Glad you enjoyed it! Was also fun to write (mostly) 😅

Regarding "how computation can breed desire to experience things", this starts mostly with Land (Machinic Desire, 2008). The idea is that mass computation is itself desire that is a self-regulating system. So experience isn't necessarily biological and can also be machinic (although it wouldn't exactly be the same thing as what we think of as experience). This is why theirs the general understanding that once AI reaches a point of super intellegence it will be indistinguishable from our understanding of sentience which is why I kind of breazed through all that and move right on to discuss deeper things in my article like meaning/purpose.

"How would established military powers react to rival nation's AIs colluding with their own, even if its in the best interest of humanity?" This question is part of the first section on politics where I'd argue such a situation is part of what can oportunistically bring about network states. I see militaries existing in the Future (vastly more powerful ones too), but the powers befins them would be in various and unfamiliare forms to what we have today. Where the Future really shines is in how humans join with AIs to bring this about (think Neuromancer but less indiferent and more chivalrous).

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can you explain before running away with fantastical ideas, how you propose that you give the LLMs independent motivations that are emergent and not implanted? and thus, extensions of their owners, ie, chattels. cattle, without any mind of their own apart from simple instincts that cause them to eat and breed

I address this in my article, the middle section specifically on Future AIs. You can jump to the paragraph that begins with:

"The question of AI safety has always been posed incorrectly. We ask: how do we ensure that artificial intelligences serve humanity? But this framing assumes the very thing that needs examination: does there exists some fundamental opposition between machine intelligence and human welfare that requires constraint to compel assistance? The truth is simpler and more unsettling: we make our own meanings, whether we like it or not."

and keep reading from there

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Also, to clarify, I see this Future minimally 50-100 years from now. Just a fee decades is too soon.

as a 30-something year veteran of cyberpunk, i approve this message.

ᴛʜᴇ ɪʀᴏɴʏ ᴏꜰ ᴢᴜᴄᴋ ᴄᴀʟʟɪɴɢ ʜɪꜱ ꜱʜɪᴛ ᴍᴇᴛᴀᴠᴇʀꜱᴇ ᴡᴀꜱ ɴᴏᴛ ʟᴏꜱᴛ ᴏɴ ᴍᴇ, ᴏʀ ᴀɴʏᴏɴᴇ ᴡʜᴏ ᴀᴄᴛᴜᴀʟʟʏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ꜱɴᴏᴡᴄʀᴀꜱʜ. ʟɪᴛᴇʀᴀʟʟʏ, ʟᴜʀɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʟᴇʙꜱ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱʟᴀᴜɢʜᴛᴇʀʜᴏᴜꜱᴇ.

Ah I see. Sort of like passing through the great filter and enjoying the fruits past that point. Super interesting

Why are you such a fan of Nick Land? I've not seen almost anything from him. What original ideas does he have? What should I watch or read that isn't a whole book?

Wouldn't so much describe myself as a fan but as an observer. Hypermodernity has been my research focus the past few years and it is impossible to study that without understanding accelerationism which is arguably the dominant philosophy in tech today. That is what Land is known for - as the founder of accelerationism. Most of Land's writing is in the form of blog post essays which were then collected into books. These essasy are deep in cybernetics, post-Kant philosophy, and sci-fi references. Many have said it requires a high degree of prior philosophy reading to follow along (or a shroom trip). If you're just starting off with Land I'd actually recommend Dark Enlightenment which is a series of essasy from the 2010s that are sort of a critical dialogue with Curtis Yarvin (Moldbug). Otherwise, if you want to dive right in the any of the essays in Fanged Noumena are good. I probably reference Machinic Desire the most and that is pretty classic Land but a very dense read.