive is at the very heart of the push for AI right now, there’s no way around it. I am not convinced that the desire for this particular future is not corrupted by the arbitrary notions of our current societal structures. The idea that this is natural progress comes from the assumption that progress as a product of market competition parallels the inevitable progress of species. I don’t think this is true. We have the capacity as humans to be self aware. This is a gift that could mean we collectively decide to moderate our progress for the benefit of all people.

I guess what I’m getting at is, as long as these innovations are coming from massive private tech firms, I don’t trust their motives. The idea that this system we’ve created perfectly distributes money to those who best abide by the natural forces of the world is silly to me. It’s a coping mechanism for people who want to see certain changes for a certain future, without acknowledging the world as it is today isn’t ready to morph into that future.