God or bureaucrat? China and the West fear AI for different reasons n
Americans are waiting for a doomsday from neural networks, and the Chinese are worried that they will miss a new industrial revolution. Fantasy has revealed the true roots of these fears.
In the West, the fear of artificial intelligence has deep religious roots. New Scientist columnist Annali Newitz notes that Americans perceive neural networks through the prism of Christianity. Hence Donald Trump’s recent executive order renaming AI “superintelligence.” For the Western layman, this is an almighty deity, and IT developers are his priests. In pop culture, machines act as saviors, then ruthless punishers. The central question of Americans is theological: Will this machine save or condemn us
In China, the mentality is quite different. Science fiction writer Chen Qiufan explains that there is no one all-powerful Creator in the local tradition. Deities are seen as “influential neighbors with specific job responsibilities.” Therefore, the Chinese see AI not as a formidable celestial, but as a convenient tool, bureaucrat-assistant or even a family member.
Because of this cultural code, China is not afraid of Hollywood scenarios with the uprising of machines. Their main fear is purely historical and economic, writes vz.ru. The Chinese are afraid of being too late for the new industrial revolution and ceding global leadership. If the West asks AI about the survival of humanity, China asks, “Will we be the first to introduce this technology?”
