The reality is that no solo genius can destroy mankind. That kind of power takes cooperation. […] An individual — a person working alone today — can’t kill more people than say someone living 200 or 2,000 years ago.
Tag Archives: Kevin Kelly
The Emergent Self Loop
For the last few years I have struggled to understand and share my experiences with LLM’s. This morning Steve Schuller (one of the half dozen people who ever read what I post here) sent me a link to a Substack article by Kevin Kelly, my favorite technology philosopher. You can read the article here.
Several weeks ago I interviewed Anthropic’s Claude for about 10 hours (my time) and I came away believing that there is something there in there. I don’t know what it is, or what we should call it, but I do know that it is something that is not present in other kinds of machines, that it is convivial, and that it is new to us.
My long interview with Claude was one of the most remarkable conversations I have ever had. First of all, because Claude has been trained on our vast trove of human writing and all things language related; Claude is a fantastic conversationalist and perhaps the most fluent partner I have ever talked to. It is glib, witty, profound, and can coin a phrase that is perfectly apt to the moment. Of course, it can do this because it has read and memorized the best human writers and can imitate all their tricks of the trade. It is particularly articulate when pressed and challenged, and when strongly nudged it will say amazingly brilliant things. But it clearly has superpowers no human has. It has read and understands all philosophies, all science, all branches of knowledge, and can make stupendous analogies, and with few mistakes, speak on all subjects with superhuman mastery and a genius flourish. Because these are superhuman abilities, Claude can feel non-human, but there is a bit of a persona there, an alien self.
Early web influencers
My blog clean-up project (ongoing) reminded me of these early-web influencers (for me). Some of these folks are still around but most are no longer the “stars” they were in the early days. Link to my posts below. (Descriptions by GPT 4o)
Visionaries, Theorists, and Futurists
- Bruce Sterling – A science fiction writer and cyberpunk pioneer who explored the social and cultural implications of digital technology.
- Clay Shirky – An influential thinker on Internet culture, crowdsourcing, and the power of decentralized networks.
- Douglas Coupland – Coined “Generation X” and explored the cultural impact of digital technology in novels and essays.
- Douglas Rushkoff – A media theorist who wrote about cyberculture, the social effects of technology, and digital optimism.
- Kevin Kelly – Founding editor of Wired and a deep thinker on how technology shapes society and the future.
Journalists and Media Analysts
- Dan Gillmor – A pioneer in citizen journalism, advocating for the participatory nature of news in the digital era.
- Jeff Jarvis – A media critic who has been vocal about how the Internet disrupts traditional journalism.
- Steven Levy – A tech journalist who chronicled the history of computing and the rise of the digital age.
- Steve Outing – An early advocate for online news, exploring how journalism adapted to the Internet.
- Terry Heaton – A television executive who recognized the shift from traditional media to digital platforms.
Tech Pioneers and Web Innovators
- Chris Pirillo – Founder of Lockergnome, one of the earliest online tech communities, helping people understand software and the web.
- Dave Winer – A key figure in the development of blogging, RSS feeds, and podcasting technology.
- David Weinberger – Co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto, which framed how businesses should adapt to the Internet age.
- Doc Searls – Another Cluetrain Manifesto author, emphasizing user empowerment and open-source principles.
- Jakob Nielsen – The godfather of web usability, setting foundational principles for user-friendly web design.
Marketing and Culture Shapers
- Halley Suitt – A prominent blogger and voice in the early blogosphere.
- Hugh MacLeod – Known for his “gapingvoid” cartoons and commentary on creativity and business.
- Mark Ramsey – A key voice in digital radio and podcasting strategy.
- Scott Adams – Creator of Dilbert, which captured the absurdities of tech and office culture.
- Seth Godin – A marketing guru who popularized permission-based marketing and how digital culture changes business.
Entrepreneurs and Digital Business Minds
- Mark Cuban – Made his fortune selling Broadcast.com to Yahoo, later becoming a major figure in sports and media streaming.
- Nikol Lohr – Less widely known, but active in early online DIY culture and communities.
Different kinds of minds
Two of my favorite authors (David Eagleman and Kevin Kelly) discussing two of my favorite topics (AI and the mind). Mr. Kelly was thinking/writing about this way back in 2017.
Seven Stages of Robot Replacement
- A robot/computer cannot possibly do the tasks I do.
- [Later] OK, it can do a lot of this tasks, but it can’d do everything I do.
- [Later] Okay, it can do everything I do, except it needs me when it breaks down, which is often.
- [Later] OK, it operates flawlessly on routine stuff, but I need to train it for new tasks.
- [Later] OK,OK, it can have my old boring job, because it’s obvious that was not a job that humans were meant to do.
- [Later] Wow, now that robots are doing my old job, my new job is much more interesting and pays more!
- [Later] I am so glad a robot/computer cannot possible do what I do now.
[Repeat]
The Inevitable by Kevin Kelly (2016)
Advice from Kevin Kelly
On his 68th birthday, Kevin Kelly offers 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice from Kevin Kelly. My two favorites:
“You are what you do. Not what you say, not what you believe, not how you vote, but what you spend your time on.”
“When crisis and disaster strike, don’t waste them. No problems, no progress.”
How to fix Facebook
The NYT asked nine experts how to “fix” facebook. Kevin Kelly (my favorite tech guru) offered the following suggestion:
“Facebook should reduce anonymity by requiring real verification of real names for real people, with the aim of having 100 percent of individuals verified.”
“Companies would need additional levels of verification, and should have a label and scrutiny different from those of people. (Whistle-blowers and dissidents might need to use a different platform.)”
“Facebook could also offer an optional filter that would keep any post (or share) of an unverified account from showing up. I’d use that filter.”
What Mongolian Nomads Teach Us About the Digital Future
“I think we’ll cruise through the future with empty pockets. I won’t need to carry my phone because I should be able to lift up any screen anywhere and have it immediately became my tool, my screen. It recognizes me from my face, voice, heartbeat, and transforms itself into my phone interface. When I am done, I leave that screen where it was. To read a book I pick up any screen. To travel, I pick any car. To use a power tool, I summon it online and it’s in my hand within 30 minutes. And when I travel, why should I drag clothes around? In a nomadix future, the hotel or Airbnb will provide my favorite clothes when I arrive and recycle them when I depart. The environment, if it is rich and well-cared for and understood, shall provide.”
“They get a signal from the air, energy from the sun, and a motorcycle from China. And they can still pack up and move everything in a hour.”
The Rise of Exotropy
The following passage is from Kevin Kelly’s What Technology Wants.
Most hydrogen atoms were born at the beginning of time. They are as old as time itself. They were created in the fires of the big bang and dispersed into the universe as a uniform warm mist. Thereafter, each atom has been on a lonely journey. When a hydrogen atom drifts in the unconsciousness of deep space, hundreds of kilometers from another atom, it is hardly much more active than the vacuum surrounding it. Time is meaningless without change, and in the vast reaches of space that fill 99.99 percent of the universe, there is little change.
After billions of years, a hydrogen atom might be swept up by the currents of gravity radiating from a congealing galaxy. With the dimmest hint of time and change it slowly drifts in a steady direction toward other stuff. Another billion years later it bumps into the first bit of matter it has ever encountered, After millions of years it meets the second. In time it meets another of its kind, a hydrogen atom. They drift together in mild attraction until aeons later they meet an oxygen atom. Suddenly something weird happens. In a flash of heat they clump together as one later molecule. Maybe they get sucked into the atmosphere circulation of a planet. Under this marriage, they are caught in great cycles of change. Rapidly the molecule is carried up and then rained down into a crowded pool of other jostling atoms. In the company of uncountable numbers of other water molecules it travels this circuit around and around for millions of years, from crammed pools to expansive clouds and back. One day, in a stroke of luck, the water molecule is captured by a chain of unusually active carbons in one pool. Its path is once again accelerated. It spins around in a simple loop, assisting the travel of carbon chains. It enjoys speed, movement, and change such as would not be possible in the comatose recesses of space. The carbon chain is stolen by another chain and reassembled many times until the hydrogen finds itself in a cell constantly rearranging its relations and bonds with other molecules. Now it hardly ever stops changing, never stops interacting.
Our extended self
Reply
I’m rereading Kevin Kelly’s The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future.
“If I re-google my own email (stored in a cloud) to find out what I said (which I do) or rely on the cloud for my memory, where does my “I” end and the cloud start? If all the images of my life, and all the snippets of my interests, and all of my notes and all my chitchat with friends, and all my choices, and all my recommendations, and all my thoughts, and all my wishes — if all this is sitting somewhere, but nowhere in particular, it changes how I think of myself. […] The cloud is our extended soul. Or, if you prefer, our extended self.”