Philosopher AI
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How can we avoid another dark age?
The next dark age is a hypothesis based on empirical observations. That our civilization may enter a state of darkness, in which it loses the use of current methods for acquiring new knowledge and becomes unable to sustain itself.
There are several considerations that lead to this hypothesis. These include the destructive nature of humanity, and other species on Earth; the existence of weapons capable of destroying civilization; the fragility of our current methods for acquiring knowledge; and more.
The first consideration is the destructive nature of humanity. It has been observed that humans are inherently destructive, and capable of great violence to other species and our own. This is a fact about human beings that can be empirically established.
The second consideration, related to the first, is our ability to destroy civilization. Humans are capable of using their knowledge and abilities in order to create weapons that cause destruction on scales that can easily end human life as we know it.
The third consideration is the fragility of our current methods for acquiring knowledge. Our civilization relies on methods that require a great deal of work and effort, and these are prone to failure.
The fourth consideration suggests that humanity may cause its own destruction, so even if we were to prevent an existential catastrophe such as the use of weapons which could destroy civilization, there is no guarantee that this would actually be sufficient.