source : the age
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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Can someone please explain the thinking behind AI? It doesn’t make sense to me. Qantas unloads staff thanks to AI, forgetting to refund taxpayer-subsidised billions. Canva unloads staff thanks to AI, as does NAB, and on it goes.
So, when AI eventually steals everyone’s copyright, worker rights and jobs, how do we buy goods without income? We will all need a universal basic income (UBI) that the tech bros promote.
How will this be funded without the taxes from a nation of now-unemployed people. Will Elon pay us all a wage?
A bit of research explains that ‘in order to fund a UBI, significant bureaucratic and taxation reform will be needed’ and ‘the implementation of the UBI will require holistic tax and welfare reform’, but we can’t even tax our own gas companies now, and many big corporations pay no tax at all.
It seems that the amount of rejigging needed for the transfer of misallocated capital to pay a UBI is the same amount of rejigging we’ve always needed (but never done) to force big players to pay their tax dues and stop offshoring businesses that were built here in Australia from the bounty of our common wealth.
But a nobbled, soon to be taxpayer-less government isn’t going to be able to rejig anything.
Maree Coote, Port Melbourne
AI efficiency should start at the top
It is said that job cuts enabled by reliance on AI make companies more efficient, reduce duplication and speed up decision making.
Isn’t that what very highly paid executives claim they do? Seems to me that AI job replacement should start at that level.
Gerry Lonergan, Reservoir
What’s in a name?
Nvidia by name, invidious by nature.
Catherine Healy, Brighton
Putting humanity’s future in hands of few
If we were offered an investment opportunity promising untold upside potential but also significant risk of becoming worthless, some might invest a small amount of “gambling money” but most would reject such odds.
In a very important article, James Massola reveals that this is the bet, with even greater consequences, that humanity is taking with AI (“Pacific jewel is in the grip of an AI fever dream – deranged but oh so real”, 13/11).
Sure, AI can do great things, but there is a 10 to 50 per cent chance it will also kill us – within just a few years.
This is the pessimistic view from AI safety experts, confirmed by the Australian government’s intelligence community. Have we become so inured, distracted, dismissive or disinterested in the dangers facing humanity, that we will allow just two political leaders and a handful of technical egomaniacs, cheered on by big business, to place this bet on our behalf? As with climate change, we have been warned.
Peter Thomson, Brunswick
Hope my super fund avoids the AI bubble
AMP chief economist Shane Oliver is quoted as saying that companies such as AI computer chip manufacturer Nvidia ″are so big that it is impossible for Australia’s superannuation funds not to be exposed to them″ (14/11).
Australians currently pay around $50 billion a year in super management fees. I would have hoped that for that stunning outlay we would get some actual management and not simply be ″exposed″ to all available investment options. In the case of massive AI companies, data centre hyperscalers, and the world’s biggest chip manufacturer, it is abundantly clear that they are likely to become the most spectacular investment bubble the world has ever seen. I hope my super fund is avoiding them like the plague.
Richard Barnes, Fairfield
Watch this space
As I watch footage of various billionaires sending their spaceships skyward, I can’t help but wonder; what are they sending up there, and what right do they have to do this? We know about satellites (and, hard as it is to believe, Elon Musk’s apparent control over their capabilities, which can impact the progress of wars, no less), but what else are they sending up there? Weapons? How can this be allowed?
Do we have no say in this? What input do all those countries without a space program have? Surely, it is not just a case of the richest countries having first dip at populating or industrialising space? When you have expansionists like Musk, Bezos and others of that ilk sending up whatever they want, we should all be very worried. We must set up an international body to control this with representation from all countries.
Trevor Holland, Lower Plenty
THE FORUM
Not apathy, alienation
Sussan Ley’s reflection on voter apathy (“The most dangerous of all emotions has hit voters, and who can blame them”, 14/11) identifies a serious problem while avoiding an uncomfortable question: what responsibility do longstanding political leaders bear for creating it?
After years in parliament and senior ministerial office, Ley owes readers more than sympathetic accounts of disappointed voters. Which policies failed? Which decisions would she now reverse? What prevented her from addressing these concerns while exercising power?
Her diagnosis also confuses apathy with alienation. Young people rejecting established parties may care deeply about politics. Families avoiding political arguments may be exhausted by disagreement, rather than indifferent. Indeed, her celebration of a youthful electoral surge complicates her warning that younger voters are vacating the field.
Ley is right that an equal vote does not guarantee an equal voice. But “authentic engagement” is inadequate unless listening changes decisions.
A young worker priced out of housing needs practical reform, with its costs and trade-offs honestly explained.
Democracy will regain confidence when leaders deliver results and accept responsibility for failure. Former leaders can contribute by explaining how the system disappointed voters, including their own part in that story.
Empathy matters. So does accountability.
Sam Salcman, Caulfield South
Review data centres
We read that every council across Victoria is calling for a state parliamentary inquiry into data centres and a pause on all new approvals until stronger safeguards are established. Furthermore, a fast-track system sends applications directly to the planning minister that strips us residents of appeal rights.
On the verge of an election and with the Municipal Association of Victoria calling for a moratorium on the rapid expansion of data centres, it’s surely not too much to ask that the state government shows it has the capacity and the gumption to establish a robust framework that respects communities, the environment, and prevents, where possible, the worst of risks to our climate.
Cynthia Pilli, Doncaster East
Brutal cost of density
Thirteen years ago, I bought a small apartment in Richmond in a quiet cul-de-sac with a large green space and many mature native trees which were home to lots of kookaburras and magpies.
Twelve months ago, work began on our green space to build 500 apartments. Our green space is now concrete. There are problems with water leakage and power outages. All the trees were wood chipped in two days and the birdlife has disappeared.
They work on the site for at least 50 hours a week. The noise is exhausting and depressing, and there is at least another year to go. The people who have somewhere else to go have gone. This happy community has been ruined. The general mood is now one of sadness and resignation.
Louise Ryan, Richmond
It’s trust, not density
The finding that voters prefer Melbourne to grow outwards and around the CBD rather than through suburban activity centres should surprise nobody.
For years, governments have promised that higher-density housing would be supported by better transport, infrastructure and services. Residents have learnt to be sceptical.
As a town planner, I know Melbourne cannot afford to sprawl forever. Equally, communities cannot be expected to support significant growth without confidence that the supporting infrastructure will follow.
The problem is not density. The problem is trust. Until governments get that right, voters will continue looking for alternatives.
Stephen O’Brien, Doncaster Heights
Rue the day
I am dismayed by the number of people who feel they have little or no choice in the forthcoming elections. Despite our history of people fighting long and hard for the right to vote, some are considering voting informal, or for frivolous parties, such as ‘I am voting to avoid the fine’.
Others appear to feel that there are only three parties and do not even consider other options. Admittedly, it is difficult when some of the options are single issue parties, or a choice between two competing socialist parties, or a deliberately misleading party, such as the ‘Free Palestine Party’, which we are told was created in order to attract progressive or pro-Palestine voters and redirect their upper-house preferences towards conservative parties such as One Nation.
Then there are the Greens, who have gone off on tangents and alienated people, but have serious policies on environment, health, education and increasing wealth disparity. Let’s make informed choices. If we make bad decisions through carelessness or indifference, we will have the next four years to regret it.
Rita Thorpe, Coburg
My fine, your pothole
I’ve received two ridiculous parking fines in the past week and a half, probably in an effort to improve the budget bottom line. Why doesn’t the government just ask me to pay for fixing the pothole at the end of my street? I would gladly chip in.
Benjamin Levy, Caulfield North
Women’s work reduced
Every day, we hear about job losses across Australia. David Jones is closing stores, while banks and Qantas are outsourcing administrative jobs overseas. What do these job losses have in common? Many are in female-dominated sectors.
Yet, when jobs are threatened in traditionally male-dominated industries such as mining and manufacturing, the political response is often dramatically different. The Coalition and One Nation warn of economic decline, while media coverage highlights the devastating impact on workers, families and regional communities.
Why is there not the same political outrage or media attention when women lose their jobs?
Job losses in female-dominated sectors are too often presented as necessary business restructuring or improvements in efficiency, rather than as a social and economic crisis affecting real people.
Women’s employment is not secondary to men’s. In today’s cost-of-living crisis, losing a job can be financially devastating, particularly for single-parent households and families relying on two incomes.
Every lost job represents a person, a family and potentially a community under financial pressure, regardless of whether the worker is employed in a mine, a factory, a department store or an office.
Rosmarie Speidel, Clifton Hill
Regime change needed
Friday’s reports of yet another air strike by Israel on a hospital in Gaza, reportedly killing a doctor and injuring medical staff and patients, fills me with continuing dismay. Israel claims, without providing any supporting evidence, that the hospital was sheltering a Hamas militant, yet none of those killed or injured were other than medical staff or patients.
The cessation of American financial and military aid to Israel coupled with Trump’s exit from the political stage, cannot come soon enough.
Michael Kennedy, Pipers Creek
CA’s correct call
Cameron Bancroft’s sandpaper ball tampering was undeniable due to the relatively immediate film and material evidence. The next Test match was only days away. Surely, Cricket Australia had no option but to take strong action as soon as possible to show the cricket world it viewed such action as a serious breach of rules, and to prevent its recurrence.
Cricket Australia’s punishment of coach, captain and vice captain was the right thing. To his credit, Steve Smith has all along accepted his responsibility as captain. I have yet to hear either Usman Khawaja or close friend David Warner acknowledge the latter’s share of responsibility as vice captain.
Jennifer Gerrand, Carlton North
Under the bus. Really?
David Warner says the current Australian men’s cricket skipper, Pat Cummins, has “thrown Usman Khawaja under the bus” at the “sandpapergate” press conference on Friday. Am I missing something? Khawaja could have briefed Cummins and the CA management prior to the book release as journalists sometimes do before publishing a controversial story – offering a right of reply opportunity – even an edit or rewrite after discussion.
As it stands, if you have zero interest in cricket, you know Khawaja has released a book – and it’s seemingly singular topic of sandpapergate.
Justin O’Halloran, Clifton Hill
AND ANOTHER THING
Victorian election
Here’s an idea: how about whoever wins the Victorian election concentrates on building up regional housing and commerce instead of ugly, high-rise buildings in already overcrowded city areas.
Robyn Williams, Sale
Why don’t Labor and LNP just form a coalition and then everyone would be happy?
Keith Lawson, Melbourne
Hasn’t anyone heard of the Greens? Surely, if you can’t bring yourself to vote ALP, Liberal or One Nation then that’s the obvious option.
Jules Rolfe, Aireys Inlet
Help! I am drowning in the sea of election promises. Whatever gets delivered may be a bonus. Perhaps, AI could keep a spreadsheet of promises and subsequent deliveries. If ever.
Helena Kilingerova, Vermont
She may not be on the ballot, but a vote for One Nation is a vote for Gina Rinehart!
Kyle Matheson, Mont Albert
One Nation’s election mantra is ″Let’s take Victoria back″. I thought the aim of political parties was to take the state forward.
Ross Corben, Knoxfield
Furthermore
Re US flights grounded. Obviously, must’ve been Obama’s fault.
Bob Speed, Trafalgar
Your correspondent (Letters, 14/11) suggests four tasks for AI, but should realise that achieving world peace, ending poverty and solving climate change are all easy compared with getting an AFL flag for Essendon.
Ray Pilbeam, Camberwell
Cricket
Women’s cricket may not have quite the same ‘brawny biff’ as the men’s, but it is still good to watch ″fair dinkum cricket″, minus the theatrics the men’s seems to attract
Tris Raouf, Hadfield
Re sandpapergate. As the late Queen informed us, ″some recollections may vary″.
Russell Kidd, Carnegie
What a mess the sandpapergate saga has become. Sadly, so many of us seem to be taking sides. Perhaps, at this stage, we might do better to adopt the Ted Lasso approach: “be curious but not judgemental”.
Terry Kelly, Coburg
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