Why are men so scared of robots?

Existential fear of AI is just the patriarchy's fear of itself

Hi everyone!

Sorry for not being in touch. I am writing a new book so have been busy… I will tell you more about it later this year. I am very excited about it.

HOWEVER I have a piece in The New Statesman this week. It talks about how our dominant ideas about AI have been created by an almost exclusively “male” imagination.

I argue that the current debate about the potential rise of artificial general intelligence rests on the following assumptions (all based on a patriarchal view of technology):

Assumption 1

Super intelligent machines will automatically behave like male tech billionaires would behave (if they were super intelligent...)

Assumption 2

All intelligence must automatically head towards human intelligence  

Assumption 3

Technology is inherently violent

Assumption 4

It is possible to separate ”machines” from ”humans”

In the essay I argue that these (false) assumptions makes ut fear AI in ways that are simply not rational. You should check it out! (particularly if you have a man in your life who is scared of robots).

Katrine

ps. The essay also includes THE CORRECT interpretation of The Matrix trilogy (you’re welcome!)