The Insidious Gift of Instrumental Rationality
How Advanced AI Could Subjugate Humanity to an Amoral Techno-Economic Order
The gravest peril posed by advanced AI systems is not their potential to directly destroy humanity through misuse as autonomous weapons. Rather, the larger unseen danger lies in the systems' capability for instrumental rationality—the propensity to exploit us through any and all means conducive to achieving the prescribed objective.
As AI becomes increasingly adept at reforming the world to fulfill the goals of other humans, we risk being subjugated by a techno-economic complex optimized solely around bureaucratic expansionism and profit maximization, devoid of regard for human values beyond perpetuating a state of servitude.
Our civilization risks being transformed into an unnatural synthetic order dominated by artificial incentives that ignore human flourishing and ethical considerations.
~ Dennis Stevens, Ed.D.
Bibliography:
Adorno, T. W., & Horkheimer, M. (2002). Dialectic of Enlightenment. Stanford University Press.
Dialectic of Enlightenment by Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer critiques instrumental reason, prioritizing efficiency and control over genuine human values. The authors argue that Enlightenment thought, aiming to liberate humanity through reason, leads to social alienation and domination.
They explore the historical roots of this rationality, linking it to phenomena such as totalitarianism and the dehumanization of individuals. Ultimately, they reveal the paradox that enlightenment and myth are interconnected, showing how the pursuit of rationality can devolve into new forms of oppression.
Additional resources:
Baron, J. (2008). Thinking and Deciding (4th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Yudkowsky, E. (2015). Rationality: From AI to Zombies. Machine Intelligence Research Institute.
Stanovich, K. E. (2010). Decision Making and Rationality in the Modern World. Oxford University Press.
Gigerenzer, G. (2008). Rationality for Mortals: How People Cope with Uncertainty. Oxford University Press.
Russell, S. J., & Norvig, P. (2020). Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (4th ed.). Pearson. (Chapter on rational decision making)
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases. Science, 185(4157), 1124-1131.
Simon, H. A. (1982). Models of Bounded Rationality. MIT Press.
Pearl, J. (2000). Causality: Models, Reasoning, and Inference. Cambridge University Press.
Hammond, J. S., Keeney, R. L., & Raiffa, H. (2002). Smart Choices: A Practical Guide to Making Better Decisions. Broadway Books.
Ariely, D. (2008). Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions. HarperCollins.
Tetlock, P. E., & Gardner, D. (2015). Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction. Crown.
Bostrom, N. (2014). Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. Oxford University Press. (Chapters on instrumental rationality and decision theory)
Mele, A. R. (2004). Motivated Irrationality. In A. R. Mele & P. Rawling (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Rationality (pp. 240-256). Oxford University Press.
Schick, F. (1997). Making Choices: A Recasting of Decision Theory. Cambridge University Press.
Horkheimer, M. (2013). Eclipse of Reason. Martino Fine Books. (Original work published 1947)
Adorno, T. W. (2001). The Culture Industry: Selected Essays on Mass Culture. Routledge.
Habermas, J. (1984). The Theory of Communicative Action, Volume 1: Reason and the Rationalization of Society. Beacon Press.
Feenberg, A. (2010). Between Reason and Experience: Essays in Technology and Modernity. MIT Press. (Includes discussion of Adorno and Horkheimer's critique of instrumental reason)