My cover story in Jacobin on AI capitalism and the x-risk debates
post by garrison · 2024-02-12T23:34:16.526Z · LW · GW · 5 commentsThis is a link post for https://jacobin.com/2024/01/can-humanity-survive-ai
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comment by DanielFilan · 2024-02-13T05:54:10.665Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
[Marc Andreessen] followed it up in October with his “Techno-Optimist Manifesto,” which, in addition to praising a founder of Italian fascism
For those who were as curious as me, the person in question is Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, who Wikipedia says founded the Italian Futurist movement and also was a co-author of the Fascist Manifesto in 1919.
He seems to have had a strange relationship to Fascism as it became more prominent - my shallow read is that he supported it but was more focussed on the "national revival" part than racial hatred. Quotes from the relevant section of his Wikipedia page:
Replies from: EZ97Marinetti was one of the first affiliates of the Italian Fascist Party. In 1919 he co-wrote with Alceste De Ambris the Fascist Manifesto, the original manifesto of Italian Fascism. He opposed Fascism's later exaltation of existing institutions, terming them "reactionary," and, after walking out of the 1920 Fascist party congress in disgust, withdrew from politics for three years. However, he remained a notable force in developing the party philosophy throughout the regime's existence...
As part of his campaign to overturn tradition, Marinetti also attacked traditional Italian food. His Manifesto of Futurist Cooking was published in the Turin Gazzetta del Popolo on 28 December 1930. Arguing that "People think, dress[,] and act in accordance with what they drink and eat", Marinetti proposed wide-ranging changes to diet. He condemned pasta, blaming it for lassitude, pessimism, and lack of virility, — and promoted the eating of Italian-grown rice. In this, as in other ways, his proposed Futurist cooking was nationalistic, rejecting foreign foods and food names. It was also militaristic, seeking to stimulate men to be fighters...
On 17 November 1938, Italy passed The Racial Laws, discriminating against Italian Jews, much like the discrimination pronounced in the Nuremberg Laws. The antisemitic trend in Italy resulted in attacks against modern art, judged too foreign, too radical and anti-nationalist. In the 11 January 1939 issue of the Futurist journal, Artecrazia, Marinetti expressed his condemnation of such attacks on modern art, noting Futurism is both Italian and nationalist, not foreign, and stating that there were no Jews in Futurism. Furthermore, he claimed Jews were not active in the development of modern art. Regardless, the Italian state shut down Artecrazia.
↑ comment by EZ97 · 2024-02-13T23:21:43.611Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
An addendum to this: Marinetti embraced an early form of Italian fascism ('sansepolcrino') that already by 1925 had been in fact disavowed by fascist leaders and that was pretty much antithetical to fascism as most people intend it.
Here the 1919 Fascist Manifesto from Wikipedia, I am familiar with the original document and it's correct. Not to be confused with the 1925 Manifesto of the Fascist Intellectuals.
Politically, the Manifesto calls for:
- Universal suffrage with a lowered voting age to 18 years, and voting and electoral office eligibility for all ages 25 and up;
- Proportional representation on a regional basis;
- Voting for women;
- Representation at government level of newly created national councils by economic sector;
- The abolition of the Italian Senate (at the time, the Senate, as the upper house of parliament, was by process elected by the wealthier citizens, but were in reality direct appointments by the king. It has been described as a sort of extended council of the crown);
- The formation of a national council of experts for labor, for industry, for transportation, for the public health, for communications, etc. Selections to be made of professionals or of tradesmen with legislative powers, and elected directly to a general commission with ministerial powers.
In labor and social policy, the Manifesto calls for:
- The quick enactment of a law of the state that sanctions an eight-hour workday for all workers;
- A minimum wage;
- The participation of workers' representatives in the functions of industry commissions;
- To show the same confidence in the labor unions (that prove to be technically and morally worthy) as is given to industry executives or public servants;
- Reorganization of the railways and the public transport sector;
- Revision of the draft law on invalidity insurance;
- Reduction of the retirement age from 65 to 55.
In military affairs, the Manifesto advocates:
- Creation of a short-service national militia with specifically defensive responsibilities;
- Armaments factories are to be nationalized;
- A peaceful but competitive foreign policy.
In finance, the Manifesto advocates:
- A strong extraordinary tax on capital of a progressive nature, which takes the form of true partial expropriation of all wealth;
- The seizure of all the possessions of the religious congregations and the abolition of all the bishoprics, which constitute an enormous liability on the Nation and on the privileges of the poor;
- Revision of all contracts for military provisions;
- The revision of all military contracts and the seizure of 85 percent of the profits therein.
comment by brambleboy · 2024-02-13T18:43:40.906Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Thank you for writing this, this is by far the strongest argument for taking this problem seriously tailored to leftists I've seen and I'll be sharing it. Hopefully the frequent (probably unavoidable) references to EA doesn't turn them off too much.
Replies from: garrisoncomment by aaguirre · 2024-02-17T18:07:59.812Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Great article Garrison!
I found that the vitriolic debate between the people worried about extinction and those worried about AI’s existing harms hides the more meaningful divide — between those trying to make AI more profitable and those trying to make it more human.
Bravo.