David Skrbina on “Artificial Idiocy,” Lovesick Chatbot Stalkers, and the Metaphysics of Technology

Yesterday’s New York Times reported that Bing’s new chatbot Sydney makes Kubrick’s Hal look like a well-balanced upstanding cyber-citizen. According to the Times article by Kevin Roose, Sydney quickly morphed into a psycho stalker, declaring undying love for Roose and trying to break up his marriage. Maybe it’s time to question “technological progress” ?First hour: David Skrbina, author of The Metaphysics of Technology and Confronting Technology, is a co-founder of the Anti-Tech Collective. He emailed me last week in response to my article “Artificial Idiocy: The Moronic-Demonic Nature of AI and the Civilization That Produced It” saying “Good article.  We should do a podcast on the evils of tech.  No one else out there seems willing to discuss this.”(The second hour, featuring counterarguments from Matt Ehret, will be archived here soon.) This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kevinbarrett.substack.com/subscribe This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kevinbarrett.substack.com