Sustensis – A Think Tank that makes you think!

Sustensis is a not-for-profit Think Tank providing inspirations, suggestions, and solutions for a Civilisational Transition to coexistence with Superintelligence. We must recognize that the scale of the required changes represents a Civilizational Shift in the history of a human species. To successfully navigate this transition to a new civilization, we must accept the magnitude and timeframe required for this transformation.

An important part of our work is Transhumanism. Transhumans are people who can make decisions and communicate with computers just by thought using Brain-Computer-Interfaces (BCI). They will soon become far more intelligent than any human. Super fast technological progress will ultimately enable Transhumans to become a new species – Posthumans. Thus for us…

 “Transhumanism is about Humanity’s transition to its coexistence with Superintelligence until humans evolve into a new species”. 

Our key objective is to minimize the risk of developing a malicious Superintelligence, which requires a global co-operation, hardly possible without a deep reform of democracy. This area is supported by our linked website Euro-Agora, which presents a new type of democracy. It combines the best features of direct and representational democracy into a Consensual Presidential Democracy. Furthermore, if Humanity’s transition is to be carried out swiftly and effectively it must be consensual. To facilitate that, we have developed an AI-enabled Consensual Debating approach, supported by the most advanced Artificial Intelligence Assistants on our second subsidiary website – Consensus AI. principles, which you can view here. We invite experts in various domains of knowledge to join us in making this website relevant to people interested in certain aspects of human progress in the context of evolving Artificial Intelligence to ensure that when it emerges as Superintelligence, it will become our friend rather than foe.

It is best to use the left side bar for a detailed navigation. It is arranged following a logical order, starting with Existential Risks, with the sub-tabs explaining the proposed solutions in more detail. There is also a comprehensive SEARCH facility to help you access the reuired information. You can access the content and leave comments without registering. However, to make standalone posts or articles, you need to register. The posts and entries are archived and continuously updated under the main tabs. This website observes the principles of the Global Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and by entering this site you agree to those principles,  which you can view here.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

LATEST NEWS AND ARTICLES

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Two AI-generated jornalists discuss in their own podcast Tony Czarnecki’s article ‘Taking Control over AI before it starts controlling us’

London, 21 September, 2024

You may have come across some extraordinary examples of what AI can already do or how it can help us. Recently, I have come across a truly astounding innovation hardly mentioned by its developers Google Deep Mind, and still called ‘Experimental’ – NotebookLM. I have decided to try it myself. As the basis for this experiment, I have used my article ‘Taking control over AI before it starts controlling us’ published last year, and which you can also view on our website (click on the image below):

Image generated by: DALL-E

In this experiment, NotebookLM has read the article and created a podcast – an interview between two jornalists – an ‘AI woman’ and ‘AI man’. What is most striking is a superbly natural flow of this conversation, with humour, hesitation, as well as other emotional expressions. Just be amazed. This is how these two ‘journalists’ summarized their podcast based on a 12-page article:

“The provided text is an excerpt from a document entitled “Taking control over AI before it starts controlling us”. This article discusses the potential dangers of Artificial Intelligence (AI) reaching a point where it surpasses human intelligence and control. The author, Tony Czarnecki, argues that the development of a Superintelligence, an AI entity with its own goals and surpassing human capabilities, poses an existential threat to humanity. He highlights the need for global action and governance to control AI development before it reaches a point of singularity, where it becomes uncontrollable. Czarnecki proposes a framework involving an international agency to monitor AI progress and implement a system of control based on universal values. He also explores the role of Transhumans, individuals with enhanced cognitive abilities through Brain-Computer-Interfaces, in potentially controlling Superintelligence from within. The article outlines various scenarios, including the potential for an AI-governed world, and concludes with a call for urgent global action to mitigate the potential risks of AI.”

Listen to the 8-minute podcast by clicking on the image below.

Image generated by: DALL-E

Here is another of the articles “Can AI make you happy?“, which Google’s NotebookLM turned into an interview.

In this incredibly human-like interview, it’s the emotions, which make it so remarkable. Additionally, the AI interviewers communicate very skillfully some complex problems in simpler language creating a chat over a coffee. Click on the image to listen to this 13 minute. podcast.

London, 25/9/2024

Image generated by: DALL-E

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

London, 27th April, 2024

London’s Mayoral electionsHow can the futurists impact the politicians’ choices?

This time it is about us, the Futurists, rather than Futurism as such, especially for those who live in London and will vote in the London Assembly elections on Thursday 2nd May. For me, this is the test for the bottom-up approach impacting large scale societal changes, such as increasing the awareness of the implications of the transition to coexistence with Superintelligence. Our future is shaped on our behalf by politicians. So, the real impact we could have is on the choices the politicians make. But to change their course, politicians must see the alignment of their vision with the hopes and fears of their voters. The best example is the change in the voters willingness to spend more than 2% on defence, in view of the war in Ukraine– it takes time. In the AI area, the best example is the AI Safety Summit in Bletchley Park last November, which has made the top politicians aware of a potential civilisational threat of AI.

Similarly, the changes in national and local policies can only be affected if the voters understand and accept the need for change of the current course. Throughout history, nations have been making grave errors in selecting fundamental choices, which determined the future of their countries. The Russian revolution of 1917 and Hitler’s win in 1932 elections in Germany, are the best examples of how such choice determined the fate of these societies, and by extension the world, for a few generations.

In Britain the best example is the voters’ decision on Brexit. Eight years after making that decision, a decisive majority of the British public agrees it was a grave error. But hardly any politician, including the Liberal Democrats, admit it because the populist hard right-wing politicians might label their opponents as traitors. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a bottom up movement, which will convince the proverbial Joe Bloggs that the only way forward is to admit that we as voters were persuaded to make a very wrong choice (e.g. the claim of £350M weekly savings when leaving the EU). The next step should be to start renegotiating our re-entry into the EU as a full member, accepting the initial consequences of our exit, i.e. no more special exclusion from the policies, which other EU members have accepted, such as conversion to the Euro currency.

So where do we, as futurists, start. Some of you may remember that over 3 years ago, David Wood with the support of some of us wanted to participate in the London Mayoral elections launching the Transhumanist Party. We had two Zoom meetings on that subject and I had even prepared a Manifesto. One of the ideas was to work closely with the Federal Trust, under the directorship of Brendan Donnelly.

David and I had three presentations for that organisation, founded in 1945 on the initiative of Sir William Beveridge. It has always had a particular interest in the European Union and Britain’s place in it. More recently Brendan Donnelly founded a new Rejoin EU party, which participates in the London Assembly elections. The objective of the party is in its name but you can also view this video. So, here is my bold appeal to all London Futurists to vote for Brendan to become a member of the London Assembly. For those who are unsurprisingly confused how to vote (a discreet work of Boris Johnson government) here is a reminder. You will have three votes. The election of the mayor and the 14 London Constituency members is based on the First Past the Post system. But the election for the 11 London-wide Assembly members will be decided on the Additional Member System, a version of proportional representation. This is where you have a real choice because in whichever constituency you live you can vote for the Rejoin EU.

This is the test for the bottom-up approach not only for rejoining the EU but also for similar societal changes related to the Futurists’ Agenda, e.g. how to deal with Technological Unemployment or adopting the advancements in medicine and education. Because of the magnitude and the pace of change the only fast track for making such significant changes is the empowering of the Citizens Assemblies as a counterbalance to the traditional parliamentary system. But that is the subject for another debate.

Tony Czarnecki, Sustensis

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *