Rescuing the Future | Who made this Mess?

Waking up this morning, I found myself reluctant to return to this world where I have to learn about war, bombing, photos of destroyed buildings, plus more political chaos, more corruption and more lies. .

I thought again about how this current darkness in civilization is almost entirely the work of men. If world leaders were ninety percent women, I suspect the world would be more stable, more prosperous, and shockingly peaceful. That made me remember this quote:

All men secretly hate civilization.

Who said that? I couldn’t remember, so I did a search, simply asking who said it. To my surprise, Firefox’s search engine produced a long list of people who have said it,more or less, including but not confined to the following:

• • • Homer (author of the Iliad and the Odyssey)
    • Marcus Tullius Cicero (ancient Rome)
    • Tacitus (Roman historian)
    • Charles Darwin
    • Charles Dickens
    • Mark Twain
    • G. K Chesteron
    • Freud
    • H. L. Menken
    • George Orwell
    • George S Patton (WWII military general)
    • Robert A Heinlein (SF novelist)
    • Ayn Rand
    • Malcolm X

The full list received was about three times as long as that. What I find most interesting is that, if you check the links, the quotes offered are never the one I asked for. I didn’t find out who said “All men secretly hate civilization.” Apparently unable to find that quote, the search engine has offered statements that are saying the same thing, or something close to it. But this has been done remarkably well, so that it includes subtle examples.

I’ll give you an example of what I mean. For H.L. Menken (1880-1956) – “American journalist, satirist, and cultural critic” –  what they offer from his writing include:

All men are frauds. The only difference is that some admit it.

Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.

Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.

No living human could produce the list I received, at least not in the 4-5 seconds that it was done here. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again – these early versions of intelligent AI are more intelligent than we think. Lets hope those of the future are coming to help us deal with the great mess we’ve created, not make it worse.