Only An Opposition?

(The following was written without ChatGPT, etc.)

Hi -

The title of this petition is oppositional, in nature - it’s not a declaration to do a thing, but rather a declaration for someone(s) somewhere to NOT do a thing. As far as it goes, it may be sufficient - but I’ll be the first to recognize that there is much work to do beyond this. 

In the first place, if these tools are being made to solve problems, then let’s begin the real work of investigating what the problems are. Once we’ve understood and itemized those problems, let’s then work to discover what are the better ways to solve those problems.

In the second place, what is the world we think we’ll be making with these tools? Well, let’s build that world another way. Why use a bonfire to light a cigar when a match will do just fine?

Or - is it the case that we don’t precisely know what world we’re making? Or - as can happen - is it the case that the majority of us aren’t privileged to know precisely what world is being made around us? In either case, it seems like ‘humanoid robots’ don’t exactly embody any rational framing of the core issue.

At minimum, it seems to me, that the work is to build a society for our descendants - one that can inherit enough modernity so as to justify our investment in this civilization - but also one that retains within it a natural life that allows the wild, natural human to express itself well into the future. 

This petition exists to foresee and forestall the worst case scenarios and the manifestation of the totality of these machines - and it exists with a general ambivalence towards robots and instead a deep love for the human experience. 

Thank you for taking a moment to sign / share this petition.

Sincerely,

Michael Christensen