Hi Chance,

A Singleton doesn't have to be an autocrat. The single decision-making
agency could emerge out of the shared intentions of the world, such as a
collective intelligence manifesting on the technium. The Moral Apex is the
unified body of knowledge, norms, and purpose or intention, along with the
unification of humanity. This could go along with a centralized
intelligence mediating everything, but I'm more inclined to think it will
simply be the evolution of the technium/web.

It sure seems that divisive tribalism is the norm right now, but I suspect
that it's merely a resistance to a larger trend towards cosmopolitanism and
globalization. We aren't fighting any major wars and there aren't any
serious conflicts between groups. I suspect that the Technium is slowly
gathering us all together to participate in global decision-making.

Consider how self-driving cars have to decide who to hit if they have to
drive through a group of people. Ultimately we have to build absolute
values into the technium. This might seem terrible and could be, but I
think it's forcing us to think very hard to figure out what constitutes a
just society. Moral relativism has nowhere to go. So because we are
building this techno-social system that's gradually reprogramming society,
I think we're more likely to program a techno-social system that works in
the most universal interests. As long as a totalitarian surveillance system
doesn't threaten people who resist the system, the system will evolve along
the path of least resistance. But in the process, we have to build in
absolute values and our collective intentions (the meaning of life).

I don't think we'll ever become totalitarian in a way that loses free
speech. That would be the cause of a downfall. Every trend shows
exponential growth towards complexity and integration. I think that the
technium, and the moral apex, will be made out of shared intentions. There
will be a great deal of social engineering by people at the top, and it's a
shock to see how fast people can be socially engineered when you think
about how so many Republicans like Putin now. I'm just inclined to believe
that things will continue to get better as they have so far. At the same
time, I am worried about hyper-Orwellianism, but I don't think it will turn
out that way.

Max Tegmark has a great essay on how a company will likely end up taking
over the world with an AGI, by controlling the media, in his new book Like
3.0. You can read it here:
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__nautil.us_issue_53_monsters_the-2Dlast-2Dinvention-2Dof-2Dman&d=DwIBaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=zyQDAfdyvE6LLSL20y-9SjAqQiVGVi7YE8OVV2Lnt5g&s=WVKUfdnEXpcvZmDB9Q5Nbz9bnezEVs03fUsVdNPZOd8&e=

It seems plausible to me.

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