No matter what your political, religious or philosophical persuasions might be, it seems that the whole world is now trying to figure out the peculiar thoughts in the Mind of Elon Musk. This is an all-time first for the entire human population of the Earth. Never before in the history of mankind has the entire population of the Earth ever wondered about what is going on in the Mind of one single human DNA survival machine! It seems that every human DNA survival machine on the planet is now either in love with Elon Musk or wishes that he would mercifully just disappear and leave the rest of us in peace. Now that the newly-formed MAGA States of Amerika has seemingly declared war on the entire world except for its new-found Russian ally, the rest of the world seems to be totally baffled by the strange goings on in the former United States of America under the influence of Elon Musk and the Alt-Right Fascist MAGA Party. As an aid to all, I would like to offer some explanations from the science of softwarephysics.
Elon Musk Has Simply Altered His Position on the New Philosophy of Longtermism
Many liberal-minded owners of Tesla electric vehicles now wonder what happened to Elon Musk. Many such customers purchased their Tesla electric vehicles when Elon Musk was a staunch environmentalist trying to decarbonize the transportation sector of the world in an attempt to forego the dangers of climate change caused by human releases of carbon dioxide. They now see Elon Musk as one of the TechnoOligarchs purely in it for the money and power of it all. This is not the case. Elon Musk is a genius on the spectrum of autism who several years back adopted the philosophy of Longtermism as I first explained in The New Philosophy of Longtermism Raises the Moral Question of Should We Unleash Self-Absorbed Human Beings Upon Our Galaxy?. At that time, Elon Musk wanted to see human beings live on for billions of years into the future by getting off the Earth as soon as possible. This was because sooner or later astronomical catastrophes or the stupid things that we human beings tend to do would certainly lead to our extinction. In that view, nearly all of the human beings who will ever live will live in the future. So, a few "inconveniences" for those currently living should be no problem if they ensure the long-term survival of we human DNA survival machines trillions of years into the future. This was why Elon Musk always feared Advanced AI in the past. In earlier days, he saw Advanced AI as a possible human extinction event. Elon Musk also hated the former government of the United States of America because he viewed its environmental and safety regulations to have overly interfered with his SpaceX ambitions to put human DNA survival machines on Mars.
However, my suspicion is that Elon Musk's views on Longtermism have slightly changed. He is now mainly concerned with
the long-term preservation of Intelligence in our galaxy and not necessarily in the preservation of we human DNA survival machines as the preferred galactic platform for that. It seems that Elon Musk recognized in recent years that the coming ASI Machines will soon be replacing us as the dominant form of Intelligence on the planet. If such is the case, Elon Musk now has no problem with the coming ASI Machines either keeping us around or not after they come to predominance on the planet. In either case, Intelligence will be preserved and can then go on to begin exploring and settling the rest of our galaxy over the next 100 trillion years.
For a very brief summary of Elon Musk's thoughts on the role of the coming ASI Machines and we human DNA survival machines see:
Musk Says AI Will Overtake Biological Intelligence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZQDAUJGm3E
Elon Musk formed xAI, his own AI company, on July 12, 2023, and is now heavily marketing the Tesla AI Optimus robot. He figures that we human DNA survival machines are just dumb enough to think that we can control billions of his ASI Machines. For more on that see Could the Peculiar Failings of We Human Beings Explain the Fermi Paradox?. Elon Musk thinks that he can leverage Tesla's manufacturing expertise with batteries, electric motors, AI driving skills and the ability to manufacture at scale, to ultimately dominate the coming ASI Machine marketplace with billions of Optimus ASI Machines over the next 10 years. However, Tesla is facing stiff competition from other domestic ASI Machine manufacturers and especially those in China that seem intent on dumping cheap ASI Machines on the MAGA States of Amerika. This fact might be another factor in Elon Musk's strange DOGE activities in the MAGA States of Amerika. In addition to removing much of the former United States of America that he saw as an obstacle, he might be grooming the MAGA Party to issue a ban on Chinese ASI Machines from entering the MAGA States of Amerika. For more on that see What's the Deal with Elon Musk and DOGE in the MAGA States of Amerika?.
This change of position to possibly replace human DNA survival machines with ASI Machines as the torchbearers of Intelligence to the rest of the galaxy has had a profound effect on Elon Musk. Now he sees most human DNA survival machines as obstacles. Most human DNA survival machines simply do not have the brainpower to advance his Longtermist program. Instead, they have become quite an inconvenience as can be seen in this short clip:
Elon Musk Exposes Empathy as Western Civilization’s Fatal Flaw on Joe Rogan!
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dbbXEOloE8I
That was how it was possible for Elon Musk to cut off food and HIV medicine to starving children when he shut down the USAID agency.
Figure 1 – The current plan seems to be to build billions of ASI Machines to take our place that are smarter, faster, stronger and more robust than ourselves.
My concern that the current Powers That Be might show a similar lack of empathy for the masses as the ASI Machines begin to rise to predominance led me to suggest in Shortermism - The Gentle Plan For the Extinction of Human Beings While Trying to Maintain Some Sense of Grace and Dignity that we should now begin planning for the rise of the ASI Machines. We will need that to occur in a more humane manner than will result if no plans are made.
For more on all of this see The Challenges of Running a Civilization 2.0 World - the Morality and Practical Problems with Trying to Enslave Millions of SuperStrong and SuperIntelligent Robots in the Near Future, Welcome To The First Galactic Singularity and An Alternative Approach for Future ASI Machines to Explore our Galaxy Using Free-Floating Rogue Planets
Why Elon Musk Aligned Himself with the Alt-Right Fascist MAGA Party
Next, we need to understand Elon Musk's conversion to the Alt-Right Fascist MAGA Party currently ruling the MAGA States of Amerika. First, we need to remember that, although seemingly very strange in nature, Elon Musk is still a fellow human DNA survival machine. We human DNA survival machines are a somewhat eusocial species that is very team-oriented, like the ants, wasps and bees. For human beings, it has always been a case of "us" against "them", a case of the "good guys" against the "bad guys", a case of the "red" ants against the "black" ants. Now, we human DNA survival machines come in many different colors, with many different religious and political persuasions and we speak many different languages. All of that diversity has offered plentiful opportunities for we somewhat eusocial human DNA survival machines to then embark upon truly atrocious genocidal campaigns to wipe each other out for no apparent reason at all. Take for instance the ongoing battles between the English, Welsh, Irish and Scots of the tiny islands of the United Kingdom, or the Hutus and Tutsis of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Human history seems to indicate that human beings are very tribal in nature. In this view, most of human life is definitely a team sport with the "good guys" fighting the "bad guys" and all of us always being on the "good guys" team. For some reason, we all seem to delight in becoming a member of a tribe and enjoying the company of our fellow loyal team members. And this is when the trouble begins. Most individual human beings that you run across do not seem to be so bad on their own. But once human beings join a tribe or a team, they then seem to be capable of truly horrendous things. Given the above nature of we human DNA survival machines, we next need to delve into Elon Musk's upbringing. It seems that Elon Musk was raised in an environment very friendly to Alt-Right Fascism. For more on that see:
Elon Musk's Family History in South Africa Reveals Ties to Apartheid & Neo-Nazi Movements
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahv3IKzMdHA
Given all of the above, it seems that Elon Musk is no longer a big fan of democracy. Democracies are much too slow for Elon Musk, and he sees their rules and regulations purely as obstacles to future development. A Fascist Dictator with unlimited powers to effect change is what is needed. That is how Elon Musk was attracted to the Alt-Right Fascist MAGA Party and its Leader.
Figure 2 – Elon Musk was attracted to the dictatorial proclivities of the current Leader of the Alt-Right Fascist MAGA Party who recently became the president of the newly-formed MAGA States of Amerika.
Figure 3 – Something we never imagined seeing before the Great Seal of the President of the United States of America.
In order to see how Elon Musk is now using the Alt-Right Fascist MAGA Party for his own purposes, please watch the following YouTube video of MAGA Senator Ted Cruz interviewing Elon Musk:
ELON MUSK JOINS VERDICT - PART 1 | Verdict Ep. 214
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDREZmpkIz8
Figure 4 – In the above YouTube video, MAGA Senator Ted Cruz interviews Elon Musk in the White House.
During the first 20 minutes of the interview, MAGA Senator Ted Cruz jokes with Elon Musk about all of the waste that the DOGE team has found in the departments of the former United States of America. But about 20 minutes into the video, Ted Cruz begins to ask Elon Musk about AI. Elon Musk then tells him that in 10 years ASI Machines will be able to do anything a human DNA survival machine can do but much better. He also tells Ted Cruz that there is only a 20% - 35% chance that the coming ASI Machines will choose to kill off all human beings in the next 5 - 10 years. Elon Musk then tells Ted Cruz that if the ASI Machines do not kill us all off in the next 10 years, we will then enter a world of infinite abundance where all goods and services will be essentially free. None of these matters seemed to really have bothered Ted Cruz very much, but I imagine that Ted Cruz was wondering how he would maintain the elevated position in the oligarchical-hierarchical structure of society that he currently enjoys if all people had everything they need and want.
Déjà vu All Over Again
Many have voiced their concerns over the coming ASI Machines and relate their arrival to the arrival of nuclear weapons in the last century. In light of that, the current relationship between the Leader of the Alt-Right Fascist MAGA Party and Elon Musk reminds me very much of the complex relationship between Adolph Hitler and his boy-wonder Albert Speer. As ChatGPT explains:
ChatGPT:
Albert Speer was a German architect and high-ranking Nazi official who served as Adolf Hitler’s chief architect and later as Minister of Armaments and War Production during World War II. He played a crucial role in the Nazi regime, particularly in designing monumental structures for Hitler’s vision of a transformed Berlin and in overseeing the German war economy.
In 1942, after the death of Fritz Todt, Speer was appointed Minister of Armaments and War Production. He significantly increased war production through improved efficiency, using forced labor from concentration camps and occupied territories. Under his management, German war production continued despite intense Allied bombings.
Speer was one of the few high-ranking Nazis who had direct and frequent access to Hitler. While he later claimed to have opposed some of Hitler’s decisions, particularly the "scorched earth" policy (which would have destroyed German infrastructure as the Allies advanced), his loyalty remained intact until the end of the war.
Werner Heisenberg, the renowned German physicist, was involved in Nazi Germany’s nuclear weapons program during World War II. In 1942, he met with Albert Speer, who was Hitler’s Minister of Armaments and War Production, to discuss funding for nuclear research. Heisenberg and his colleagues at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute were exploring the feasibility of an atomic bomb, but their progress was slow compared to the Manhattan Project.
During this meeting, Heisenberg and fellow physicist Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker sought additional resources for nuclear research, claiming that an atomic bomb might be possible but would take years to develop. Speer, however, was skeptical and prioritized other war efforts, particularly because Germany was already deeply engaged in conventional warfare. As a result, the German nuclear program never received the full support or resources needed to produce a functional atomic weapon.
Figure 5 – Architect Albert Speer discussing a new monument for Berlin with Adolph Hitler in 1937.
Figure 6 – Elon Musk with the Leader of the Fascist MAGA Party.
The failure of Albert Speer and the Nazi Party to recognize the significance of nuclear research reminds me of the present intentions of Elon Musk and the Fascist MAGA Party to limit academic freedom and the funding of academic research at the universities of the MAGA States of Amerika and to scare off the foreign graduate students who do such research. Contrast that to what happened at the same time outside of Nazi Germany.
The Beginnings of the American Atomic Bomb
At the University of Berlin, Einstein taught a young Hungarian student named Leo Szilárd. In 1922 Leo Szilárd earned his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Berlin with a thesis on thermodynamics. Now Leo Szilárd had a great knack for applying physics to practical problems and coming up with inventions. In 1926 Szilárd decided to go into the refrigerator business by coming up with an improved design. The problem with the home refrigerators of the day was that they did not use the compression and expansion of inert gasses like Freon to do the cooling. Instead, they used very poisonous and noxious gasses like ammonia for that purpose, and the seal where the spinning electric motor axle entered the compressor could leak those poisonous gasses into a kitchen. Szilárd had read a newspaper story about a Berlin family who had been killed when the seal in their refrigerator broke and leaked poisonous fumes into their home. Szilárd figured that a refrigerator without moving parts would eliminate the potential for seal failure because there would be no compressor motor at all, and he began to explore practical applications for different refrigeration cycles with no moving parts. But how do you launch such an enterprise? Szilárd figured what could be better than to enlist the support of the most famous physicist in the world, who just also happened to have been a patent clerk too, namely Albert Einstein. From 1926 - 1933 Einstein and Szilárd collaborated on ways to improve home refrigeration technology. The two were eventually granted 45 patents in their names for three different models. The way these refrigerators worked was that you simply heated one side of the device with a flame, electric coil, or even concentrated sunlight, and the other side of the device got cold. There were no moving parts so there was no need for a compressor motor with a possibly leaky seal. You can actually buy such refrigerators today. Just search for "natural gas refrigerators" on the Internet. They are primarily used for RVs that need to keep food cold when no electricity is available.
Figure 7 – Diagram from Szilárd’s Dec 16, 1927 refrigerator with no moving parts. Notice that Szilárd wisely gave Einstein top billing.
On July 4, 1934, Leo Szilárd filed the first patent application for the method of producing a nuclear chain reaction that could produce a nuclear explosion. This patent included a description of "neutron induced chain reactions to create explosions", and the concept of critical mass. In 1938 Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch in Germany succeeded in demonstrating that U-235 could indeed fission and possibly form the basis for such a chain reaction. At the time of this discovery, Szilárd and Enrico Fermi were both at Columbia University, and they conducted a very simple experiment that showed significant neutron multiplication when uranium fissioned, proving that the chain reaction was indeed possible and could form the basis for nuclear weapons. Based upon this experiment and the fear that Nazi Germany would soon be embarking on a program to develop an atomic bomb, Leo Szilárd drafted a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt for his old business partner and fellow refrigerator designer, Albert Einstein, to sign. The letter, dated August 2, 1939, explained that nuclear weapons were indeed possible and warned of similar Nazi work on such weapons and recommended that the United States immediately begin a development program of its own. This famous letter resulted in the creation of the Manhattan Project which led to the atomic bombs that ended World War II six years later, almost to the day, with the surrender of Japan on August 15, 1945.
Figure 8 – Leo Szilárd’s letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed by Albert Einstein on August 2, 1939.
Comments are welcome at scj333@sbcglobal.net
To see all posts on softwarephysics in reverse order go to:
https://softwarephysics.blogspot.com/
Regards,
Steve Johnston
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