TECH Signal 394
Essay argues AI institutions mirror war institutions by sustaining themselves beyond their original purpose
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Illustration only Photo by Declan Sun on Unsplash
A blog post draws an analogy between the institutionalization of war and the institutionalization of AI, arguing that both are observable manifestations of life under scarcity that have been turned into self-sustaining institutions serving their own power rather than their stated purpose.
For engineers building AI systems, the essay raises the question of whether the risks attributed to AI, job displacement, surveillance, energy waste, existential risk, stem from the technology itself or from the institutions surrounding it that need to sustain themselves. The framing challenges the assumption that scaling AI infrastructure is inherently justified.
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The author argues intelligence, like war, is a manifestation of life navigating scarcity rather than an entity on its own, and that current LLMs are trained on traces of intelligence rather than intelligence itself.
The essay draws a parallel between institutions built around war that began serving their own survival and institutions being built around AI that may be doing the same.
The author questions whether the dangers commonly cited about AI originate from the technology or from the power plays of institutions trying to sustain themselves.
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