Complex creatures

Technology seems to be a divisive topic amongst people.

Some absolutely loooooooove it, some are fine with it, others hate it and want to have nothing to do with it.

However, we depend on technology a lot more than our simple minds might think of. Traditionally, technology is an advancement of some kind in order to make a specific process, or series of processes, easier. Think for example, the wheel.

The invention of the wheel was so revolutionary, that it became a necessity over the years. Try imagining today's society without the wheel! We use it in so many places that, even if you do imagine a society without those, you probably didn't think about the many edge cases that may be exposed when it's suddenly removed from society as a whole.

But technology doesn't come without a change.

Technology is a part of change. Without change, technology wouldn't exist.

And we loathe change— any and every change. It's a core part of our species; We refuse change because our brains love finding patterns everywhere, it's the basis of many concepts relating to our brains too (If you think about it, recalling is just a pattern matching game)! And so, if you suddenly change a pattern, we get mad.

What do you mean the thing that changed colour to red when I pressed it now changes it's colour to blue??

This is insane!!!!

- A recreation of the average post after a UI redesign

I believe that this, to some extent, applies to AI discussion. However, I do not want to dedicate yet another of these leaflets to AI as a whole. I've already got one too many.

Regardless, point is, we don't like change.

We think that the other is doing something very stupid when they are trying to change something that we like, or enjoy. We don't process the possible benefits of the change, only the hypothetical downsides.

It's something which annoys the hell out of me because I want to be partial on as many things as I can possibly be.

I don't believe in a binary system where you can be on one extreme or another. I think that's bollocks.

However, following the trend of hating change, people don't like others being partial! To them, it's either you are left or right!

This is another peculiarity of not liking change, we tend to not accept differing opinions, even if they might have a hint of truth to it.

It's all just a circular graph that seems impossible to get out of, because we can't communicate with other creatures that aren't ourselves (well, in the sense of using our language.)

It's just really interesting that despite all of this, we still like some changes and we still sometimes accept that the other party is in the right. This gets to show why I am not so sure about everything being as simple as two options; it's also why being completely on one side or another is called being an "extremist", things are a lot more nuanced than you might not have noticed and it's helpful to understand this.

I understand that not everyone will use AI, I also understand that not everyone is keen upon the mass theft of intellectual property conducted by companies, but you also need to have a bit of empathy for the other side as well, they are humans, after all.

Maybe I am too naive, but it's just what I believe in.

I just wish we weren't driven by money, is all.