Before action comes acceptance?

We cannot have ships without shipwrecks, nor can we have electricity without someone inventing the electric chair. Accepting that AI will completely transform society in a few years is a difficult reality to grasp, and it becomes even more alienating when most people seem to ignore or deny its serious possibility.

As we begin to comprehend AI’s societal implications, we may start to feel like conspiracy theorists—flat-earthers—AI fanatics recruiting others into an insane AI Scientology church, preaching the gospel of the last days...

However, this “AI-religion” doesn’t even promise believers an AGI Heaven. Instead, it warns of an AGI Hell for those who dismiss its impact.

It’s strange to find that the more convinced you are of being right, the more alone you feel. But as Marcus Aurelius warned: “The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”

We must leave the comfort of the masses, trust our reason, and cultivate the discipline to act on our beliefs, carrying our plans through uncertainty. Or else, we will forever grapple with the regret of failing to act in time.