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Maybe stories about the fae were long term warnings about AI (lemmy.world)
submitted 8 months ago by to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
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In trying to figure out how to warn our descendants about nuclear waste, even through a possible societal collapse, one of the more fun ideas is using cats that show a visible difference in the presence of nuclear radiation along with nursery rhymes/mythology that tell you to get the fuck out of dodge after your cat turns blue.

Similarly, our mythology about the fae lines up alright with current generative AI: it will tell you what you want to hear, but can’t be trusted; it looks like a person, but might have too many fingers or its eyes are made of stone; something’s just off.

To be clear: I don’t actually believe humans destroyed a previous society with “AI” at a similar sophistication level and coded cultural warnings against it into us, but it’s fun to think about.

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[–] 3 points 8 months ago* (2 children)

Most likely the fae were Homo floresiensis or a similarly sized cousin who had emerged from Africa before us and had a head start.

There's story that fit the fae almost all over the planet: small, connected to nature, intelligent but incomprehensible, speaks in tongues at times, enforces "totally random" rules very strictly, even as far as making weirdly specific "laws" that could result in marriage and potential offspring that shares traits of both parents...

The few places they arent evil or treated like a Boogeyman, is the ones were similar people were slaves or "helpers". But in all stories they were capable, self sufficient, and human like. They just weren't tall and looked "off".

But in all cases, eventually with the spread of humans they were pushed out, retreating away from humans.

It's way more logical than the only thing remembered about AI has nothing related to AI by any logical stretch of the imagination

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  • [–] [S] 5 points 8 months ago

    That’s an interesting theory, though I think the fae fits better with neurodivergence than other hominids. (Incomprehensible, different, follows strict rules, changelings, unpredictable, etc. I’m autistic and have been called all of the above multiple times)

    But again, this is just a shower thought- I’m enjoying finding more overlaps, not actually convinced that we somehow had a computing society that disappeared and left no trace except for fairytales.

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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago*

    I don't think any hominin of floresiensis-like size emerged from Africa. Just floresiensis on Flores and luzonensis on nearish Luzon. They're probably descended from erectus that shrank "on site" so to speak.

    They are some aboriginal australian stories about two other kinds of people - tall thin good ones and short stocky bad ones. I've wondered if that's describing neanderthal, denisovan or some other close but extinct branches of homo.

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