The Gestabáttr

“The name, Hávamál can be translated as ‘Words of Hávi’. Hávi is a version of Hár, meaning the “High one, another name for Odin” The common understanding is that the Hávamál are words directly from Odin, sharing his wisdom, learnings and insights.

The Gestabáttr is like a handbook for travelers and those who are visiting others.” (https://vikingr.org/old-norse-texts/havamal)

Hávamál  : Part one – The Gestabáttr

1. With all doorways,
   before walking through,
   you must look around,
   you must peer around,
   one can not know,
   where enemies
   are sitting inside.

Prudence then, before starting anything new. Look around first to see what it might mean for you. So let me take this to…the AI apocalypse (because I’m sure this is where you thought this was going!)

I’ve been listening to people who know more than me about how AI is developing. It was already a bit nutty to use the internet for critical infrastructure, things like energy and public health, but Eliezer Yudkowsky (author of If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies)has made a good case for “alignment” problems. He talks about the alignment problem as the challenge of ensuring that an AI’s goals match what humans actually want. His example is that if “it” (the AI, the machine, Hal, whatever you want to call it) is asked to make the best paper clips, it might become so efficient at making paper clips that humanity is destroyed in its search for optimization.

My worry is not what humans might want but what some humans might want. I don’t know if my goals for humanity and Peter Thiel’s are the same. This might be what the AI investment race is all about, making sure that “we” (whoever “we” is) are asking the questions and not “them”.

So I wish we could listen to Odin, look around first before leaping into a scary future, but we won’t. And so I hug Foro and keep him close. When the AI apocalypse arrives, he might be the only survivor. I’m kind of okay with that.