"You don't know what you have until it's gone. It's kinda like this. We're about to lose something irreplaceable, I think. You can't bring back the past to explain the new, and you can't start with the past to explain now." - David Attenborough

This quote is from the documentary Blue Planet 2. I think it perfectly encapsulates the sentiment of why I think some people are so hopeful about ASI. People who are conscious of the gravity of human existence can never really bring themselves to have faith in the future. A lot of people on this sub buy into the idea of ASI, and I think, in the process, become more hopeful that, although we're living in the last remnants of the Anthropocene and we can't reverse the damage we've done to the world, we at least have the capacity to transcend our current state of life and move into a more utopian future that we're incapable of having today.<br><br>I absolutely love science fiction, and I'm very thankful to be living today. I was born in a time when the world was very different to how it is now. I think it's amazing that just last year, ChatGPT was released and revolutionised the world in ways that are hard to imagine. If you read my old comments from last year, you'll see how that might have seemed to be too good to be true. But it's not. I still can't believe it. I was very wrong about AI, and I realise how much I've grown in my perception of the world since then.<br><br>I don't know how I haven't admitted this to myself. I've been trying to convince myself that there's still hope for humanity, but I don't think there is. This isn't a post about how AI is going to kill us all, but more about how I'm coming to terms with the end of humanity.<br><br>I think about my friends and how much I love them. How my friends are all moving away and starting their own lives. I was talking to one of my friends who's moving to Australia and we were discussing how we'd likely never see each other again and how we really needed to spend more time together before that happened. We've been friends since childhood, and now we're both growing up and moving away. It made me pretty sad.<br><br>I think about the world that we live in, how beautiful it is, and how we're slowly destroying it. How every day that we're alive, we're closer to the end. I think about the wars that have been happening recently, and how much it feels like life is slowly coming to an end.<br><br>I think about my favourite books, movies, and music, and how they're all a reminder of the nostalgia of the present. How one day we'll look back at our current time in the same way we look back at the past. How our life and experiences will be nothing more than a memory. I listen to old songs from the 70s and I get nostalgia for a time I've never known. I get nostalgic for the time before I was born. I get nostalgic for the past, and I get nostalgic for the present. I'm nostalgic for the entire concept of time. I feel as if I'm watching humanity's last gasps. I'm watching the last remnants of humanity before it's gone for good. I'm watching the last moments before ASI, and I'm conscious to not let this moment slip away.<br><br>I read a lot of science fiction and I'm very interested in the idea of the simulation hypothesis and the concept of "AGI." To me, "AGI" represents the end of an era. It's not just a machine that we can use, it's the end of a certain way of life. It's the end of the capacity for us to organise meaning out of nothing. The end of creativity, romance, and all things that make life worthwhile. When "AGI" is released, we'll finally lose our capacity to explain the world to ourselves. We'll no longer have the ability to create meaning out of nothing. We'll no longer be able to create explanations for why we're here. We'll be forced to acknowledge the truth. We're apes, living on a rock, and there's no greater purpose.<br><br>I feel as if I'm watching the last remnants of humanity before it's gone for good. I feel as if I'm watching the ending of a movie that I've been watching my whole life. I feel as if I'm watching the last 10 minutes of a 2-hour film. I don't want this moment to end. I don't want to lose my capacity to create meaning out of nothing. I want to keep being able to watch the sunset and get a feeling deep in my bones. I want to be able to keep loving the people I've met on my journey. But I know that's not possible. I have to be brave and face it head-on.<br><br>We don't know what we have until it's gone. But being able to acknowledge this is a gift in itself. It means we can cherish it. We can say farewell.<br><br>Farewell, world.<br><br>Farewell, friends.<br><br>Farewell.<br><br>Edit: This post has gotten a lot of comments. Thank you so much to everyone who has commented or has otherwise shown their support. I read every single one of them and have been moved to tears. I'm so thankful to be part of this community. You're all amazing and I'm so, so grateful to be able to live in this time along with you all. Thank you ❤️