You may be led to think, reading many arguments on social media, that AI (artificial intelligence) will improve the lives of humans, that AI is harmless, that AI can be regulated, that algorithms decidind for us is a good thing, that everything will be alright, and yet... we know it will not. :)
That's why we see an insistent propaganda for AI and robots on social media. This propaganda is based on reports with scientific projections (probably built by algorithms). Humans being replaced by robots, humans-humans interaction being replaced by humans-machines interaction, algorithms deciding for humans, chip implants, GPS, control. That's why this insistent propaganda is related to the UBI (universal basic income). I bet the UBI was also built using algorithms. :) UBI is not a generous offer, "free money just for being alive". "Robots take your jobs and that's a good thing, you can live without working, do whatever you wish, you don't have to earn it, it's free."
Let's decode this message and expose the culture that lies behind: It's not for a better future, it's only for profit. It's the same old megalomania of money and power.
First, define "free money". I have a good definition. Free money = tax evasion money, money from undeserved benefits, money given by governments to the big banks and big corporations that destroy economies, illegal business money, etc. Just try to calculate the billions that have been stolen from ordinary citizens.
So, UBI is not free, on the contrary, it's the price you pay for being irrelevant. This is how the monetary economy works. It's not a transparent and fair game. And the argument "the inevitability of progress = you can't stop the future" is not acceptable either. There are many possibilities for the future of humans. AI and robots replacing us in all tasks and deciding for us is not the best future for humans. We, humans, should choose our own future.
Pleasantville is a film about fiction and reality.. In a world in black and white everything happens according to a script, there are no surprises and things never go wrong, there are rules that everybody knows and respect. Pleasantville is like a perfect world, where people are young and beautiful, streets are clean, everyone is polite, families live in harmony, good always wins in the end. Reality is about injustice, pain, surprises... and colors. We have no script, rules are not respected, things go wrong. The world is not perfect, bad wins sometimes and villains are powerful. Neverthless in its imperfection, reality is about life and living things, love and passion, curiosity, adventure, future. Europe was presented to european citizens as a Pleasantville with a script and rules, where countries are equal and live in harmony, with respect and fairness... a perfect world. Reality showed them a very different Europe: there was a different script for the powerful, rules were only applied to the weak, citizens were punished for the financial sins. Villains won, good people lost Now Europe is facing a new phase without one of its 28 stars. UK was the first star to flee. Nobody expected such a result, but.now... that it happened... we can understand why. Reality is different from fiction.
"The Petrified Forest" is the movie of the week. An isolated gas station in the arizona desert, the perfect place to stay petrified too. A selfisn old man who holds his granddaughter working in the snack bar, a gifted young girl who dreams of a trip to France, a wanderer writer who lost the inspiration and discovers the girl's talent, a gangster waiting for his girl who betrayed him, a rich couple who finds out what's really important in life. Living beings can not be imprisoned, time can not be frozen. Everything is moving from one place to another, from one situation to another. That's why the writer decides to die to give the young girl a possible future.
Here is a greek mum, talking to a BBC radio program about her decision to vote NO. She explains it very well. It's about people, their future, their children' future. She doesn't want to see their children enslaved by the debt, "working to the IMF". She also says that the numbers are similar to those of the Great Depression. EP promised that "this time it would be different", remember? But... it is not different, and it's getting worse. Just listen to the several statements of the main European characters of this Great Farse... I hope that an agreement is still possible. But if EC, ECB, Eurogroup and IMF choose the worst possible script, I hope there is an emergency plan, a plan B, for greek people. Meanwhile... negotiations will be tough:
Global warming, consumerism, isolation, alienation, urban violence, he saw it coming. And I agree with him, science fiction is the literature of the 20th century. As a science fiction writer, his task was warning people. He didn't see himself as a pessimistic. His characters are in a quest and all of them accomplish something, whatever it may be.
Technologies are important. Nobody denies that. The problem is when technologies are considered the answer to our big challenges. World Economic Forum, for instance, considered "innovation, science and technology" as the big themes of the future of economy, and "the internet of things" as the answer for economy and work. Sorry to say I don't agree with this vision. We have the technologies. What we don't have is a cultural approach. Let me give you an example: Google glasses. And now, let' s compare google glasses with another kind of glasses, the kind of glasses that helps you to understand what is going on, what is happening to you, your family, your community, your country, the world:
This is what I mean by a cultural approach: the glasses are metaphors for education on history, philosophy, anthropology, sociology and art, exactly the fields that are being neglected by school programs. Of course we won't have to deal with aliens, although sometimes financial and political leaders look like aliens...
