The Unbanking of America

The Unbanking of America: How the New Middle Class Survives by Lisa Servon

Taking jobs at a check cashing service in New York, and at a payday lender in California, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania (and a writer and lecturer on consumer financial services) attempts to obtain some ground truth on the plight of financially insecure Americans.

I think it comes as no surprise that a great many Americans are struggling financially. The economy isn’t what it once was. Adjusted for inflation, wages have declined since 1972. Secure jobs with benefits are relatively scarce. Although productivity has increased over the past few decades, most of the resulting benefits have filtered up to CEOs, managers, and stockholders. They no longer trickle down as pay raises or benefits for average workers. Personally, I don’t see how this situation is sustainable. Too many people are living paycheck to paycheck, saving little, and are unable to cover contingencies such as medical expenses or car repairs, let alone luxuries. What may come as a surprise to some is how pervasive economic insecurity is. It’s not just for the poor anymore. It’s now affecting the middle class. Far too many find themselves marginalized in an economy that still hinges on consumer spending. With so many consumers effectively excluded, how can the system endure?

Anyone interested in this subject has seen the statistics. The author of this book goes beyond those to the personal level, showing what the impact is on some of these excluded individuals and relating how they cope. Many have turned away from banks to alternative financial services such as check cashers and payday lenders. When you simply look at the numbers, these services may seem predatory. Paying close to 2% of the value to cash a check, or 400% annual interest on a payday loan certainly seem excessive. But for some, this turns out to actually be less expensive than similar services from traditional banks, which do not offer small, short-term, unsecured loans, and charge exorbitant fees for maintaining low balances and for overdrafts. It’s an interesting read about a subject that I think should be getting more political attention. There is a problem here that needs to be addressed.

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Life 3.0

Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
by Max Tegmark

What is life? What is intelligence? What is consciousness? Are these possible only in naturally evolved, biological creatures like us or might a substrate constructed of metal, plastic, and silicon allow them? And if it could, if an artificial intelligence did come into being, would its intellect grow such that our minds would seem like those of bugs in comparison? If so, what are the consequences?

These are the kinds of questions Max Tegmark, a professor of physics at MIT, addresses in Life 3.0. He doesn’t definitively answer any of them, of course. No one knows if, let alone how, such an Artificial General Intelligence could be made. And certainly no one can predict with accuracy what changes such an AGI would bring about to us lowly humans and to our civilization. It could mean the beginning of a grand new era for humanity, or it could mean its abrupt end. Several alternatives are explored in this book.

Tegmark argues that because the impact of AGI could be so profound, it is vitally important to ensure that it benefits our species rather than harms it. He, along with a group of AI developers, scientists, and philosophers, propose twenty-three principles to guide AI development, which can be found on the website of the Future of Life Institute (https://futureoflife.org/ai-principles/). Since these were established by consensus, they are fairly generic, pie-in-the-sky kinds of statements, but they seem to be a good start.

Personally, I’m not overly concerned about a robot apocalypse. I have little doubt that AI will continue to improve, and that it will impact us in significant ways—materially, culturally, and even psychologically. I also see no reason why a super-intelligent AGI could not exist…some day. But I see no reason for such a thing to be malevolent or even harmful. By definition, AGI isn’t human, so, unlike us, it should be a rational agent, immune to the kinds of psychological flaws that have been at the root of much of human misery. AGI may increase the rate of societal change and stress our capacity to adjust, but we’re an adaptable species. I think we can cope. There will be those who will no doubt attempt to abuse AGI for personal gain or to pursue a favored ideology. This is a concern with any new technology. It’s a human failing, not an inherent problem with AGI, and for every despot with an enslaved AGI, there will be those of nobler temperament with AGIs of their own to counter him. It seems to me that the very existence of AGI would help ensure that conflicts would be foreseen and mitigated before they become an existential threat simply because there are more people who want to avoid an apocalypse than there are those who wish to bring one about. At least, I hope this is true.

I found this an interesting read. I recommend it.

Soonish

Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That’ll Improve and/or Ruin Everything
by Kelly Weinersmith and Zach Weinersmith

Technological advances can change the world. They have before. Human civilization was significantly altered in the not-so-distant past by indoor plumbing, steam power, and the assembly line. Imagine how different your life would be without electricity, automobiles, computers, and the internet. One can argue about the costs and benefits, but no one can dispute that such things have had wide-ranging impacts on how we live. Innovations like these were the result of brilliant people striving to understand the forces of nature and then inventing new ways to harness them to improve our lives. This process continues today. (If it ever stops, we’re in trouble.)

In Soonish, a husband and wife team (a cartoonist and a biological scientist) explore ten areas that may soon (or soonish) bring about such life-altering changes: cheap access to space, asteroid mining, fusion power, programmable matter, robotic construction, augmented reality, synthetic biology, precision medicine, bioprinting, and brain-computer interfaces. For each of these, they explain what it is, how close we are to achieving it (and why we might not), things to be concerned about, and how it could change the world. It’s not a comprehensive list of emerging technologies nor is it an overly detailed one. It doesn’t predict that these things will happen. It doesn’t promise a brighter future or warn of an impending apocalypse. It doesn’t argue that these things should or should not be pursued. It’s a reasonably objective overview for casual readers of areas that are currently being explored, interspersed with humor and cartoons, and it’s a surprisingly entertaining read. I know I enjoyed it.