Edit: archived link Yeah this article makes me extra worried. How has NHS and domestic industry fared, a couple decades later? Fantastic for whom? For everybody? Even if it's true? Even if someone...
As the leader of Britain’s Labour Party, Blair saw his job as trying to reconcile the left to the inevitable triumph of capitalism over socialism. One of his first acts was to persuade the party to drop its commitment to nationalized industry, and as prime minister, he welcomed private contractors into the state-funded National Health Service.
How has NHS and domestic industry fared, a couple decades later?
“Basically, the rule was, if growth is reasonably significantly over 2 percent, life’s fantastic,”
Fantastic for whom? For everybody?
Blair saw Brexit as an expression of nostalgia—a concession that Britain’s best days were behind it. “That must never be true for a country, and you can never think like that,” he said.
Even if it's true? Even if someone realises he's gone the wrong way, off the track? Gotta keep going the wrong way harder?
It sounds like he's just another shill with dollar signs in his eyes and human beings be damned. Whatever risks the AI revolution will bring, he's not going to suffer for them, so why the hell not when there's an absolute fortune to be made.
There's an interesting substack post from Helen Bentham which takes an in-depth look at the Tony Blair Institute's influence on the new Labour government and the views espoused on Al: Some people...
There's an interesting substack post from Helen Bentham which takes an in-depth look at the Tony Blair Institute's influence on the new Labour government and the views espoused on Al:
It’s an open secret that the Tony Blair Institute for Global Governance (TBI) has been advising Starmer for years, and its 1000-odd staff will be filling key advisory roles in his government. TBI’s relentlessly millennial vibe is technology on drum and privatisation on bass, with backing vocals from a band of states with dodgy human rights records, and Larry Ellison (tech billionaire) on the decks. So it’s no surprise to hear Blair crooning for Starmer to feel ‘the full embrace of the potential of technology’. AI is ‘the only game changer’ that will ‘turbo charge growth’ and ‘save the government tens of billions of pounds’.
Some people might find her views on AI overly negative, but it gives a good insight into what the new government's policies might be.
Blair has been in the news in the UK quite a bit in the last couple of weeks with various 'tips' for the incoming government. I assumed that his interventions would be mostly unwelcomed by Starmer et al, as they were by most people (Fuck off, Tony being a common sentiment). But it could be that he will actually have quite a sizable influence, which is depressing, to say the least.
I'm not a British citizen so I'm not as familiar with Blair as I probably should be, but his answers seem to show an understanding of the current technologies (eg. AlphaFold), potential...
I'm not a British citizen so I'm not as familiar with Blair as I probably should be, but his answers seem to show an understanding of the current technologies (eg. AlphaFold), potential applications (eg. automating tedious governmental forms/tasks), as well as potential from the far future (AGI).
I particularly find myself agreeing with the optimistic outlook in regards to medical applications and personalized school tutoring. The former is seeing a lot of fantastic work right now built on machine learning and the transformer architecture, while the latter is currently an area of research by Eureka Labs (recently founded by Andrej Karpathy) and Khan Academy.
Interesting piece, and frankly a little surprising to see a politician of a bygone era so well informed on state of the art technology.
I'm not surprised at all he can parrot talking points they paid, and are paying, him hundreds of millions of dollars to say. He doesn't take a salary. Sure. The institute is named after himself,...
I'm not surprised at all he can parrot talking points they paid, and are paying, him hundreds of millions of dollars to say.
The Tony Blair Institute has received $375 million in funding from Oracle chairman Larry Ellison’s foundation,
He doesn't take a salary. Sure. The institute is named after himself, it's Tony Blair Inc, as the author's colleague pointed out. He's benefiting directly, in fame and access and legacy and influence which all percolate into wealth, from tech giants. He doesn't need to run for elections, he doesn't need to do anything but cheerleader for the stuff that's making him even richer and suddenly relevant again.
AI is very exciting and does present a ton of potential for whatever. But it's just like the industrial revolution: the important question isn't how much fun it's going to be, but what are we going to do for the human beings negatively affected. And from this interview he doesn't seem to even pretend to care.
Edit: archived link
Yeah this article makes me extra worried.
How has NHS and domestic industry fared, a couple decades later?
Fantastic for whom? For everybody?
Even if it's true? Even if someone realises he's gone the wrong way, off the track? Gotta keep going the wrong way harder?
It sounds like he's just another shill with dollar signs in his eyes and human beings be damned. Whatever risks the AI revolution will bring, he's not going to suffer for them, so why the hell not when there's an absolute fortune to be made.
There's an interesting substack post from Helen Bentham which takes an in-depth look at the Tony Blair Institute's influence on the new Labour government and the views espoused on Al:
Some people might find her views on AI overly negative, but it gives a good insight into what the new government's policies might be.
Blair has been in the news in the UK quite a bit in the last couple of weeks with various 'tips' for the incoming government. I assumed that his interventions would be mostly unwelcomed by Starmer et al, as they were by most people (Fuck off, Tony being a common sentiment). But it could be that he will actually have quite a sizable influence, which is depressing, to say the least.
I'm not a British citizen so I'm not as familiar with Blair as I probably should be, but his answers seem to show an understanding of the current technologies (eg. AlphaFold), potential applications (eg. automating tedious governmental forms/tasks), as well as potential from the far future (AGI).
I particularly find myself agreeing with the optimistic outlook in regards to medical applications and personalized school tutoring. The former is seeing a lot of fantastic work right now built on machine learning and the transformer architecture, while the latter is currently an area of research by Eureka Labs (recently founded by Andrej Karpathy) and Khan Academy.
Interesting piece, and frankly a little surprising to see a politician of a bygone era so well informed on state of the art technology.
I'm not surprised at all he can parrot talking points they paid, and are paying, him hundreds of millions of dollars to say.
He doesn't take a salary. Sure. The institute is named after himself, it's Tony Blair Inc, as the author's colleague pointed out. He's benefiting directly, in fame and access and legacy and influence which all percolate into wealth, from tech giants. He doesn't need to run for elections, he doesn't need to do anything but cheerleader for the stuff that's making him even richer and suddenly relevant again.
AI is very exciting and does present a ton of potential for whatever. But it's just like the industrial revolution: the important question isn't how much fun it's going to be, but what are we going to do for the human beings negatively affected. And from this interview he doesn't seem to even pretend to care.