No one can build Von Neuman probes, because for that you likely have AI... and AI built is neutralized as soon as it reaches a certain point. No competition. And they compete because, energy is at a premium in a entropic universe.
Literally, if you can simulate any characters of your choice, let them loose on social media, and have them talk to each other... you don't have bots, you have a god of many faces and few no-go places. The wave of "bots" before we realize that the internet has been...
Let's assume that GPT 5 or 7 is developed, and distributed to all on the basis that the technology is unsuppressable. Everyone creates the smartest characters they can to talk too. This will be akin to mining; because it's not truly generating an intelligence, but scraping one together from all...
As Kurszweil is likely right, and AI is unacceptably risky; assuming we can somehow or another dodge that bullet, the problem remains of our destructive effect on Nature. Even after Climate Change has been solved; we're too good at destroying our environment. Our technology seems to be self balancing for...
1. We technologically plateau, due to humanities questionable ability to adapt to accelerating technological progression. 2. AI development is indefinitely disrupted; as it is likely to result in disaster. * This is unlikely to be done deliberately. Ongoing attempts to slow down AI development are relatively ineffective; it is more...