A lot of people are worried that AI will take over the world, but Auerbach’s new book raises the specter of a different threat: what if we’ve already been conquered by an autonomous intelligence?
1. In transactional systems, you raise the cost of a transaction. If we implemented taxes at the trade level the velocity would slow considerably as there would be fewer trades that were arbitrage on natural perturbations of a complex system.
2. In communication systems, remove the algorithms that create bias. Revert to linear, time-based ordering and remove any "assist" that causes some information to travel faster because it has higher engagement. These algorithms absolutely increase the memetic velocity.
3. Tax wealth, which would have the effect of creating resistance to "investing" in things that have little underlying value. If you have to pay x% a year to own something, then you will focus on it actually having value so you don't pay a tax and then lose the underlying value.
There is also a bit of a flaw in your argument. You seem to claim that even with the "great firewall" that Xi still cannot suppress all dissent. The idea of controlling society by the full suppression of dissent is an outmoded approach that very few serious leaders will implement. Graph theory provides ways of understanding cascades, or rapid reconfigurations of information. It demonstrates that local perturbations can be allowed as long as the system does not approach cascade, and that allowing local behavior avoids broader unintended consequences. Modern suppression of dissent looks to identify when a subnetwork is approaching a cascade and neutering it right before the transition.
There are solutions to stopping runaway networks:
1. In transactional systems, you raise the cost of a transaction. If we implemented taxes at the trade level the velocity would slow considerably as there would be fewer trades that were arbitrage on natural perturbations of a complex system.
2. In communication systems, remove the algorithms that create bias. Revert to linear, time-based ordering and remove any "assist" that causes some information to travel faster because it has higher engagement. These algorithms absolutely increase the memetic velocity.
3. Tax wealth, which would have the effect of creating resistance to "investing" in things that have little underlying value. If you have to pay x% a year to own something, then you will focus on it actually having value so you don't pay a tax and then lose the underlying value.
There is also a bit of a flaw in your argument. You seem to claim that even with the "great firewall" that Xi still cannot suppress all dissent. The idea of controlling society by the full suppression of dissent is an outmoded approach that very few serious leaders will implement. Graph theory provides ways of understanding cascades, or rapid reconfigurations of information. It demonstrates that local perturbations can be allowed as long as the system does not approach cascade, and that allowing local behavior avoids broader unintended consequences. Modern suppression of dissent looks to identify when a subnetwork is approaching a cascade and neutering it right before the transition.