What almost everyone is missing about the OpenAI debacle
It should be obvious, but clearly isn't. Let me explain
Alright, even though we’re amidst a crisis of crises, OpenAI, Sam Altman and Microsoft have taken a lot of air over the past few days. We’ve seen lots of reporting (here’s the series of ‘events’ as we understand them). We’ve seen plenty of speculative analysis (here’s why we think this might be happening). But we’ve seen very little critical analysis of the system dynamics that give rise to such events.
This is likely because (but is certainly not limited to):
Most people understand very little about complex systems
Our society lives via approximation and has very little time for getting into the details and nuances
The ‘value system’ that helps give rise to such occurrences goes unquestioned and unchecked by many
Etc.
Many of you will have seen this before:
If you have, you likely recognise it as a variation of the Iceberg model in systems theory. This is a fairly simple, two dimensional approximation of the structure of a complex adaptive system.
Here’s a very TL;DR summary of the history of a lot of the modern Western thinking in this space. Please note that such ways of thinking have been inherent in indigenous cultures for millenia. A brilliant example of which comes from First Nations people in the part of the world I’m from, Australia (Country, Songlines, relationality, animism etc.).
What this helps describe is the ‘stuff’ that makes up a system. It gives us some visibility of how different parts relate to, communicate with, and impact one another. It helps us step back and see the woods for the trees.
Perhaps most importantly, such a tool helps us make better sense of the stuff we can obviously see (events) relative to the stuff we can’t (patterns, behaviours, mindsets, values etc. and the narratives that give rise to, and bring it all together.) Through this we can intervene with greater care and wisdom, thus increasing the likelihood that our interventions lead to preferable futures.
Pretty much all content I’ve seen to date on OpenAI focuses on stuff that we can see and experience. It’s about the events. What’s missing is the stuff below the surface. In this visual, we’re talking about the very beautiful mycorrhizal network.
Alright you say, why does this matter?
In simple terms, we cannot understand and seek to positively change anything if we always operate above the surface. Operating above the surface leaves too many voices unheard. It reinforces power imbalances and various divides. It almost always leads to myriad unintended consequences, some of which arise due to pure ignorance and / or naivety. Other unintended consequences are the result of carelessness, misconduct and psychothapy.
Now, I’ve already written about the shaky ground OpenAI is on in terms of trust, reputation and social license to operate. If you haven’t read that or don’t really understand these terms, that post will help you. But where I’d like this post to go, as stimulation for real discourse, is towards us questioning the type of future we want to be apart of together.
As yourself: Is this type of debacle something you want to continue observing and being impacted by? If yes, cool. Keep shit as it is. If not, well, we have to do the work to understand the complexity and nuance of ‘systems’ in order to change conditions and give rise to ‘better emergence’.
Am I being sensationalist here? Do I just need to take a chill pill and CTF down?
Probs not. We might be heading off of a fucking cliff here people.
We are mutilating the tree of life. Techno-optimists are biophysically illiterate and as a result, deeply irresponsible. Wars are waging and waging.
You get the gist.
We do have to do better. We have to embrace relationality, love and existential hopefulness. We need to caringly connect, courageously collaborate and consciously coordinate. We need to step back and imagine what might be possible, then work together to bring it about.
We need to stop obsessing about the events. We need to dig deeper and go into that which feels unknown. We need to navigate the ambiguity with respect. We need to trust in each other and the living process of togetherness.
Only then will we have any chance of transitioning beyond the madness and BS that plagues our today and takes up waaaaaay too much of our news feeds.
If you’d like to explore that which is below the surface, swim in the soil so to speak, reach out. I’ll embrace the uncertainty if you will.
With love as always.
If you want to dive way deeper into all of this, here’s 5,500 words on the subject.