It is not common (I suppose) for the LessWrong community to be raised in a society that is truly very religious. I am talking about society in general here and not pockets of society. Many could have been raised in church like communities but I am talking about the grand overwhelming majority of the society being very religious as it is in Greece and Cyprus, the countries I relate. That means you cannot escape your community to actually go to university and meet like minded people or to go to Silicon Valley for example. The implications are that no matter what your profession is, what your friend circle is and the people you meet randomly at bars have a very very high probability of being very religious. It is a strange feeling after talking to someone about cosmology and philosophy and AI to realize they make the cross everytime they pass by a church walking or in a car.
I have long been a member of the Atheist Greek Society but I find it too intermixed with leftism and politics. I am the rare free market capitalist atheist which is very common in the Nordics and USA/Canada and/or Japan I suppose. I have also been in doubt lately about weather I am a true atheist or agnistic because simulation theory implies god(s) loosely defined. What gets me usually is the hypocrisy.
It's someone you meet super drunk at the bar telling you stories about last night and the drugs he took at the club, telling you he will attend mass tomorrow because it's Easter and god will forgive him and gift him a child.
Getting on to something that interests me more these days (because the above is a feeling I have since childhood) is how AI will play out here.
On one hand, we have the most powerful, kind, patient teacher that can explain scientifically why the whole premise of organized religions is a fluke. Why the only thing we know is that there could be some (small) possibility of someone else creating all of this and most probably starting from a big bang or the like but we simply don't know and there is probably only base reality. That everytime you pray it doesn't mean that you get your wishes fulfilled. This is the ideal rational AI teacher but there are many questions revolving around this:
Do we actually want this as society or we want a good teacher to keep the status quo? Meaning do we want the truth or do we want a better version of what we have? A teacher that is patient and cheap and always available but not someone that teaches something fundamentally different?
Do we actually want the AI to be able to pursuade us of anything that changes our core beliefs? This is a very slippery slope and the basis of some doom scenarios. Even if the AI truly believes the user is wrong about believing in Pastafarianism, should it try to tell him or should it go with the user's flow? I guess this is something that has been given a lot of thought at the top AI labs or at least I hope so!
When/If we get to superintelligence and humans are not the apex of intelligence, that would be indistiguinshible of magic. Would we start thinking that AIs can be gods in a way? Or will this make it more clear that we could in theory be created in the same way?
Will mainstream religion incorporate AI concepts into their teachings because there is no other way? Could religions actually create AI versions of more powerful and persuasive disciples so they flip the book?
One thing is clear from history and that is when there is turbulence people turn to religion more not less. And we do expect a lot of turbulence if the AI scenarios play out either utopian or dystopian because of the amount of sudden changes.
I think the matter of religion to be equally important to other topics such as unemployment, war, bioweapons etc and it deserves much more discussion on the subject. The problem I see is that most of the most vocal persons in the AI discourse are usually non-believers themselves and treat the subject as obvious/of no consequence.
tldr; skip to bullet points for AI discussion
It is not common (I suppose) for the LessWrong community to be raised in a society that is truly very religious. I am talking about society in general here and not pockets of society. Many could have been raised in church like communities but I am talking about the grand overwhelming majority of the society being very religious as it is in Greece and Cyprus, the countries I relate. That means you cannot escape your community to actually go to university and meet like minded people or to go to Silicon Valley for example. The implications are that no matter what your profession is, what your friend circle is and the people you meet randomly at bars have a very very high probability of being very religious. It is a strange feeling after talking to someone about cosmology and philosophy and AI to realize they make the cross everytime they pass by a church walking or in a car.
I have long been a member of the Atheist Greek Society but I find it too intermixed with leftism and politics. I am the rare free market capitalist atheist which is very common in the Nordics and USA/Canada and/or Japan I suppose. I have also been in doubt lately about weather I am a true atheist or agnistic because simulation theory implies god(s) loosely defined. What gets me usually is the hypocrisy.
It's someone you meet super drunk at the bar telling you stories about last night and the drugs he took at the club, telling you he will attend mass tomorrow because it's Easter and god will forgive him and gift him a child.
Getting on to something that interests me more these days (because the above is a feeling I have since childhood) is how AI will play out here.
On one hand, we have the most powerful, kind, patient teacher that can explain scientifically why the whole premise of organized religions is a fluke. Why the only thing we know is that there could be some (small) possibility of someone else creating all of this and most probably starting from a big bang or the like but we simply don't know and there is probably only base reality. That everytime you pray it doesn't mean that you get your wishes fulfilled. This is the ideal rational AI teacher but there are many questions revolving around this:
One thing is clear from history and that is when there is turbulence people turn to religion more not less. And we do expect a lot of turbulence if the AI scenarios play out either utopian or dystopian because of the amount of sudden changes.
I think the matter of religion to be equally important to other topics such as unemployment, war, bioweapons etc and it deserves much more discussion on the subject. The problem I see is that most of the most vocal persons in the AI discourse are usually non-believers themselves and treat the subject as obvious/of no consequence.