this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2026
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Privacy
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Can't wait for EU to ban general purpose computing. At some point ,everybody is just going to get a locked down Windows tablet where only EU approved software runs.
I fear that is the inevitable whimpered ending of the personal computing era. Cory Doctorow called it back in 2011.
Honestly, it's something where I wonder if we're doomed to end up there anyway.
I think that the AI companies vastly overstate the usefulness and danger represented by AI models. But the technology is only getting better, and the resources required to run models will decrease over time.
A common scenario brought up are AIs teaching people how to make biological weapons. Can existing LLMs actually do that? I really don't know. I for one don't feel like asking copilot, "please give me step-by-step instructions for obtaining and weaponizing anthrax, in steps simple enough someone with only a general science and engineering background can do." I'm curious what copilot would say. But I won't be asking copilot that, not because I'm incurious, but because I don't feel like getting my house raided by the FBI.
But imagine a world where that actually is possible. Forget the claims of Sam Altman. Let's look 50 years ahead in the future. Imagine being able to ask that question to an open-weight/model LLM, something you can run unmonitored on a home desktop, and actually getting a correct response. Imagine being able to ask endless follow-up questions. A good enough LLM could conceivably walk someone with only a high school education through all the steps needed to create weaponized anthrax from scratch.
Anthrax is something we actually can't control the spread of. It occurs naturally in the soil and water in some specific locations and conditions. A sufficiently skilled biochemist could go out, collect it, and culture it. And having an LLM capable of giving you step-by-step instructions, dumbed down to whatever your skill level is? Able to coach you through it, perhaps even watch you do it and offer real-time feedback? If you just have to act as the hands of the LLM? Suddenly anyone can weaponize anthrax.
I don't think existing LLMs are there yet. But what do we actually do if we reach a point where open-source LLMs are? What are we supposed to do when the knowledge to produce weapons of mass destruction becomes cheap and accessible?
A general trend in technology over time is that it has magnified the potential destructive power of a single individual. How can a society survive when anybody has the ability to kill everybody? I just don't see how you keep society going except by locking down the tech. Maybe require a license for any computer over a certain power. And such computers are heavily surveilled. So you can have a free and private computer, but only if that computer does not make you a danger to everyone around you.
I just don't know how else a civilization can survive the democratization of weapons of mass destruction.
As much as I'm a privacy guy, those are legit concerns IMO. IDK where the future goes, but I see reasons to worry.
TBH I'm more worried about the overall infopocalypse that's already in progress. But I also can't rule out an AI teaching somebody unhinged how to make a devastating biological weapon. Something only accessible in the past to very highly trained ppl, who were not gonna do that.
But I also want my privacy! And I believe privacy is essential to a functional democracy. Feels like every choice is a bad choice.
Yeah, that's why in an ideal case, I could see a two-tier model developing. Similar to how we handle weapons today. At least in the US, handguns and rifles are pretty obtainable. But anything more than that is heavily restricted. Even 2nd Amendment folks don't advocate for the private ownership of heavy artillery, FPV suicide drones, armed tanks, etc. We allow anyone to own the things that, while still dangerous, don't give you the power to kill absurd numbers of people. Even with an AR-15, you're only taking out so many people before you're taken down. You're not a danger to civilization by owning an AR-15.
Computers could work the same way. As AI technology improves, we'll get a better understanding of the minimum level of compute needed to be dangerous. You then set a limit for unlicensed computing below that level. Unlicensed? Have all the privacy you want. This lets you play games and create text, video, and most any form of expression you want. If your creative medium is as an artist of fully immersive 4K virtual reality worlds, you might have some trouble. But pretty much anything you currently use a computer for would fall under the unlicensed compute threshold.
Above this threshold? Everything is locked down. Everything is logged. Everything is scanned. You're using a tool that is as dangerous as a pile of plutonium, and we treat it with an appropriate level of respect. Dealing with this privacy violation is just a price you have to pay if you want to use these tools.
IDK, I'm less sold on your proposed solution, than on your proposed problem existing. :)
Indeed
Can't wait to become a shady dealer who sells pre 2026 computers with highly illegal software running on it (such as debian)
There's gonna be a whole black market for smuggling open computing platforms from China 🤣
They're gonna ban abacuss next, and then comes mental math, and suddenly 2+2=fish