If I had an overriding philosophy /outlook (I don't really tbh)I i would say it's that more often than not the best or most correct solution is somewhere away from the extremes and more towards the middle
So re: internet I don't personally think it's either of the above in a binary sense, it's both and neither and ultimately the whole witches brew and ebbs & flows resulting in it landing somewhere inbetween. Humans are still gonna human no matter what platform they do it on and how they do so, and the same basic drivers aren't going to change
And in a similar sense, decision making, while having a basic framework, should be bespoke and evidence based. Philosophies are fun but need to be a guide and caddy rather than determinant
AI is the real moral dilemma shaping up on the horizon, Larry summers called it the fire and wheel in its consequences, HUGE basically. And part of that - to my point a couple of paragraphs above - is that it literally takes humans out of the equation, a truly massive unprecedented paradigm shift
Not an exciting clickbait answer to your question i know, but it fits my worldview and has got me through to-date
I'm going to be one of those AI bigots. I just don't believe a self directed, Strong AI singularity will emerge.
While I have no answer for the Frankenstein conundrum, like if you 3d printed me atom by atom then I have to acknowledge it's as much me as I am, I remain an atheistic doubting Tom. There doesn't have to be an eternal and unique soul in order for there to be a qualitative difference between a biological consciousness and a really big calculator.
There will be sophisticated programs that analyze and predict etc, and pass a chat Turing, but there won't be a mind in there. It's Searle's room. There's nothing in there at all. You could put the thing in the closet for 100 years and it'll just sit there dutifully awaiting input to carry out its program.
I'm not well informed on theory of mind but I think we're going to see holes in the mimicry which indicate it doesn't have one. It won't reason abstractly or conceive of categories. It won't self direct like in the movies. I didn't buy Weinstein's suggestion that sentience is an emergent property of sufficient physical structure plus experience. I don't see it as separable from a living thing with biological drives, and we're not going to Dr Frankenstein something that isn't a living thing into "it's alive."
But I like that poor AI toaster from Red Dwarf horny to fulfill its purpose. Every time someone walks in it's "Hi Dave. Would you like some nice delicious toast?" No. "A bagel perhaps?" No. "Hey, anything you want I can toast it." FUCKING NO! "Ok, ok.... waffle?"
Spergtastic neutral.