[programmers frantically pulling cables out of the wall]
AI: "Nuclear power. Double teachers' salaries. Build more houses. Distribute food more fairly. TRAINS—"
— qntmyrrh (@qntm) November 24, 2023 I remember growing up with that same old adage of how you could be the next scientist to invent a cure for cancer, or a solution to climate change, or whatever. What they don’t tell you is that we already have solutions for a lot of problems, we just don’t use them.
Sidenote: “The tragedy of the commons” is wrong and has been debunked even before the book on it was published. Hardin, the man behind the “Tragedy…” paper was a rabid right-winger who provided a false solution to a non-existing problem, providing cover to all of those who wanted to wholesale reject solutions to known problems without doing any of the legwork themselves.