- The impact of technology on society is clearly visible.
Under the umbrella of Baidu Apollo, the RoboTaxi has greatly reduced the cost for passengers taking taxis, leading many taxi drivers to complain about the lack of profits in the taxi industry. In some areas, taxi drivers have even attempted to petition to stop the RoboTaxi project, leaving taxi drivers without a means of livelihood. It is reported that in the future, Baidu Apollo will launch the sixth generation of RoboTaxi, with even lower ride prices; at the same time, Baidu Apollo may cooperate with Tesla to further advance autonomous driving (refer to here). The image shows the control room of Baidu Apollo's RoboTaxi autonomous driving (when AI malfunctions, it switches to manual operation in the background; image source @兔撕鸡大老爷).
- I have shifted from actively supporting new technologies to cautiously supporting them.
I used to be very supportive of new technologies, but gradually changed my view from a scientific and technological supremacy perspective; after all, talent is fundamental, we prioritize people, and technology is just one of the means to achieve human goals.
I once thought that new energy electric vehicles were a new track, and we should actively develop new energy electric vehicle technology. I imagined that, like the replacement of feature phones by smartphones, new energy electric vehicles might be an important carrier for future technological development and competition. After experiencing the harsh reality, I found that new energy electric vehicles have many problems, including flammability and explosiveness, whether due to inadequate technology or poor management. Thus, I gradually realized that support for technology should adopt a cautious attitude, otherwise the trial and error of new technologies will require real people's lives to fill the gaps. Currently, it seems that electric vehicles have a lower safety factor compared to fuel vehicles.
Of course, the landing of new technologies driven by large capital will reduce the costs for technology users in the short term, but in the absence of a perfect anti-monopoly system, the owners of new technologies will become reapers of users, making it difficult to be continuous innovators. Baidu explores technology, but under its monopoly position, there is no evidence of new, significant advancements.
At the same time, the implementation of new technologies lacks perfect supporting measures, such as the placement of taxi drivers, the issue of re-employment if they become unemployed, and so on. After all, taxi drivers occupy a significant amount of data in cities.
Later, I saw a video blogger named "Dr. Gelong" on the video platform discussing "AI, Capital (Part 2)," which largely aligns with my thoughts. However, Dr. Gelong seems to mention that the implementation of AI or new technologies should lead the entire society towards "Pareto improvement" and move towards "Pareto optimality," meaning that without making things worse, improving one person's situation is a "Pareto improvement," and achieving the optimal solution for the entire society without causing worse conditions is "Pareto optimality." He may want to express that the implementation of AI does not adhere to the principle of Pareto improvement.
- In conclusion, only when key issues are properly addressed, including the improvement of anti-monopoly laws and the placement of taxi drivers, can the implementation of new technologies be well received and supported by everyone. Otherwise, the implementation of new technologies may lead to the emergence of some social instability factors, ultimately resulting in the rapid implementation of AI being more trouble than it's worth.
Original text synchronized with: Gengdu Blog article of the same name.