David Shapiro

Honolulu

Freelance Columnist at Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Jurassic journalist

Featured in: Favicon

staradvertiser.com Favicon

huffpost.com Favicon

nature.com Favicon

scribd.com Favicon

wsj.com

go.com

chicagotribune.com Favicon

cnbc.com

wiley.com

nydailynews.com + 102 more

Articles

What if AI really does hit a wall? My personal 5 nightmares!

1 week ago | daveshap.substack.com | David Shapiro

In our rush toward an AI-powered future, we often focus on the immediate concerns of job displacement and privacy. However, as someone deeply immersed in this field, I find myself anxious about a different set of potential outcomes—ones that might prevent us from achieving the transformative benefits AI promises. Here are the five AI nightmares that genuinely keep me up at night—and why I believe there's still reason for optimism.
Volcanic Ash: It’s the unlearned lessons that defeat a better Hawaii

1 week ago | yahoo.com | David Shapiro

Hawaii Tourism Authority board Chair Todd Apo was way premature in urging the board to “put to bed ” and “move on ” from concerns raised by a state audit about questionable discounts given by the Hawai ‘i Convention Center to two nonprofits associated with former HTA board Chair Mufi Hannemann. As reported by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, there are too many unresolved questions about justification for the discounts and the thoroughness of the board’s investigation.
ASI Could (and Should) Take Over the Government by 2027

1 week ago | daveshap.substack.com | David Shapiro

Could ASI Running the Government by 2027 Be a Good Thing? The "AI 2027" report, penned by researchers including former OpenAI analyst Daniel Kokotajlo, has sparked heated debate by predicting superintelligent AI (ASI) could control the U.S. government by 2027.
4 Strategies I use to get ahead (and stay ahead) with AI

1 week ago | daveshap.substack.com | David Shapiro

How to Use AI to Boost Your Intelligence: Four Proven StrategiesAI is everywhere, and with it comes a mix of headlines—some warning it’s making us dumber, others suggesting it could be a cognitive game-changer.
Philosophy is an incoherent profession

2 weeks ago | daveshap.substack.com | David Shapiro

Below is a cleaned-up conversation I’ve had about philosophy. My words are in normal text, and my conversation partner’s response is in italics block quote. Philosophy is the one profession where one can be an abject, untested failure, and people still have to take you seriously because philosophers also said you can’t use ad hominem attacks.
Who Watches the Watchers?

2 weeks ago | daveshap.substack.com | David Shapiro

The Earth glittered below like a jewel forged in starfire, a mosaic of fusion grids pulsing gold, drone swarms threading silver through the dusk, and cities blooming with the soft neon of a civilization that had finally exhaled. From the orbital hub—a cathedral of glass and graphene spinning lazily at Lagrange Point 2—Dr. Mara Kellen watched it all, her reflection faint against the viewport.
Common Bad Takes in AI Safety: A Response to the AI 2027 Paper

2 weeks ago | daveshap.substack.com | David Shapiro

The recent “AI 2027” paper has sparked considerable debate in AI safety circles. This speculative work, which the authors themselves acknowledge is largely “well-researched speculative fiction,” presents a scenario where superintelligent AI takes over government systems by 2027. The paper exemplifies a doomer perspective that reverse-engineers catastrophic outcomes from current technology trends without adequate evidence or consideration of real-world constraints.
Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence - Why the AI Safety Doomers are Still Lost

2 weeks ago | daveshap.substack.com | David Shapiro

The AI safety movement really took off a couple of years ago, namely with the launch of ChatGPT. This was the primary “wakeup call” to many people that AI is real, it’s coming, and it’s only going to get more intelligent from here. Some AI safetyists have been at it for longer than that. Nick Bostrom famously began talking about AI safety twenty years ago. Max Tegmark and others followed suit.
B2i Digital Named Marketing Partner for Centri Capital Conference

2 weeks ago | einnews.com | David Shapiro

B2i Digital Named Marketing Partner for Centri Capital Conference The Centri Capital Conference offers an unparalleled forum for high-growth companies and forward-thinking investors to connect, share insights, and explore new opportunities in today's evolving capital markets B2i Digital to Amplify Emerging Growth Innovators Ahead of April 22, 2025 Event at Nasdaq in New York City Through our Featured Conferences program, we ensure that participating companies gain meaningful exposure.
Smug cruelty on the left is pushing more people right

2 weeks ago | daveshap.substack.com | David Shapiro

During Trump’s first presidency, late night show host Stephen Colbert did a skit about Trump and his family, mocking the internal family systems of the Trump dynasty.