THINK: Effective Accelerationism (e/acc) – A Pathway to an AI-powered Utopia?

Once the AGI genie is released, re-bottling it is impossible. E/acc's techno-utopian vision undeniably offers an appealing promise.

AI Automation Life Daily. A futuristic ideology called "Effective Accelerationism" (e/acc) has recently gained attention online. E/acc advocates accelerating progress in advanced AI systems like large language models (LLMs) to help bring about a utopian, post-scarcity world.

E/acc draws inspiration from thinker Nick Land's "accelerationist" belief that technological advancement and capitalism's destabilizing effects are unstoppable forces that should be intensified rather than resisted.

E/acc Takes It Further

For the progression of society, people are actively pushing for the rapid development of advanced AI like LLMs, which proponents see as society's best chance to transcend biological constraints. As one popular e/acc tweet puts it:

"The train isn't slowing down. You cannot reengineer the economy to avoid this. You cannot melt the GPUs. Every problem must be solved online."

Catastrophic Unintended Consequences

While advanced AI clearly holds world-changing potential, rushing its development without sufficient caution could also unleash catastrophic unintended consequences. As researcher Timnit Gebru notes, "We have no idea how these models work...and yet you have people deploying them in high stakes environments."

Full Gas…

Embracing the belief in laissez-faire, laissez-passer principles, I see potential in the tenets of Effective Accelerationism, which may prove transformative for our society. This ideology aligns with the conviction that we need not always lean on government and strict democratic mechanisms for progress; instead, we could, and should, place more trust in the power of algorithms and automation.

While e/acc's techno-utopian vision undeniably offers an appealing promise, it is imperative that we balance the acceleration of technological progress with a degree of prudence. We must acknowledge the high-stakes gamble (<3) we're taking – that hurtling forward into the unknown could result in either a grand leap toward a more efficient, utopian society, or a precipitous fall into unforeseen tragedy.

Finally, we must recognize the irreversible nature of this path. Once the AGI genie is released, re-bottling it will be impossible. As such, our focus should not be on halting progress but rather on steering it wisely to ensure the best possible outcome. The future lies in the harmonious co-existence of humans and automation, shaping a society that leverages the strengths of both.