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Google AI Politics Science

It's Time To Ignore Petty Politics and Focus On 'Transformative' Tech: Eric Schmidt (techcrunch.com) 141

Posted by msmash from the misplaced-priorities dept.
Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman at Alphabet in an interview said that we need to focus more on the possibilities of advances in biology and medicine as well as AI. But he feels people are spending "all our time arguing about political issues that are ultimately not that important." He urges people to stop doing that and work on things that are transformative. He added: "We've gone from an era where we thought about solving problems that were very, very big," he said. "We now define them as problems of special interests. Everyone's guilty. I'm not making a particular political point here." Schmidt seemed excited enough about the possibility of medical breakthroughs that Rose asked him: If he was starting over today, would he be more likely to go into computer science or biology? "Both are having a renaissance," Schmidt said.
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It's Time To Ignore Petty Politics and Focus On 'Transformative' Tech: Eric Schmidt More

It's Time To Ignore Petty Politics and Focus On 'Transformative' Tech: Eric Schmidt

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  • Eric? Can you come out of the ivory tower a sec? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Friday June 03, 2016 @11:29AM (#52242507)

    It's all really lovely and swell that we're on the verge of making incredible medical and scientific progress and certainly we, as a species, should put our minds to such ideas.

    It's just hard to argue that to people whose most pressing problem isn't curing cancer but finding a place to park the car they live in 'cause they got evicted. They might have a different idea of "important".

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      ... They might have a different idea of "important".

      And if we listen to them, we'll find them parking spots and new apartments. If we listen to Eric, maybe we'll cure cancer. Let's listen to the guy in the ivory tower.

      • I would rather end homelessness and hunger because I already have the solution to that *and* I'm genetically immune to cancer. It helps my argument that ending homelessness and hunger saves more lives and improves quality-of-life for more Americans than finding a cancer cure, although I'm not sure it helps my argument enough to cover for the fact that I personally benefit a hell of a lot from the change, too.

      • That's maybe fine for you, but how do you explain to them the difference between not having a cure for cancer and having one but not being able to afford it?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by e r ( 2847683 )
        A far greater number of people are currently dealing with or will eventually deal with cancer than are living in their cars.
        Also, to get extreme, it's possible to live in a mud hut and eat berries without dying. Cancer is terminal without treatment.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      People getting evicted or not does not affect Schmidt's bottom line.

      Refocusing people on profitable technologies, which he will benefit disproportionally from, does.

      Same mindset as "the taxpayers should pay for teaching kids coding from the fourth grade".

      Somehow, in his mind, that his "ideals" for others are synonymous with his profits, is not politics.

    • Whole countries have been taken down because of political decisions, so I don't consider it "Petty."

      Germany essentially does not have long term debt or unfunded liabilities of consequence because they know the effect from their post WW1 collapse. Nicaragua is seeing the result of petty politics today. Argentina arguably has been held down for a century by bad politics. Brazil has its problems today because of politics. China had it.

      Schmidt looks at himself as omniscient now.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by swb ( 14022 )

        Argentina could have basically been further developed than most European countries by now if they would have had saner politics.

        I can't even say I really grasp the political divisions there -- it doesn't even seem to follow the basic left-right axis, it's like its following some z-axis of its own making.

      • Germany essentially does not have long term debt or unfunded liabilities of consequence because they know the effect from their post WW1 collapse.

        Germany is doing well because it's the strongest economy in the Euro which is set up so that wealth flows there from everyone else. Whether that was the plan all along or just the result of economic fundamentalism I can't say, but it's taking the whole EU towards disintegration, at which point Europe will return to being the warzone it used to be - and that means

        • Well said. The German path leads to more corporatism and disintegration of the EU and everything else they have actually achieved over the last 50 years to 70 years.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tomhath ( 637240 )

      It's just hard to argue that to people whose most pressing problem isn't curing cancer but finding a place to park the car they live in

      You're mixing two things that shouldn't be mixed. People working on transformative technologies versus arguing politics should follow Schmidt's advice.

      And yes, there is also a social problem with a segment of the population who can't or won't work to support themselves.

      Different problems for different people to solve, neither should be ignored.

      .

      • Different problems for different people to solve, neither should be ignored.

        What if the "transformative technology" you're working on is captive to "petty politics"?

    • The issue is that I haven't heard anything new out of politics for a while.
      Party A: Wants more government control except for what conflicts with their special interests group.
      Party B: Wants less government control except for what conflicts with their special interests group.

      Now the special interests groups swap around over time.

      So politics will go to normal progress if they like it they will give it money if they don't they will not.

      • Party A: Wants more government control except for what conflicts with their special interests group.
        Party B: Wants more government control except for what conflicts with their special interests group.

        FTFY.

        Both major parties want more government control, it's just what they want control of and what they could care less about that differs.

    • Agreed. There's no bright and shining future for everyone if we ignore the present civil unrest, particularly if things ever escalate beyond being "civil". We don't live in a vacuum, so while he may be right about what our long-term priorities should be, the amount of attention we can dedicate to them is dictated in large part by how things are operating in the short-term.

      • .There's no bright and shining future for everyone if we ignore the present civil unrest,

        Yes there is. To be very blunt, the people involved in the unrest really do not matter to technical advance. Only a small percentage of them would be of any use even if they could be interested in technical advancement, so frankly it is better for technical people to ignore civil unrest - beyond finding somewhere to work that is more isolated from the practical effects of same, which is what they have done with Silico

        • To be very blunt, the people involved in the unrest really do not matter to technical advance.

          To also be very blunt, technical advance doesn't create a bright fututure - or have any impact at all - unless you can get its fruits into the hands of people. And that's pretty difficult to do if they're preoccupied with killing you.

          Only a small percentage of them would be of any use even if they could be interested in technical advancement, so frankly it is better for technical people to ignore civil unrest - be

          • To also be very blunt, technical advance doesn't create a bright future

            Yes, it does. Hard to argue with progress that has been made on all fronts. It's also hard to untwine one technical advancement from all others...

            unless you can get its fruits into the hands of people.

            Since people make them, they are inherently in the hands of people. But it does not even matter if no-one ends up using it because of the tangental benefits of advancement and new ideas spreading to other fields.

            To continue being blunt,

    • That's short sighted. Technology is democratizing and breaks down more barriers than political bickering ever will.

      Books and literacy were the province of the wealthy and the high priests who could afford scribes to duplicate texts. Modern literacy rates would not be possible without movable type and the printing press.

      Even once those technologies existed the spread of information was limited by gatekeepers who had the ability to publish using expensive machinery until things like Xerox machines and later t

  • Not a Dichtotomy (Score:3)

    by gurps_npc ( 621217 ) on Friday June 03, 2016 @11:44AM (#52242637) Homepage

    It's not an either/or situation - we can argue about EVERYTHING.

    If your point is that some people are bad at arguing and making no sense, that's one thing.

    But claiming that an argument isn't important enough to fight about just makes you look stupid.

    Because the people that are getting screwed over by X definitely want to fight it.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      It's not an either/or situation - we can argue about EVERYTHING.

      No we can't!

  • The problem is (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Kierthos ( 225954 ) on Friday June 03, 2016 @11:45AM (#52242649) Homepage

    If we don't pay attention to politics (and oftentimes, even if we do), thundering idiots who don't have the slightest understanding of science, technology and so forth get elected. And proceed to use that lack of understanding like it was something to be proud of when they pass laws.

    You get idiots in Congress who don't know the difference between weather and climate, or claim that we don't have to worry about rising sea levels in coastal areas because "God promised he would never flood the earth again".

    We get politicians who want "small government", unless it involves regulations on your genitals, which they seem inordinately fond of passing.

    We get ones who can't even understand email regulating the Internet, ones who aren't doctors regulating medical procedures, and so on. People passing laws based on their religious beliefs and then getting a case of chapped ass if anyone dares compare it to Sharia law.

    If we don't pay attention to it, it just gets worse.

    • The problem is politics *are* a form of technology, and we really are looking at the stupid stuff.

      I disagree with Bernie Sanders because he has a political solution--raise minimum wage and institute a Basic Income, but no ideas on how to fund it or how it would affect the economy. He talks about creating jobs, but doesn't understand where jobs come from; he uses the same "Our infrastructure is falling apart and we'll create jobs by rebuilding it" argument as everyone else, and the basic premise is untrue

      • A Citizen's Dividend of 17% would end poverty.

        I keep seeing this but a 17% dividend of what?

        • Adjusted Gross Income (the amount of money on which businesses and individuals pay taxes--for businesses, we call it net profits). I did the math in 2013, and the cost of welfare was 17.2% of AGI while the Dividend was slightly-cheaper. I advocate a long-term fixed flat funding rate for the Dividend as a way to ensure the baseline standard-of-living grows at the exact same rate as the economy.

          I did a lot of work identifying risks, costs, and transitional considerations, as well as generating a variety

    • We get politicians who want "small government", unless it involves regulations on your genitals, which they seem inordinately fond of passing.

      Democrats are the ones that keep changing the laws or bringing up these issues. The people you are complaining about are just reacting to that. They are only creating new regulations in response to the new regulations that Obama just created or the ones he just destroyed.

      People passing laws based on their religious beliefs and then getting a case of chapped ass if anyone dares compare it to Sharia law.

      This just shows how ignorant you are of the world. Countries with Sharia law murder those with different sexual orientations or other crimes against morality. And usually murdering those people in the most painful, inhumane way possible

  • In other words... (Score:2, Flamebait)

    by aicrules ( 819392 )
    Please stop trying to out my candidate for the lying, cheating, felonious hack that they are and work on tech ideas that I deem important as a distraction.

  • Hold the front page (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Oxygen99 ( 634999 ) on Friday June 03, 2016 @11:48AM (#52242693)
    Man rich enough to transcend politics tells those who aren't to stop worrying about it.

    Things that are transformative usually involve transforming things for the worse as well as the better. Politics should protect people from that.

  • you first, Eric (Score:5, Insightful)

    by turkeydance ( 1266624 ) on Friday June 03, 2016 @11:51AM (#52242727)
    put aside your politics first

  • And I should care because? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Let's see now. At a big tech company, or anywhere for that matter, if you want to get anything technologically important done you first have to win the politics game to even get your chance up to bat. I'm sure he doesn't have this problem as chairman, but his employees do. Now he's a small fish in a big pond, and he's essentially whining that he can't just have his way. Whaa crybaby, whaa.

  • Only proper politics can facilitate technology reach lowest strata of society, not a seemingly philanthropic board decision. Technology has been shaping politics over last few centuries and more of that in the last two decades. Both are equally important because sooner than we expect, both will be indistinguishable.
    • Schmidt wants to say, "leave the politics in the hands of the influential ones." and promises the possibility of a cure to cancer. Welcome to the United States of Alphabet.

  • Eric Schmidt needs a boot party (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    "Your political issues are not that important." Right. Anyone's concerns over an impossible national debt, never-ending war, loss of privacy, job insecurity, the disappearing middle class -- this is meaningless drivel for the little people; the proles; the rubes; according to Eric Schmidt. Spoken like a true one-percenter. I'm not surprised he thinks that way. None of these problems affect him. So perhaps what needs to happen, is that he needs to be directly affected by it. It's time for Eric Schmidt t

  • Transformative - (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Transformative is making sure everyone
    - has a place to live
    - has food on the table
    - has access to health care
    - is safe from violence
    - is treated with respect regardless of whatever

    Those are big problems.

  • ...Eric, ALL problems that affect more than a single small group are ultimately political.

    To think anything else is staggeringly naive.

    Look at climate change; many people misunderstand that it's a question of science. Not really. Ultimately, it's a question of focus, resources, and priorities which are POLITICAL questions. To deny that people are politically collectively vested in the results is fundamentally misunderstanding the very nature of the question.

    It doesn't help that (in the US at least) that

  • Good luck getting anything real done with how important social issues like abortion, gay rights, gun control and religion/prayer in schools exist. Regardless of your opinion on these subjects they dominate most of the world's politics. They're great wedge issues. See, a substantial number of people in this world have a vested interest in preventing humanities problems from being solved. After all, what good is being rich if nobody's poor.

  • You mean those evil things called "jobs"? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Translation from Schmidt-ese to English:

    “all our time arguing about political issues that are ultimately not that important," = "why are people worried about losing their jobs? I don't care about that! I only care about myself! "

    “not doing enough things that are transformative.” = "We want to create technology designed to make sure people can't earn a living anymore, but we are getting huge push back from ordinary people! The horror!!"

    "Schmidt dismissed concerns that AIs could eventuall

  • The last movie was TERRIBLE. Why would... wait what? Never mind.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • I mean, he's asking us to toss aside billions of years of evolution, natural primal instinct, conditioned reflex, etc... In the grand scheme, we are acting little different than the dogs pissing on fire hydrants marking their territory and the moneys flinging their poo. In theory, as humans, we do have the power to *flip the switch* and stop acting like animals. Like everything else the choice is personal.

  • Eric Schmidt bloviated:

    "all our time arguing about political issues that are ultimately not that important."

    Politics is what drives famines, for example, you fucking tool, not lack of food. We have plenty of food and medicine to go around. It's the politics of /getting it there/ to where it's needed, like drought and war zones. Politics is what kills people, or spares them, depending on a lot of things (but mostly greed, ultimately), none of which are the global capability of technology, shelter, medi

  • "The American model got us through the last 30 years."

    Robber baron inequality levels, some romping good fun via foreign military and financial adventurism, not a little biosphere damage, and how's the middle class doing? A good exercise might be to take a walk by the Interstate and see how many homeless are living there.

    "“Both are having a renaissance,” Schmidt said."

    A renaissance? What long dead culture are we copying from in computing and biology? Or is this some new use of the term renais

  • yeah, right... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Special Interest groups found a way around the majority rule : Courts and media.
    Rich people and Corporations found a way around majority rule: Brib... errr.... lobbyists.
    And the original voter qualifications are being diluted ( landowner or business man, professional, tradesman... : ie, a productive member of society ).
    And now Eric pretends to be Jack Handy - "Deep Thoughts"... LOL!

  • One of the 2 candidates proudly declared a large fraction of our fellow Americans "enemies" [cbsnews.com]. How can we ignore politics when the political leaders who are supposed to represent us and serve the entire population are "proud" to call every third or fourth American an enemy?

  • The big data will revolutionize medicine meme has been going strong for over two decades and counting.

    I often hear this rhetoric about high technology and innovative companies like 'Google' and 'Facebook' .. in many cases the same biological breakthrough meme is inevitably invoked in some way.

    Just last week CNN's Fareed Zakaria ran a promotional interview with a toll from Linked In of all places with the very same nonsense about technological innovation, medical breakthroughs and all almost verbatim.

    Actual

  • from the article: "The best place to keep your information is Google". Even if that's true at this very moment, what happens when a new pharaoh comes (who did not know Joseph)? Without a committed legal regime which makes it dangerous for public officials to spy on private citizens without a cause, this promise is as meaningful as a politician's election promises. It's backed by nothing.

  • All our computers and phones are spying on us. We haven't even got enough enlightenment and wisdom to use agriculture, banking systems and gun powder to make the world anything but a worse place to live. As soon as pervasive automation takes hold we'll probably mothball most of our population and just give them enough to get by through some minimum income situation.

  • Not enough people vote, pay attention to or understand the politics of this country.

  • in an interview said

    Did he in German speak? Or perhaps he Yoda impersonated?

  • "Stop bitching you brainless slaves, when you're not working for me you better keep your stupid fucking head in the sand"

  • googel adds? many search out there droid is probably less good than ubuntu phone iphone sucks

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