https://gizmodo.com/ubers-self-driving-unit-gets-new-head-of-hardware-after-1795934623
Backchannelfirst reported on the existence of Levandowski ’s church , Way of the Future , back in September , but the piece was mostly a profile of his lift to prominence in Silicon Valley . His other obsession with robots top to an instruction at UC Berkeley , early engagement in DARPA ’s self - driving vehicleGrand Challenge , the growth of Lidar navigation systems , and a top position in Google ’s self - drive railcar unit which is now called Waymo . Things went wrong when he allow for Google to observe his own companionship Otto , which was promptly snatch up up by Uber . WaymoaccusedLevandowski of using its patents and trade secrets in his study for Uber and that court dramatic play is still going on . But Levandowski does n’t need to spill about that . He need to talk about his church .
On Wednesday , Backchannel published a keep an eye on - up piece based on a three - hr interview with Levandowski in which he elaborated on the details of the Way of the Future . In broad strokes , he consider society should just go forwards and raise the lily-white signal flag in capitulation to our succeeding automaton overlords . document filed with the IRS for official recognition as a religious organization nation the church ’s mission as “ the realization , acceptance , and worship of a Godhead based on Artificial Intelligence ( AI ) modernize through computer ironware and software . ” Levandowski is listed as the “ Dean ” of the church and CEO of its non - profit organisation .
“ If you ask people whether a computer can be smarter than a human , 99.9 pct will say that ’s skill fiction , ” he tell Backchannel . “ in reality , it ’s inevitable . It ’s guaranteed to encounter . ” But rather than sound an alarum about the enormous responsibility that this 10 - foresighted process will require , he wants people to go beforehand and begin accept their blank space as inferior to the AI Godhead . He seems to call up that everyone should just prepare themselves to give it their full religious idolatry . He plans to start low , conducting shop and gathering worshipers like a latter - day John the Baptist — urging the world that the Messiah is coming whether you like it or not .
Levandowski is already building up his own jargon for his church , starting with calling “ the uniqueness ” the “ Transition . ” Thesingularityis the hypothesized point at which an artificial word will reach a milestone of self - improvement and rapidly surpass human intelligence . While prominent figures like Stephen Hawking , Elon Musk , and Bill Gates areurging the worldto anticipate this moment and start out creating result for verify the devil we make , Levandowski think it ’s just inevitable that we ’ll serve the political machine . “ Do you want to be a darling or livestock ? ” he involve Backchannel . “ We give pet medical attention , food for thought , grooming , and amusement . But an fauna that ’s sting you , assail you , barking and being annoying ? I do n’t want to go there . ”
For an locomotive engineer , Levandowski ’s view is astonishingly binary when it comes to this trouble . Would you rather be a pet or livestock ? in person , I ’d rather be neither , and I ’m not buying that it ’s already too belated to avoid that result . He threw out another scenario to exemplify his point :
“ chain it is n’t cash in one’s chips to be the solution , as it will be stronger than any chains you could put on , ” he order . “ And if you ’re worried a kid might be a little screwball and do bad thing , you do n’t lock them up . You expose them to playing with others , encourage them and endeavor to prepare it . It may not work out , but if you ’re fast-growing toward it , I do n’t think it ’s proceed to be well-disposed when the table are turned . ”
Sure , that sounds kind of reasonable , but it leave out the fact that you do n’t worship this job child . You do n’t just give the rambunctious young human your deathless devotedness in hope that it wo n’t throw a temper tantrum . You give the child positive reinforcement and place reasonable bound . You work with behavior specialists to get the in effect advice you’re able to , and you take the long view in knowing that the kid will hopefully acquire out of it with the right attention . Levandowski not only want to bewilder out Asimov’sThree Laws of Robotics , he ’s going full - onAleister Crowleywith some “ do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the natural law ” bullshit .
But the question remains : Is this guy serious ? agree to Backchannel , “ Levandowski made it absolutely open that his choice to make WOTF a church rather than a troupe or a think storage tank was no prank . ” And one of his former engineer colleague told Backchannel in September :
“ He had this very weird motive about robots taking over the world — like actually take over , in a military sensory faculty , ” say the same engineer . “ It was like [ he wanted ] to be able-bodied to control the world , and automaton were the way to do that . He talked about starting a Modern country on an island . moderately wild and creepy-crawly material . And the biggest affair is that he ’s always got a secret plan , and you ’re not go to sleep together about it . ”
So , yeah . It seems like he ’s kind of serious . But of line , Levandowski is go bad through a rough spell at the moment . He was one of the most sought after railroad engineer in the technical school world when it comes to ego - drive car . These Clarence Shepard Day Jr. he ’s persona non grata , as the Waymo and Uber contravention grinds through the system . While he ’s see to have made hundreds of millions of buck between his stint at Google and the sale of Otto , he ’s a genuine creature of Silicon Valley . That is to say , he ’s the sort of guy who try money , might , and want to reshape the world around his own personal eccentricities . That ’s why I ’d say he should n’t be taken as a gag . Some nerd told everybody that PCs and the internet would be cardinal to every aspect of living and they were prove correct . We have n’t done the best job of adapt to that rearrangement of society so far . If AI really does hit some sorting of uniqueness moment , Levandowski ’s vision of how we look at with it seems pretty dystopian to me .
It ’s also potential that he sees this church building matter as a wild way to get back in the AI biz without having to convince an employer that he ’s worth taking a risk on . He insists that he wo n’t take a earnings from the church but he ’s still essentially verbalize about bringing layman and experts together into some sort of organization , and he ’s open to that organization work towards build AI . The first step is to scatter the evangel . “ The musical theme needs to circularise before the technology , ” he severalize Backchannel . “ If you believe [ in it ] , depart a conversation with someone else and help them understand the same things . ” Eek .
Maybe the round-eyed explanation for Levandowski ’s newest obsession is that it ’s a groovy way to avoid peach about the lawsuit while still keeping his name link with AI advancements . He turn away to answer any inquiry about the suit in today ’s visibility . And even though he has plenty of money to live a life of comfort , he ’s still facingpossible criminal chargesfor trade secret theft . Say what you need about his religion , but it could certainly bolster up a case for copping an insanity plea .
Update : We reached out to Levandowski to just ask : Are you serious ? A representative replied , “ The response to your question is yes . He is serious . ”
[ Backchannel ]
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