A post about envision a world where technology enhances life rather than instills fear.

If you’re scared of losing your job to AI, you’re probably working just for the money. You likely attend university because you want a high-paying job. People who build software or conduct scientific research with the goal of solving problems from which many can benefit see AI as a tool to achieve that goal. This approach is a useful way to identify if someone is acting for their own benefit, trying to “level up” in the social hierarchy, advance their career, or if they genuinely want to solve a problem that can benefit everyone. Right now, we’re in a situation where some people fear losing their superiority in society due to money, knowledge, or power. Just as people once demonized machines for their physical superiority, today those who possess knowledge and use it to maintain their power often demonize AI. These are zero-sum games. These individuals are solely seeking status, playing to maintain their positions in an imagined social hierarchy. I’m fairly young, and these are my opinions, based on experiences and knowledge gathered from various sources on the internet. However, the people I admire are those who contribute to open source and share knowledge without expecting personal gain. These are also the type of people who do not fear AI. Instead, they utilize it as a tool to accomplish their goal of benefiting others. Now, here is a mental framework for further thought. Regardless of your profession, think about “why you do what you do” and “what you want to achieve with your work.” Then ask yourself, “How can AI help me with that?” At the end of the day, if what you want to achieve is positive and doesn’t harm others, the benefits for you and others only increase. In tech, for example, some programmers fear that they will be replaced by AI code generation models. They believe these models are becoming so advanced that, in the future, writing code may no longer be a skill that companies pay well for. So if your goal is to learn a skill to earn money, yes, you might get replaced by an AI. But if your goal is to improve people’s lives by building software, this is the best time of your life to achieve that goal. With every new model, new possibilities arise, bringing you closer to that goal. Consider this: All the news about code interpreters and speech-to-text models are relatively small steps compared to what can be truly achieved. Just imagine a society where everyone can use an AI to interpret voice prompts provided by everyday users and write personalized programs. We would all lead more joyful and easier lives. A father could ask an AI for data interpretation of his smart home, or elderly people who might not interact with the internet as adeptly as younger individuals could ask the AI about their health data. If you think about all these potential applications, the current drama and fear of job loss seems misplaced. Instead, envision a future where technology is used to benefit people, not instill fear. We should also focus on providing cryptographic standards to ensure privacy and safety for users. The only way to truly achieve this is to build on a decentralized network that no central party controls. This way, we don’t need to fear a dystopian future of digital dictatorship or malicious hackers who can exploit a single point of failure. That said, stop overthinking and start building.

Created: 9th July 2023