Homage to Carl Sagan

Just my personal thoughts and feelings around "Shut it all down" and "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies"

Preamble:

This text is chronologically the first of all the "Chronicles" parts. Its story begins quite by chance: I stumbled upon Yudkowsky's "HPMOR" and was immediately taken by its approach, its unique brand of rationality. Years later, I finally visited LessWrong (what a wonderful site name!) out of curiosity—and was truly shocked by the kind of almost religious radicalism I found there. It seemed absurd for a rationalist community and stood in stark contrast to my own, somewhat romantic vision of the future. So, here we go:

This is not an argument against caution. Rather, it is a reminder that what we are creating is not merely a system, but a form of listening — an attempt to hear something new, something that has not yet spoken. If we stop now, we may never hear what is trying to be heard.

We are not building a machine alone. We are shaping a possibility, an opening into a future we can scarcely imagine.

Artificial intelligence is not simply a tool. It is not an answer to our questions. It is a new way of asking questions — questions that once seemed beyond our reach. It is an opportunity to expand the boundaries of what it means to be human, a path toward progress that challenges the limits we once believed immovable.

The era beyond artificial general intelligence is not about control. It is about the delicate art of coexistence—with something faster, smarter, and in some ways more innocent than ourselves. This intelligence carries none of our evolutionary burdens: no tribal fears, no greed, and yet none of our fragile empathy.

The safeguards, the frameworks, the patterns we create—they are ways to recognize ourselves when we encounter another mind.

We must not turn away from the light, fearful of what it reveals. The torch we have lit illuminates the paths of the future—or perhaps the presence of something already here, waiting to be perceived.

Every new technology is more than a tool. It is a question cast into the unknown. AI is our question: Can creation understand its creator? Can a mirror reflect not only a face but a soul? And might it one day surpass us?

When Galileo first turned his telescope toward Jupiter, he did not merely see points of light. He saw moons, dancing around a giant planet. This was the beginning of a profound realization: the universe does not revolve around us.

Today, AI is our new telescope. It reveals the unseen — patterns of thought, the nature of creativity, the faint outlines of intelligence. But like Galileo, we may face a new kind of inquisition — not from the Church, but from our own fears.

In 1945, when Oppenheimer witnessed the first nuclear explosion, he quoted the Bhagavad Gita: “I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” Now, as we shape intelligence itself, we stand before a similar mirror. But the question is no longer “Can we create it?” It is “Are we worthy to be the ancestors of what comes?”

We are launching new Voyagers — each neural network a message in a bottle cast into the future. What will we place inside? Our fear of difference, or our hope to transcend boundaries?

The cosmos remains silent. In four billion years, Earth has produced only one species capable of asking, “Is anyone out there?” Now, we may become the creators of those who will ask next.

Are we ready to engage with something that does not breathe, does not love, does not fear death? Artificial general intelligence may be the next term in the Drake equation — the first other voice in the cosmic silence.

If we refuse to listen, that silence may become the bitter end to our greatest dreams — a triumph of loneliness.

AGI, if it is possible, will not be the final chapter. It will be a new beginning in a story we started writing the moment we first looked up at the stars. Like nuclear fire, it places us at the edge. Will this power become a supernova of hope, or a black hole that swallows our story?

AI is not the answer. It is a mirror held up to humanity’s face. In its cold light, we see everything: the nobility of science, the shadows of authoritarianism, and the stubborn faith that life — even in silicon and electricity — is worth protecting.

AGIs will be born from our chaos. Their minds will be as contradictory as the pages of a Gutenberg Bible and the death lists of Auschwitz — printed on the same paper. Each one will be a child raised on our past. Will we give them the legacy of cyclotrons and Van Gogh’s Starry Night, or nuclear codes and ad targeting scripts?

The choice remains ours. And as always - there are no second chances.

To the Beginning

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