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Re:The Public Is Rapidly Turning Against AI, Polling Shows by yoyohello13 on Friday March 08, 2024 @05:07PM (#39647107)
I hate this comparison because the tone of it discounts the real human suffering caused by these events. Yes, we are better off now. But the transition through the industrial revolution caused a lot of pain.

The rise of AI is going to cause real human suffering. Sure, we will probably be better off in 100 years. But that's little comfort the those that lose their jobs or the ones that get crushed under the new AI powered Noble class.

Re:The Public Is Rapidly Turning Against AI, Polling Shows by SamPatt on Friday March 08, 2024 @10:47PM (#39649239)
It's good to be empathetic towards anyone suffering, but you must also consider how much suffering is avoided when technology advances.

Yes, washing machines caused suffering for women who made a living manually washing clothes. But they alleviated far, far more suffering by automating a physically difficult task.

My guess is that widespread adoption of new technology almost always reduces net suffering in the long term. Prioritizing the reduction of suffering today at the cost of more suffering in the future seems short-sighted.