I agree, although I’m not so terribly worried about it. Hawking and others with the doom+gloom AI future aren’t acknowledging that society will be ready for it and adapt without realizing it’s doing so.
Take someone from the 1830’s and put them into today. Pre-industrial revolution. Throw them in a big city.
A future with self-aware AI that surpasses our ability to cope with will also have a society to match it. In the early 80s, I dreamed of a world that were nerds like me. I dreamed of a library I could fit in my pocket and the ability to type to anyone, anywhere on the planet. I didn’t like face-to-face but I got my first computer that hooked up to my TV. This is before BBS’s, the Internet was still ARPA – I didn’t know about it… it was ’83 and I was 10/11… I wrote a lot about it, drew pictures.
Well, 5th grade me got all his wishes to come true, and society evolved with it and nobody even noticed they all became nerds like me. it’s awesome really.
This boy here. It’s also why I have a bit of an arrogant, “I know how the future is going to turn out” ’cause all my dreams keep coming true. 