Nature Dictates That The Storm Will Pass

In the Death Note anime, the Death Note gives the protagonist the ability to create a totalitarian justice system. That is, if there isn’t a force to stop him. But a character named L quickly catches onto him, and makes his ability to “serve justice” harder. In other words, the Death Note is a powerful tool, but opposing forces hamper its ability to affect the world.

At once, the Death Note made the protagonist extremely powerful.

And as a rule of nature, an opposing force arose.

In nature, many processes evolve to chaotic situations unless constrained by opposing forces (Entropy Theory). Any species seeks dominance, until another species comes along to keep populations under control. Physical processes gather entropy till we step in and reduce it (hence why I have to clean my room every now and then). Even psychology shows these patterns, where self-serving thoughts radicalize, giving rise to wide-ranging mental issues, till a force stops them.

Chaos needs to be constrained for systems to continue operating, or the system itself will break down. So, whenever excess entropy is created, an “opposing force” must arise to constrain it.

Let me share an example.

When nuclear weapons were discovered, the numbers of such weapons quickly increased and there was a constant tension of nuclear war (the chaos situation). To fight the chaos, treaties were signed, rules were introduced, and there was a global nuclear disarmament. We can see the effects in the reduction of nuclear close calls.

The takeaway? Don’t panic.

Whenever a situation goes out of control, there are always forces that stabilize it. Sometimes, this stabilization process does come with losses. But a change of tide will come around.

In my mentality, hopeful optimism is something that keeps me going. And it’s comforting to know that nature is on my side.

That doesn’t mean we can sit around and wait for change to happen. We are the stabilizing force. We have to make it happen. But when enough stabilizing forces unite, any form of chaos can be tamed.

Adapted from a post about AGI on LessWrong: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/We8GnLvDsyucEmGkP/agi-s-opposing-force