Ancient Civilizations Unequal

Inequality affected some ancient societies, but not all. Changes in farming – and the animals used in it – might have been a factor which caused it to spiral.

26 November 1922 marks what is arguably the most famous discovery in the history of archaeology. On that day, the British Egyptologist Howard Carter made a small hole through which he could insert a candle in the sealed doorway of Tutankhamun's burial chamber and thus lit the interior. As his eyes slowly adapted to the darkness, he was able to make out a chamber that had not been disturbed for over 3,000 years.

Tutankhamun was just an obscure pharaoh during his lifetime, and there is evidence that he was hastily buried – the second of the three nested coffins seems to have originally belonged to someone else. And yet the inner coffin, in which his mummy was discovered, is made of solid gold, weighing almost 250lbs (113kg). One can barely imagine how impressive the burials of such powerful leaders as Khufu, Thutmose III, or Rameses II must have been. Alas, they were all looted in antiquity.

But contrary to popular belief and cinematic glorification, most archaeologists would say that the search for spectacular treasures isn't their main research objective. They want to understand the daily life of past civilisations. Still, both extremes – the fabulous wealth of kings and the hardscrabble existence of common people – contribute to an understanding of what can be argued is one of the main goals of archaeology: to document and study the evolution of inequality in ancient societies. This also involves the question of how to recognise and quantify it.  READ MORE...

Humanity Will Get "Wrecked"

Departed Neuralink co-founder Max Hodak has a grim take on the fate of humanity: the robot uprising is inevitable, and they will leave humans in the dust.

Key to his argument, which is admittedly a little hard to follow, is that AI will likely not adhere to humanity’s preconceptions about political and economic models for society.

“Humans are objectively bad with socialism (and on the contrary, capitalism is amazingly effective at advancing humanity),” he wrote in a tweet, “but machines might end up reasoning about their identities and communities super differently.”

That kind of incompatibility could lead to some irreconcilable differences.

“We are going to get so wrecked,” he added.

The kind of value systems that humans have used to structure societies over history — regardless of their success in bringing about meaningful change — may soon no longer be relevant.

“Idk, I think the broader point is just that machines might end up having a lot more flexibility on how they organize themselves than we do,” Hodak pondered in a follow-up tweet. “It takes generations to upgrade cognitive technology in human societies.”

The news comes after Hodak left brain implant startup Neuralink in May, a company he co-founded with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

“I am no longer at Neuralink (as of a few weeks ago),” he wrote in a mysterious tweet at the time. “I learned a ton there and remain a huge cheerleader for the company! Onward to new things.”

Neuralink has tasked itself with developing brain computer interfaces — likely, judging by Hodak’s work at Neuralink, aimed at blurring the line between human and machine, making his recent comments all the more intriguing.  TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS, CLICK HERE...