Futurology

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A.I. can radically lengthen your lifespan, says futurist Ray Kurzweil. (fortune.com)

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] NOT_RICK 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

I like what John Rennie has to say about Ray:

Therein lie the frustrations of Kurzweil's brand of tech punditry. On close examination, his clearest and most successful predictions often lack originality or profundity. And most of his predictions come with so many loopholes that they border on the unfalsifiable.

Futurist is such a bullshit title, imo. Leo Laporte has a woman on TWiT fairly often, can’t recall her name, but she’s a “futurist” and she’s constantly sniffing her own farts when she’s on.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Amy Webb? I've just rewatched her latest appearance and I didn't think she was that bad. If anything, Kevin Rose (the other guest that episode) was far more willing to accept the near-magic claims about AI than she was. She does call herself a futurist and has some of those techbro vibes at times, but I thought most of her AI comments on that episode were fairly measured. My biggest criticism might be the same as that quote you posted: that they're not very profound or actionable.

Slightly off topic, but I don't find her anywhere near as annoying as Alex Lindsay and his constant defence of big business and criticism of even the mildest of pro-consumer regulation. And he's a regular co-host, not an occasional guest…

[–] NOT_RICK 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Yeah that’s her. Kevin seems like the classic out of touch California VC tech bro so that tracks. If I recall correctly he has a financial stake in the hype.

Amy is always talking about these proprietary analytical tools that she has built that honestly just sound like a charlatan talking about how insightful their crystal ball is. I feel like she goes on just to pitch her consulting work. I agree about Alex

[–] EveryoneDiesAlone 1 points 5 months ago

Anyone who has any wisdom whatsoever would at least reject the title “futurist” and i would expect fart smelling to be the least egregious offense of these self titled so and so’s.