Exel0n t1_izct0tt wrote
>This is possibly the most tumultuous and uncertain period of human history
this is pure ignorance. 13th century was the worst, the mongols genocided many nations wiping them off completely (all central asian cities were wiped out), killed off estimated 90% of northern chinese and Persians. and could threaten western europe and ultimately entire human civilization if they succeeded since the mongols wanted to reach the great western sea (Atlantic) but failed in hungary and poland in their second invasions.
HelloYesNaive t1_izexsdc wrote
That was an entire century and still limited to one region of the globe operating on basic, longstanding ideas of warfare not experienced as particularly special compared to other conflicts by most of the humans involved continuing to do their basic things to survive (only retrospectively by us).
All that we describe with AI here could happen in a year or a few years with unbelievable ramifications that we cannot even fathom. It really is the most uncertain period of human civilization (in a good way, I think).
Exel0n t1_izf96wt wrote
the mongol conquests have been described by historians as "medieval nuclear war". it's scale was unprecedented, not even surpassed by world war 2.
the mongols destroyed the biggest cities at that time, such as Merv, Nishapur, Herat, Baghdad, Beijing/Zhongdu, Chengdu, Kiev/Kyiv
Nothing came close later on except in china such as Taiping Rebellion in 19th century. Or the bombing of Dresden. But even in those cases, the perpetrators didn't kill every single one they got hands on. Mongols made sure not to leave survivors. Kiev for example had 99% death rate, only around 1000 were "spared" and became slaves. Merv, Herat each only had 400 artisans spared while rest all slaughtered.
HelloYesNaive t1_izfbcmz wrote
I completely agree that in a big-picture historical sense that was unprecedented for its time and there may never be such a widescale and total destruction of so many cities again, but those kinds of things (mass killing in warfare, expansion of power over land, pillaging of cities) were not particularly new or unprecedented to the humans who experienced them and as they ultimately unfolded over a relatively much longer period of time than things occur in the modern age.
Over the next few decades with the development of AI and post-scarcity, we will experience things we literally could not have imagined, and these changes will come at an unprecedented rate. We will interact with things that push the boundaries of existence and completely flip long-understood economic and societal principles on their head.
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