Oh, man.

What I saw aptly described as the “AI hate wave” – maybe make that tsunami – has just begun to hit the shore of humanity. Where it will lead, how much it will help or hurt our future is impossible to tell.

I’m not Catholic, but the pope today talked at great length in his 44,000-word encyclical of the tradeoffs, the good and caution we need to use when we think about or act upon the latest big villain of The Blame Society: Artificial Intelligence. But the headlines focused on the negative – because that draws the clicks, not the subtle mix of reality.

So amid the loud boos at commencement speakers, polls that put numbers to the AI fear and hatred many instinctively feel about things they can barely comprehend, much less fully understand, I spotted this tonight (or rather, my YouTube algorithm placed it before me):

And of course, the comments are just what you’d expect – which could be boiled down to: “HELL NO, WE WON’T GO (AI). KILL THE MONSTER THAT THREATENS ALL OF HUMANITY!”

Some even point to sci-fi movies, etc. What part of “fiction” don’t they understand?

I picture the torch-bearing mob approaching Dr. Frankenstein’s castle, where the Bad Doctor dared to piece together pieces of a human like so many car parts or plumbing. And of course, the Monster lived up – make that down – to their expectations.

(I prefer Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein version – even if it was more funny than Abby Normal!;-)

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