SHOULD WE REBEL AGAINST AI?

You are free to rebel against AI, but you will soon be passed by, or more correctly, blown by. It is just too powerful: first, as an incredible encyclopedia; second, as a synthesizer, putting together information from diverse areas; third, as a problem-solver; and finally, as an assembler of information into credible essays and/or answers. It will also clean up drafts with extraordinary skill. It can save hours of research in libraries. On the downside, it will totally alter education in ways we cannot yet fathom.

By analogy, consider the introduction of calculators only decades ago. With them, students can now compute numbers with ease. However, they have lost any sense of numbers, magnitudes, and checks against plugging in wrong numbers (easy to do). Mental math is dead. For example, you can see people using a calculator to compute a 10% tip. Not good.

Finally, if you really want to rebel against AI, you need to learn how. But how do you do it? I don’t know. So, I asked AI how, Grok in particular. Here is the answer given, verbatim.

Opt out and boycott: Start small by disabling AI features on your devices and apps—turn off those “helpful” assistants, avoid generative tools like ChatGPT or image makers, and skip products from companies pushing AI hard. Buy older hardware without built-in AI gimmicks, and let corporations know via reviews, surveys, or direct feedback that you’re not buying into it. This echoes calls from anti-AI communities to starve the beast by withholding your data and dollars.
Educate and advocate: Dive into the real issues like job displacement, bias in algorithms, or environmental costs of data centers. Read up on critiques from experts and share them—books like “The AI Con” suggest ridiculing overblown claims as a form of pushback, calling out “conversation simulators” instead of glorifying chatbots. GeekWire – Breaking News in Technology & Business Support regulations: Back campaigns for laws that pause superintelligent AI development until safety is proven, or require companies to pay for their energy-guzzling. We need to Pause AI +1 Groups like PauseAI or Stop Killer Robots focus on banning autonomous weapons and ensuring human control. Stop Killer Robots
Organize collectively: Join or start groups—unions have won clauses in contracts to limit AI in workplaces, like writers and nurses refusing synthetic media without consent. GeekWire – Breaking News in Technology & Business Online, forums discuss mass civil disobedience, like refusing to work in AI-driven systems or protesting with your wallet against AI-generated content in media. Question authority philosophically: Know your values, challenge norms, and build networks to amplify resistance without compromising ethics. @Tickles00
Flip the script: Some activists turn AI against oppressors—using it for secure communication, evading censorship, or amplifying marginalized voices, especially in fights against autocratic misuse. Journal of Democracy But if you’re pure anti-AI, create human-only art, music, or writing to highlight what’s lost in the machine churn.
Embrace the cultural revolt: From online “robot slurs” to street-level pushback against delivery bots, society’s brewing resentment is turning into broader calls for inclusivity in AI design, especially for underrepresented groups. The Miscellany News +1 Mock the hype, demand transparency, and vote for policies that prioritize people over profits.

Behavioral Science and Problem-Solving

I. I. Introduction. Concerning our general behavior, it’s high about time we all had some understanding of how we operate on ourselves, and it is just as important how we are operated on by others. This is the wheelhouse of behavioral sciences. It is a vast subject. It touches our lives constantly. It’s influence is pervasive and can be so subtle we never notice it. Behavioral sciences profoundly affect our ability and success at problem-solving, from the elementary level to highly complex wicked problems. This is discussed in Section IV. We begin with the basics of behavioral sciences, Section II, and then through the lens of multiple categories and examples, Section III. II. ...

The Lemming Instinct

In certain vital domains, a pervasive mediocrity among practitioners can stifle genuine advancement. When the intellectual output of a field is predominantly average, it inevitably produces research of corresponding quality. Nevertheless, some of these ideas, by sheer chance or perhaps through effective dissemination, will inevitably gain traction. A significant number of scholars and researchers will gravitate towards these trends, contributing to and propagating further work along these established lines. Such a trajectory allows an initially flawed concept to ascend to the status of mainstream orthodoxy. However, over an extended period, these prevailing ideas invariably fail to withstand rigorous scrutiny; they are ultimately and conclusively disproven. The disheartening pattern then reveals itself: rather than genuine progress, an equally unvalidated or incorrect idea often supplants the discredited one, swiftly establishing its own dominance. This cycle perpetuates, ensurin...

Principles of Insufficiency and Sufficiency

The principles we use but don't know it. 1. Introduction . Every field, scientific or otherwise, rests on foundational principles—think buoyancy, behavior, or democracy. Here, we explore a unique subset: principles modified by "insufficiency" and "sufficiency." While you may never have heard of them, you use them often. These terms frame principles that blend theory, practicality, and aspiration, by offering distinct perspectives. Insufficiency often implies inaction unless justified, while sufficiency suggests something exists or must be done. We’ll examine key examples and introduce a new principle with potential significance. As a principle of principles of these is that something or some action is not done enough while others may be done too much. The first six (§2-6) of our principles are in the literature, and you can easily search them online. The others are relatively new, but fit the concepts in the real world. At times, these pri...

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