Oracles and Artificial Intelligence

In this ~35 minute walk I talk about philosophical themes related to artificial intelligence and our attitudes towards it. In outline:

There are similarities between modern attitudes towards AI and how ancient folks would treat oracles as authoritative and infallible.
Story about the Oracle of Apollon in Delphi and how it would provide non-answers to questions that could not be reduced to a “yes or no”.
Explanation of how we must think about complexity and what our attitude should be towards presumed oracular wisdom.
Oracles or AI are neither good nor bad. It depends on how we deal with them. Discussion about being gullible or not.
Story about Prometheus, the know-how of fire, and whether tools are good/bad for us.
Avoiding extremes by trying to be less presumptuous about our capacity for good/evil.
Switching gears to individuals affairs. Talk about feelings of expertise; of setting goals and accomplishing them.
There is value to be had in mastery, in not copy-pasting answers, but in actually understanding things in-depth.
Talk about how prior notes/work frames and limits our creativity. AI can do the same if we get in the bad habit of not putting in the hard work.
Connection between these insights and what I covered at length in my presentation about “productivity, honesty, and accountability structures”: https://protesilaos.com/books/2023-02-21-productivity-honesty-accountability-structures/.
Do not underestimate your potential and how you can feel inexorable when you put in the effort.