A Retirement Journal: AI, Politics & Religion- Power and Control

Travis Kalanick expected fierce pushback from the taxi industry when he founded Uber. He got it but moved ahead. Now the company gets pushback for the low wages in the gig industry. Uber continues to battle opposition. Galileo I am guessing did not expect the amount of pushback he received from the Catholic Church when he asserted the earth moved around the sun. ?When pressured, the famous man did recant his position but reportedly muttered under his breath, “But it still moves!”

Any disruptive technology or idea or social movement that upends the established order creates opposition. The pushback in small cases such as a new marketplace competitor is small. It stays within the established order of things. However, the bigger the impact of the new thing the bigger the pushback, especially when the newcomer disrupts economic flows and/or changes society and how society thinks and behaves. In these latter cases the pushback can mean taking out the newcomer, figuratively as well as literally. For sure the established order tries to control the new thing and sometimes just coopts it. For example, today many taxi drivers plug into Ubers to get rides in addition to the traditional method of being hailed down.

Artificial Intelligence (AI), especially in its generative and general forms, is a BIG disruptor and harbinger of tectonic changes. Some pundits like VC giant Vinod Khosla envision a utopian future. Others like Yuval Harari see a dystopian one. Yet others like very recent Nobel Laureate Geoffrey Hinton, the “Godfather of AI” remarked when notified of his award, “We have no experience with what it’s like to have things smarter than us, It’s going to be wonderful in many respects …. It’ll mean huge improvements in productivity. But we also have to worry about a number of possible bad consequences, particularly the threat of these things getting out of control.” At Cisco, we had a mantra-Changing the way we live, learn, work and play. AI takes that saying further. AI will change us as humans as many claim or fear. Because AI is or will be so BIG, what kind of pushback can we expect from society and the State?

Prior to AI, religions were the biggest movements that redefined humans’ concept of themselves, others, and the supernatural. Because I am a Christian and know more about that movement than others, I offer some parallels. ?When Jesus, the founder of Christianity began his ministry, he faced opposition. The crowds were attracted to him. Many genuinely, many more to witness a spectacle. However, it was the religious leaders of his time who felt the most threatened. Their authority on being the arbiters of the law and their economic engine via temple sacrifices were both threatened. After several years of witnessing this itinerant preacher upend their model, the religious authorities colluded with the Romans, the State Power in that corner of the world. Jesus was killed as a criminal. Yet the movement continued to spread. Adherents like Paul took the movement around the world, even to the then military and economic center of Rome itself. The State was not going to let this upstart movement take over control of the populace. Caesars like Nero had the Christians persecuted, even executed in gory spectacles at the Coliseum. Yet the movement grew so much so that in AD 300, the emperor Constantine either through a genuine conversion or shrewd political maneuvering became a Christian. The state had coopted “The Way” or “The other Way” around depending on one’s perspective. Because I am a member of the tribe, or cult as some would say, I believe Christianity before it merged with the State was mostly good. The modest bad occurred because all humans are flawed and political. I also hold that most of the bad associated with Christianity happened after it “merged” with the state. ?(I personally cherish the separation of church and state in the United States and find concepts of a Christian Nation abhorrent.) Still, the good of Christianity continued to make the world a better place. So much so, ?Anglican raised, agnostic historian Tom Holland undertook a massive research effort captured in his book Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World. As the Amazon brief states, “?Dominion?explores the implications of this shocking (title)… Today, the West remains utterly saturated by Christian assumptions. As Tom Holland demonstrates, our morals and ethics are not universal but are instead the fruits of a very distinctive civilization. Concepts such as secularism, liberalism, science, and homosexuality are deeply rooted in a Christian seedbed…?Dominion?tells the story of how Christianity transformed the modern world.”

Arguably AI can change the world as much as Christianity has over the last 2000 years. It won’t take AI as long. The opposition to and the coopting of AI is just beginning. In a humorous, somewhat cynical, explanation of the current scene, I capture the current state in California. In the picture above I show the technology tycoons jostle with the local politicians. The tycoons are driven by monetary opportunities and pursuit of fame. The pols are motivated also by fame but also the desire of the State to control such a big movement before it is too late. Does a politician coopt the movement or regulate it? Eager beaver State Senator Scott Wiener introduced SB1047 which attempts to regulate big players like OpenAI. The bill made it all the way to Governor Newsom’s desk. At the last minute, consummate pol Newsom vetoed it, probably looking for a better coopt mechanism! Elon Musk, Geoffrey Hinton and Scott Wiener were supportive. Sam Altman, Mark Zuckerberg and Gavin Newsom were opposed. Strange bedfellows, go figure. We are still in the early innings of this saga.

As the dance between the State and the AI movement continues, what are YOUR thoughts? I am sure AI in its current form will not last for as long as the Christian movement has. I will be fascinated to see what plays out yet in my lifetime. As the Christmas carol “O little town of Bethlehem” states:

The hopes and fears of all the years

are met in (Jesus/AI) tonight

Jake