The Wizard and the Wand: Humans vs AI - Francis Pedraza

Crazy Wisdom

Francis is the CEO of Invisible Technologies; a business outsourcing and automation company. On his third appearance on the Crazy Wisdom podcast, we discuss AI, the ideal society, individualism, whether or not AI will conquer humans and so much more. You can reach out to Francis via mail by [e-mail], or on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn at Francis Pedraza (@francispedraza)

(1:24 – 10:53) A quick summary of what Invisible Technologies is about, how it works, its incentives, and what it seeks to achieve, as well as a quick narrative of the company’s rocky history, how it evolved into its current form, and how it is able to offer its USP.

(11:09 – 13:05) The surreal nature of thought; how a single thought can be extremely complex and hold a world of information; why Francis thinks classifying emotions as ‘irrational’ is wrong.

(14:10 – 23:51) Why experts tend to be blind; why AI isn’t going to kill us and can never replace humanity, and why you should read Nick Bostrom’s ‘Superhuman’ with your ‘whole brain’ (i.e. Ian McGilChrist style); can we teach a computer to just be? Are AI information processing and human thinking the same process? Does AI think?

(23:53 – 28:50) Examples of the human inability to predict the future; why AI needs thinkers; a theory of what the singularity may look like, as opposed to the merging of tech and consciousness view; what is the constantly increasing connected nature of society doing to individuality?

(28:51 – 37:42) Why enlightenment isn’t the destruction of the individual; why a society that thrives is a paradox and what this looks like; why Utopia is ultimately fascism and why we should go for another idea instead- as presented by Francis; why none of our mechanisms- not the constitution, and not AI- can save us.

(37:45 – 43:34) Can a community become an individual? It is possible for a large group of people to be fully united in goals and aims? How to get a society of 500 million people to agree to a basic social contract.

(45:30 – 50:39) What an ideal society looks like in Francis’ view; why he’s anti-utopian; why progress is a tricky metric to measure; why societies should constantly readdress their ideas of progress; why technocracy is a sham, and why society shouldn’t be left in the hands of ‘experts’.

(50:58 – 1:01:11) Why enlightenment is a politicized term; why there isn’t just one ultimate enlightenment. Back to progress, why it’s a narrow concept in light of the vastness of being and the knowledge humanity as a whole has lost to time in the death of ancient civilizations. Why non-violence is the core rule of an ideal society and why this rule makes the ideal society inherently unstable. Why the fear of death is the major hindrance to building the ideal society.

(1:01:12) Why the individual is greater than society, even though society is bigger; where do ideas come from?; why immortality won’t solve the dilemma of being a human being in our vast universe; What the real aim of meditation is; why you can never fully understand existence. Alternate interpretations of old bible stories; Francis’ summary of what the ideal society is.